JAA Ch. 01: Aftermath

The clock ticked down for John and his friends. At exactly, three-fifteen Central Standard Time on October twelfth the hotel shook violently. Even though the event was thousands of miles away it would be felt across the United States and Canada and as far south as Peru.

"It's happening right now," John said to the room.

"What?" questioned those who really did not know?

"The Yellowstone supervolcano is erupting. It is now spewing tons of ash and rock into the air, two miles into the air. Meters of ash will cover everything to the east of Yellowstone. There will be a strong northwester tonight, right about now, in fact, that will curve that ash to the south of here. There will still be ash falling here but not as bad as say Atlanta or Birmingham.

"News reports should start coming in at three-twenty. They will run as long as possible, to about five in the morning when the eastern power grid shuts down. Next will be a communications blackout across the entire southeast and lower Midwest, Chicago included. This hotel does have an emergency generator so we will have lights and some TV reception. Local, as well as network TV broadcast facilities, have emergency generators so they will continue broadcasting news from their western affiliates. The west will remain mostly, directly, untouched from the volcano.

"The world will experience the eruption for years, if not decades to come. Be prepared for everything you once knew, everyone you once knew, to change overnight. Your best choice is to stay here, you will be protected and just to ease your minds, your families are safe. They are downstairs. If you wish you can go to them now."

John paused, as there was a rush to the door. George and Mark were there to control the crowd. There were men stationed along the hall to direct parents to their children. Those here that knew what was happening already knew their loved ones were downstairs in the care of employees of John's company.

The news reports started to come in along with some pictures. The brilliant column of rock, ash and molten magma spewing forth glowed on the television screen. Words scrolled by on the bottom that the pictures were from a Boise affiliate from a mountain top camera they just happen to have. There were also pictures from space. Real-time pictures from the space station.

The news anchors were horrified at the sight of the volcano. They told their audience that the column spewing from the volcano was thirty miles wide.

"Holy crap, thirty miles wide! Do you believe that?" Michelle whispered.

"Yes. It will also go higher than two miles. More like four miles before it's over."

"When does it stop erupting?" Susan asked.

So far, John had not said and nobody, until now, had asked.

"Six months."

"What?"

"Six months."

"Shit! How are we supposed to survive? How are our kids supposed to survive?" Michelle was very upset.

"I have made sure there is enough food and water in this hotel for us and the contingent of security I have here, to last us a year. Within two months, the people escaping to the south will be deserting the greater Chicago Metropolitan area. Most will never get further than the Great Plains, where most will die but those few who survive can start over again.

"We will stay here for at least six months, then move our families to Texas. Transportation and security along with meals and such will be available. Once in Texas, we will start over."

"Doing what?"

"You Michelle, along with Susan and the other doctors in the room will be running a clinic here and when we go to Texas you will be running a hospital there. Any of you who are teachers, I know some of those that are, will be teaching, just as always. Others of you here that have a vocation or occupation that will be useful in the coming years will find yourself as teachers too. Those of you whose jobs will not be needed for decades to come will be going back to school to learn ways to help mankind pull itself out of this cataclysmic event.

"Plus you will be writing down everything you know about what you did before the end of the world, to pass this knowledge on to your children."

John sat watching the televisions as distraught parents returned from their children. The news was bleak and did not get any better as the night wore on. At five A.M. all the televisions displays went to snow, not real snow but video snow. The eastern power grid had been disrupted by the falling ash, shortly after that, the lights in the hotel went out. It took five minutes for the backup generator to fire up.

"Is everyone back?"

Mark handed John a list and shook his head yes. John read the list as everyone waited for him to say something.

"In six months we will travel to a spot in southern Illinois that has been prepared for us. By then the thunderstorms, a frequent companion for the next six months will have washed away the ash.

"We will stay at the Illinois location for another six months while we wait... for the Chinese to become weak enough that we can move through them without fighting."

"What?" shouted several voices in the room.

