End of Days

Although the spring thaw had finally begun a few weeks after Easter, roads still tended to refreeze during the night. It usually took all day for the roads to thaw. Winter was not yet willing to yield to Spring. A snow storm had blown through during the night to deposit several, hopefully final, inches on the icy roads. It was almost a repeat of the Spring of twenty-twenty-four. Illuminated by the reddish glow of the setting sun, Illinois One-seventy-three looked like a Norman Rockwell painting, but without any horse drawn sleighs. Except for a few animal tracks, the expanse of pavement was concealed by a layer of virgin snow.

A cluster of vehicles that had obviously been abandoned over a year ago forced George to slow down. To ensure that his tires didn't loose traction on the snow covered, icy road, George gently downshifted the diesel Dodge pickup from fourth gear to third without using the clutch. The truck was a family heirloom that was almost half a century old. George hadn't driven it much since he'd been in college. However; he hadn't lost his touch. He modulated the throttle to precisely adjust the revolutions so that he could gently slide the transmission out of fourth gear. He then increased the revolutions just enough so that he could gently slide it into third without breaking traction on the icy, snow covered road. The clutchless shift had taken barely a second.

The archaic pickup was a blessing. The diesel engine had no ignition system. The truck also had an old fashioned mechanical fuel injection pump rather than a modern electronically controlled fuel injection system. The pickup didn't have a modern automatic transmission which would be electronically controlled either. Unlike the more modern cars that obstructed the road, the diesel Dodge had been immune to the electromagnetic pulse attack that had put most Americans afoot.

The dump trucks in the convoy a mile behind them had remained functional only because they too were archaic. The dump trucks had mechanical fuel injection pumps and manual transmissions. They too had been immune to the electromagnetic pulse attack.

There were other reasons why the dump trucks were in the convoy. It had been common to build dump truck beds out of T-one armor plate. The walls of the dump beds would stop pistol bullets. Depending on the range and angle of impact, the steel plate would fend off armor piecing rounds from thirty caliber rifles or machine guns. Given the sandbags that were sandwiched between the walls of the dump beds and a second layer of steel plate, the dump beds would even resist fifty caliber. The cabs of the trucks had also been up-armored with steel plate. The dump trucks had become expedient armored personnel carriers and weapons platforms.

The prospect of an ambush dissuaded George from slowing down very much. Someone might intend to exploit the serendipitous roadblock. The snow on the shoulder was deeper and the ice was thicker and slicker. Fortunately; the surface was gravel rather than pavement which enhanced traction. "So much for Anthropogenic Global Warming theology," George muttered to himself as he maneuvered off the road and then along the snow covered, gravel shoulder to get around the stalled cars.

Of course the nuclear winter theory was also being disproven by the arrival of Spring, even if it was somewhat belated. In spite of the thousands of nuclear weapons that had been detonated so enthusiastically around the world, primarily in Asia as well as Europe, the Earth hadn't been enshrouded by an impenetrable layer of soot and dust that had blocked out the sun. While the Canadians, who'd always had to contend with brief growing seasons, had been freezing their asses off even during most of the summer, the last two winters in Illinois had not been that extraordinary.

The demise of the nuclear winter theory was hardly surprising. The catastrophic eruption of the Tombora volcano two centuries earlier had been ten times more energetic than all of the nukes in all of the arsenals of all of the belligerents combined. The volumes of ash and gases that had been injected into the atmosphere by the volcanic eruption had been orders of magnitude greater than the dust and smoke that had resulted from the nuclear wars. The famed year without a summer of eighteen-sixteen had been far more devastating than the climatic aftermath of the global thermonuclear war. At worst, there had been a nuclear autumn.

George was one of the few people who had actually seen the radar data. No one knew if that first salvo of missiles that had targeted America had been launched from surface ships or submarines. However; the acceleration profiles had made it obvious that the missiles had been derivatives of the ubiquitous Scud missile. First the Soviet Union then the Russian Federation had engaged in missile prostitution. They'd sold the design for the Scud missile to nearly anyone. America's erstwhile European allies had been prostituting themselves for decades by eagerly marketing the machine tools and technology to actually manufacture such missiles. The Scuds had ensured the anonymity of America's attacker.

