Duck and Cover! An American Spinoff of Protect and Survive.

red1

red1

I was curious if you would perhaps do an update on Florida? We produce a lot of citrus for the contry and our farmland would probably still be usable.

I was wondering what people thought about using telex for communication? It was on the decline in the 80s, but I believe there would still be plenty of telex machines and usable wires in '84.
 

Unknown

I'd like to see a P & S spinoff set in Florida. I think Governor Bob Graham (he became a Senator OTL and was considered as VPs for both Clinton and Gore) would prepare his state about as much as Kerrey has Nebraska (especially given that Cuba's about 90 miles from Key West and an incident occurred near Key West (1) near the time of the Orange Bowl game).

(1) Read the part where Chip and Jill and their families are in Miami for the Orange Bowl game, red1. BTW, have you read that TL?
 

Gen_Patton

Update!

DUCK AND COVER
PART VIII: The Gangs of Cleveland​
The Gangs of Cleveland started as all gangs do. Among the desperation and destitution there were a few people willing to take risks and gamble big for a reward. Gravitating together they made plans and as always started small.

They skimmed the bottoms of the pots in the refugee camps, pulled gold teeth out of corpses, and got their hands on a pistol. They would gain confidence, their plans got bigger, their gangs got bigger, and within weeks found themselves armed and attacking supply convoys, and more dramatically running food, people, weapons, and drugs in and out of Cleveland.

Outside the walls of the Last City the refugees were thrown callously to the wind. The Fence was erected, electrified, and topped with barbed wire, visually punctuating the separation between the loc and the fugee forever. The refugees were forced to start again on their own as the relocation camps were razed for materials and their manpower sent on other tasks.

Fugeevilles started small, a collection of crude shacks created to keep the black snow off of the refugee’s backs. They soon grew more elaborate gaining crude “main streets” and a variety of governments: ranging from autocracies, democratic councils, socialist experiments, religious extremism, to corrupt kleptocracies run by the ever growing gangs. The fugeeville was created with the sense of security mixed with the tinge of desperation and fear, becoming beacons of both hope and opportunity in the sea of confusion.

The refugees gravitated to people they had something in common, a shared past, a shared place of origin. The fugees flocked together, clustered in hamlets mostly christened with the names of the towns they had left or lost- New Pittsburg, Nova Philadelphia, Cincinnatus, Yorksburg, Chicago’s Child. Or they were named for the places the like minded refugees hoped to create- Zion, New Jerusalem, Workers Paradise, Utopia, Anarchy, and Strength. All sat together on the outskirts of Cleveland blending the tapestry of America in a quilt of rusted corrugated iron roofs, blue tarps, garbage bags stitched together with the thread of brown dirt roads.

The gangs followed the poor and destitute, the parasite clinging to the parasite, the lice holding onto the tick. As the refugees found work inside the factories and outside on the fields, so the criminal found work preying on the world and the refugee. Protection rackets were established, prostitution brothels erected and drug laboratories were founded to create synthetic products to replace the natural product that The War had rendered extinct. The gangs found rich loam in which to plant their weeds.

Some towns accepted the criminals with open arms, extra food was always good, and the money brought in by their “enterprises” could help the community. Yet, others deplored criminality and went to extremes. Punishment after the war was found in archaic forms the gallows, the public flogging, and the stocks all made dramatic comebacks in the Fugeevilles. Jails were too hard to make effectively, and life was miserable. In the end they may have done the criminals a favor by killing them. Radiation poisoning was a miserable way to die.

The Fugeevilles established militias to fight the criminals inside and outside of the area controlled by the Cleveland Community Cooperation Pact. A collection of men who shot at bottles with outdated weapons every weekend they were surprisingly effective. They swore blood oaths, wore unique crude uniforms, and some even went so far as to create “bibles” books detailing military procedure, tactics, and honor. The militias were known for being extremely hard in criminals and bandits. A famous story states a small unit of Zion militia chasing a small gang as far as Rome to ensure that every member was killed. They returned with the rotting heads in their saddlebags.

