Another SHTF story

[dtkw]

Good read, thanks for writing this.

 

[JAH]

Just wanted to say a word of thanks to all of you that read my story. I had no Idea it would have such a wide apeal. And now I'm in it for the long haul. Because even though I've returned to college to get retrained fo a new carrer. I have found that writing this is as much of a relaxing thing to do and a bit of and escape ass well. As I said before I might have to slow down a bit to keep up with home work but I'll keep going untill I finnish it or run out of Ideas or paint myself in a corner. And BTW when I mean long haul I mean this thing could go on for months...

That works out I have this and two others subscribed to. They are all excellent tales and close to reality.. Keep up the excellent work

 

[pinshooter45]

This was not the first time he had butted heads with Sen. Lincoln, and unfortunately he had lost more battles than he had won. Grant had a near veto proof majority in the House, but the Senate had a slim majority of Democrats and just enough "moderate" Republicans for Lincoln to maintain control of the senate. Since Lincoln could not get elected President he had turned his focus to becoming the "King Maker". He still had a vast fortune, and over the years he had accumulated a considerable amount of IOU’s he could call in. It was no secret around Washington that he was the driving force behind the election of the current President. How else could a Senator that had not even completed one full term be elected? Truman knew Lincoln was a little worried that his power was now compromised because the current puppet President now lay in a coma. That had considerably changed the political chess game between the two. He now had a slight advantage over Lincoln as acting president, but Lincoln was a seasoned politician and next in line to the Presidency, and Truman could already tell by his attitude he was plotting his strategy to take advantage of the current situation or he would not be here uninvited. Truman also knew that the end game was to somehow push him out of the White House to so he could finally become President. Truman had to somehow manage the current crisis and keep Lincoln on a tight leash. Because he knew Lincoln would do his best to muddy things up and try to oust him as acting President. It would be a formidable challenge to balance these two tasks, but that was the sort of thing Grant thrived on!

"Yes we do have an extremely tragic situation in the Midwest Mr. Lincoln" Truman replied with a slight jab of disrespect. Lincoln never gave him the respect he deserved due to his youth, so Truman always returned the favor by omitting the Senator title when addressing him, which always irritated Lincoln more than it did Grant. "And we’ve had over 24 hours to get a plan in place; you needn’t have cut short your vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. An improved emergency management system has been in place since Katrina, and it’s working very well." Truman knew that would greatly irritate the Senator, because he needed to play a part in something big like this to cap off his political career and secure him a place in history. But he was determined to establish his position of authority over Lincoln early and keep him in his proper place. "Well son this was just a courtesy call to make sure you weren’t in over your head" Lincoln responded coolly. More than likely a fishing expedition Truman thought. "I appreciate your concern, but we have things well in hand, we’ve have good people in the right places. And now if you’ll excuse me I have a news conference to prepare for." "Well son I will leave you to it just remember if you need any help I’ve got people." Truman looked defiantly into Senator Lincoln’s eyes, because he knew that was not an offer of help but a warning, and he was determined not to show any weakness. Lincoln just smiled and left the room.

Senator Lincoln left the White House and got in to his limousine where his driver and top aide were waiting. "Where to Senator?" asked his driver. "My office" was his short reply. The Senator fastened his seatbelt and settled in for the short drive back to his office. His aide sat quietly next to him awaiting instructions. David "Guns" Donaldson wasn’t really a senatorial aid in the true sense of the word. His real purpose was doing the Senator’s dirty work. He was an ex union thug that the Senator had managed to keep out of prison when the Justice Department had investigated and indicted most of his top union bosses for misappropriation of pension funds. They had been associates so long many people in Washington referred to him as Luca Brasi after the character in The Godfather, but never to his face. "My old friend we have some work to do" the Senator began. "This little twerp that thinks he’s president needs to be taken care of." "If you want him to have an accident that’s going to be very difficult" Guns replied. "No he just needs to make a big mistake that we can capitalize on" stated Lincoln. "Has he made any changes in the White House staff?" "No not yet, he hasn’t had time and he needs the people already in place to get things done. Our man on the inside has told me he’s not going to make any changes in case the president recovers." "That’s the first thing I want taken care of, that S.O.B. got delusions of grandeur after I handed him the election." "You want him taking a dirt nap?" "The sooner the better and it needs to obviously suspicious so I can call for an investigation and get that Hillbilly out of the White House! Do we have someone at Bethesda?" "No, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone working there that’s got financial trouble in this economy that can get the job done." "I want a professional to do it we can’t have any loose ends that lead back to us" cautioned Lincoln. "I’ll need access to Bethesda’s computer network to make changes to surveillance video and access codes. I have someone who can provide me with a stealth laptop that will leave no trace I just need a way in like a recently fired civilian employee’s old code. Then we can hang it on them and leave some breadcrumbs that lead straight back to Mr. Truman Grant!"