Fortunately; the single stage ballistic missiles hadn't had the velocity and hence the range to reach the American Midwest. With only one notable exception, only cities on the East coast and West coast had been nuked. Flyover country had remained largely unscathed from that first nuclear attack.

The Gulf coast had been lucky. An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer had fortuitously been in position to launch interceptors. The attacking missiles had been engaged while they were still in their boost phase and thus most vulnerable. The USN Mahon had expended the interceptors in its vertical launch cells to fend off the attack. The destroyer had even downed two of the birds with its five inch gun! The guided, anti-aircraft projectiles that had initially been developed for electromagnetic railguns then adapted to conventional artillery had proven themselves. Only two of the ballistic missiles had reached their targets. Only New Orleans had been nuked. The Texas Gulf Coast had been spared.

Whoever had nuked America seemed to have been a bit ignorant. Alternatively; they had been waging a nuclear war on a limited budget. With three notable exceptions, even the cities that had been targeted had been targeted by only a single nuclear weapon.

It had been predictable that the beltway would be a primary target. Along with nuking the Capitol, the missiles had targeted the Pentagon and the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. The headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been nuked by the same bomb that had destroyed the White House and the Capitol building.

The New York City metropolitan area, that included adjacent Newark New Jersey, had been the most gratuitous exception to the one nuke rule. The surface bursts of a dozen, Megaton yield nukes had reduced all five boroughs of the city along with its suburbs to radioactive ruins. Nearly two million Jews as well as many millions of gentiles had been killed. The genocidal attack had occurred only a few months after the conquest of Israel. The nuking of New York had been the Third Holocaust that had exterminated most of the World's surviving Jews.

The redundant overkill to nuke New York had suggested who the perpetrators might be. However; there had obviously been several potential perpetrators. The identity of the culprit who had nuked America had remained ambiguous. Memories of the mantra, "Bush lied. People died," had dissuaded the newly sworn in President from launching nukes in retaliation. Perhaps her seeming cowardice had been for the better?

The patriots who'd marched off to war to avenge the nine-eleven attacks had been ambivalent. Some considered the destruction of the tyrants who had been tormenting them to be a blessing. The American people had already been at war, defending themselves not just from common criminals but from the hoards of illegal invaders that their own government had invited into the country to dispossess them of their land and liberty. Most had agreed that launching retaliatory strikes against multiple suspects based on the questionable assessments of the incompetent Pentagon and the traitorous Central Intelligence Agency would have only provoked additional nuclear attacks against America.

George had actually floated down the Mississippi River last fall to reconnoiter New Orleans. A dozen petroleum refineries along with their tank farms had obviously been the primary targets. The petroleum infrastructure had still been burning. A pair of craters that were half a kilometer in diameter had attested to the near surface bursts of twin, one Megaton nukes. The mighty Mississippi had been encouraged to carve itself a modified channel, washing away much of the radioactive fallout along with the ruins of the city center. Bourbon Street was no more.

While the craters and surrounding areas had remained dangerously radioactive, it had been reasonably safe to explore the suburbs of New Orleans. The surface detonations at New Orleans had constrained the area subjected to the effects of the nuclear weapons. The surrounding, high rise buildings had blocked direct nuclear as well as thermal radiation. Casualties from those weapons effects had been minimized. The areas that had been subjected to lethal blast effects from the twin nukes had also been confined to less than eighty square miles.

Moderately high altitude detonations would have been far more efficient. The area subjected to lethal blast effects could have been more than doubled. The surrounding areas subjected to lethal nuclear radiation and thermal pulse would have also been much greater.

George had done the math. The city of New Orleans had encompassed over three-hundred-and-fifty square miles, most of it water. The New Orleans metropolitan area had compromised nearly four-thousand square miles. Barely two percent of the New Orleans metropolitan area had been subjected to seriously damaging blast effects by those twin nukes. Much smaller areas had been subjected to lethal levels of direct nuclear and thermal radiation. However; the vast majority of the people who resided in the area had died anyway.

