“Then have Regis and Mark wait. I can help them. It could be worse on them if they go.”
“It could be, but on the chance they don’t have that much time, do you want to take that away from them? I’m told both of them have a forty percent chance of survival. They need to do this. Mark needs to find his son and Regis needs to be with his brother.”
“So you’re going to Canada now?”
“I won’t be staying. You can go there, too, anyone can go there and request asylum. I want to go and get Zeke situated there with Colonel Daniels and another senator.”
“You want to take Zeke to Canada? No.” Kit shook her head. “No. I will take him with me to look for Jillie.”
“Kit, listen to me.” Dennis placed his hands on her arms. “We don’t know what this occupation will bring. It could be peaceful, it could be bad. Zeke is a young man. We don’t know what their plans are. Nothing could happen and Zeke could be fine, but there is a chance he will be recruited or put in a work camp to rebuild. Let him go to Canada. Let him be young. For the most part, Canada is unscathed and a good bit of their nation has communications. You’ll find him. You will. He needs to go.”
“He won’t want to,” Kit said.
“If you tell him he needs to, he will go.”
“What about you? Will you eventually go back to Canada?”
Dennis nodded. “Eventually. Not yet.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“A parent, no matter how old, wants what is best for their children. They need to know their children are alright. Like you and Mark, I have a child out there, and like you and Mark,” Dennis said. “I’m going to go find her.”
Kit was given the details, who did what, how much damage, but it didn’t matter. It was all politics and she wanted to focus on the human side of it. The politicians weren’t. They weren’t seeing what happened to our world.
A large portion of the world had been buried by their own hands and now were at the mercy of those who would come and help.
The richest country in the world, would now be impoverished, starving and more than likely under some sort of military rule until things were put back in order. No doubt, the news of surrender wouldn’t be taken so easily by some. There would be those who would rise up and fight, a resistance.
Of course, there was no news media so it was word of mouth, or they’d see for themselves.
Kit would see for herself, because she had every intention of going to look for her mother and daughter. Her father believed he could get her on a transport to Canada and that would get her closer to Washington state, but that would be after the surrender and during the occupation. There were risks.
By the time she had finished speaking with her father, Mark and Regis were packing, the first run was leaving in an hour, and she was waiting on Zeke’s return.
Kit had totally forgot that Abe had drove to the base with her. Until she walked by him. He was in a small cafeteria style room, sitting at a table, sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” She walked up to him.
He stood. “That’s fine. How are you? That was uh… quite the shocker.”
“The fact that my father is alive, or we lost the war?”
“Both, but looking around, knowing all the damage, did anyone really win?”
“What are you going to do now?” she asked. “Isn’t your brother in New Mexico?”
“My brother is here. He’s leaving for Canada in an hour.”
Kit folded her arms tight to her body. “Are you going?”
Abe shook his head. “No. I know why my brother is going. I can’t help rebuild my country if I’m not in my country.”
Kit heard Abe’s words, and believed he was sincere about rebuilding his country. ‘Rebuild’ was a word that Kit heard, but it wasn’t one she believed would really happen. How could it? It wasn’t like the previous wars where it was only cities in a few countries. This war brought nations to their knees. The entire effort would eventually prove too much. Thousands of cities in the US were destroyed. Millions of people were dead and millions more would die. It was already beyond anyone’s help, they just didn’t know it yet. Canada, while mostly unscathed wasn’t truly the Promised Land. For as much aid as other countries would give, they would need it for their self eventually. How long would it take for the effects of the war to be global? Temperatures would drop, crops would fail. Too much land that grew the majority of the food was destroyed and there wouldn’t be any more extra crops, or food.
There was no happily ever after following a nuclear war. It wasn’t fantasy, there was no drop a few bombs, then just dust off and move on like nothing happened.
It was over.
The life she knew was over no matter how badly everyone ran about trying to grab pieces.
Einstein once said he didn’t know the weapons that would be used in world War III, but he believed sticks and stones would be used in World War IV.
How true that would be. The world would digress. There wasn’t an option here.
One day things would be better, but that wouldn’t happen in Kit’s life time. In order for that to happen, things would have to get worse, a lot worse. That was the world Kit and her family faced. Unlike Abe, Kit’s mission wasn’t going to be to rebuild her country, it was going to be to resolve her life. To find her family and survive the best she could. It wasn’t going to be easy. She would take it one step at a time, one day at a time.
That was all she could do.
THIRTY – Decisions
Not everyone was going to Canada. The flight that left Washington carrying essential personnel and family was supposed to arrive in New Mexico. Efforts were underway to retrieve those who survived the crash from Maltese and Elcort and get them to New Mexico. If her daughter was with her, maybe Kit would have been one of those people who opted to go to New Mexico. Bury herself away below the ground and a clean bunker. Forgetting all the horrors of the world above her. But she couldn’t. Jillie was out there, her mother and sister were out there. She had to put that forefront. She had to find them, or at least give it her best shot.
Kit was at base when the first truck of twenty people arrived on base from Maltese to take their spot in the bus going south. They acted as if they were rescued. Rescued from what? To be rescued would mean to be taken from a dangerous situation. They were going to a clean, maintained bunker, but even that wasn’t a long term solution. It was more of preserving. They would be safe and fed, working to build a new society, while the rest of the world just crumbled apart.
They had given them the small room just before the bunker exit. Kit wished there was just more time to say their goodbyes. She supposed that no matter how many minutes the clock said they had, there would never be enough time. This would include a final farewell. A part of her felt selfish, because she knew how sick her brothers were, especially Mark, she looked at him and knew his last moments were coming, there was no denying that. Mark was thin, his hair gone in patches, his face was pasty and sores covered his body. She wanted those moments with her baby brother. She wanted to take back every single time she fought with him when they were kids, but there was no taking it back. This was it. Regis, her big brother, she wanted that time with him as well. She felt a little bit more hopeful about Regis he didn’t look quite as pale, quite as weak, then again, Rege was always hiding things very well.
“The plane will land outside of Boise,” Dennis said to Mark and Regis. “A supply truck will get you as close as they can to Spokane.”
Kit asked.”Is Spokane fine?”