Chapter 68

Temporary Chancellery
Mead, Washington
27 October, 2014

“Reports indicate that our forces have captured the former Fairchild Air Force Base in Medical Lake, along with Eastern State Hospital. These were the only holdouts up to now in the town, one of several that we’ve captured this morning in predawn attacks. The Undead Guard covered itself in glory again, of course, but that’s normal enough. Two other towns are wavering, I believe,” Admiral Yanagi told me now.

“Otis Orchards-East Farms and Newport, yes. When they fall, the whole of Stevens and Pend-Oreille counties will be ours. Only Spokane County will be left, and of that, only Spokane and Spokane Valley. We have them almost entirely surrounded. Once the trap closes, they will be unable to escape except by means of unconditional surrender. One way or the other, the war is over,” General Bryne added with a satisfied grin.

“Excellent news, of course. I look forward to our final and total victory, of course. What is the latest out of other parts of the world?” I inquired with considerable relief.

“Well, in Hawaii, they’re formally separating from America, but that was a matter of time, once the Union dissolved. They’re calling it the Kingdom of Hawaii, and yes, they have a Queen, plus a Prime Minister and cabinet. They picked a rather young and relatively junior officer as military aide to the Queen, in fact. Some Samoan girl. A freshman Congresswoman, in fact, when not on National Guard duty. Well, they say that the Queen is a lesbian, but I don’t know if that was the reason. It’s unlikely that she’d hit on an officer, anyway. Not at her age, that is,” Stephanie informed me at this point.

“I think that I can live with that divorce. At least for now. In time, the world will all fall to us, anyway. What else?” I probed deeper.

“Reports indicate that Buffalo, New York, was somehow covered in soot and it buried alive much of the local population, there was so much of it. So, now, the question of what happened to Buffalo is possibly answered. Possibly. If it’s true, that is. There is a growing suspicion that this might be another rumor spread by the Restored New Netherland, ruled by Pieter Andries van der Groot, better known as ‘Powerball,’ apparently because he won a lottery prize just before the Fireballs descended.

“That was his CB handle when he first began using Citizens Band radio to coordinate and command his faction. As you know, CB has been highly effective in areas where cellular and internet service was disrupted, which has been much of the world. By now, van der Groot controls Poughkeepsie, Utica, Rome, Ithaca, Albany, Erie, and much of the rest of upstate New York. Or what had been upstate New York, back before Doomsday.

“Only Buffalo and Syracuse remain unoccupied, the former for mysterious reasons, the latter because it’s held by the People’s Commune under Chairman Howie Hawkins and what he has proclaimed the ‘People’s State Council,’ which answers to the ‘People’s Assembly.’ Said PSC is elected by the members of the assembly, which is composed of representatives of ‘people’s committees’ in every field of industry and every ward. It’s the ultimate effort at socialst workplace democracy, among other ideals, but its very survival is in doubt. I see no clear indication from the Almighty which way this conflict will go, alas.