"Three months from now the Chinese People's Liberation Army invades the US through Los Angeles and San Francisco. They march across Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico smashing all resistance in their path. Until they reach Texas, where they are repulsed and forced to detour to the north. Their march is stopped at the Mississippi."

"Why are you telling us this now?" Michelle asked a little perturbed.

"So you will all know what is coming. This small group will blossom into a large, over three hundred person group over the next six months. If you haven't noticed, our group are the only guests here. I bought this hotel for this very reason. The staff knows what's going on and are now part of our group. Others will join our group as time goes by. We will turn away few. No one is required to stay, you may leave at any time but, a few others and I will be running things, this will not be a democracy and if you have trouble with that you can leave.

"Your children and loved ones will be looked after. But if you can't defend the person standing next to you from someone outside this group with all the force available to you, you might as well leave."

"What kind of force are you talking about?" a voice from the back of the room called out. John knew who said it but did not let on to anyone else he knew, not yet at least.

John rose from the chair he sat in and walked to a closet. He pulled a chest out, threw the lid open, reached inside, and pulled out an M4 with ACOG sight attached. Spinning around he threw it at the man who asked the question.

"Any more question?" John stood staring at him as he looked at the weapon in his hand.

"No, not now."

"And I catch you using that for your own purpose and I will shoot you myself. Is that clear?"

"Yes, except, what's to prevent me from just pointing this at you and pulling the trigger?"

"Me asswipe," a dark sinister voice bellowed just behind Bob.

Bob spun at the remark; the man behind him grabbed the barrel of the weapon and yanked it out of his hands.

"My names Waylon Franklin, I will teach you all how to use this. I will teach you many things you will need to know. I will teach you how to kill silently. I will teach you how to save a life with this weapon. I will teach you about many weapons. Cappy, I mean John, is my best friend. You cross him, you cross me.

"In case you are wondering, I was a Major in the Marines for fifteen years before transferring to the Navy and becoming Seal Team One's leader for ten years. I taught them all they know. I will be happy to teach you how to survive in the world we now live. But, remember who I am and that I can be anywhere before you know I'm there."

Waylon handed the weapon back to Bob who stood there staring at the big man. Bob stretched his arm out with the weapon in it toward John.

"You keep it, for now, Bob, it's not loaded anyway," John told him and turned back to the TV sets as they lit up with pictures once again. "In fact pass it around, let everyone get a feel for its weight empty."

"Who the fuck is Cappy?" Bob said absently.

"Me. Listen up, everyone. From now on, I am Cappy, not John, not anything but, Cappy. Is that clear?"

"Why?" asked Bob.

"You don't need to know why, just do it," John told him.

Everyone nodded their heads as Cappy looked at each one of them.

The pictures on the sets lit up once again. They all showed the same image. A column of brilliant yellow shooting into the sky, a commentator was speaking.

"... the column is estimated to be thirty miles in diameter and spewing into the sky twenty-two hundred tons of magma an hour. The column is reaching heights of three and a half miles before succumbing to gravity. The magma is falling to the east as far away as the Nebraska border. Confirmed sources have predicted that the layer of magma to the east of the volcano will be a quarter mile thick in places. They also predict that the temperature will increase in the northern hemisphere by at least ten degrees Fahrenheit ending the already cold start of winter. They also have informed me that the temperature will be in the high nineties by the end of the week.

"Other sources have put the death toll in the millions as the evacuation of the affected areas could not be accomplished in time to do much good."

The picture shifted on all the monitors. It now showed the same scene as before but from a closer angle as the column of magma curved overhead. A new voice came over the speakers above the roar of the magma in the background.

"... as you can see the molten rock is curving over our position. I am broadcasting live from the roof of the KNOF studios to bring you these spectacular pictures. From what we have been told, we are at the center where the most magma will fall and even if we started now we would not reach the edge of the field in time.

"I plan to continue our broadcast as long as we can. Already parts of the town are burning due to the falling magma."

