G Hopf - The End

Sebastian was in shock. His mind immediately raced to Gordon, Samantha and the kids. He couldn’t believe it, the bastards had done it; they had finally done it, they had gone nuclear.

Barone continued on, “Marines, it has not been confirmed. Let me say it again, this has not been confirmed, but with the nuclear attack on our Capitol, our Commander in Chief, the president, the vice president and the entire Congress may be among the casualties. If this is indeed the case, our enemies have effectively cut the head off of our government. At this moment, we are operating under procedures put into place in anticipation of a situation like this. Marines, it appears that we are in the midst of World War III. We do not yet know who actually orchestrated the attack, but I can tell you this, we will find out and when we do, they will have to face the United States Marine Corps!”

Some Marines started yelling, “Ooh Rah!” in response to Barone’s address.

“Marines, we have to clear out of Afghanistan immediately. We have birds coming in tomorrow morning at 0600. They will take us to ships positioned in the Arabian Sea. From there, we’ll sail to the East Coast of the United States and assist with the search and rescue efforts around Washington, D.C.”

He looked around at all the Marines in front of him and then continued.

“Marines I know all of you are concerned for your family members back home. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, too, but we have a mission; we are United States Marines and we must not fail. Our country needs us now more than ever! We must be vigilant. Tonight, pack your gear and be ready to depart this wasteland tomorrow!”

Barone walked back to his position centered on the battalion, stood at attention and yelled, “Battalion attention!”

Master Sgt. Simpson walked around Barone until he faced him, and then saluted.

Barone saluted back and said, “Top, give final instructions to the company 1 stsergeants and get these Marines prepared to ship out at 0600 tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Simpson replied.

Barone finished his salute and walked away.

Oklahoma City, OK

“Nurse! Nurse!” Brad Conner yelled down the darkened hall of the hospital. The power was out everywhere, but most disturbingly the power was off to his son’s life support system.

The stress was visible on Conner’s face as he continued yelling for assistance, receiving no response. All he could see was hospital staff scrambling in the partial darkness, frantic and confused. Other voices echoed from rooms up and down the ICU wing.

“Bobby, it will be alright,” Julia Conner whispered to her son, who lay motionless in the hospital bed. Tears streamed down her face. “Brad, anything? Is anyone coming? What happened to the power?”

Conner turned and looked back at his wife, “It will be okay, the emergency generators will kick on any minute.” He started to fear the worst, but kept telling her that everything would be fine, even though he was concerned. The pain on Julia’s face was something he’d never seen. Her dark brown hair hung down covering her fine features. She was always put together, never one to be seen without her hair done or makeup on outside of the house. Julia always wore the best in clothing and had maintained an attractive figure throughout her life.

He allowed a few more moments to pass without any hospital staff checking in before storming down the hallway toward the nurse’s station. As he approached, it became apparent he would find no help there. What little staff remained was hopelessly trying to see if anything would come on. He overheard several nurses mumbled to themselves that the emergency generators should have come on by now.

“Excuse me,” Conner tried to interject, but no one paid him any attention. “Excuse me!” this time at full volume.

One nurse stopped her conversation with a doctor to shoot back plainly, “Sir, we are working on the issue and will have the power back on very soon.”

“That might be fine for you and me, but my son in room 303 has no life support and I need your assistance now!” He slammed his hand on the counter, “NOW!”

The nurse turned to him, visibly irritated by him and frustrated by the greater situation. She repeated, with attitude in her voice, “Sir, the power will be on soon. We will go check on your son very, very soon.”

“Listen, you don’t know who I am; I am the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. I am not asking you, I am telling you, to go down to room 303 and check on my son, now!”

Her eyes opened wide. She was visibly disturbed by his last statement, “Take me to your son’s room.”

She came out from around the counter at the nurse’s station and ran beside Conner, down the hall to room 303.

When they entered the room, Julia was sobbing uncontrollably, her head placed against Bobby’s limp hand. The nurse immediately approached their son and checked his pulse. She reached over him and grabbed a stethoscope and put it on. She continued checking his vitals, listening intently but hearing nothing. The nurse dropped the stethoscope and ripped open Bobby’s hospital gown to administer CPR. Julia, with tears streaming down her face and gripped by fear, sat frozen, watching the nurse desperately try to revive her son. Conner came to her side and put his hands on her shoulders.

The nurse administered CPR for what seemed like forever, pausing every few minutes to check his vitals. Eventually, she ran to the loud and chaotic hallway and yelled, “Dr. Rivera, Dr. Rivera!”

“He’s down here in 311!”

“I need him in 303, stat!”

No reply.

The nurse turned back to Bobby. She again checked his vitals and continued the CPR. Another few minutes passed and, after checking Bobby’s vitals one last time, she turned to Conner and his wife and whispered, “I am so very sorry.”

“No, no! You keep trying, don’t you stop!” Julia screamed hysterically. “That’s my only boy there, don’t you stop!”

“Ma’am I have tried; I could give him more CPR but he’s gone, there’s nothing more I can do,” the nurse replied, her voice subdued and defeated.

“Goddamn you! Get someone else in here who will try,” Julia yelled at the nurse. She turned to her husband, “Brad, goddamn it, do something!”

“Julia, I think he’s gone.” Conner said, sadly, to his grieving and hysterical wife. He then lowered his head in sorrow.

“No, no!” she said hitting her husband in the chest twice. She pushed past him, walking toward the nurse who began to back away, apprehensive about what was coming toward her.

“Get out of my way!” Julia said to the nurse. She then bent over and placed her ear against her son’s chest. She started to try to perform CPR herself; it was obvious she did not know what she was doing.

Both the nurse and Conner watched Julia, stunned. Conner stood there for a brief time before motioning for the nurse to leave. He walked over to his wife, who was still unsuccessfully attempting CPR, and placed both arms around her. She tried to shrug him off at first, but eventually gave in and collapsed onto her dead son. The hospital’s chaos faded as they sank into their own despair.

Musa Qala, Helmand Province, Afghanistan

“Holy shit, I cannot believe this is happening,” Sebastian said to Lance Corporal Tomlinson while stuffing his sea bag.

“I know; I’m shocked too; I just hope my folks and girlfriend are cool. My parents live up in Northeast PA and you know my girl is out in O’side.”

Grabbing more gear and forcing it into his bag, Sebastian said, “Whoever did this needs to die, all of them need to die. I just hope I get them in my scope; I’ll fucking kill them.”