Shelter: Book 2, A Long Days Night (30 page)

“Dad, we understand. We’ll be careful.”

“OK, let’s go. Times wasting, time is the one resource we don’t have.”

“Man, I’d hoped I’d never have to hear that line again.” Father and sons laugh, they hug each other as Fred leads them to the hidden rear escape tunnel. Cheri looks on with tears running down her cheeks. “Boys, come back to us. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Randy throws his mother a kiss and follows his father to the tunnel. Fred enters his code, the LEDs over the control panel change from red to green. “OK, here goes,” Fred pulls the handle down, opening the hatch cover. Inside is another cover, he unlocks it and flicks on the battery powered lights. The tunnel lights up. Fred looks down the tunnel, “Boys, the tunnel runs at a slight decline which will make it easier to slide down. There’s another door at the bottom. The access code is 12345.”

“Real imaginative code.”

“Jay wanted to make it easy to remember. Once you’re out, remember to close and relock the door. I’m going to lock the doors on this end.”

“Does the same code open this side?”

“Use the reverse, 54321.”

Laughing father and sons hug for the last time before the two boys and two other young men slide down the access tunnel. They reach the bottom, Randy finds the access panel, he opens the cover, the LEDs are red, he enters 12345, enter. The LEDs turn green, Randy whispers, “Here we go.”

He opens the door and pushes his head outside for the first time in six weeks.

Chapter 21

Captain Jefferson smiles to himself, It’s time for us to pull some surprises on the Chinese. They’re not expecting us to be able to touch them until they get within air range of Pearl. I hope my plan will come as a surprise to Admiral Zin. I plan to open fire with our sabot rounds to time them to arrive when air-launched harpoons arrive from Pearl’s planes. While they know the Harpoon well, they’ll be overcome with confidence when they see the harpoons launch. All of their focus will be on the harpoons, our rounds should arrive pulling their attention away from the harpoons long enough for the missiles to score some kills. I hope programming the harpoons for a popup attack will also confuse them. I’m going to try to fire two or three broadsides so they all strike at the same time. We’ve got two UAVs up mapping the location of the Chinese fleet and providing us with real-time battle action video. His thoughts are interrupted by the loudspeaker, “Captain to CIC, captain to CIC.”

Captain Jefferson turns saying, “I’m going to CIC, LT Johnson has the Conn.”

“Captain’s off the bridge.”

He enters the dark CIC, where the overhead lights are kept low and the AC on high to keep the computers and monitors cool. As his eyes adjust to the dim light, the weapons officer says, “Sir, we’re almost in position. All nine rounds are loaded, the second and third rounds are standing by for the quick reload. The first broadside will be launched high, the second a little lower and the third on the normal elevation. All three flights, a total of 20 sabot rounds should arrive at the same time. We’re going to fire our entire load of sabot rounds at once.”

“Weaps, you have permission to fire, your weapons are green, repeat, you are free to fire, sink the girl some more Chinese ships. I want to set the all time tonnage record for a single cruise. If they’re going to retire the old girl again, at least she’ll go into retirement with her head held high and a record that will never be equaled again.”

“Aye, sir.”

The weapons officer presses the alert button, which broadcasts, “Attention attention, the main guns are going to be fired. The main guns are going to be fired. All personal should be off the deck and undercover. Firing in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, FIRE! The ships rocks and shakes as nine 16inch cannons are fired, the sabot rounds are launched high to take time to reach the Chinese fleet. “RELOAD and prepare to fire.”

One of the weapons techs says, “Sir, the board is green, all nine, even lucky number seven is ready.”

“Fire in five, four, three, two, one, FIRE!”

Nine additional rounds are shot, the ship shakes again, “Captain, we only have six rounds left, that’s all they could dig up for us. I’m planning on firing three rounds from the A turret and three from the rear C turret.”

“Permission granted, carry on.”

“Sir, turrets A and C report green.”

“Fire in five, four, three, two, one, FIRE!”

Six shells are launched. The ship shakes for the third time. The captain says, “Captain, reload with a mix of HE and AP shells, we’ll fire as we come to bear on the Chinese fleet.”

“Aye, sir.”

The twenty shells have each been targeted on a different ship. They are being guided by GPS and coordinates from the orbiting UAVs.

The Chinese fleet comes to battle stations, “Sir, radar has picked up forty, strike that, fifty harpoon missiles on the way. All were air launched.”

“Silly Americans, we’ve known how to defeat their Harpoon for many years, bring the fleet to position to unmask our close-in weapons systems in case they are needed.”

“Aye, sir.”

A minute later, “Sir, something new. We’re getting broadband jamming in our anti-air channels.”

“Where is it coming from?”

“We don’t know. We’re having trouble holding lock on the incoming missiles.”

“Start firing our anti-air missiles, let's see if we can clear the air of the jamming.”

As the Chinese fleet starts launching anti-air missiles, the twenty sabot rounds arrive. The first round strikes a new Chinese anti-air destroyer, the impact blows the ship apart. The Chinese admiral yells, “What was that?”

