At one point Becca Levy bowed her head, closed her eyes, and groaned. “How can we do this to ourselves?”
Diana overheard. “I could go into the finer points of the psychology of destruction. Or the alleged human need for misery.
But I won’t. The plain and simple truth is that men and women have been killing one another since the dawn of recorded time.”
“But why?’ Becca persisted. “What is it that brings out the animal in us?”
“The animal in us,” Diana said. “With apologies to animals everywhere.”
“What? Oh, I get it. You’re saying it’s innate. Like our need to breathe and to reproduce.” Becca shook her head. “Sorry, Professor. But I’m not buying it. There’s more to us than claws and teeth. We feel. We think. We reason.”
Diana nodded at a speaker on the wall. A radio announcer was reciting a list of cities that no longer existed. “We slaughter one another on an unprecedented scale.”
“Shhhhh, you two.” Carpenter had caught a mention of the Twin Cities. He motioned for the technician to boost the gain.
“… surprisingly quiet. Some looting was reported, but the authorities have it under control. There hasn’t been any of the mass mayhem reported from other urban centers.”
Carpenter nodded in satisfaction. One of the first areas they would visit, once it was safe, was Minneapolis and St. Paul.
“Los Angeles is reported to be in meltdown, not from a nuke but from the complete collapse of law and order. There is word that street gangs now control whole sections of the city.”
“Switch to military frequencies,” Carpenter directed. He still hoped, feebly, that U.S. military might would prevail and the war would end with a decisive U.S. victory. But given the nature and scope of the hostilities, it was more than likely that no one would win, that the war would devolve into a stalemate, or, worse, that it would bring about the complete and utter collapse of every nation on the globe, plunging the world into a new and terrifying Dark Age.
The speaker crackled with static. It hummed. It squawked.
Suddenly a shrill voice blared.
“Mayday! Mayday! Air Force One is going down! Repeat: Air Force One is going down! We are fifty air miles out of Colorado Springs. I can see a mushroom cloud. Our exact— “
The transmission died.
Carpenter turned to the tech. “Can you get that back?” “I’m trying. Hold on, sir.”
“Call me Kurt, Miriem. No one is to call me sir. We’re a Family, not the army or navy.” “There’s nothing, si—Kurt.” “On that channel?” “On any of the channels.”
“Switch back to the civilian bands, then. Radio will do. AM or FM, it doesn’t matter.”
“You don’t understand. There’s nothing at all. Anywhere. No AM No FM. No military. No satellite. It’s all gone.”
“I was afraid of this.”
Miriem tweaked knobs, flipped switches and pressed buttons.
“There should be something. All I get is silence. Everywhere. As if the whole world has been wiped out.”
“You can stop trying,” Carpenter advised. “Saturation has occurred.”
“What?” Diana asked.
“You’re familiar with the EMP effect? Yes. Well, most studies dealt with the effect of a single strategic nuclear blast. Few delved into the repercussions of ten warheads going off at about the same time. Or fifty. Or a hundred. But one study I saw did just that. The scientist who wrote it hypothesized a saturation effect, where so many nukes go off that nothing gets through.” “How long will it last?”
“No telling. It could be months or even years.” Carpenter sat back. “We’re completely cut off from the outside world.” “God help us,” Becca Levy said.
Brave New World
They stayed in the bunker for thirty days and thirty nights. They could have stayed longer. They were stocked with enough food and water and other supplies to sustain themselves for years.
Based on the compound’s location and prevailing winds, the experts Carpenter had consulted determined that little fallout from U.S. targets would reach them. And since radiation decayed exponentially, those same experts concluded that it would be safe for Carpenter and his followers to emerge from their reinforced bunkers three to five weeks after the war ended.
Carpenter wanted to be the first one out, but Patrick Slayne wouldn’t hear of it. “I’m chief of security so the risk is rightfully mine. Besides, we can’t afford to lose you. You built this place.
You got all these people together. They look up to you. If you die it would devastate them.”
Diana Trevor agreed. “Like it or not, Patrick is right.
You’re the leader. As much as you might want to, you can’t take unnecessary risks.”
Reluctantly, Carpenter gave in.
Slayne donned a type of hazmat suit used by the military.
Known as an NBC suit—or Nuclear, Biological, Chemical suit—it was hard for civilians to obtain. Slayne’s status as CEO of Tekco had overcome that hurdle. The suit was fully sealed and had radiation shielding. It was a Level A, which meant it closed the wearer off completely from the outside world. To breathe, Slayne relied on a respirator strapped to his back.
Slayne picked up a Geiger counter. While some models measured gamma and beta radiation, this one also measured alpha. The sensor was the most sensitive on the market.
Slayne nodded at the others and climbed the ladder to the trapdoor that separated the underground levels from the upper levels. He went to the airlock, went through the inner door, and closed it behind him. He worked the wheel to the outer door and pushed. The heavy door swung easily on recessed pivots.
Through his faceplate, he glimpsed the high walls and the moat.
The Com link buzzed and Carpenter’s voice blared in his ears.
“Are you outside yet? What do you see?”
“I’m tying my shoes,” Slayne quipped. “And don’t shout. I can hear you just fine.”
“Sorry. I’m a little nervous. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Patrick. I rely on you more than
