What Tomorrow Brings Read online

  When it was done, he was alive.

  So were others. They screamed and cried in fear.

  Uninjured, Abe stood and had the wind knocked out of him, not by anything physical, but rather by seeing that a cooling rod had impaled his seat. Had he not bent over that would have been in his chest.

  On that particular plane, passengers boarded through a door located just behind first class, that door, however was gone. His first inclination was to leave, but he couldn’t see anything, only an illuminated cloud around them. The air was cold, and he didn’t smell any fire.

  The moans and cries of people called to him and since he wasn’t hurt, he had an obligation to help. Just as he turned to make his way into the galley he watched a huge cloud of dust blasting from the front of the plane.

  Covering his mouth, he faced the wall of the plane until the debris had rolled by. It moved with a force causing a prickling pain against his bare arms as it hit him. The dust settled low to the floor causing people to cough and choke.

  In the darkness he made his way into the galley. He knew there was a flashlight there and the vodka could be used to clean wounds. Plus there was a canister of oxygen.

  It was overwhelming.

  All he heard was people calling out.

  “Help me.”

  “Someone.”

  “Margret! Are you there?”

  “Oh, God, help me.”

  “Mom! Mom!”

  “Can someone help me?”

  Found them.

  Abe flicked on the flashlight, placed vodka in his pockets and tucked the oxygen under his arm. His immediate thought was to go to the small first class section, knowing they took the brunt of the crash. But there was no movement, no noise, yet cooler air flowed into that compartment. The cockpit was definitely gone.

  When he turned again to go back into the main cabin, he saw people standing, looking around, or helping others. A couple of people fled from the plane.

  The man that was seated next to him in that row was slumped over and still buckled in. Abe walk to him and felt for a pulse, but as soon as his hand touched his throat, Abe knew the man’s neck had been snapped and was broken.

  There were so many people needing help, Abe didn’t know where to go. Then he heard the sound of motors and he looked out the door to see headlights heading their way.

  Agent Staab did indeed call for help. That call probably had those individuals at a distance from the nuclear blast.

  “Hey over here!” a man called to Abe.

  Abe looked to his left, a man was trying to assist the woman next to him.

  “She’s not breathing. She was a second ago, then she coughed and that was it,” the man said panicked.

  “Hold this.” Abe handed the man the oxygen and switched positions with the man. It was the woman he made eye contact with moments before the plane crashed. He felt her neck. “She’s dead.”

  “She wasn’t a minute ago, I swear.”

  Abe lifted the arms of the seats and placed the woman on her back across the seats. It wasn’t an ideal place to help her, but there wasn’t room anywhere else.

  After listening for breath sounds, finding none, Abe began CPR.

  He was at it for a while, with no success. It was long enough that the Schriever people in hazmat suits had rushed on board. They were just pulling people off left, right and hurriedly, too, disregarding injuries.

  Just as he was about to give up, the woman coughed.

  “I got her. She’s back. Give me that,” Abe requested of the oxygen bottle as he placed the mask on the woman. “Here. Here. Take a breath.”

  The woman struggled against the mask, but Abe held on.

  “You hurt?” he asked the man.

  “Um … yeah.” The man exposed his stomach wound. “I don’t know how this happened.” He swayed. Before he toppled one of the Hazmat men grabbed him and immediately escorted him.

  “Hey!” Abe called out. “Over here. I have one here.”

  He grunted in frustration, debating on just carrying the woman out until one of the rescue workers said they’d be back and asked Abe to stay with her. He did, until they carried her to one of the trucks. He didn’t know how he was going to, but he promised he would find her later, and her response was for him to find her son.

  The workers accepted his offer of help, but cautioned they had to move fast, and they’d deal with the injuries later. Fall out would begin in the hit areas, and it would take another thirty minutes until it reached them. Time was critical, radiation would be more deadly than the crash.

  Abe would help as much as he could, but he would also keep an eye out for the woman’s son. He didn’t know what he looked like or how young he was, fortunately there weren’t many children on board. Abe would look, hopefully the child was okay and looking for his mother. He just wished he had a name, it would make his search so much easier.

  NINE – SPREAD

  Kit passed out, but woke up in the front seat of a fast moving pickup truck that smelled like old coffee and cigarettes. She sat up quickly in fear.

  “Easy. You don’t want to hit your head.”

  She looked down, she was covered by a blanket and the oxygen tank set on the seat next to her.

  She looked over to the man driving the truck, he was hard to see, it was dark and the only lights were the dashboard. He was older, at least she thought he was. His voice was thick, raspy and deep, yet somehow comforting.

  “You okay?” he asked. “I didn’t see any injuries. If you think you can breathe, you can take off that mask.”

  Kit did and sat up.

  “Take a deep breath,” he said, then shifted the gear, jarring the truck.

  She did and coughed, but it wasn’t hard, or deep.

  “Try breathing without it. Sorry about the mess. Wasn’t expecting a search and retrieve tonight. And also, sorry about the speed but …” his arm extended across her and he pointed.

