William Johnstone - The Doomsday Bunker

Gasps and moans came from the crowd assembled in the bunker. Larkin’s arm tightened around Susan’s shoulders.

“This follows Russian attacks using high-level bombers as well as missiles on England, France, and Germany. No word has come from any of those countries in the past hour. Total destruction is feared. In addition, Iranian missiles carrying low-yield nuclear warheads have landed in Israel and Turkey, and Iran is now carrying out conventional bombing and missile attacks against those countries. American vessels in the Persian Gulf have attacked Iran but so far have been unable to stop their assault.

“The Pentagon reports that retaliatory strikes by U.S. naval and air forces are being carried out against Russia and North Korea. The President has urged calm from the citizens of this country who have not yet come under attack and has pledged that the United States will be firm and resolute in its opposition to such wanton aggression. He also said that this is not the end of the world.”

Larkin was willing to bet that no one down here believed that, and probably no one anywhere else did, either. The President might be clinging to some hope that it would turn out to be true… otherwise he wouldn’t have anything left to be president of.

Moultrie went on, “I want to express my deep appreciation to each and every one of you for placing your faith in the Hercules Project. You have my word that I will do everything in my power to make sure we all remain safe in these very trying times. As long as there is news to report, we’ll keep you informed.”

Larkin knew what he meant by that. Sooner or later, the Internet would go dark and quiet. The infrastructure to support it would be gone. Then, it would be the same as living underneath a dead world, because they would have no way of knowing what was going on above them.

Or else silence would reign because the rest of the world actually was dead. That possibility couldn’t be discounted, either.

The concrete floor suddenly shuddered under Larkin’s feet, the lights flickered, and startled screams filled the bunker. Susan clutched Larkin and said, “Patrick, was that…”

“That was a hit,” Larkin said. “Close.”

The lights didn’t go out, and after a moment the screaming trailed off, but the hubbub was louder and people milled around more. Evidently their growing fear drove them to move, even though those movements were aimless for the most part.

Graham Moultrie’s voice came back on the speakers. “I’m sorry to have to tell you that a missile armed with a nuclear warhead has struck between Fort Worth and Dallas. We’re picking up that news from Internet postings elsewhere in the country, via underground cable from servers in West Texas that are still online. The electromagnetic pulse from that explosion has knocked all technology in this area off-line. We have no reports regarding casualties or destruction at this time, but it’s safe to assume that both are catastrophic. Whenever we have new information, we’ll announce it right away. Until then… remain calm. Pray for this country. For the world.”

The speakers went off with an audible click.

Susan shuddered against Larkin. “All those people…” she breathed.

He tightened his arm around her shoulders. “I know.”

Nearby, a woman sank onto one of the bunks and began to sob. Larkin didn’t know if she had friends or family in the blast area or if she was just crying for the loss of life in general, and he supposed it didn’t matter. All around the giant, cavernous chamber, more sobs began to be heard. Sorrow thickened in the air like a visible fog.

Bailey was crying, too, although she did it quietly, the tears trickling down her cheeks in silence. Chris sniffled but was trying to be brave. Larkin felt the dampness in his own eyes. He was no more immune to what was happening than his grandchildren were.

Not far away, a man laughed and said, “Biggest bomb to hit Arlington since the Dallas Cowboys.”

Another man grabbed him by the shoulder and jerked him around, demanding, “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“Get your hand off me! We’re safe, aren’t we? Don’t expect me to feel sorry for all those losers out there!”

“My brother lives in Grand Prairie!” a third man yelled.

“Not anymore, I’ll bet!”

Larkin listened to the interchange and muttered, “Stupid…”

The third man said, “You son of a bitch!” and threw a punch.

That was all it took. A wild melee erupted in that part of the chamber as men slugged and cursed at each other. Women and kids weren’t immune from the madness fueled by fear and grief. Larkin herded his family away from the brawl in case it spread in their direction.

The chaos didn’t last long. Members of Moultrie’s security force showed up to put a stop to the fighting. They wore red vests and looked like guys who might have been working in a discount store, but they were good at their job, getting between combatants and grabbing the ones they had to in order to settle them down. Within a few minutes, the fight was over.

Moultrie wanted him to be part of that force, Larkin mused. That was probably a good idea. There would be plenty of trouble down here to take care of. That was just human nature. You couldn’t put this many people together in a limited amount of space and not expect problems.

He was glad, though, that he didn’t have to step in today. He wanted to be with his family as much as he could, this first day of their self-imposed exile.

A woman pushed through the crowd, calling, “Nelson! Nelson! Are you here? Nelson!” Her voice held a frantic, almost hysterical edge. She came up to Larkin and grabbed his sleeve. “Have you seen my husband? His name is Nelson Ruskin.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t know him,” Larkin said. “I wouldn’t know if he’s here or not.”

“I have to find him,” she said with painfully obvious desperation. “He’s supposed to be here. We made plans… we had an arrangement… If it looked like anything was going to happen, we were both supposed to head out here as quickly as we could…”

“There are a lot of people here,” Susan said. Larkin could tell she was trying to be as gentle with the woman as she could. “I’m sure you just haven’t found each other yet. He’s probably looking for you, too.”

The woman didn’t seem to hear. She turned away and pushed into the crowd again, crying, “Nelson!”

“That poor woman,” Susan said quietly as the press of people swallowed the searching woman. “What if her husband didn’t make it?”

“Everyone’s fingerprints were scanned as we came in,” Larkin said. “We’ll know soon enough who got here in time and who didn’t.”

He looked around the big room. He was pretty good at estimating crowds, and he would have said there were almost four hundred people here… but not quite. That meant some of the residents of the Hercules Project hadn’t arrived before Moultrie locked everything up. They’d been left outside to wait for whatever fate had in store for them.

So far he hadn’t felt the vibrations from any more nuclear explosions. American anti-missile defenses had been able to take out some of the attackers. Maybe the missile that had fallen between Fort Worth and Dallas would be the only one to strike the area. That would give some hope, however slight, for survivors aboveground, although the fallout and residual radiation might render the entire Metroplex virtually unlivable for years.

The speakers came on again and hummed for a second before Graham Moultrie said, “We have more news. Multiple missiles armed with nuclear warheads have struck San Antonio and Houston here in Texas, as well as Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. Also, tactical nuclear devices have been detonated in Washington, D. C., New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Miami. It’s thought that these devices were planted and set off by terrorists affiliated with ISIS and other Islamic groups. The timing and the planning required to coordinate such attacks indicates that the terrorists were working with Russia and North Korea, and that a concentrated effort is underway to destroy the United States. There are reports that our counterattacks have caused widespread devastation in those countries. In addition, there have been nuclear exchanges between Israel and Iran, and between Pakistan and India.”