The camera panned around showing the devastation that had already befallen Cheyenne.

"As you can see it will not be long before the magma will start hitting the ground in a rain of fire. You can already see the glow in the sky as the molten rock particulates in the upper atmosphere. The science guys tell me that the coverage will be... "

The picture on the screen turned a bright red then went dead. It was replaced by the longer feed from Boise.

"We are saddened by the loss of our brothers who are no longer with us. We will have a moment of silence out of respect for all those who have fallen this day."

Cappy turned off the sets and bowed his head.

"Alright, everyone to your rooms, it's been a long night. The bars will remain open for those who can't or won't sleep."

"It sure is warm out!"

"It will be getting much hotter over the next couple of days. Look over there. You can see the glow in the sky as the magma shoots up into the night sky. Oh, you can even see the column tonight."

"That's amazing. How much longer will that be going on?"

"Another six months, oh, here comes the ash."

"That's not snow...oh, it isn't."

"Nope that's ash, it will be falling from the sky for the next two years."

"How deep will it get?"

"Over the next month, it will be ten feet deep south of here until it rains. It will get to be about three feet deep here. We all stay inside until it rains, except to come up here and keep the roof clear of ash. When this stuff gets wet, it gets very heavy.

"We better go in now, it's not good to breathe this stuff."

"It's getting too hot up here anyway."

The two turned and went in the doghouse and down the stairs into the cool interior of the hotel. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a crowd of people waiting.

"The ash has started to fall. Everyone should stay inside unless it is absolutely necessary to go out. Waylon we are going to need a duty roster for people to shovel the roof. Everyone will be on the list, even me. Have it start in about...oh, say two hours, then every two to four hours after that. Clear?"

"Clear Cappy."

Cappy looked around the crowd noting the scowls on the face of the few he knew would object to physical labor. Cappy smiled to himself, as he knew what to do with them if they refused.

"Chelle, come with me."

"Okay, John."

"Cappy, Chelle, Cappy."

"Michelle, Cappy, Michelle."

The two walked away from the others laughing.

The weeks passed and day by day, the heat outside the hotel grew. The ash still fell and the work parties still cleaned the roof, waiting for the rainfall that Cappy said would come. The people who had to clean the roof could only be out in the heat for twenty minutes at a time. The temperatures were reaching highs of one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit.

The ash around the hotel was already as high as the second-floor windows and with each shovelful thrown over the side became higher. Inside the hotel, the air conditioners were working overtime to keep it cool enough to be just slightly uncomfortable.

It was four-twelve in the morning when it started to rain, the thunder and lightning did not start until two hours later. As soon as enough rain had fallen to soak the ash on the ground, it turned into a thick gray soup that barely moved. It was kind of like pudding. The more rain that fell the more diluted the ash became and soon it was slowly flowing through the streets.

It rained for two days, non-stop. Sometimes just a drizzle, others times it came down so hard that it was impossible to see out the windows.

On the third day, the rain stopped. The gooey mess that had been ash was gone, except where trapped by an obstruction. The area around the hotel was clear and the residents could come out. The sky above, gray with ash, would take years to filter down to earth. The air was still stifling as the heat from the volcano drifted east and would remain so until the magma cooled.

Now at least they could get out, stretch their legs, and forage for the things they would need in the future.

Four months had passed, only four months since the end of the world. That humans were still alive was a testament to mankind's will and adaptability. There were now one hundred and seventy-five men, women and children huddled in the safety of the hotel where Cappy had announced the end of the world to a much smaller group. The large motes of ash still fell from the sky like snow. The temperature was warming outside and soon would be almost too warm for anyone to leave the building.

Global warming was happening, at least in the United States, much sooner than anticipated. It would be short-lived, as the magma released from the volcano would soon cool. Then a nuclear winter would come to the northern hemisphere. Currently, satellite pictures showed the northern hemisphere covered by a permanent cloud of ash. The southern hemisphere was clear of ash and enjoyed the sunshine most days.

