Perils of a nuclear war(part – 1)

1st June 2355,

I was again woken up by shrieks and howls. It has become like a daily routine. Husky knows Minerva is not very comfortable in his presence and he uses that knowledge to have fun with her. It has been two days in a row, he will creep up to her till his nose almost touches hers and waits for her to wake up. The moment she opens her eyes, she sees him staring at her with his fangs out and she starts screaming. Then Husky starts running all round the house and howls to match her tone.

We sat down again this morning after breakfast. I couldn’t sit with her yesterday as I had to visit the Centre and take care of some pending work. Her story explained how my life would have been if we had not taken up the mission to build the vault.

As I had mentioned in my last entry, Donald had left for reconnaissance and the whole team was to leave upon his return. Donald did return but after one whole week and he was hurt badly. His experience from his mission gave everyone a terrifying picture. He travelled on foot for two days after which he was finally able to get hold of a truck. He didn’t know back then that the vehicle would expose him to a hazardous situation. He did go for reconnaissance but he had not shared his previous knowledge of a hidden military base with the others at the bunker before. The base was situated two hundred kilometres away from the their secret residence. He had hoped to procure some rations, some firepower and maybe some usual resources. He didn’t know he was not the only one who was trying to search for the base.

The military base was situated just outside a lesser known town in Kansas. As Donald approached the town, he could see smoke coming out from houses. He immediately knew that the antisocial elements were at work exploiting the wartime situation. He planned to ditch the vehicle into the woods along the road and continue on foot along the border of the town to avoid being attacked. He again went wrong.

As soon as he climbed down the truck, a bullet flew past his ear. He had been spotted. He ran as fast as he could towards a dense bush. To his surprise, he found that his attackers were not mere thugs but army men. He naturally assumed they must be looking for thugs because an average civilian would drive out of the town and not into to save himself. He came out of the bush with his arms raised and was immediately captured by the gang. He had wrongly calculated their motives. They were indeed army men but they were not hunting thugs. In a few moments he could understand they were not trying to save civilians but rob them of food and money and then let them to rot till they die. He was shocked and ashamed to see people entrusted with security doing the exact opposite. He was soon relieved of his belongings including his guns and was taken to a building where rest of the civilians were held captive.

Donald knew he had to escape as soon as possible. He also knew he couldn’t take out the gang all by himself. He was in a fix and then it struck him. The enemies were small in number when compared to the captives. All he needed to do was somehow take care of the guards and free the prisoners. An average Kansas resident knew how to use a gun and hence they would be able to attack. However, taking down the two guards was a problem. He waited for them to get separated and as one of them left to relieve himself Donald took the other one down. He couldn’t risk raising an alarm and decided to proceed as silently as possible. He freed himself using the fallen guard’s knife and returned to his previous position. The other guard upon his return got confused and started harassing the captives. Donald took advantage of the situation and threw the knife at the guard’s throat immediately incapacitating him. Next, he freed the hostages and handed two of them guns previously carried by the guards.

Next he started a search for the place where the loot was stored. He took few of the civilians with him and brought down a few more guards. He got to know that few soldiers are at the military base and began to hatch a plan. He didn’t have much time to waste and brought the situation under control as quickly as he could. He got lucky since the gang leader was at the base with almost half the guards. Slowly and steadily he liberated rest of the town. He knew the town wouldn’t be in peace till the whole gang was eliminated. So, he told them that he would need their help after he brought his team members. He stayed in the town for one day more to set their defences and also to get some rest before starting for his journey.
Everyone got anxious after listening to Donald’s account but the encounter with the gang was inevitable since its existence put them at risk too. Furthermore they needed the supplies from the base. Finally it was upto Rick to decide upon the next course of action. He, after some discussion with Donald, decided to leave the next morning.
To be continued….