Most of the people who'd been killed by the New Orleans nukes had been killed by the residual radiation from radioactive fallout rather than the prompt radiation, heat and blast effects. Tragically, they'd died because they were stupid and ignorant. Of course the victims had also been propagandized into believing that survival was impossible. Bert the turtle had been ridiculed by so many generations of ignoramuses who didn't know a neutron from a neutrino that few would heed the technically correct advice offered by the old civil defense film.

Anyone who'd ever had any training in civil defense had understood that people could mitigate the effects of radioactive fallout. Unfortunately; most people had refused to understand just how rapidly the radioactivity of the fallout would fade away. They'd been told by the useless idiots that the radioactivity would abide for thousands of years. Most had been mystified by the seven-ten rule of radioactive decay. Even fewer had understood how easily an expedient fallout shelter could be built.

There had been a few lone voices in the wilderness that had attempted to offer salvation. Updated editions of Kresson H Kearney's NUCLEAR WAR SURVIVAL SKILLS had become a best seller during the months after the Second Crimean war went nuclear. Free downloads of Bruce Clayton's LIFE AFTER DOOMSDAY had also become more popular than pornography after the few surviving Israelis launched nuclear missiles in retaliation for the Second Holocaust.

Unfortunately; the rogue survivalists had offered to little to late. While many people had built expedient fallout shelters, none who hadn't already prepared during previous months or years had been able to build more robust bunkers. Grandpa Zurcher's Earth sheltered octagon home constructed with steel reinforced concrete had been an aberration. Fortunately; the concrete blast shutters that could resist all but a nearly direct hit from a nuclear detonation hadn't been needed. Few had stockpiled adequate food for the few weeks that they'd need to remain sheltered much less the immediate aftermath. Even fewer had the knowledge, tools and seed for gardening to survive the next years.

Ruminating about the global catastrophe inspired George to glance at Mary and her daughter Alice once again. The two women were sitting between him and Deke who was riding shotgun. One could argue that Mary was no longer George's sister-in-law, but Alice remained his brother's daughter and therefore his niece. Their kinship imposed certain responsibilities on George.

The Dodge's heater was working well. With eight people shoehorned into the four door crew cab, it was cozy and warm. George glanced at Mary again. She had her coat unzipped. She'd actually regained some much needed weight after she was taken in by the Armadillos. Her tight fitting sweater revealed the contours of her once again spectacular, breasts. The impressions of her nipples through the fabric of her sweater were almost even with her elbows. Her breasts were obviously live rather than mamorex.

Wearing bras had ceased to be a womanly obsession in the aftermath. Only an idiot would suggest that America's economic collapse had been caused by the sudden proliferation of braless breasts. During the many months since that day, potholes had proliferated. The pick-up's shock absorbers were shot. The swinging and swaying of Mary's unrestrained breasts was impossible to ignore. With her dark complexion and elegant features, she was a doppelganger for Lieutenant Uhura.

George already had a wife and children who depended upon him. Given the sudden reversion to traditional values and customs, he'd soon have grandchildren. However; someone had decided that nuclear warfare wasn't bad enough. They'd waged biological warfare. The plagues that had been ravaging the planet during the aftermath tended to be more lethal to men than women. Logically, men more than women had become the soldiers who were most at risk of getting killed which tilted the gender imbalance even further. Polygamy was becoming socially acceptable again. George's wife got along well with Mary. They'd discussed the possibility. His wife hadn't vetoed the idea.

George's gaze shifted from Mary to Alice. Not for the first time, he noticed that Alice was no longer merely pubescent. She had matured into a woman since that day of detonations. Her breasts were not yet as impressive as her mother's, but they were firmer and rode higher on her chest.

George glanced in the rear view mirror at Leon. Leon had become one of the young men who'd been courting Alice in recent months. Firewood might not be scarce, but fuel for lanterns was. The once normal, evening dating rituals were no longer feasible. The tradition of tarrying had been revived since that day of detonations. On several cold winter nights, Leon had been the suitor who had slept over, sharing Alice's bed to woo her.

