Venezuela’s socialist government disappeared when a two-thousand-pound bomb exploded in their Parliament building. President Lanoha told the Venezuelan people he would provide them with food, fuel, and medical support if they’d welcome the Americans. They were happy to do and, since so many Venezuelans had left their country, they had a lot of extra room. Lanoha shook his head wondering if America would survive if her people were spread out across different countries.
Chapter 21
Colonel Spivey’s convoy slowly traveled south on what used to be called Interstate 81. The next FOB was located at Binghamton, New York, which was only 80 miles south from the now closed FOB at Syracuse. A trip that before ‘Robert’s Rock’ struck normally took an hour was now going to take five hours since their top speed was limited to a max of 15 Mph. The low speed was due to the slow speed the massive tanks/plows could make and the deep snow, ice, and blizzard white out conditions. The troops thought the conditions would quickly improve as they drove south. They were depressed when the weather conditions appeared to be getting worse as they slowly made their way south.
Jon strained to look out of the windshield as the wipers couldn’t keep up with the falling snow. Erin asked, “Will the conditions improve when we enter their state of Pennsylvania? I thought every mile we drove south, we’d see improving weather.”
Jon slowly shook his head, “I’d love to think it will quickly improve, however, when we enter Pennsylvania, we’ll be in their in what they call the Poconos. It’s a very mountainous area. The higher we go, the lower the temperature will fall and the winds will be worse. We’ll see more snow and the going will be worse than this.”
“If it’s going to get worse, how will we make it? Look out there, we can barely see anything.”
“All I’m doing is following the taillights of the vehicle in front of me.”
“I’d hoped their freeways would have been in better condition than they are. There are still abandoned cars and trucks on the roads. Why are they still here?”
Jon tried to stretch his tense shoulder muscles, “They didn’t waste any time moving their people. If a car, truck or bus broke down, they just pushed it to the side and a follow-up vehicle picked up the people. They didn’t want to waste time or parts to repair anything unless it was critical to moving their people. I’m still in awe they managed to move so many of their people and ours. No one thought they’d manage it. The relocation of our combined population has to rank up there with the world’s largest projects. A few years ago, had anyone told me someone could move a few hundred million people in less than three years I would have laughed at them. Not only did they have to move them, they had to arrange places for them to be moved to.”
Erin nodded, “I remember when our Prime Minister told us we have to prepare to move, most of us laughed. Harsh winter, it’s what we Canadians were born into. We, and the Russians, know better than anyone how to deal with severe winters…”
“Honey, it’s that thinking which is what led us to stay to long. This isn’t a normal bad winter, this is an ICE AGE. We couldn’t have survived much longer.”
“Come on, look at their roads. Ours were better than these and we didn’t need to use tanks to clear the roads.”
“No, we didn’t use tanks, we started dumping enough salt on the roads to create a new Dead Sea. Many sued the Prime Minister who laughed them off after he signed his climate emergency degree. The Yanks had to move millions of their own people and ours. Remember, had we left just a little later we wouldn’t have made it. We arrived at the border just before they were closing and again at their FOB, what a funny name. We’d have died out there when we ran out of fuel or were attacked by the raiders on snowmobiles. Be happy we’ve made it this far.”
Frank spoke up, “Mrs. Coats please excuse me for butting in, but you are very lucky. I lost my parents and many of my friends to the cold. Have you ever seen serious frost bite that killed fingers and toes or ears or froze eyes? So many of the children I helped care for will never be whole again. No one can survive out there. Just a few minutes is enough to damage unprotected skin. We’ll make it now because the Army will take care of us. Without the Army, my little group would have attacked and killed you…”
Erin shook her head, “Frank, I don’t believe that…”
“Oh, yes we would have. We tried to stop the convoy so we could attack the last vehicles in line so we could steal any supplies you had. We would have attacked you. At the best case, we would have taken your SUV. We would have tried to