But being a mixture of police and military was not the only function the militia served. The only organizations outside of the CCCP with official salvage licenses, their raids brought back whatever scraps of food and supplies the CCCP left. The militias became a fixture of fugeeville pride. They were responsible for organizing many Fourth of July parades throughout the Cooperation Pact, and were famous for their charity and community spirit. It was their spirit that became the rallying point in the Upheaval. A good militia and the government it supported became local legends for centuries, personifying everything good people saw in America.

But the militias paled in comparison to the troops of Cleveland and the CCCP. Little more that officially sanctioned bandits, the CCCP would raid small towns searching for grain silos, consumer goods and valuables that could be sold in Cleveland. Their banner, a black background with the white letters CCCP, was a brutal tactic. The small-towners fearing a Soviet invasion generally would set up roadblocks and attack the troops giving the CCCP an excuse to attack, displace, and steal from “uncooperative locals.” The CCCP soon became universally reviled by both the militias and the small-towners alike.

On April 22nd the CCCP rolled toward the small town of Attica, Ohio. Little did the CCCP troops nor the small-towners know but their fates were intertwined in the most dramatic change in Cleveland since the strikes…

 *The Refugee was walking toward the knoll for mass. The pulsing throng around him was headed in the same direction. It was Sunday morning and time for mass. The Diocese of Cleveland had sent out volunteer throughout the previous week to advertise the coming community masses to be held outside of the fugeevilles.

The Refugee was born and raised Catholic, but like most Americans he had stopped going after college. What was the point? He had never felt close to God, and the conservative bent of the church combined with the ritual and secrecy had left him feeling alone in the universe. But now was as good a time as ever to go back. The church had gone on a massive “come back to the church” movement. And the results had even surprised the Bishop. People were supposed to lose faith in God after the Apocalypse not gain it.

As the crowd left the fugeeville and wound its way down toward a small hill. A set of old fashioned megaphone-esque loudspeakers sat on a hastily erected stand. The sputtering start of a small generator was followed by a distorted crackle and the sound of a voice. “Testing 1, 2. Testing 1, 2.”

The crowd filed around the base of the hill, and took seats in the grass. All in all nearly five hundred people had arrived, a swirling mass of refugees. As they sat expectantly waiting, the priest stood on the top of the hill and began.

“Now today you are going to have to excuse our unorthodox arrangement, frankly there are too many people and not enough churches. A problem we haven’t had since I was a kid, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.”

The joke at the end got a laugh out of the crowd. It was good to laugh in such horrid times.
The mass then went on almost as normal, the rites, prayers, and motions remained the same.
But the focal part of the mass was the Homily, the priest’s sermon after the gospel. Standing before the multitudes the Priest began to talk.

“Many of us have been afraid, fearing that this is the End of Days. They stand on our street corners speaking words of fire. We draw parallels between words of Scripture and ancient prophets. Some have claimed to be agents of God or the Devil. They claim God has wrought punishment upon us more like a second flood, and we are still waiting for the rainbow.”

“But that is not the truth, God gave both sides time for redemption, time for forgiveness, and in the end we forgot his grace and made human choices. We mankind have wrought this world, no divine power has. May we never forget that mankind has created the world we now live in!”

“But The Lord gave us free will, the ability to chose our own destiny. While we may never get the chance to go back and change the past, we have a chance to go forward. Make good choices, do good works, and live the way the Lord intended.”

“We have to make choices. We have to look forward. There is Paradise waiting for those who are willing to sacrifice. If God has ever needed his children, he needs us now.”

The mass continued, the Eucharist was given, and the choir sang. And like that mass had ended.