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....sweet!

 

[churchmouse]

AAAHHHH...Politics as usual

 

[Socomike]

MOAR NOW!

 

[sbsg2005]

I think with the 1500 in town we have been forgotten about so everyone can go buy new adult toys to play with.

 

[pinshooter45]

I think with the 1500 in town we have been forgotten about so everyone can go buy new adult toys to play with.

College + volunteering for Mourdock for senate has slowed me down a bit. But I do have another one in the works. I'm getting to the point where I really need to be careful how I doe this. I almost painted myself into a corner a couple of episodes ago with a character just because I got caught up in giving a Cliffhanger every time! Do not fear I will continue, because this provides me with a little escape from the stress of my accelerated class schedule for my CIT degree. May have one complete by the end of today.

 

[flagtag]

Thank you.

 

[mbills2223]

I just read this from start to finish, awesome so far. I had a feeling that there was a suit in Washington reading along with me until you specifically said Earthquake. Then he got back in it when you mentioned Afghanistan! Hah...

But seriously, I had to fight the urge not to arm myself when I was going out to dinner tonight. I don't think O' Charley's would've appreciated that.

Can't wait for more...

 

[Constructionist]

It's funny how I get into a story line like this, then get pi**ed when the political stuff comes along - which means it's well written. That's how the real world operates, after all. We see a power hungry jerk looking to not let a crisis to to waste. It adds another aspect of realism to the story line.

Good read.

 

[pinshooter45]

The alarm on the battery powered clock broke the silence of the morning like the claxon on a warship. 10 AM, one hour till the news conference, I hit the snooze I wanted 5 more minutes to recover from the events a few hours ago. It did not seem to be as hot today, perhaps we would get a little break from the heat today. That would make the day a little easier to deal with. I knew this was going to be a long day. I needed to repair the hole ripped in the rear wall of my garage by the looters AK, finish cleaning up the yard’s debris and figure out some way to make the house more secure, and help develop some kind of security plan for the neighborhood when the neighbors come over for the news conference.

I gently shook my wife to consciousness, and we readied ourselves for the day. After getting dressed I went to the garage and started the genny so we could use the TV. Also I needed my coffee maker to flush out the after effects of the Makers Mark. Good stuff I thought, no real hangover, just making me a little slow this morning, probably more due to lack of sleep than the whiskey! On the way back in I dunked two 5gallon buckets into the trash can to pour in the washing machine so we could wash some clothes. Another task for the day, rig a clothes line because that 5K generator wasn’t going to run my electric dryer. I also began to think about where we were going to get more water. We all had enough to last around a week or so but if FEMA did not get here in a reasonable amount of time we would run out. There were several older homes in the area that were on wells before city water and sewer came in perhaps we could rig something to get one working if any of them were still in place. The smell of bacon frying and eggs cooking greeted me when I came back in the house. Good to use up the eggs first with the off and on of the genny the eggs might spoil quickly even with the ice jugs keeping things cool in between times. I wasn’t worried about the bacon it had enough preservatives in it to last forever, one of the things that made bacon great!

As we finished our morning feast several of our neighbors began to arrive for the morning news conference. We tossed the breakfast dishes into the sink and began to make small talk with our friends. It was now 10:45 AM and we decided to turn the TV on and catch some local news before the network came on with the Speaker's update. After a quick scan of the local channels we found that channel 59 was still the only local station that was on the air. But the other stations had begun working with them to cover the city in this emergency. The feeds coming in from the downtown area painted a bleak picture. It was a curious mix of buildings that were still intact and those that were nearly totally destroyed. The City County building reminded me of how one of the World Trade Center towers looked after collapsing only on a smaller scale. Older buildings like the old city hall and former State Museum looked nearly intact. Lucas Oil stadium had been turned in to a field hospital and temporary morgue. The IBEW that had always made the Soldiers and Sailors Monument into the world’s largest Christmas tree now found themselves working with union and non-union companies setting up large portable generators to power the massive triage room that used to be where pro football was played. The News Anchor had mentioned that Methodist-IU hospital group buildings had suffered significant damage and that equipment was being salvaged to support what was being done at the stadium. Police and fire crews were now attempting to rescue patients and staff and move them to the stadium or the outlying hospitals that were still able to function on emergency power but were quickly being overwhelmed. The fires were nearly totally out but were expected to smolder for the next several days. He continued to say things could have been much worse if this had happened during the day and all the buildings were full of workers. But there was still many people hurt that had been living in much of the newer downtown apartments and condos that had been recently been built when the push for downtown revitalization had been initiated. Just before they had to switch to the network, the anchor paused while he was getting some information through his earpiece. And said "We are getting reports of some organized assaults in several parts of the city, we will try to get crews to those scenes and have updates after the White House news conference."