Like the colonial era Puritans of New England, Mary was pragmatic. She preferred to at least pretend to presume that her daughter wasn't yet having sex with the young men who shared her bed. Mary suffered from no delusions that a handy hayloft wouldn't suffice for more covert assignations. She wasn't a hypocrite either. She couldn't deny that she'd surrendered her own virginity to her high school boyfriend in the backseat of his car. Like most women of her generation, Mary had been with several men before she married. Unlike most of the Puritan brides, she hadn't been pregnant on her wedding day.

If Mary was sexually active with her suitors, they were obviously being careful. Condoms and birth control pills were no longer available in the aftermath. However; the traditional methods of contraception had become more prevalent since that day of detonations. People were no longer phobic of pregnancy anyway. They had a planet to repopulate.

Glancing again at the fuel gauge, George was grateful for Grandpa Zurcher's stockpile of carefully distilled, ethanol free diesel. Their fuel hadn't gone bad on them. Grandpa had also acquired all of the equipment needed to make their own biodiesel. They'd harvested a decent crop for biodiesel last fall. The old codger's foresight had enabled the Armadillos to remain productive and mobile for these many months. They had enough diesel to tide them over until they harvested a much larger biodiesel crop this coming fall.

Some of the Texas refineries were back on line. Unfortunately; two former Presidents of the United States had made it their mission to destroy the hydraulic fracturing industry that had briefly liberated America from the tyranny of OPEC. The senile Imbecile-in-Chief had even shut down construction of the Keystone pipeline. Shipping oil to the refineries on the Gulf Coast via railroad had been expensive even before the electromagnetic pulse attack fried the computers of most of America's locomotives.

After the conquest of Israel and the concurrent, Second Holocaust, the Middle East had become an epicenter of global thermonuclear war. The Israelis and the Iranians hadn't been the only participants in that nuclear war. The Egyptians as well as the Saudis had covertly acquired nuclear weapons from Pakistan. Turkey had expropriated the nuclear weapons that America had foolishly prepositioned at Incirlik Airbase. With Israel destroyed, the Islamic nations had waged war against each other for supremacy. The Kurds as well as the Armenians had been ruthlessly exterminated. The Russians and Chinese had launched nuclear strikes of their own whenever they felt that it was necessary. India had not remained uninvolved in the nuclear melee.

The oil refineries and petroleum terminals as well as the oil fields of the Middle East had been the primary prizes as well as the priority targets. The conflagrations were reminiscent of Kuwait after the first Gulf War. With no one willing or able to extinguish the flames, the funeral pyres of technological civilization were continuing to burn more than a year after they had been ignited by the nukes.

In the aftermath of the second Crimean war going nuclear, Russia sure as Hell wasn't in any mood to sell oil to America. Shipping oil across oceans had ceased to be a viable option anyway. America had been fortunate that Putin had understood that the Eurasian continent had always been a rough neighborhood. The prospect of fighting multiple nuclear wars against Japan, South Korea, China, the Persians and the Ottomans not to mention certain former Soviet Republics and the smoldering, radioactive remnants of NATO had deterred Putin from nuking America in retaliation for the comedian nuking Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Russia's prospects for survival would become far more tenuous if they provoked even limited nuclear retaliation from the rival superpower.

The limited supply of crude oil that was available to the surviving Gulf Coast refineries wasn't the only challenge. The refineries were struggling to operate in the aftermath. Spare parts to maintain the complex machinery were scarce. The various states as well as the remnants of the Federal Government were jealously hoarding the limited supply of available fuel for themselves and their minions.

The Republic of Texas could be forgiven for hoarding fuel. They had become preoccupied with refighting the Mexican-American war. The covert invasion had become far more blatant after that day of detonations. The illegal invaders had become overtly armed. The Second Alamo had not been forgotten. First Arizona then New Mexico had allied themselves with the Texans in return for fuel. The other Gulf Coast states as well as Georgia had also joined the alliance. The Confederacy had been resurrected.