The Refugee wandered home alone. He had a lot to think about.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fin Part VIII
 

Archangel

As a Catholic, I must say it's a good update!:cool:
The Homily besides raising morale among the refugees, is making the Refugee thinking about what needs to be done to regain his freedom as a citizen of a free country.
I wonder how many faithful will the Church gain besides returning lapsed Catholics.
Cleveland is starting to look towards freedom, thanks to the refugees. They may be able to restore normality to Cleveland after a while.
Keep it up, Gen_Patton!:)
 

Gen_Patton

Archangel said:
As a Catholic, I must say it's a good update!:cool:
The Homily besides raising morale among the refugees, is making the Refugee thinking about what needs to be done to regain his freedom as a citizen of a free country.
I wonder how many faithful will the Church gain besides returning lapsed Catholics.
Cleveland is starting to look towards freedom, thanks to the refugees. They may be able to restore normality to Cleveland after a while.
Keep it up, Gen_Patton!:)
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Well they will gain their freedom again. Not exactly in a peaceful manner mind you, but Cleveland will normalize. Dramatically.

About now the Church is communicating with the surviving Church leadership in either Brazil or Africa. I can't decide where. I hope that Pope John Paul II got somewhere safe. He's a real life hero, and should be interesting to see how he shapes the Post War world.

Chipperback said:
I enjoyed that story very much. Please Patton...keep writing, dude :)
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Thanks for the encouragement. Been pretty busy so been updating less frequently. Couldn't update last week because of travel.
 
Chipperback

Chipperback

What about the Holy See

About now the Church is communicating with the surviving Church leadership in either Brazil or Africa.
Click to expand...

Most likely Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo if they survive. Given how the situation in a number of African nation is looking, South America seems to be a better move.

Grand Island Central Catholic High School/Emergency offices of the Archdiocese of Omaha -- Grand Island, Nebraska -- Thursday February 24, 1984. 10:00 am Central Standard Time.

Archbishop Daniel Sheehan is 66, he felt like he was 106. Since evacuating 10 days ago, he's been busy. Preparing his flock to be of help, alongside a number of clergymen of all faiths.

But even his faith was a little shaken by February 21, 1984, and the uncertainty that follows.

It was a morning meeting with aides and parish priests who left Omaha and Lincoln, and the clergy and key lay people from GICC. Each had one question on their mind.

"Archbishop? What next," One of the priest asked. "Most likely the Vatican is destroyed, is there any idea.

"By my understanding," the Archbishop said. "The Emergency plan was to evacuate the Vicar of Christ and the College of Cardinals to next largest surviving Catholic nation away from the hot zones. That nation is Brazil. If the papacy is vacant due to death and there isn't a quorum within the college of cardinals, then that nation would have to reconstitute the Holy See."

"Of course," he said wryly. "This is all open to interpretation. One thing I do know, having met Cardinal Karol, he's no dummy and since that attempt on his life, the Vatican is highly security conscious. The first sign of trouble, they'd have moved John Paul II a far away from a potential combat zone as possible. After all, the Soviets tried to kill him you know."

"But what about us?," one his aides asked. "Until we get some news, IF we get news, what do we do."

"We pray. We wait. We serve," the Archbishop said calmly. "We'll have much to do once we get through the fallout and can get out of the shelters. First of all, we need to restart worship services as soon as we can. We have to minister again, because we are in a world that needs it more than ever."
 

Lord Grattan

Enjoyed the update general. I have been contemplating writing a P&S story that touches on the faith issues raised (to put it mildly) by nuclear armageddon.
 

Wolf

Chipperback said:
Most likely Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo if they survive. Given how the situation in a number of African nation is looking, South America seems to be a better move.
Click to expand...

It would be sad if the Pope and the College of Cardinals arrived in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro only to have both cities disappear under atomic fireballs.
 

Mario Rossi

The fate of the Pope and the immediate future of Catholic Church should have a small (but I hope exhaustive) part in the next NNCS update (it is taking a little more time than expected because it basically involves to do some solid targeting research).