 

[sbsg2005]

If this were my neighborhood security would be priority one. All the water in the world is useless is useless if you ain't alive to enjoy it.

 

[pinshooter45]

As the television screen switched to the Fox News network Bret Baier was finishing a conversation with Wendell Goler as a White House staffer came in to announce the that news conference would begin in about 1 minute and announced that there would be a very short time for Q & A at the end of the update. The room began to buzz with activity as all the reporters readied their digital cameras and voice recorders, and began to scribble notes for questions when the time came. Then as quickly as the noise began, it became silent as the Speaker entered the room.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press." Truman began. "First I know besides the crisis we have in the Midwest you all want to know the President’s condition, and as of 10 AM today there has been no change, and while the doctors are still hopeful he will make a full recovery, he is still in very critical condition. The hemorrhaging inside his head is under control, but he has yet to regain conciseness, and he is receiving round the clock care".

"I am pleased to announce that the first convoys of aid will begin their journey within the hour to the outermost affected areas of the Midwest. This will be the largest joint operation of all our armed forces to deliver relief to the stricken areas. Ohio National Guard units will begin rolling land convoys from Wright Patterson AFB, to Indianapolis; FT. Campbell will link up and assist with FT Knox. And the largest convoy will be from FT Hood where it will drive to Fort Leonard Wood. Each of these areas will become forward operating bases to distribute aid to the surrounding areas. Grissom Air reserve base will be reactivated to full status and will continue its role to refuel all transport aircraft, as some areas will be inaccessible by land for a while, and will have to be given aid by air drops. Dover Air Force personnel will be flown in to assist and coordinate those efforts, in addition it will become a secondary site for aid drops, and those drops will be coordinated with Wright Patterson. The Joint Chief of staff has directed the Navy, Marines, and the Coast Guard to form a unified task force to begin the process of assessing the damage to bridges and other structures along the Mississippi River. They will repair or demolish major bridges and other structures across the river and erect temporary bridges as needed to deliver aid to the lower Mississippi Valley."

"We have yet to establish any contact with major portions of the eastern half of Missouri, or the Governor. As you know Congress is in its summer recess, so we have been able to contact several members of congress that represent the western portions of Missouri and they are working with all of their emergency agencies to find the Governor and open lines of communications to those areas. And as you can see by the Photos that are being distributed to you now the situation in and around ST Louis does not appear to be getting any better. The hot spots that show up on the photos are fires still burning and do not appear to be reducing in size. I have therefore asked for the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington State, to send their airborne firefighting tankers to combat these fires from the air, and they have agreed. These aircraft will be manned by volunteers from the ranks of their smoke jumpers. This operation will be based out of Whiteman AFB in Missouri which we have been able to contact and establish that they did not sustain serious damage that would prevent them from fulfilling this task. I have also directed that elements of the 82nd Airborne be flown to Whiteman to assist, and support this operation. Once the fires are under control the 82nd will link up with the troops from Ft Hood and we will be able to deliver proper aid to the people of ST. Louis. And now I will take a few questions."

The room erupted in shouts for the first question and the Speaker pointed to the correspondent from AP and nodded for him to proceed with his question. "Mr. Speaker do you intend to recall congress and if so how soon will that be?" At present I have no plans to recall congress into session." "For the time being they will be more valuable in their home districts to assist in us determining the impact on their district. Plus we have yet to account for every member in the affected states." Truman replied. "Next question, yes Andrew from the BBC." "I have been informed that Her Majesty’s government has offered aid to the States, where else have you received offers for aid in this crisis?" "Many countries from around the world have made offers of assistance and we are evaluating and accepting them as they are offered. Yes Wolf from CNN." "What can you tell us about the crash that killed the Vice President, and have any decisions been made concerning a state funeral?" "Considering the current crisis the remaining family of the Vice President has decided to hold a private funeral and a proper memorial service will be held at a more appropriate time. And the investigation into the crash is ongoing but it appears to be a simple case of pilot error. The rotor blades became entangled in some downed power lines that were virtually impossible to see in the dark. Last question, Wendell from Fox." "Mr. Speaker you say you have been unable to contact anyone in the eastern part of Missouri, however our Meteorologists who are in contact with the National Weather Service, have told us that up until a couple of hours ago they have been in constant contact with weather spotters by Ham radio in that area. But contact has been abruptly lost. Can you confirm this?" "Wendell I’ve been in meetings with Homeland Security, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and FEMA almost non-stop since this began. The National Weather Service has not been high on my meeting list, but I’ll get back to you on that." With that the speaker turned and walked out of the press room.

