Knight Parade Third Chapter it All Goes to Heck

Chapter Three:

It All Goes to Heck

The following day at school is even more chaotic than the day before. Electronic systems are shutting down with increasing frequency rendering phone and pretty much any other technology useless. Teachers continue to try and maintain some sort of control in class but it is difficult to keep students' attention with so many distractions. Some teachers are already starting to consider leaving their posts since there has been no word from the state government. They are not sure if they are going to be getting their pay checks.

Things become more tense that afternoon as word gets out that the local banks will be closing down due to overwhelming withdraws. This forces even more teachers to leave their classrooms to go get what money they can out of their accounts. Thus, things disintegrate at school and most teachers, of the ones still there, see little point in trying to teach or assign homework.

After school Justin and Tim are intent on going to the gym again but Mike decides, with the current state of things, it might be best to get home. He says his farewells and jumps into his Olds, lights up a smoke in his sun heated car, and starts on the ride home. But about half way home he feels something strange. It is faint, not an earthquake, but kind of a vibration and his CD player skips for just a second. Normally Mike would have paid this little attention as the thumbing speakers have a tendency to disrupt the CD player from time to time. It is then Mike notices something rather out of the ordinary, in the west a very dark cloud is forming and quickly moving east. It is interesting enough for Mike to stop the car and get out for a look.

"Dear Lord, what is that," he thinks to himself. The cloud is black as coal, like a rare summer storm forming on the horizon late on a humid August afternoon. But this cloud sends a chill down Mike's spin, the kind that makes you twinge. Mike is scared, this is bad, very bad, and he quickly gets back into his car and speeds home. When Mike pulls into the drive way his Dad is out front watching the sky. "This is odd," Mike thinks to himself, "Dad is not due home for at least a couple of hours."

Larry quickly walks to Mike's car and yells at him, with an almost crazed look in his eyes, "Out of the car and into the basement!"

Mike gets out of the car, his eyes glued to the dark cloud, "What's going on Dad?"

Larry says, his face white against his dark hair, "Looks bad son, probably nuclear, let's get downstairs."

Deborah, Matt and Chris are already in the basement. Deborah's usually white complexion is flushed with worry but the boys seem oblivious to what is really going on. They appear more annoyed that they are forced to be in the basement than anything else. Mike notices some flashlights, water and canned food stocked in the back of the basement that he had never really noticed before.

As Mike walks toward his mother he unintentionally makes a foreboding statement, "So are we gearing up for the long haul down here?"

Following his son downstairs Larry says with disapproval in his voice, "We are just being careful son."

Mike, sitting down by his mother, tries to change the topic with an apologetic tone, "What do you think happened Dad?"

Larry goes into his "at-work professional voice", as he usually does when uncomfortable, and answers, "Well son, this is just an educated guess but I think when the computer systems went down someone one, or group, was able to access the nuclear devises and launch them, or maybe it was just some sort of glitch."

Deborah gasps as if this were the first time she has heard this particular theory and then tries to cover it up quickly. But Mike picks it up and tries to continue with his questions.

"Do you think someone planned to take down the systems with the virus Dad," Mike asks.

Larry answers, yet seemingly lost in his own thought process, "Anything is possible son; there are some sick people out there."

Deborah gasps again, trying not to cry, yet with tears running down her cheeks, she asks, "Honey, are we going to die?"

Larry, trying in vain to sound brave for his wife, answers, "Courage hun, the Lord will take care of us. If we were going to be hit we would already be dead. The nuclear system is set up in such a way that if a nuclear strike is launched against one country the other country will immediately retaliate. That does not seem to be the case here, it seems select missiles were launched on specific locations. But radiation and fallout are still things that may need to be worried about."

This blurb of data from Larry does not really have the settling affect on his family that he had intended. He then decides not to spend any more time discussing the possible nuclear annihilation that may await the family.

Matt and Chris now seem to have caught on to the gravity of the situation and Chris says, with tears in his eyes now, "I don't want to die mommy."

Before Deborah can console her youngest son, Matt bursts in, trying not to cry himself, "Don't be stupid, we're not going to die butt head, Dad will protect us, right Dad?"

This question almost produces tears in Larry's eyes, and he answers, "Of course I will boys, as long as we are together we will all be fine."

Mike does not quite believe his father but decides it best to try and console his brothers and not cause them any more worry. Moving over to his brothers he kneels behind them, places his arms around them, and says, "It's OK guys, we are all going to be just fine."

Mike's family spends a very uneasy, sleepless night in the basement eating canned food and drinking bottled water. The next morning seems to be as normal as any other. The world is exactly the same one that they left when they fled to the safety of their basement the night before, well not exactly. The family begins their normal morning routine trying to forget the previous night. All they can do is hope that all is well in their little corner of the world.

But after this point, life has changed. School will not be in session much longer and adults will not be working their regular jobs much longer either. Daily life as people know it will quickly begin to shut down after the internet, phone services and basically all electrical services cease. As some leave town to try and find answers, friends or family, word gets back that as you get closet to larger cities the roads are blocked with accidents, stalled cars or blockades. There are even reports of bandits attacking people on the roads taking what goods people may have and then killing them. Many people are too scared to leave town and some that do leave never come back.

Two days after the blast there is no communication left, with the exception of maybe some short wave radio and word of mouth. The short waive radio lasts for slightly longer than the rest of the communications even after the electricity stops. There are those lucky people that have generators and enough fuel to continue, but this eventually runs out too.

