Bobby Akart - Desolation

Erin thought to herself, Sounds familiar .

Marino interjected, “Our regular council meetings have been cancelled until further notice. I still have a few little birdies running around the admin building in Key West who get messages to me by various methods. It appears the mayor pro tem and the sheriff are in. I and the other two commissioners are on the outs.”

Hank asked, “What do you mean by that? The decision-making process?”

“Yes, among other things. Here’s an example. Supposedly, according to a couple of friendly maintenance personnel, Lindsey has ordered a cleanup of Key West. Now, I can’t argue with that. We’re doing the same in the Upper Keys. However, she’s going one step further. She’s starting by moving vehicles into newly created impound lots, and she’s ordered the maintenance department to drain their gasoline. After that, she’s gonna send maintenance personnel to every house with a parked car to drain their tanks as well.”

“People will pitch a fit,” said Hank.

“They’re going to be accompanied by SWAT,” added Marino. “She means business.”

Freeman sat up in his chair and leaned forward to the edge. “Here’s the thing, Hank. Our hospital will possibly be the beneficiary of these actions. I assume so, anyway. We need gasoline to run our generators. Without a refill, we’ll run out in a couple of weeks. Without a bridge to the mainland, we don’t have a way to call Tallahassee for help.

“That said, I’ve got a real problem with her stealing gasoline from people. I know. I know. Harsh words, but it’s how I feel.”

“As do I and many others like me,” said Marino.

Hank thought a moment. These two influential people in the Upper Keys could be an asset. But he needed help in laying the groundwork to execute Erin’s plan.

“Bud, where does the county attorney stand in all of this?” he asked.

“True blue friend of the mayor. Hell, he drafted the executive order declaring her to be Queen of the Keys.”

Hank grimaced.

Freeman was curious. “Why do you ask?”

“I need someone who knows the county’s charter documents together with any recent amendments. I need to see what our options might be in dealing with our not-so-friendly mayor.”

“Well, that’s an easy one, Hank. Do you remember Cheryl Morton? Her family was one of the original conchs who developed Vaca Key.”

“Yes, of course,” responded Hank. “She was the county attorney for years. Lives on Morton Street, her family’s namesake.”

Marino perked up. “Drop in on her. I’ll arrange to have my set of all the county’s governing documents, including current versions of Lindsey’s recent EOs, sent to her home. I see where you’re headed with this, and let me say, unofficially, you know, between us, I’m on board.”

“Count me in, too,” said Freeman.

The group chatted for a moment, and Hank glanced over at the clock on Freeman’s desk. It was approaching noon, and he wanted to be in Jimmy’s room when the doctor came. Besides, he got more than he’d hoped for in the chance meeting with Freeman and Marino.

He escorted Erin out of the hospital administration suite of offices and into the stairwell. Once the door was closed, she grasped him by the arm and spontaneously kissed him.

“Hank, you’re a natural. You’re keen. Intuitive. A great listener and very analytical.”

He didn’t hear a word she said. All he could think about was her kiss.

Monday, November 11

U.S. Army War College

Carlisle Barracks

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

The federal government was never known for doing anything efficiently or speedily. However, when President Carter Helton became singularly focused on reestablishing the seat of government in a location above ground, the logistics arms of government moved with lightning-fast speed.

Within a week of making the move to the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town of twenty thousand people located two hours west of Philadelphia, all three branches of government had found new homes.

Ultimately, President Helton’s plan was to formally relocate the nation’s capital to Philadelphia, where it had been temporarily seated from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, DC, was being built.

Philadelphia was one of eight forgotten capitals of the United States. In 1774, the Continental Congress met inside Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. Just two years later, it reconvened in Independence Hall, where it adopted the Declaration of Independence. Thereafter, as the Revolutionary War raged on and various skirmishes with the British continued, other locations had been adopted on a temporary basis to protect the fledgling government.

Locations included Baltimore near the end of 1776 when the British were closing in on Philadelphia. In 1777, the enemy was once again closing in on Philadelphia, forcing the city to be evacuated. If for only a day, the nation’s government operated out of the Lancaster County courthouse in the heart of Amish country.

As the conflict with Great Britain stretched into the end of the century, York, Pennsylvania, Annapolis, Maryland, New York City, and two New Jersey locations, Trenton and Princeton, all claimed the moniker America’s capital.

The president, a native Pennsylvanian, relished the opportunity to bring the nation’s capital back to Philadelphia. After the crisis passed, he expected there to be calls for a return to Washington. He’d already heard whispers and murmurs within the confines of Mount Weather that DC should be restored and rebuilt. He had other plans.

Because the District of Columbia had been ground zero for a nuclear detonation, he intended to have his Environmental Protection Agency administrator declare it to be too dangerous for full-time residents or office workers. He hoped to rally support for making the former capital a war memorial.

These were just a few of the many ways President Helton hoped to remake America in his vision. He dreamed of leaving multiple lasting legacies so his presidency would be remembered for centuries. One legacy he didn’t want associated with his presidency was a perception of weakness because the likes of Texas and the Florida Keys had the audacity to turn their backs on their fellow Americans.

Legacies aside, the president was also presiding over the largest loss of life in the history of mankind. No war. No pandemic. No natural disaster had ever caused this many deaths so quickly.

As the scientists explained it, the onset of nuclear winter was akin to the eruption of one of the world’s supervolcanoes. The out-of-control fires polluted the atmosphere in a way carbon emissions from vehicles never could. Just like the models depicting an eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, nuclear winter resulted in an unparalleled environmental catastrophe.

That morning, the president had been informed of a new threat as he tried to look forward to spring and a new growing season. The scientists had referred to this threat as zombie fires . Due to the rapidly cooling temperatures, snow had already begun to blanket the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The wildfires generated by the nuclear attacks had not been extinguished. Beneath the layer of fresh snow, the fires continued to smolder underground, chewing through carbon-rich peat.

The president was advised that in the spring, as the Earth thawed from the throes of what portended to be a brutal winter, these fires would reanimate. Geologists and scientists at the United States Geological Survey used available satellite data and reporting on the ground to develop an algorithm that could detect where the fires were still smoldering under the snow falling atop the ground. A heat map was generated, indicating thirty-eight percent of the land mass surrounding the current blazes would reignite, and there was nothing man could do to stop it.