 

[Socomike]

Nice. You have my attention.

 

[jfw46544]

"College + volunteering for Mourdock for senate" Rep. inbound for you, pinshooter45.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

"College + volunteering for Mourdock for senate" Rep. inbound for you, pinshooter45.

I'll second that!

 

[Icarry2]

 

[pinshooter45]

Immediately Fox 59 came back on and the anchor began “We will return to the network as developments warrant right now we want to update you on the reports of organized assaults we received earlier. We have sent a crew but we have yet to link up with them, we are working with the other stations in town to bring you the latest information available. I have just been told that WISH-TV has managed to get their helicopter in the air with a videographer on board and they are traveling to the east side where the incident is occurring. These reports are coming to us via Ham and Citizen Band radio operators. And the reports are that the IMPD east district offices have been or are under attack. By whom we do not know but…we have them...they are on the scene… where? We apparently do have Russ McQuaid near the scene, Russ what do you see?”

“Bob we are hearing gunfire just a few blocks away from the 3100 block of east 30th street. We have set up on N. Dearborn street in George Washington park. This is as close as we dare get. And the damage and sound of automatic weapons in the background would make you think we were in Iraq or Afghanistan. There apparently is a full scale attack in progress on the IMPD east district office. We do not know who or why this attack is happening, but there is a great deal shots being fired. There are people running for cover and running to escape the area.” “Russ sorry to interrupt but we have a helicopter almost there and are going live to the chopper. Guys what do you see?” “Bob we are just now coming into view of the area as we fly in over Washington Park I can see the news van to my left, and can see a large number of people clustered around the trees across the street from the police station, there also is another group forming to the west near the St Vincent De Paul Society. We can’t hear any gunfire over the engine noise, but we can see the occasional muzzle flash. I’m asking the pilot to get down a little closer, as we circle back around. There seems to a lot of movement around the area, now as we come back in lower you should be able to see what we are seeing. There ARE several people down across the street from the police station, and there appears to be two or three police officers down also. Oh my god, they are all now rushing the building it looks like an all-out attack from the north and the west. I don’t know how many officers are in the station but I can’t believe they will be able to defend against this onslaught. We are circling back around now and I can see several officers fleeing out the back door now trying to escape. Oh no! They were we waiting for them…a small group was hiding behind the building and have just cut them down. I don’t see any movement out of the downed officers. Oh my god! One of them just walked up and sprayed the officers with a blast his gun. This has been a brutal attack!” Oh no they are pointing their weapons up at us now!
The image on the TV screen started to jump around wildly and you could see the hand of the cameraman franticly pounding on the shoulder of the pilot and screaming to get the hell out of there. Then there was multiple sounds of ping ping ping pop pop pop of what sounded like bullets ripping through the fuselage of the helicopter. “They are firing at us now and we’ve been hit several times…” The camera settled down a little and was pointing forward at the helicopter’s control panel a hand came into frame from the left and began franticly pointing towards a particular gauge that seemed to be dropping slightly. “Bob we have apparently taken a hit to our hydraulics and are losing pressure, and the pilot says we may not make it back. We are heading for the state fairgrounds and will try to land in the middle of the field in front of the grandstand.” “Bob this is Russ we are packing up and headed that direction, we have had a mass exodus of people that are still in the area and have also heard random gunfire that seems to be getting closer and…

Just then the screen went blank as the live feed was lost. The news anchor began to scramble around talking to various people in the studio trying to find out what happened to the live feed. I pointed the remote at the TV and asked “Do we need to see any more for now?” As I looked around at the stunned faces in my living room, and since no one could answer I shut it off. “I think we really need to get serious about security, and FAST!” But everyone still seemed to be in a state of shock like they did not really want to believe what they had just seen on live TV.”

 

[churchmouse]

This would be the cycle of things. The bad guys would band together and start their madness.