Shutting his eyes, Hogan drifted. He was suddenly tired, as though he’d run the obstacle course in basic. He drifted and fell asleep. Then someone touched him, and he woke again. It was the nurse, Trish, or was it Nurse Newman? Or, Nurse Trish? He wasn’t sure what you called nurses, other than nurse. Beside her was another woman. His eyes sought out the name tag on her white coat, Dr. Wang, who was in her late fifties. She had salt and pepper hair, a beauty mole, on the curve of her left cheek. She had kind brown eyes and she smiled down at him.
“Good morning Mr. Wrivier, I’m Dr. Wang. I’m glad to see you’re awake. We’re going to take that breathing tube out, so you can speak.” She said this as Nurse Trish began to pull at the tape that held it to his face. Her fingers were cool against his skin. His eyes looked into hers and her own eyes were on the task of pulling the tape. Dr. Wang also helped from the other side. Her hands were also cool against his cheek. He could hear the rasping of their fingers against the growth of beard on his cheeks.
“Okay, Mr. Wrivier, I’m going to pull the tube out on the count of three. When I get to three, I want you to cough for me. That will help.” Dr. Wang instructed. Hogan nodded slightly, feeling suddenly nervous and not understanding why. As that thought tickled through his mind, he heard the doctor count to three and as he coughed, the intubation tube was pulled quickly and smoothly out. Hogan gagged and coughed, saliva pouring from his mouth. Nurse Trish took a damp wipe and cleaned his mouth, holding a cup with ice chips.
He sipped at the cool liquid from the ice chips inside the cup. It burned, then soothed the back of his throat. He coughed again and cleared his throat.
“I.. I.. I don’t remember. I was driving and I woke up. My.. my wife, I need to call her.” He croaked. He watched as both women’s faces changed, and fear skittered across his heart.
“What?” He asked, looking back and forth, his mouth once again dry.
“Our records indicate that you’re from Denver, Colorado? Is that where your wife is, Mr. Wrivier?” Dr. Wang asked.
“Yes, Laura and my daughters live just outside the city. What’s going on?” His voice trembled, there was something niggling his brain, something he should know. Something that was now frightening him even more.
“I’m not exactly sure how to tell you, since we’re not sure ourselves, about what is going on. But I’ll tell you what I know. Four days ago, North Korea launched over fifty nuclear warheads. There are conflicting reports, putting the number at over a hundred. Still other reports that have well over two hundred nuclear weapons dropped.” Dr. Wang began. Hogan felt as though he were gut punched, and then the memories of distant nuclear blasts seared his brain. He’d seen four of them in the far distance.
“That’s what happened! I saw four nuclear mushrooms; I saw them when I was driving. Oh my god, oh my god!” He hissed in a low whisper.
“You saw them?” Trish asked, shock on her face.
Nodding, Hogan explained, “I was talking to my wife on the phone. I’d just left Kansas City behind me. In front of me, it was dark, with the sporadic lights from homes and such. I’d told my daughters how beautiful the night sky was. After I hung up with them, I saw four small mushroom clouds. They were so far away, but I could see them clearly.” He choked out the last, and Trish gave him a sip of water. The women lost all their color, their skin sickly pale.
“No wonder you wrecked your truck.” Nurse Trish said in a soft voice.
“Did..did I hurt or kill anyone?” Hogan breathed, sick at being the cause of someone else’s pain.
“No, the police said that you almost hit an SUV, it was full of kids, but you swerved and that was why you ended up in here.” Wang said.
“Thank god. I’m glad I didn’t hit anyone. What did the government do? How did North Korea have so many nukes?”
“The news said it was thought that North Korea only had a handful, but our government thought, someone, perhaps China, had helped them build up their arsenal secretly. The president sent back a strategic strike. It has been reported that the military sent nukes to many of the crazy North Korean leader’s residential locations, they weren’t sure which location he was hiding. They’re not sure if they got him or not. As for our country, from almost midline, down the United States, the west has been declared a catastrophic loss. There had also been a detonation in the upper atmosphere, they think from one of North Korea’s satellites. An EMP detonation they said. There is no power, everything is dead there.” Wang said, her eyes large and filled with tears.
“Jesus, what about the people? Is the government going to help them? Where did these bombs land?” Hogan asked, his voice now shaking.
“The information coming out isn’t a lot, there is a lot of confusion going on, nothing clear. I think there is some serious control over what we’re being told. We do know that Hawaii and Alaska were hit. They can’t send anyone in, it’s being called the dead zone. There were nuclear power stations targeted. Also, military bases and depots. We were told