Again my compliments to GP for the large scope of his work, that I see post after post getting a personal print that I always find a "plus" for any story. :)
 
Chipperback

Chipperback

"It would be sad if the Pope and the College of Cardinals arrived in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro only to have both cities disappear under atomic fireballs."
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Assuming that the Soviets would target Brazil.
If we take this all the way to the extreme, the Holy See could end up in East Timor.
 

basileus

Mario Rossi said:
The fate of the Pope and the immediate future of Catholic Church should have a small (but I hope exhaustive) part in the next NNCS update (it is taking a little more time than expected because it basically involves to do some solid targeting research).

Again my compliments to GP for the large scope of his work, that I see post after post getting a personal print that I always find a "plus" for any story. :)
Click to expand...

Mario, il Papa... questo papa, soprattutto, va a Fatima. Lo sento.
 
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Mario Rossi

Non confermo e non smentisco, chi vivrà vedrà :D

Comunque una working version della lista (quindi non ancora ufficiale e mezza in inglese e mezza in Italiano, con diversi controlli da fare) ce l'ho. Se mi mandi un indirizzo mail anche in PM ci mettiamo d'accordo su un po' di cose per le tue "Vacanze".
 

QuoProQuid

Gen_Patton said:
I can't decide where. I hope that Pope John Paul II got somewhere safe. He's a real life hero, and should be interesting to see how he shapes the Post War world.
Click to expand...

Pope John Paul II would be the kind of guy to stay in Rome until the end, guiding his flock through their final hours. He would not abandon Rome at its hour of need. I think Macragge said it the best:

To be honest, I really hadn't given the Pope much thought - rather than sending him to South America, I'm now of the opinion that his staying in Rome is a) more probable and b) more dramatic - naturally, there'd be an element of pragmatism and someone would have to be set up as a successor - I still reckon Brazil would be the best place for this.

I do like the idea of the Swiss Guards getting dissolved just before the bombs - thanking them for hundreds of years of service, and then they get far enough out to see St Peter's burn - that is a sad touch.
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In any case, the Vatican should get transferred to Rio De Janiero if it hasn't been destroyed and is stable. If not, administrative duties of the Church are likely to get transferred to the next largest Catholic city. If that has been destroyed, then it goes to the next one, or the next one, or the next one...
 

basileus

Mario Rossi said:
Non confermo e non smentisco, chi vivrà vedrà :D

Comunque una working version della lista (quindi non ancora ufficiale e mezza in inglese e mezza in Italiano, con diversi controlli da fare) ce l'ho. Se mi mandi un indirizzo mail anche in PM ci mettiamo d'accordo su un po' di cose per le tue "Vacanze".
Click to expand...

Sempre che riesca mai a cominciare a scriverla, in una lingua che non sarà mai la mia... cmq, ti contatto.
 

Archangel

Chipperback said:
"We pray. We wait. We serve," the Archbishop said calmly. "We'll have much to do once we get through the fallout and can get out of the shelters. First of all, we need to restart worship services as soon as we can. We have to minister again, because we are in a world that needs it more than ever."
Click to expand...
Good description of the Church's mission.


Lord Grattan said:
Enjoyed the update general. I have been contemplating writing a P&S story that touches on the faith issues raised (to put it mildly) by nuclear armageddon.
Click to expand...
Chipperback said:
A P&S on faith issues is something I'd want to read with great interest.
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I would like to see it written too.:)
Mario Rossi said:
The fate of the Pope and the immediate future of Catholic Church should have a small (but I hope exhaustive) part in the next NNCS update (it is taking a little more time than expected because it basically involves to do some solid targeting research).

Again my compliments to GP for the large scope of his work, that I see post after post getting a personal print that I always find a "plus" for any story. :)
Click to expand...
Look forward to see your next update, Mario!:)
basileus said:
Mario, il Papa... questo papa, soprattutto, va a Fatima. Lo sento.
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If John Paul II is alive, he will try to visit Fatima, when things settle down, and Fatima has good chances of having survived.:)
 
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