No one really knew. The few scientists who had given the scenario any attention admitted that the variables were beyond them. They could theorize. They could create computer models.
But those models were only as good as the information fed into the computers, and that was woefully sparse. Yes, nuclear weapons had been used before. Yes, bio weapons and chemical weapons had been used before. But the three had never been used at the same time.
Carpenter had taken all the precautions he could. The site he had chosen was located far enough from military and civilian targets that fallout should be minimal. Internal air circulation and filtration systems minimized the risk of bio and chemical weapons. Hazard suits and other gear would protect them when they had to venture outdoors.
Was it enough? That was the question eating at Kurt Carpenter when he imposed lockdown. The three missing members still hadn’t shown up, and the SEAL still hadn’t been delivered.
That troubled him greatly. He’d invested millions in the special vehicle’s development and manufacture. It had been designed to operate in a post-apocalyptic environment. Solar powered, it could navigate any terrain and even cruise on water if it had to.
With enough firepower to take out a regiment, the SEAL was his way of insuring that the Family would survive the brave new world in which it found itself.
But he couldn’t wait any longer for it to arrive.
Events in the outside world had reached the point where it was time for those he had gathered together to retreat into their concrete shells.
On a cloudy, chilly afternoon, Carpenter called the Family together and announced that he was imposing lockdown. They were to stay in their assigned bunkers until he gave the all-clear to return to the surface. “I can’t say how long that will be,” he solemnly informed them. “There are too many variables involved. But remember, we can withstand anything short of a direct nuclear strike. You’ll be perfectly safe.”
“Until we come back up,” someone said.
At a command from Slayne, everyone dispersed. Within minutes the bunker doors were sealed, the compound empty of human life.
Beyond the walls, World War Three raged in all of its global fury.
Carpenter spent every moment he could in the Communications Center. At considerable expense he had installed state-of-the-art receiving units covering the complete broadcast spectrum, everything from satellite to citizens band. He’d also had his tech people set up a powerful transmitter and a backup.
At first it was fairly easy to follow the unfolding conflict.
Hostilities were confined to the Middle East as long-held animosities spilled over. The spark came when Israel invaded Lebanon and stayed. Iran, Iraq, and Egypt, with China’s backing, retaliated. The Russians entered the fray, taking advantage of the confusion to clamp down on neighboring countries. One thing led to another and the United States sent in a task force, only to have the ships and personnel obliterated by a nuke.
After that, the pace of death-dealing quickened. China, Russia, the United States, the Koreas, England, France, Japan, even Australia were all drawn in.
It truly was a world war.
Tel Aviv, Tehran, and Cairo were nuked. The Vatican went up in a radioactive cloud. The Turks and the Greeks went at it yet again. They didn’t have nukes, but they did have chemical weapons. Crete, or rather the people on it, ceased to exist. India and Pakistan lobbed missiles at each other, and when the dust settled, it settled on heaps of dead.
In the United States, San Diego was hit. Conflicting reports said the same about Seattle and San Francisco.
There was no doubt about New York City. Slayne, Kapur, and Richardson had seen it with their own eyes.
The U.S. government held off using its own arsenal until New York was turned into a Roman candle. Why they waited so long, Carpenter couldn’t say, unless they were marshaling for a counterstrike on multiple fronts. But when Manhattan was blasted into oblivion, the American military juggernaut was given the command to kill, and kill they did. In an hour, newscasts carried accounts of U.S. nuclear strikes on targets in the Middle East, China, and North Korea. The latter was especially hard hit; every major North Korean city was now rubble.
Reports on Russia were mixed. Some claimed the Russians were fighting with American forces against the Chinese and their Arabian satraps. Other reports claimed the Russians were in Canada and had also landed in Philadelphia.
Carpenter couldn’t begin to fathom why the Russians would attack the U.S. homeland, or why they would choose the City of Brotherly Love—unless some general high in the Kremlin loved irony.
In America, chaos spread like a Kansas prairie fire. Riots broke out in dozens of cities and towns. The National Guard was mobilized, but with so many Guard units overseas they were stretched too thin. There was little they could do to stem the rising tidal wave of civil unrest. It was like plugging a hole in a dyke with a finger while cracks radiated outward, growing larger and larger until finally the dyke burst.
The president’s call for calm fell on deaf ears. Declaring martial law likewise did little to stem the panic.
The dogs of war had been unleashed and the hounds were in full bray.
A map of the United States covered one wall of the Com Center. Carpenter had his staff stick pins in it. Red pins for cities hit by nukes, orange pins for cites and towns where rioting and looting was known to have occurred, green pins for cities where the authorities had things pretty much in hand. There were precious few green pins.
The staff soon added more colors. Yellow for areas where chemical weapons had been used. Brown pins for bio weapons.
There were few of