  It was far, but there was a glow on the horizon.

  “That’s gonna bring a shit load of radiation. We just need to get to the shelter.”

  “My son,” Kit said.

  “Was he on the plane?”

  Kit nodded. “He was seated right by me. One row.”

  “I didn’t pull you off that plane, they loaded you in my truck.” He said. “I can tell you they were taking everyone off that plane. Hurt, alive …” he cleared his throat. “Casualties.”

  Kit lowered her head. “I have to find my son.”

  “You will,” he said. “What’s your name?”

  “Kit.”

  “Kit, I’m Harland. I’ll be happy to talk to you, explain everything once we get into town and get you situated. In Maltese.”

  “Maltese?”

  “Colorado.”

  “We’re in Colorado?” she asked. “We were flying east.”

  “Maybe they changed course because of events on the ground. Warnings broke on the news just after midnight. Folks out east are probably sleeping through this.”

  “My God, what is happening?”

  “Still trying to figure that out.”

  Kit looked out the window. “I saw nuclear explosions.”

  “From what I heard, two went off near Cheyenne Mountain, one north of Denver, and two weapons that caused minimal damage exploded over Denver as well. They’re thinking chemical and biological. I was hunkering down. Moving what I could to my shelter when the fire chief came to my door. He asked if I was in the mood to go help a plane full of dignitaries and special personnel that were crash landing on Elliott. By the way, your pilot did a great job putting down that plane on the highway. Could have been a heck of lot worse. There were a lot of survivors.”

  Kit exhaled. She searched within herself for the mother son connection. Also that sibling connection. Her emotions more than likely jaded her intuition.

  “I’m not a dignitary,” she said. “I’m not that important.”

  “I beg to differ. You’re more important than a dignitary. You’re a survivor, unfortunately it’s just the beginning for all of us. And …” he pointed ahead. “We’re here.”

  The town of Maltese was for the most part dark. There were a few windows with artificial light, but not many. A couple emergency spotlight poles, the type construction workers used at night, were just outside the main road that led into town. It was hard to gauge exactly what the town looked like.

  Harland told her in preparation for the bombs, they shut down and protected the grid, they wouldn’t get things running again until things calmed down. Just because Colorado Springs was hit already, didn’t mean another hit wasn’t coming.

  Kit didn’t think like that. In her mind when the bombs fell, they fell, there would be no more bombs and war would be over.

  “Where are we all going?” Kit asked Harland.

  “It depends. Everyone is suppose to stay indoors, out of sunlight and preferably in shelters until radiation reaches tolerable levels. Critical injured were moved out to the hospital here and in Elcort. The fire station has a set up for those who have minor injuries. Our school basement is a shelter. Some of us are offering to take folks in.”

  “So my son is in one these places, my brothers as well.”

  “Yes and the more time that passes, the more people that will find their way to the small towns from Colorado Springs. We’re pretty good here. Joe Miess, the science teacher, thinks the mountains may serve as protection. But that’s only theory.”

  He pulled the truck in front of the hospital. “They aren’t gonna let you stay here. If they do, it’ll be to help out. If you don’t find your family in here, you have to pick your battle. The fire station, or the school. Time is running low and they aren’t gonna let you out easily until the radiation falls.”

  “What about you?”

  “Me, well, I’ll let these good folks at Central Medical handle the immediate problems, then I’ll relieve them and do the later. I’m headed home, taking my doses of potassium iodide and staying in until I can cover up enough to be safe. A sick doctor isn’t any good to sick patients.”

  “You’re a doctor?”

  “I am.” He flipped down the sun visor and pulled an orange card from the strap. After opening the door for interior light, he looked down at the card.

  It was the first time she really got to see him and Harland looked every bit like he sounded. Very down to earth, strong, salt and pepper hair, probably in his sixties, He looked more like a rancher than a doctor.

  “So far so good,” he said of the card.

  “What is that?”

  “Personal radiation detector card. Works like a mood ring. Lets me know when the radiation is heavy in the air.” He smiled. “Those guys at the crash site were passing them out left and right.” He put the card in his front pocket. “Let’s go look for your boy.”

  Kit couldn’t have asked for a better person to go into that hospital with. The frazzled nurse knew Harland well and made time to talk to him.

  “We have maintenance blocking windows and moving everyone into the halls,” she said. “We have the staff right now. I thought you were hunkering for a few days at least.”

  “I will,” Harland said. “Cindy, how many from the crash came in?’

  “Seven,” Cindy replied. “Seven critical, one person is fine, he was just helping folks.”

  Kit heard ‘he’ and immediately thought maybe it was Zeke, or one of her brother’s.

  “Elcort Medical took in seventeen critical. I think about a dozen went over to the fire station,” she spoke as she walked. “The rest were divided between the elementary school here and the one in Elcort. I did hear they took some folks to Schriever. Sorry I can’t help out more. Wish I could. I can only confirm what’s here. You’re welcome to look for your son,” she said to Kit. “We have two in surgery now. The remainder are in triage.”

  “I can take her,” Harland said. “The two in surgery?”

