Through Many Fires (Strengthen What Remains) Read Free

up to the store to buy other
supplies.
    As he
entered, the clerk looked at him with a wary eye then, apparently deciding he
was okay, returned to watching the television.
    Caden
desperately wanted to join the clerk, but first he had to get provisions.
    “… was
detonated at ground level and was small by modern standards, estimated at less
than 20 kilotons. These factors also limited the electromagnetic pulse to the
immediate vicinity.”
    Seeing
cases of bottled water on the shelf, he picked up a couple of bottles. Water
is more critical than food. The words from his army training hung in his
mind. He grabbed a case.
    “ FEMA
has set up a command center at Andrews Air Force Base. Other relief and medical
centers are being established outside of the red zone.”
    Sandwiches
caught his eye. Three would do.
    “ No
reliable estimate of casualties is available but all area hospitals have been
inundated. The most severely injured are being moved to hospitals up and down the
coast from Boston to Richmond and Atlanta.”
    At the
mention of Becky’s hometown, Caden glanced at the television.
    “ Now
we turn to Steve in the weather center.”
    He was
surprised that they would give a weather report at such a time. Who would want
to know about the temperature now? Within moments his eyes were fixed on the
screen with intense interest. They were showing wind direction from the blast
and fallout patterns. The breeze last night had been blowing off shore, taking
the radiation out to sea, almost directly away from where he had been in Silver
Springs and Bethesda. Caden felt a huge burden lift from him. He would live.
    The
weatherman was still on camera, but he just stood staring ahead. As Caden
watched a look of horror spread across his face. The image shifted to a man
sitting behind a desk, his face strangely tight.
    “ We
are receiving reports that there has been an attack on Los Angeles. I repeat.
We have unconfirmed reports of a nuclear blast, just moments ago, in the Los
Angeles metropolitan area.”

 

Chapter Two
    Certain
that food and gas would soon be in short supply, Caden reassessed his needs. It
took three trips from the market to carry five cases of bottled water, three
gas cans and a Styrofoam cooler full of food covered with ice to his car. He
opened the back door and pushed the food and water in.
    While
he filled the gas cans he tried again to call Becky and his parents, then
cursed his lack of success. Looking up in frustration, he saw the first hint of
morning color in the sky. He glanced at his watch. Dawn was less than an hour
away. He loaded the gas into the trunk as cars began arriving. A van parked at
the last available pump. A woman, her hair disheveled as if she just awoke,
jumped from the vehicle and ran into the market while a stubble-faced man
filled the tank and retrieved cans from the car.
    Pulling
away from the pumps, Caden noticed a pay phone at the side of the store. It was
worth a try.
    His
heart skipped when he heard the ring. When someone picked up the receiver he
shouted. “Becky? Is that you?”
    “ Caden?
Caden! I was afraid you might be…Where are you?”
    He
delighted in hearing her speak. In conversation with friends, she spoke slower
than most, with a soft accent that betrayed her southern birth, but now that
was all gone.
    “ Where
are you,” she repeated. “I’ve been trying to call you—your apartment, even your
office.”
    Quickly,
he told her how close he had been to the Washington attack and that he was
coming. “I’d really like it if you left Atlanta.”
    “ I
can’t. Not right now.”
    “ This
is not the time to be in a city.”
    “ The
technicians are setting up an auxiliary studio at the affiliate in Birmingham,
but until they finish, well, these attacks are the biggest news story ever. The
network wants everyone covering it.”
    Caden
used every persuasive weapon available to convince her to leave, logic, love
and finally guilt. “Is your career more important than