Chapter 5

As the temperature dropped Cappy and Waylon started training those who would be traveling outside the hotel, several candidates were proficient in what Waylon trained to become trainers themselves along with the contingent of Marines that were the security for the group. Cappy especially wanted the doctors and nurses to be able to defend themselves if they were ever caught outside by those who would want to do them harm.

Waylon was training Michelle and Susan along with three other doctors in the fine art of unarmed close quarters combat. For a big man, Waylon could move like lightning. He was almost fast enough to run around you and stop in front of you and you would never notice he moved, almost. Susan and Michelle were impressed with what Waylon and especially Cappy taught them.

All of the doctors were impressed. Jenny came to Cappy one day with a sour look on her face.

"Why can't I be trained?" Jenny asked her husband with a puzzled look on her face.

"There's no reason you can't sweetheart. I just thought you wouldn't want too. I'm sorry. Tomorrow at nine sharp, in the workout room, you'll have some catching up to do but I'll take you through what you missed tonight. Okay?"

"Yes," she said, smiling at Cappy, as she pumped her right arm up and down.

Jenny turned left out of Cappy's office humming a tune as she walked down the hall. Michelle and Susan were waiting for her and smiling at her as she approached them.

"I join you two tomorrow at nine," Jenny said smiling.

"Great, now let's go practice what we taught you already so you'll be up to speed with us," Susan said, taking Jenny's hand a leading her to the workout room.

The three women worked diligently for the next three hours. All three were sweating profusely when they finally stopped for the day. Each, grabbing a towel off the shelf, headed for their respective rooms to a shower and a change of clothes.

"You do know that Jenny has been working out with Sue and Michelle every afternoon?" Waylon asked his friend as he sat across from him.

"Yes, I do. I have also told her to report to class in the morning. It seems she wants to be part of everything."

"So I've noticed. You also know she has asked me to teach her how to shoot?"

"I suspected she would. You will teach her how?"

"Sure thing, no problem," Waylon said. "In fact, I'll be teaching the three of them the basics this weekend. They all want to learn how to use a weapon properly, so they say."

"Good. You are a good friend, I don't know what I would do without you."

"Probably stumble around in the dark."

"Probably, probably, just make sure they don't shoot each other?"

"Hahaha, they won't, I promise." Waylon rose laughing and left Cappy's office.

The next morning there was an extra person in the close quarter's combat class. She had learned her lessons from Michelle and Susan well. Waylon took her through her paces, then showed the entire class some new moves, using Jenny as his partner.

Three and a half hours later Waylon dismissed everyone. They had all done exceptionally well, including Jenny. She would never be Susan's match but she would give anyone out there a run for his or her money.

"Cappy, she is a fast learner," Waylon told Cappy over lunch.

"Just make sure she remembers, she does have a little problem with her memory every now and then."

"It would appear that the doctors will ensure she remembers as they all worked out again in the afternoon."

"Good. Does she seem to be enjoying herself?"

"Yes, immensely."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that. How long until Susan, Michelle, Linda and the rest of the doctors will be ready to go out into the field?"

"Michelle, Susan, and Linda could probably go now or at least right after they learn how to shoot this weekend. The other doctors don't seem to be all that interested in what waits out there."

"That's okay. Thanks, buddy."

"No problem."

"Now pull the stock of the weapon into your shoulder to steady it, then line up the sights on the target how I showed you. Now put your finger on the trigger and gently squeeze..."

The sound of the six rifles disgorging their deadly missiles halted Waylon's instructions.

"Keep firing, adjust your sight picture after each shot..."

Now multiple rounds zipped down range fired by the six lined up in front of Waylon and two of his Marines. Waylon walked down the line watching each shooter as he paused behind them. So far, Susan and Jenny were far ahead of the others in the number of target hits. Michelle came next, then Linda. The others would get by but would never be sharpshooters.