But it is the short wave that brings the news of the disaster to this small Kansas community, the news of the bomb. There are different accounts of what exactly happened but what could be pieced together is linked back to the computer virus. Someone, or some group, gained access to the United State's nuclear arsenal system and unleashed an attack on targets around the world. The bombs that hit in the US were the response to the initial attack from the U.S. Bombs that had been pointed at Europe and Asia for so long were fired and this brought a nuclear response on the United States. New York and Washington DC were hit as were other locations on the eastern and western seaboards. There is no news of hits in the Midwest but most assume some larger cities most certainly lie in ruin.

Panic is a funny thing as it spreads. It seems to take on a life of its own. At first, people are in some sort of denial. They believe things will get better, things must get better, something has to turn around. Everyone knows that is not the case. Conditions continue to worsen as communication and supplies are cut. The first week or so things continue on almost as normal but as soon as the local grocery store and gas stations begin to run short, or out of things all together, the problems begin.

First it is subtle, people stocking up on water, batteries, gas and other essentials. Then the strain becomes more pronounced and panic really begins to set in. Gas is the first thing to go. After about two weeks people begin to completely run out of gas and have to resort to walking, or riding a bike, and some farmers even revive the old horse and buggy to get around.

One night, ten days after the initial shut down, Mike is on his way home from Justin's house at just about dusk. It is an eerie evening, it is darker than it should be at just dusk and the moon is no where in sight. He is walking, as his car ran out of gas five days after the shut down. Trying to hurry home as his parents do not like the idea of him being out after dark, especially now. Mike finishes off a cigarette when he hears what sounds like an explosion a couple of blocks south of him.

Not able to resist the temptation to go check it out Mike stomps out his smoke and jogs toward the noise. When he turns the last corner an intersection with three gas stations on it stands before Mike. It appears that the explosion Mike heard was caused by one of the gas holding tanks going up. Fire is now raging at that gas station and Mike can feel the intense heat on his face almost like the after affects of a bad sun burn. Mike thinks to himself, "Crap, I hope the other gas holding tanks are empty because if they aren't things are going to get a lot brighter around here."

With an ear splitting "bang!" Mike gets his answer. Another tank goes up sending more fire and immense heat into the air.

"Thank goodness those tanks are pretty much empty," Mike thinks to himself. "Otherwise these explosions probably would have taken out whole blocks."

Then Mike begins to see people running into the intersection trying to avoid the fire. They are holding TVs, radios and other goods that obviously do not belong to them. Mike stands on the corner surrounded by fire and looters. The scene is stunning, horrifying, but he is unable to move in his shock. Mike knows some of these people.

"How can they steal crap just because there is no one around to tell them not too. Heck they don't even have the electricity to run this crap, not to mention all the TV stations are off the air," Mike reasons with himself.

These are adults and they are acting like unsupervised five year olds. Just then Mike hears a loud crunch behind him and then the sound of an engine. Just as Mike turns he finds himself in the headlights of a '65 Caddy. Now Mike really doesn't know this is a '65 Caddy but it is, so we will go with that. The car is on fire and the person behind the wheel obviously does not have any control of it.

Mike cannot even move. "Well now I know what it must feel like to be a deer," he thinks to himself.

Mike knows he needs to move, and move now, but he is so entranced by the headlights and the unreality of the whole situation, that he just can't. At the very last second someone in a black cloak appears out of the alley behind Mike. The person moves with such speed that Mike cannot believe that they are real. The cloaked figure pushes Mike out of the way hard and the Caddy flies past Mike just missing him and the cloaked figure. The car jumps the curb and onto the sidewalk and finally into a side building and is engulfed in flame. The man behind the wheel of the Caddy is screaming in pain as he is burnt to death.

Mike still cannot move. The fire, the Caddy, the looting and the man screaming as he is broiled to death confounds Mike's ability to reason. By the time Mike gets his whits about him he looks around to find the cloaked stranger who has saved him but the person has vanished. Mike could not make out the stranger's face. It was hidden in shadow, but Mike could see the person's silver hair, piercing violet eyes, and they wore some sort of pendent around their neck.

Mike is still suffering from "deer in the headlights" syndrome. He cannot believe what has just happened, he should be dead. Mass chaos ensues around him as more people are running around stealing and breaking crap, just for the sake of breaking crap. Now Mike is not much for religion, he likes the idea of a creator in control of things. He does not care so much for all the rules but his grandparents are very religious and his parents have their moments too. Mike has been to church before, mostly on holidays and family gatherings and what not, but this seems like as good a time as any to say a pray.

Mike says silently as he stares at the craziness around him, "Hey God, yeah, I know I'm not much for praying but if you could get me home without getting severely maimed or killed I would really appreciate it, uh, thanks, I guess."

Mike then decides enough is enough and makes his way home as quickly, and inconspicuously, as possible.

As Mike makes his way up the drive way to the side entrance of his home, Larry suddenly bursts out the door and yells frantically at Mike, "Where the heck have you been boy, your mother and I have been worried sick."

Mike stammers, startled by his father, "Sorry Dad but I ran into some problems," and Mike goes on to fill in his father on what has just happened to him. After the tale, Larry puts his arm around his son and leads him downstairs to the safety of the basement.

During that night of riots the local grocery store and many gas stations are broken into and many goods are stolen. Some people's homes are also broken into, people stealing food and other supplies. Things are starting to become very desperate for some. It's like running out of air in a pool and not quite being able to reach the side and pull yourself out. It really is the most desperate of feelings.

The local law enforcement is able to get things under control this time. But as no news is forth coming from the state government many officers are not sure if they are going to get paid. Of course this leaves the obvious question of whether it is worth putting your life on the line for no income. After awhile some decide to move on or just stop working altogether.

The rioters also set various fires and cause quite a bit of destruction. In total about thirty people are killed including about a dozen rioters. This really gets the town's attention. It is quite a wake up call, and a town meeting is called for two nights following, to look at the state of affairs and any possible solutions.