Bobby Akart - Armageddon

This was seen as a sign of weakness by many world leaders and even within the ranks of the U.S. military. Whispers persisted that the president lacked confidence in America’s ability to fight a war overseas. In their minds, the president’s mettle had been tested, and he’d failed.

Then the Islamabad government upped the ante by retaliating against India for air strikes on military sites deep within Pakistan. Their response was a steady barrage of ballistic missiles detonating nuclear warheads in heavily populated India. Once again, India fought back, and as the regional nuclear war broke out, the U.S. remained on the sidelines.

As the Helton administration was now perceived as weak by the world’s bad actors, the Kim regime took the events as an opportunity to flex the Hermit Kingdom’s muscles on the Korean Peninsula. They amassed troops in the demilitarized zone with South Korea. They exercised their first-strike capabilities against Seoul and military targets as a precursor to invasion. Yet that was not enough for the brutal dictator of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which was anything but democratic.

Pyongyang immediately declared war on Japan and launched nuclear missiles toward Tokyo. America’s Aegis missile defense system posted in the region took out all but one of the ICBMs as they sailed over the Sea of Japan.

At this point, the North Koreans went all in. They launched their remaining fixed ICBMs toward high-value targets within the United States. America’s ground-based interceptors, known as GBIs, performed as well as could be expected, but to do so, it had to exhaust multiple defensive missiles per ICBM.

The North Koreans’ barrage overwhelmed the U.S. defenses, and their Chinese-supplied, five-hundred-kiloton warheads wreaked havoc in America. The Kim regime focused on large population centers as well as government and technology centers. On the west coast, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle took direct hits. In the Eastern United States, New York and Washington, DC, were decimated.

Before North Korea’s remaining ICBMs could strike America’s own nuclear silos in the Northern Rockies, the president retaliated, resulting in the near total destruction of North Korea’s cities and military installations.

The nuclear exchange was over, but the aftermath of Armageddon was just beginning.

Finally, President Helton stopped pacing. He was handed a dry towel to dab the sweat off his face. His chief of staff, Harrison Chandler, patted him on the back and gave him a reassuring smile. The nukes had stopped flying, and it was time to get to work.

“Let’s start with a damage assessment,” said Chandler, allowing his boss to regain his composure.

The director of National Intelligence, who’d remained with the president throughout, took the lead on the intelligence briefing that was uncharacteristically held in the open forum within Mount Weather’s operations center. The president didn’t want to leave, as he was still skeptical of China’s promise to stand down, and he wanted to be present if they retaliated against the U.S. on North Korea’s behalf.

“Sir, it would be impossible to discuss casualties at this point.” He began the grim assessment in a sullen tone of voice. “Comms are down in every region that received a direct hit. Our appraisal of the situation is based primarily on satellite imagery.”

“Understood,” said the president with a nod to his DNI to continue.

“As we’ve learned, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle were all likely struck with a one-half-megaton warhead based upon our calculations of the crater’s size in each location.”

“How big?”

“Five hundred kilotons, sir.”

“No. I meant how big was the crater?”

“My apologies, sir. Other than San Francisco, they were similar in size. Roughly two hundred to three hundred feet deep with a diameter in excess of a thousand feet.”

“San Francisco was different?” President Helton asked.

“Yes, sir. Ground zero for that warhead was at the lower end of San Francisco Bay near Santa Clara. It struck just at the water’s edge, destroying much of Silicon Valley and sending a tsunami-like wave away from the blast site toward San Francisco, Alameda, and Oakland. The coastal areas of San Francisco Bay are currently covered with thirty feet of water.”

“Jesus,” the president mumbled to himself. His forehead instantly became covered with sweat again, and he mopped his brow with the towel he clutched in his left hand. “Denver?”

“Denver’s situation is both a blessing and a curse, sir.”

“None of this is a blessing, Mr. Director,” the president interjected in an angry tone.

“My apologies, sir. That was out of line and a poor choice of words.” The director shuffled his feet and looked down before continuing. “Sir, Denver avoided a direct hit like the three westernmost cities. That was what I was referring to. There have been no reports of loss of life as a result of the detonation.”

President Helton took a deep breath and exhaled. He wiped his forehead again and patted his DNI on the upper arm. “I’m sorry, too. That part is a blessing. Please explain.”

“Yes, sir. One of our ground-based intercepts struck the incoming nuclear missile approximately seven miles northwest of Boulder. The likely target for that ICBM was Cheyenne Mountain. When the two missiles collided, the nuclear warhead detonated and sent out an electromagnetic pulse in all directions.”

“How far?” asked the president.

“Unknown at this time. However, if the weapon was similar in payload to the other warheads that struck the west coast, based upon the height of the collision at an altitude close to thirty miles above the planet’s surface, we can expect a radius of four to five hundred miles from Denver.”

Chief of Staff Chandler stepped toward one of the aides and pointed toward a screen. “Can you give us a graphic illustrating a five-hundred-mile radius of Denver?”

“Yes, sir. Just a moment.”

Less than half a minute later, a map of the United States appeared with two concentric circles appearing around Denver as their center point. Within the largest ring, the cities of Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, and Kansas City were either included or close.

The director of National Intelligence continued. “Based on the science and our computer models, electronics in the area extending five hundred miles from Denver would no longer be operable. Again, this is preliminary based upon our best assessment of all relevant factors.”

The president ran his hand down the front of his face and covered his mouth. He took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled into his hand, causing his cheeks to puff out.

The DNI continued. “Sir, the fiery debris from the collision rained down upon the Rockies just west of Denver. With the dry conditions, wildfires have broken out along the eastern slope of the mountains from Cheyenne Mountain north toward Fort Collins and south toward Pueblo.”

“What about in the east?” asked Chandler.

The president had to steady his nerves to get an assessment of New York City and the nation’s capital. Minutes later, his worst fears had materialized. Many millions were dead. Most of Washington, DC, had been obliterated, as was New York City. And fires from the superheated blast were spreading outward, devouring everything in their path.

Friday, October 25

Fair Oaks Mall

Fairfax, Virginia

On the upper level of the mall immediately adjacent to Dick’s Sporting Goods was an empty space being remodeled for a jewelry store. The interior was still under construction, but the glass wall units and display cases had already been installed. The exposed drop ceiling was partially in place, and the HVAC ductwork was in the process of being installed.