G Hopf - The End

“What about Sophie?” Melissa looked down to her baby in her arms.

Gordon paused and looked at Melissa rocking Sophie, “She’ll be fine. You’re breast feeding right?”

Melissa nodded.

“Then she’ll be okay, as long as you take care of yourself. Do not give her any water unless you know it’s clean. I recommend you go home now and start prepping. We’ll keep an eye on you from here. If you need anything, come by.”

Jimmy reassured, “Yes, Melissa, don’t hesitate. Come by if you need anything, anything at all.”

Melissa stood up and started for the door. Gordon followed her out.

“Melissa, if you need anything please let us know. I’d say call but—,” Gordon made a weak attempt at humor.

Melissa smiled and said, “Thank you. I’ll let you all know when Eric makes it back.”

Gordon watched as she walked off into the darkness toward the sidewalk. He closed the door and went back into the living room. Jimmy was trying to console Simone, who was still very upset. Not wanting to intrude, he left the room and walked down the hallway toward the playroom. He saw the small light flicker off and on in the room and heard laughter. He walked up to the doorway and looked in. The kids were under a blanket with the flashlight, they were turning it off and on.

He then realized Samantha hadn’t been in the living room when he walked in on Jimmy and Simone. He assumed she’d be in the kitchen, but when he checked, it was empty. He spent the next few minutes looking for her. Finally he checked the garage, saving it for last because he couldn’t think of any reason she’d go in there by herself. He opened the door and, sure enough, there she was. She was holding a notepad, taking an inventory of the food they had just brought back.

“What are you doing?” he asked, already knowing her answer.

“Taking inventory; it needed to be done. Why don’t you go and get the bike and trailer and bring it back so we can take our half home,” she suggested, not looking away from the notepad.

“That’s not going to happen, I am sore as hell and like my grandad use to say, ‘work smart, not hard,’ ” Gordon replied.

Not looking at him she responded, “However you get this home, just get it done.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he walked over to her and stood behind her. He reached around with his arms and brought her close to him. “I love a take-charge woman.”

“Gordon, now is not the time,” she shrugged him off.

“Okay. I just love it when you start to bark orders,” he said and then slapped her on the butt.

She stopped writing for the first time since he walked into the garage and snapped at him, “Really, you think this is an appropriate time?”

Gordon stepped away and said, “It’s okay, I know where you live.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Gordon went back into the living room. Jimmy was still on the couch but Simone was gone.

“Where did Simone go?” Gordon asked

“She went to go check on the kids.”

“Hey, I’m going to load up my supplies in your truck and take them to my house, OK?”

“You do that,” Jimmy responded. He reached down and grabbed his glass of bourbon and tossed it back, downing the whole glass.

Gordon looked at his friend for a moment then headed back to the garage. He was tired but there still was a lot of work to do before he would rest.

Tinker Air Force Base, OK

Flanked by an entourage of people, Conner walked briskly toward the aircraft waiting on the tarmac.

“How is it this plane is operational?” Conner asked pointing at the aircraft.

“It’s an E-6 Mercury sir,” Griswald answered loudly. He almost had to yell as they grew closer to the plane. The high-pitched whine of the plane’s engine made it hard to hear. “We did do something right, sir. We have a fleet of these which are hardened against nuclear or EMP attacks. They are a mobile command post to be used for incidents just as this.”

“Glad to hear some of our money was spent wisely,” Conner responded.

Standing at the base of the stairwell, he looked up contemplatively. He’d walk through the door as Speaker of the House and out as the President of the United States. Grabbing the rail, he jogged up the stairs. A uniformed officer saluted and led him to a furnished conference room on board.

Griswald and a few members of the entourage followed Conner into the conference room. Conner turned to Griswald and asked, “Any update on my wife?”

“No sir, not yet. Sir, we have not been able to track down a judge but we do have a Bible. May I suggest we get you sworn in so we can proceed with any response we may have to these attacks?” Griswald implored.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Conner said standing up.

Griswald turned to his aide, “Give me the Bible and the oath of office.”

The aide stepped forward with both requested items.

“Stand there and hold the Bible,” Griswald instructed his aide.

Conner placed his left hand on the bible and raised his right hand.

Griswald proceeded, “Mr. Speaker, please repeat after me. I, Bradley Raymond Conner…”

Conner repeated, “I, Bradley Raymond Conner…”

“…do solemnly swear…”

“…do solemnly swear…”

“…that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…”

“…that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…”

“…and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

“…and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God,” Conner finished, overwhelmed with emotion.

Griswald put his hand out, “Mr. President.”

Conner took his hand and shook it, then gave his first order as president, “General, I need an up-to-date briefing on the status of everything.”

“Yes sir,” Griswald answered enthusiastically.

All those in the room took their seats. Griswald sent his aide to find out what new information might have come in since their last briefing over an hour ago.

“While we wait, can you tell me now how our forces are positioned around the globe?” Conner asked.

Griswald turned on the large flat screen monitor at the head of the room. He pulled up a map of the world and started to touch options on the side. With each tap on the screen, avatars representing military units began to appear on the map.

“Sir, what we know as of this morning is that we have carrier groups positioned here and here. We also have two Amphibious Ready Groups positioned here and here. Each ARG represents a reinforced battalion of Marines and all the air assets they would have to accompany them. In Afghanistan, we have two more battalions of Marines. Our land-based Army units in Europe have been unresponsive. This is due to an EMP detonation over central Europe which has destroyed their entire power grid from England to central Russia. All military units in the contiguous United States are down. We have been able to reach Hawaii and Alaska. There we have a mix of Army, Navy, Air Force and a Marine Infantry Brigade located in Hawaii. Many of our attack and ballistic missile submarines are fully operational and are located here, here, here and here.”

Interrupting Griswald, Conner asked, “General, tell me what you think happened or how it happened.”

“Sir, we believe that the EMP bomb was deployed on a missile and fired from some type of ship-based platform.”

“What happened to our missile defense systems?”

“Sir, we don’t know why the missile was not intercepted or if an attempt was made to intercept it. We strongly believe it was fired from offshore, probably onboard a container ship.”