S Ison - Russian Doomsday

Sayer looked around. “It is getting dark and I really want to get on the road. Let’s hurry.”

They grabbed some cardboard and Sayer wrote on several of the large pieces. Once done, he placed some in the cart. Using paracord, he strung two signs up and gave one to Joy.

“Put it around your neck and look as downtrodden as you can. If anyone asks if we know what happened, act surprised and ignorant. We’ve been traveling along, looking for work and a place to lay our heads. That is our story. I’m hoping that, because we look like we have nothing, no one will bother us.”

“I hope you’re right. I’ve checked my weapon and I’ll keep it hidden inside my jeans,” Joy said, patting her waist, where she’d strapped the small holster for her Sauer P238.

Once they were all packed, they capped the load off with a heavy waterproof tarp.

“Are you ready to go? Remember, we’re ignorant and poor. We don’t want to say a lot. Just play dumb and hopefully we’ll be left alone. Let’s walk for as long as we can,” he suggested.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. If we get too tired, I think there is room on the cart to curl up. I stuck our pillows under there with the blankets. I just hope we don’t run into too many people.”

Pike went into the battery bank room and brought out both the old Geiger counter and the new one. He turned on both, and smiled as Margo brought him his heavy rain gear. They hoped it would protect him should there be radioactive fallout. They didn’t know where it had been detonated, but the effects had already hit the electrical components.

“At least both Geiger counters work. I’m really glad the shielding worked. It really paid off to layer it with multiple materials.” Pike was once more thankful they’d hardened the component room.

“Do you think you should wear a mask?” Margo said, worry clearly in her voice.

“Yeah, just in case. I don’t want to breathe that stuff, even if we’ve taken our potassium iodide tablets. I don’t want to push my luck.” He grinned, though he felt like crying. He’d really hoped this wouldn’t happen, but it had. He thought of Johnny and Beverly. In his heart he knew they were dead. If the Russians had only sent one POSEIDON, then maybe they had a chance.

But the Russians had indicated that POSEIDON was planned for underwater detonation off the coast. He hoped that, if they were dead, they hadn’t known what had hit them. That was all anyone could hope for in that scenario. It was the rest of them that would suffer, be it from food deprivation, starvation, disease, radiation exposure or whatever else befell them.

He placed the heavy plastic shielding mask over his face, the type used for spraying foam insulation. It had been the easiest to acquire and had a filtered respirator. He went to the door. He felt like he was suffocating with all the heavy gear on, but he was afraid to go outside without it. He turned on both Geiger counters and heard their soft clicking.

He tried to breathe normally so as to not steam up the visor of his mask. Margo pulled back the heavy plastic sheeting and he ducked beneath it and went outside. He stepped out and looked around. He’d been almost afraid everything would be on fire or somehow glowing, but it all looked normal, unchanged. Some ducks were even swimming past on the lake.

His breaths slowed and he looked down at the old Geiger counter. It was clicking softly, but showed no change. Then he looked at the new one. Nothing registered on that one either. He double-checked both to ensure that they were working. No high rate of clicks on the old one. That’s good .

Pike started walking toward the water, waving the Geiger counters around. Still nothing.

After exploring the immediate surrounds of the cabin, he returned to the house and tapped gently on the door. Margo opened it for him and he ducked under the plastic. He smiled when he saw her face, and she relaxed a bit.

“It is all clear out there, like nothing happened.” He grinned and showed her the new Geiger counter.

“Are you sure they work?” Margo said, looking at both machines.

“I hope they do,” he said as he began to discard his rain gear, “but I’m thinking that we keep checking. Stay mostly indoors for the next two weeks if we can stand it. Keep taking our potassium iodide tablets and see how it goes. If all goes well, Sayer and Joy should be here in about an hour or so. It’s already been an hour since we lost power. If they were home, they’d have loaded up and headed this way.”

Margo took the rain gear from him and put it away in the closet, then put the Geiger counters back in the equipment room. She turned, “What if their truck doesn’t work? Or they have trouble getting here?”

“I guess they’ll get here when they get here. Sayer and Joy both know how to use their weapons. If they aren’t here by later this evening, then that means they’re coming on foot. They have their bugout bags. I think they should be okay.”

Having the plastic up made the cabin darker than usual, and so Pike turned on a couple lamps. He was glad they’d acquired LED lightbulbs, as they used far less energy and were bright enough to dispel the gloom. It also helped to dispel the fear that was snapping around his ankles like a fog on a dark night.

“Everything outside looks and feels normal. It might take people time to figure out what’s going on,” he said.

Margo had begun to make dinner, and as she worked, he noticed her hands were trembling. He walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him. He kissed her head. “We’re okay. Everything has changed, but for now and for us, nothing has changed. We now waste less, conserve more, and keep going like we have been. Except, we don’t have to go to work. And we keep our weapons on us every moment of every day.” He chuckled, but then felt her body shake.

She turned into him, crying. “I don’t know why I’m so afraid, but I am. Just knowing so many are already dead. Knowing that our very country has been destroyed. I didn’t think I would feel so afraid, but I am.”

“I’m afraid too. But we have each other, we have our weapons, and when Sayer and Joy get here, we will have our friends. We’re ahead of the game, Margo, and if we’re careful, we will survive.”

He felt her nod, and released her. She looked up into his eyes, her own shining a pale green with tears. He bent and kissed her nose, and she laughed shakily.

He watched as she turned back to the stove, then he walked over to the couch and sat down. Binx cried, and he patted the couch beside him. The dog placed his small head in Pike’s lap and he sat there, petting the animal. He knew Binx had sensed the vibrations, could probably still feel them. It must have been an unbelievable explosion to still have the shockwaves traveling underground all the way from the East Coast or West Coast, or worse, both.

“What’s for dinner?” he asked, trying to sound normal.

“I’m making fried rice. We had rice left over from yesterday, so I figured I’d use it. Also, I had picked some green onions from the garden this morning. They aren’t big, but they are nice,” Margo said, looking over her shoulder at him. She smiled at him and he winked back.

He looked at the old-fashioned clock on the wall. It was now nearing eight. He hoped Sayer and Joy were on their way.

Dalton and Peggy walked first along the sidewalk and then down the road. He kept his arm around her, and had whispered for her to just keep looking ahead. Some people behind them were yelling, all talking at once. It was a long walk to her home and it would take them all night, but he figured he had a head start on all those who were still standing around.