Land of Flatwater: Protect and Survive Middle America
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Land Of Flatwater: Phoenix.
Colfax County Medical Center -- Schuyler, Nebraska -- 10:45pm Central Standard Time -- Thursday March 8, 1984.
A dim Emergency Room built underground. Flashlight providing the light. A scared woman on the edge of consciousness..and new life struggling inside her.
Her name is Dr. Kate Listley. Before the war she was an OB-GYN at University of Nebraska Medical Center. 30ish, a little heavyset, no-nonsense. A brusk, urbane woman totally drawn into her work. She evacuated with some colleagues as Omahans fled the city in advance of the bomb. In the chaos she was separated and ended up in Schuyler. Not the place she'd want to be.
Two hours ago, the woman's water broke. She was in labor. But the labor was would be difficult. The stresses of the days post-attack led to the birth spasms beginning two weeks early. Dr. Listley heard the panicked cries and volunteered. She immediately clashed with the equally tough country ER doctor and her team of nurses. An odd couple, put together by need and by destiny. The young one inside the harried woman on a gurney could be the first newborn in Nebraska after "The Day The Missiles Came".
Sheer chaos among them, amid the silent chaos above them. Nebraska was covered in a blanket of snow...mixed with radioactive fallout...New fallout. Hours before the storm system, spawned in the Canadian Rockies, ran headlong into a nuclear detonation.
A fifteen-hundred miles North of Schuyler, a new storm was brewing. Not a storm of nature and cloud, but a storm of jet fuel and missiles. To the North, a surviving band of Soviet Air Force was massed in a base carved from Canadian tundra. To the south of that base are surviving Royal Canadian Air Force. Early in the day, jets clashed over the Northwest Territories. In the hours since the Soviet nuclear bomb exploded near Medicine Hat, more Canadian power, and elements of Minnesota National Guard deployed.
"Damn, this is going to be hard," Dr. Listley moaned. "We can't push the kid out because of the inflammation. Anti-inflammatories won't work fast enough maybe."
"Maybe we could slow the labor down somehow," the ER doctor said.
"If we had the drugs, yes...But we're at what....nurse?"
"About five minutes apart," Cyndi Trofholz said. "We're running out of time.."
The husband held his wife's hand strongly. "Will my child make it,"
"I don't know," Dr. Listley said. "We may have to C-Section. I don't want to do it, but I can't see any other way. Flashlights are running short of batteries. We need power..Anything...How the hell are we going to do this here. Damned Little House On The Prairie hospital."
The ER doctor shot back, "Well doctor, its seems everything is Little House On The Prairie right now, you better get used to it."
"I think we have some batteries stored down here in the utility closet," Rick said.
"I can do better than that," a soft voice from the corner of the room said. It was Al, another CDU. Before the attack he was the electrician that kept the medical center running.
"The generator," Al said. "Lets just turn it on."
"Now hang on Al," Another CDU troop said. "The Sheriff and the Mayor said we could only use the generator for an emergency."
Al's voice was mousy-soft but determined. "A mama in pain trying to give birth, and a child trying to be born. That's an emergency to me."
Al didn't hesitate he left the room and heading down another flight of stairs.
"Wait up, Al," Rick said. Rick and two other CDUs followed.
"Thank God, my child may have a chance." The husband whispered
"Okay, everybody lets scrub up as best we can," the OB-GYN said. "Do we have anesthesia?"
"We do, and new surgical gear, kept stores down here just in case."
Dr. Listley swallowed hard. She hated C-sections. "Anybody who isn't medical professional is NOT in this room." She barked
The husband protested. "I will NOT leave my wife." He squeezed her hand again.
Listley was serious. "You don't have a choice. OUT! NOW!"
He raised his voice to protest again. He walked threatningly towards the doctor. Ed quickly blocked his path.
"Sir," Ed said sternly. "Come with me please."
The man tried to walk through Ed..Ed threw his body into him hard. It knocked the wind out of the husband.
"I'm sorry about that, sir." Ed said as he helped the man out of room..
"I love you Anne," he said as he was led out..
"Miiiike," she whispered as she slowly slipped into sleep. The first stage of anesthesia beginning to work.
It took Al and the group 15 minutes to run the checks and fire the generator. The fuel tanks, filled with ethanol, would power the hospital, Al made sure that the only circuits firing would be limited to the area around the underground ER. Just enough to heat it and run the equipment needed.
"I hope they work fast," Al thought. ":And I pray we don't need to be here long."
Ed and the rest of the CDU deputies were in the waiting room along with some relief nurses and Ed and the husband. The husband was very troubled, clutching rosary beads.
"Hail Mary, full grace the Lord of with thee. Blessed art thou art among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus...Holy Mary, mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death," the husband prayed.
"You okay friend?" Ed asked. "Sorry about earlier. Just doing my job."
"I know," the man said. "Name's Mike...Mike Wellspring."
"Ed Rochelle," Ed said. "I'm praying for you, your wife and that baby too."
"Thanks," Mike said. "But I have a feeling this is God's way of dealing me penance."
"Why?" Ed asked.
"Because I bear some responsibility for all this," Mike said. "My child, my first child will be born into hell...And I take some of blame.."
"You can't put this on yourself," Ed said. "Hell nobody asked for all this.."
"I helped cause it," Mike whimpered.
"How did you do that?" Ed said. "Is your last name Reagan or Ogarkov?"
"Might as well have been," Mike said. "Until 2 years ago, I worked for the Department of Energy."
