Chapter 2

Mike told his wife and his daughter to stretch out in the camper and try to get some shut-eye. He instructed his son Wesley to do the same in the back seat and he would try to make it to the next fair sized town on the route he had laid out on the back roads into the step hills. He was certain the main roads would be clogged and that there was a good chance of trouble as the civilian populace became more aware of the dismal aftermath of a nuclear strike on the major population areas.

The radio was all jumbled up with emergency calls and senseless reports of looting and gang activity in the Los Angeles area. He was glad they had gotten away as quickly as they did. The sound of Wesley snoring in the back seat brought a smile to his face. He remembered his days in the military when he was able to sleep even on the back of a truck or in a clanking tank.

A car came up behind him at a high rate of speed. It was much too fast for the rural road. Mike pulled over to the right and rolled the window up so he wouldn't get too much dust inside the vehicle from the rapidly moving SUV.

About 30 minutes later, he saw the glow of something burning up ahead right at a sharp curve in the road. It was the SUV upside down and it had a man hanging out the driver's window and a female form on the ground thrown clear in the accident. A quick check confirmed they were both out of it now. A movement in the back seat made him pick up a blanket on the floor. The wide eyes of a young girl about 20 years old stared back in horror at him pointing the rifle at her.

"Sorry, little lady, I was just being careful. Is it just you left?"

The tear-stained face nodded yes and he told her,

"Well, you better move away from this car. I think the gas may explode at any minute."

"I can't leave my father, Mister."

""Honey, there is nothing either of us can do any longer. Now get away from there so you don't wind up being a "crispy critter""

Wesley walked up behind him and the girl seemed more reassured when she saw someone almost her own age.

"This is my son Wesley and I am Mike Morrison. My wife and daughter are in the camper. Probably best you get over there and they will take care of you until we can sort out where we are going."

The girl jumped out of the car and followed them back to the camper and the pick-up truck. The sound of a loud whoosh behind them startled the girl and she almost knocked Wesley over trying to hide behind him. The bright fire from the burning vehicle was shocking but nobody was injured from the falling pieces of metal hitting the ground.

The girl told them her name was Heather and that she and her family were trying to make it to Utah to her grandparent's ranch. It seemed like she was not all that anxious to get to her relatives in Utah. Mike wondered if there was a story left unsaid there but was too polite to question the young girl further.

The girl's clothes were all burned in the fire but Wendy broke out a pair of jeans and a top for Heather. They fit pretty well but it was obvious that Heather had a lot more going on under the halter top than his daughter.

Since Mike was concerned about all three of the females in his party, he broke open the weapons bag and gave each of them a little Smith and Wesson .22 Cal LR pistol with ten round magazines. They had almost no kick at all and if they hit their target, they managed to do an awful lot of damage. Both Wendy and Heather seemed eager to get the little guns loaded and put the safety on. But his wife was reluctant to even touch the gun as if it were an instrument of the Devil himself.

They all got into the pick-up truck with the exception of Wesley. He loaded the shotgun and climbed back into the camper as a "back-up" in case they fell into an ambush.

Ginnie sat next to Mike in the front seat and the two girls chattered away in the back. He was driving cautiously now looking for obstacles in front of him on the road and even looking for danger on the sides of the road. He could hear the heavy traffic on the nearby main highway which ran parallel to the rural road.

His wife fooled around with the radio dial and tuned in a Nevada station that reported direct hits on San Francisco and Los Angeles by North Korean missiles launched from a previously unknown site buried deep inside the mountains of North Korea. They were already well on their way to their targets before the military command could determine if it was just some type of test launch or satellite program. One of the missiles intended for Portland went off course and landed off shore in the Pacific Ocean. Two other missiles directed at Alaska landed far away from any populated areas and only managed to kill a lot of Northern wildlife and melt a large portion of the icecap which would, no doubt, enrage environmentalists.

After a heated exchange of conflicting advice, the befuddled American president finally authorized a retaliatory strike that pretty much obliterated the Northern half of the Korean peninsula and most of the population. South Korea was not too pleased with the radiation clouds that panicked most of the South.

Mainland China was so impressed with the sudden disappearance of the North Koreans that they decided to protest only in the United Nations causing that body to convene a study group to consider their options.

By far, the biggest problem was the totally unexpected barrage of intermediate range missiles that struck Gulf port targets and other ports along the East coast of the United States. Strangely, the deceptively accurate short range missiles launched from small Venezuelan submarines did the most damage. It was later estimated that the technology to devise the Trident type missiles was most likely stolen from the Pentagon by hackers acting under the guise of seeking information under the "Freedom of Information" act.