G Hopf - The End

Griswald exited his room and closed the door; he looked up and down the stark and dimly lit hallway. He had become more cautious about his movements and surroundings since he had been meeting secretly with those he thought supported his opposition to President Conner’s plans. With another meeting concluded, he was pleased to see his group grow daily. He felt soon he would have strong enough support to openly challenge Conner. With each new meeting he left feeling more confident. One topic that came up a lot in his meetings was what to do with Conner. Griswald’s initial intentions were not to depose Conner but to convince him he did not have support and will of his staff. However, that position was shifting toward usurping Conner.

Griswald had been working non-stop since the attacks and had barely slept. The reports coming from the outside were frightening, the death toll across the country was growing each hour, local small gangs and groups were taking advantage of the situation and there wasn’t much anyone in government could do. They had been able to reach out to 34 different governors. They had pledged the support of the U.S. government, but all knew it was mainly talk. Each governor they spoke with asked the same questions. They wanted to know when that support would come and how much. All Griswald or anyone on his staff would say is “soon.”

Even while the general was working behind the scenes against Conner, he did his appointed job. He didn’t mean the new president ill will, he actually liked Conner personally but now felt he was not fit to lead.

Griswald entered the command post briefing room. Everyone looked up at him; he had never been late to a scheduled briefing. He offered his apologies to the president and all present and took his seat. The vice president continued his update on the calls he had just had with governors and how the situation looked in those state capitals. The reports from each governor sounded the same. They had set up various safe zones for civilians to go and the state capitol was in operation but obviously limited due to no power. Each governor had reported that their surplus supplies were running short and soon they would be out. They had reported that violence against civilians had increased dramatically. The only advice they could give their people was to stay indoors. The one word they all told the VP was that the situation was becoming “hopeless.” Cruz tried to reassure all of them but he did not make any promises. He told each one of them that the president and new government were working hard with the help of the U.S. military and foreign governments to get aid and supplies to them fast.

“Andrew, thank you. I want to put this out to all here. Please feel free to comment openly,” Conner stated following Cruz’ briefing. “Who do we resupply first; we have ships just off of our shores now with food, fuel, medicines and equipment. Where should those go first?”

The eight people present around the table just looked around at each other. No one wanted to answer, because the answer meant that someone else would suffer or go without.

Finally Griswald broke the silence. “Mr. President, let’s first ask the question. Where will the new U.S. capital be? From there we can look at where we should send supplies.”

Conner nodded in acknowledgement of the question, he was thinking about the question. “That is a good question general. I have given only a little thought concerning the new capital. That would make more sense to build up the governmental infrastructure so that we have a solid base to work from. Where do you propose general?”

“I believe we should find a coastal city, one that has a large port. This will make it easy to get that city back online and rebuilt. From there we can look at expanding out from there.”

“What about here?” someone asked.

“Why not here?” Conner asked, too.

Griswald replied. “It is far easier to get the resupplies and new transformers via ship than plane. A city that has a port that can handle large container ships is where we should go.”

“That makes a lot of sense general,” Conner said making some notes.

“We have another problem that I didn’t think of till late last night,” Griswald said. He leaned forward and said, “I cannot believe none of us had thought about this.”

“What is it?” Conner asked looking concerned.

“When we select our new capital we should ensure it’s nowhere near a nuclear power plant.”

Gasps came from in the room. No one needed him to explain further, they knew exactly what Griswald was talking about.

Conner leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. He, too, knew what Griswald was talking about. “How could we not think about this before? As if we needed another problem.”

“How many sites do we have across the U.S.?” Houston asked, he was sitting next to the president.

“I don’t know, does anyone?” Griswald answered.

Everyone in the room shook their heads no. Griswald turned to his aide and ordered, “Go find out, we must have that information here somewhere.” Griswald’s aide didn’t hesitate. He departed the room with urgency.

“It appears we are premature in discussing the location of the new capital. Please alert the governors and our forces about this new threat. We will need to see what we can do to attempt to evacuate people away from those reactors.” Conner said, he was clearly upset by the new revelation.

“Sir, forgive me for even mentioning this, but what can we really do? What aid can we deliver and how exactly can we evacuate people?” Houston asked.

“General, we have to try something; we cannot sit around and do nothing. Let’s inform the governors and we’ll go from there,” Conner said.

“I can’t believe we all overlooked this,” Griswald stated.

“Mr. President, I don’t think it’s premature to have the question about how we will distribute resources, let’s be realistic here. This country is huge and with the limited resources we have we can’t get to everyone; we’ll need to focus on a small area and work from there. We have to put all of our focus, energy and resources into one city and work from there. In essence what I am saying is we need to abandon parts of this country and hope we will be able to get them back up later,” Houston said.

Conner just sat and reflected on Houston’s comments. He knew that in some way the general was right. The task before them was overwhelming, and if they took what they had and spread it across the country they would never chip away at the problem. They would have to commit to one city and work from there. But what city?

“General, I hear you; let’s discuss this topic when we have the info we need.”

All in the room agreed and Conner moved on the meeting.

“General Griswald, since we never heard back from Barone we have to assume he is carrying on with his treasonous path. What have we done about that?” Conner asked.

“We have alerted our forces in Hawaii to intercept them; we have also contacted the commander of the USS Topeka , an attack submarine that is operating in the Western Pacific.”

“Just one sub?” Conner asked surprised.

“I was in error when I said we had three at our disposal. That is what we have to spare right now.”

“Okay, fine. Sorry, not meaning to question you. I just want the colonel stopped and want to make sure it happens,” Conner said to Griswald apologetically. He then continued on with his thoughts. “I have to admit that after each meeting, I get more upset and I feel useless,” Conner said, standing up. He started to walk around the room. “There isn’t much we can do but talk. We don’t have enough food to go around; we don’t have the equipment or parts to get our grids back up. We now are faced with nuclear meltdowns on an apocalyptic scale. We have lost our entire infrastructure and there isn’t much we can do but sit here, talk and wait. I cannot stand this feeling. We haven’t responded to our enemies, we just talk. We sit a mile in a mountain, we are safe and have enough food to last us years, while our countrymen right this minute are struggling to survive. Many will die, they will starve, they will be raped and murdered,” all in the room just watched him pace. The more he talked the more he was getting upset. “How many will die before we stop talking and start doing something? The ultimate question I have for all of you is. Will our country survive this?”