  “Both women,” Cindy replied.

  “Thank you.” Harland placed his hand on her shoulder then showed Kit the way to Triage.

  “How’s that card looking?” Kit asked.

  Harland pulled it out of his pocket. “Same. Not shading yet.” He pushed the doors open. “I’m going to guess these people in the halls are from the plane. It’s only five so this gives us some time.”

  It took all of thirty seconds to know that none of those people in the hall were Zeke, Mark or Regis. A part of her felt relief, but the other grew more concerned.

  “I have an idea,” Harland said. “It could save us time and eliminate a place. Obviously they’re communicating with Elcort. How about I find Cindy, we try to reach out and maybe we can see if your son and brothers are there. Maybe they got some names. It’s a long shot, but worth a try.”

  “Yes, that would be great.”

  “What are their names?”

  “Zeke Meyers, Regis and Mark Rolland.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Harland walked away.

  Kit took that moment to catch her breath. One second she was on the plane, the next she crashed and now was on a whirlwind frantic search for her family.

  “Nine F,” he called out. “Nine F.”

  Kit wasn’t sure who was calling out, but she turned toward the voice to see him approaching her. It was the Captain from the plane, the same one who took a seat right before they crashed.

  “I am so glad you’re all right,” he said.

  “Thank you.”

  “I was worried. You weren’t breathing.”

  Kit snapped her finger. “Abe, right? You’re the one who put oxygen on me. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome. I didn’t know if you had any more injuries. I wanted to stop here before going to the school to look for you.”

  “For me?” Kit asked. “That’s right you said you’d find me.”

  “You also asked me to look for your son.”

  Kit’s heart skipped a beat. “You looked for my son?”

  “I did.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  “Listen,” he held up a hand to her. “It may not be good.”

  At that second, Kit’s excitement nose dived to the pit of her stomach. “What happened?”

  “I looked. There were only four children on board. I found the little boy, he was about five, he didn’t make it.”

  “That is so sad. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  “I’m sorry for you, too.”

  “What do you mean?” Kit asked.

  “That was the only male child.”

  “Oh,” Kit exhaled heavily. “No, my son is seventeen.”

  “Oh wow.” Abe stepped back. “Here I was looking for a kid. I … didn’t see any teenagers. I looked everywhere.”

  “You did? You looked everywhere?”

  Abe nodded. “Until they made me leave.”

  “My son was two rows behind me.”

  Abe shook his head. “I didn’t help any injured there. The more seriously injured or killed people were up front, first class and the cockpit.”

  “So those in the main cabin survived?”

  “Well, pretty much. Except the back end. The tail end broke off. Probably when we hit. Anyone seated in the back more than likely got tossed out or …” Abe stopped and looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

  He saw it, he had to, because Kit felt all the blood drain from her face. Her cheeks felt like sandbags. “My brother Mark was seated in the back.”

  TEN – LEFT BEHIND

  The taillights of the last of the rescue vehicles seemed to be swallowed by the black of the night as they drove off into the dust and darkness.

  Regis stood alone.

  There were so many trucks, too many, it was as if they knew the plane was going to crash. There were military vehicles, military buses, local fire departments and not to mention numerous locals with their pickup trucks. Regis heard someone say there were a hundred and eighty people on the plane. With all the ready hands, the rescuers swept in, collected passengers – dead or alive – and moved right out.

  Regis wasn’t surprised at all that they were in Colorado, after all, Dalton had etched that information on the black third page of the novel, Alas, Babylon.

  ‘We are being evacuated as part of COG,’ the note read. ‘Course changed. Destination NM. Nuclear attack imminent.’

  A paperback, Regis placed in his back pocket.

  It was still there.

  Some people probably wouldn’t understand COG, but Regis did. Continuity of Government. Because of his father, he was very familiar with the term COGCON. Continuity of Government Conditions. There were five levels in getting the government ready. He guessed, with the soldiers, they were in level two. The highest level, which was zero, was the full on evacuation of the president and his successors.

  Considering they were so close to Colorado Springs, more than likely the pilot sent out a call for assistance. However, in Regis’ opinion, there were far too many rescue workers for a handful of solders. Somebody important was on that plane.

  Whoever that was didn’t matter to Regis, because he had his own people that were very important to him.

  He was grateful to Dalton for giving him that information. Mentally Regis was preparing when he read the words. It still didn’t lessen the shock of seeing the mushroom clouds glow against the nighttime sky.

  That information allowed him to snap into thinking and reasoning mode when the plane sailed to the ground.

  The nearest Regis could figure was he was in a good spot on that plane. Yes, he felt the bumps and jolts but he was snug in a safe position. In fact, his entire row on both sides were unscathed. Seats weren’t moved, no one was injured.

  Regis didn’t have a scratch.

  The second he realized that he started to pray, but noticed Dalton was freaking out. The young soldier fought with his seatbelt, legs kicking.

  “Hey, hey, calm down. Okay?” Regis told him. “I’ll get you out.”

  “It’s over. They did it,” Dalton said emotionally.