“Sir, I don’t know, there, two, three, four ships hit, they’ve broken up.” Before the admiral can process the information, additional ships are hit, the last one is his own flagship, of the twenty rounds fired, nineteen found their targets, three landed close enough in the water to crack hull plates. As the Chinese fleet is shocked by the Missouri’s rounds, the surviving harpoons arrive, many have been targeted on the same ships that are already destroyed. An additional six ships are struck and left burning.

The crew of the Missouri cheers as they watch the video from the orbiting UAVs. “Engineering, can you push her to 36knots?”

“Captain, we’re at 35.2, sir, that’s all the old lady’s got.”

“Engineering, good enough, we’re making the DDG 51s strain to keep up with us. Let them see what a real warship looks like. Let’s show them how surface warfare should be fought. Weaps, you have permission to begin launching the Tomahawks.”

“Aye, sir. Tomahawks launching.”

The crew in CIC pumps their arms in the air.

The Chinese fleet is starting to recover from the devastating attack when the twelve Tomahawk cruise missiles arrive, nine strike ships starting fires that burn out of control, three missed their target, the continue on until they run out of fuel and crash into the ocean.

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Ryan pokes his head out of the escape tunnel, his eyes quickly adjust to the above ground daylight. He slides out of the tunnel, picks up his M4 moving aside to allow his brother to exit, each of the four stands next to each other with their mouths open. They can’t believe what they’re seeing. The land is stripped bare, trees are either missing or broken and leaning awkwardly on the ground. None of the thick grove of trees is still standing. Ryan looks at the destruction, “It looks like someone bombed us. The only reason the escape tunnel survived is it’s set into the side of the hill. The four see bodies lying in the debris, Mark asks, “Shit, are you sure we weren’t bombed. I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s like some giant hand scooped up the topsoil and trees, then just threw them all over. Like an angry two-year-old throwing their toys around. I don’t know how anyone survived this storm. Randy, you’re older than me, have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Not since I was in the sandbox and someone decided to level the dunes in front of us. Let’s walk around the hill to see what’s left of our homes and fields.”

“If our house is gone, I’m going to be pissed.”

“What are you going to do about it? Planning on suing Mother Nature?”

The four slowly make their way up the debris filled hill, constantly looking for any signs of dangerous un-injured gang members. They're stepping over broken tree limbs and parts of a house, sheetrock, pieces of furniture. Randy says, “Everyone, pause, take a deep breath, there’s no telling what we’re going to find when we crest the hill. Is everyone ready?”

The three men nod yes. “OK, let’s spread out so if there are hostiles, we all fire together, flip your M4’s selector to auto.”

The four crest the hill, they stand in shock, the fields have been torn up as far as they can see, all they see is acres full of trash and areas where the ground has been dug up. Mark says, “Where’s Jay’s house?”

Ryan looks through his binoculars, “It’s gone, just gone, there are some beams sticking out of the ground, the first and second floor are gone. The pool house is also gone, the pool is filled with debris from his house. Mark, our house is still here.”

“Randy, the twister tore Jay’s house apart while leaving ours alone?”

Randy responds, “Twisters can do that. Shit, Jay’s going to be pissed. I don’t want to be the one to have to tell Lacy her house is gone.”

Mark says, “It might be for the best, remember Dad telling us the shitheads were tearing Jay’s house apart. It’s most likely going to be easier to rebuild it than repair it. Randy, do you see anyone moving?”

“I see bodies. Let’s move forward. Be careful, there’s no telling what we’re going to be walking on.”

“Bro, where do you think the mob went?”

“I don’t know, I hope the storm scared them away. If they’re still here, we’re going to have to fight our way back. We need to find the camouflaged front door, see if we can figure out why the door won’t open.”

The four pick their footsteps as carefully as possible, Mark says, “Shit, there’s body parts mixed in with the house and tree debris. The place is a total mess.”

The four locate the shelter’s front door, Randy looks at it, “Explains everything.”

The other three nod in agreement looking at the tree trunk jammed against the door at its right-hand side. Mark bends over to examine the door. The tree is splintered and jammed into the tracks which allow the door to go up. “It’s not going to move until we remove the trunk and clean the tracks.”

Randy asks, “Can we clean the tracks from here?”

“Do we have a choice? For some reason the inside door isn’t working, if we don’t clear the tree, Jay is stuck in there. We have to find a way to move it.”

Mark responds, “Shit Bro, that thing must weigh a few hundred pounds. How are we going to clear it?”

Randy looks at the tree trunk, “we can start with a chainsaw, Mark, see if one of ours is still in the garage. We have some C4 on us, we may have to blow the rest of the trunk.”

“Won’t the blast warp the door?”

“I hope not, have any other ideas?”

“Cut it up and use a tractor to pull the sections away from the door?”

“See if you find a working tractor. We’ve got to hurry, the longer we’re out here, the higher the chance someone will see us. We can’t afford a firefight or to be seen and direct others to the door.”

Mark says, “I’m going, I’m going.”

Mark returns on a John Deer with two chain saws. “Look what I found, it was just sitting in the garage, I guess the city boy gang members ignored real farming gear.”

“Let’s get this show started, time is running out.” Randy sends Ron back to the escape tunnel, “Go back inside the shelter and tell our dad what we found.”