"So...The Department of Energy didn't start the war."
"No troop, we just built the weapons. That was my job. I get out of college at Iowa State, did my advanced degree at CalTech...and from there..Oak Ridge, Livermore...I was a true child of Oppenheimer."
Mike bowed his head. "I help designed them. You see the primary weapons research is done by the DoE. I had the works. Damn near bottomless budget and all the toys I could play with, even bigger once Bonzo got elected."
"So you were a bomb maker," Ed said.
"Yeah, and I know most people would want to kick my ass off the world now," Mike said. "That is why I quit in '82. I couldn't stand it anymore. More bombs. Bigger bombs. More megatons...and then that new neutron bomb. That's really ducky! Keep buildings intact and just kill more people. I was sick of it. I quit. Gave up all the security clearances, and I had top secret clearance. Took my family and got a job as a math professor at Northwest Missouri State."
"Nine months ago, I was happiest goddamn man in the world! My first child was on the way! You have children Ed?"
"One child. A boy he's twelve."
"You think your boy will see thirteen?"
"I pray to God he does."
Mike shook his head. "I think God pulled the plug on us, Ed. Can you blame Him? Look what we did. Look what I did. Me and so many like me playing God...and look what the fuck we've done."
Fifty minutes later....
"Almost got the kid," The ER doctor said.
The OB-GYN was pensive. "I knew the cord would be inflammed. We have to be careful. That cord to strangle the child..I need a another pair of hands...NURSE...uh..NURSE....sorry..your are."
"Trofholz..." Cyndi said.
"I need you to clamp at this intersection. We are going to gently..GENTLY! Work the cord away from the child's neck. We can slowly work the child out.. Doctor, do we have incubator ready.."
"We do," Cyndi said... "Two rooms down the hall. We' moved two down here."
"Get it," the OB-GYN said. "From the looks of thing this baby is maybe 10-14 days early...
"Evie," Cyndi called to another nurse, "Handle this clamp, while I get the incumbators and the spare O2, I know exactly where it is."
Nurse Trofholz, running on adrenalin races out of the OR..She called to Ed. "Excuse me sirs, I need some help here."
Ed stood up, "Sure nurse, what do you need."
"I gotta move an incubator and some oxygen tanks...
"I'll help too," Mike said. "That's my baby at stake in there."
FEMA-NEMA Camp/Wagner Mills-Schuyler same time..
Two national guardsmen in rad suits in a closed lookout above the camp...One looked toward the medical center...smoke rises from an exhaust on the roof..
"Look," the guardsman said.."At the hospital...smoke.."
"Lookout one at NCF main...acknowledge."
"This is main...over..."
"We see smoke rising from the Medical Center...Isn't things supposed to be locked down.."
"Lookout...there are people there...medical emergency...over.."
"Yes...but from what we are seeing...they are running some power source...I repeat...they are running a power source...isn't there a cutoff order on during the storm...over..."
"Shit," the First Lieutenant thought. "Last thing we need is somebody squatting in the hospital.."
"Now hold on Lieutenant," The Sheriff said. "We got a report earlier that somebody went into labor before this snow hit us. Remember?"
"Nonetheless, the Governor called for power rationing. We can't use fuel...But lockout reports somebody is using something over there. We don't know what it could be...But we're going to saddle up.
"Lookout one call all working station..Rally in rad gear...in 10 minutes.."
"Sir? Another voice replied, You realize how high the rads are?"
"That's why you have protective gear. Mount up! Somebody is in the medical center burning fuel or stealing fuel and supplies that shouldn't be...Rally and mount up."
"Lieutenant," The Sheriff said. "If your troops go over. So will my deputies."
"Not necessary," the Lieutenant said.
"Well I think it is," the Sheriff said. "Remember you may be the Nebraska Combined Forces, but according the emergency plan I have full oversight over your actions. Remember that. Some of my deputies are already there."
The Lieutenant wasn't listening. "You just tell your boys its a precaution. And tell them to stay out of our way if becomes a hot zone. Could be looters in there for all you know.
to be continued.
Colfax County Medical Center -- Schuyler, Nebraska -- 10:45pm Central Standard Time -- Thursday March 8, 1984.
A dim Emergency Room built underground. Flashlight providing the light. A scared woman on the edge of consciousness..and new life struggling inside her.
Her name is Dr. Kate Listley. Before the war she was an OB-GYN at University of Nebraska Medical Center. 30ish, a little heavyset, no-nonsense. A brusk, urbane woman totally drawn into her work. She evacuated with some colleagues as Omahans fled the city in advance of the bomb. In the chaos she was separated and ended up in Schuyler. Not the place she'd want to be.
Two hours ago, the woman's water broke. She was in labor. But the labor was would be difficult. The stresses of the days post-attack led to the birth spasms beginning two weeks early. Dr. Listley heard the panicked cries and volunteered. She immediately clashed with the equally tough country ER doctor and her team of nurses. An odd couple, put together by need and by destiny. The young one inside the harried woman on a gurney could be the first newborn in Nebraska after "The Day The Missiles Came".
Sheer chaos among them, amid the silent chaos above them. Nebraska was covered in a blanket of snow...mixed with radioactive fallout...New fallout. Hours before the storm system, spawned in the Canadian Rockies, ran headlong into a nuclear detonation.
A fifteen-hundred miles North of Schuyler, a new storm was brewing. Not a storm of nature and cloud, but a storm of jet fuel and missiles. To the North, a surviving band of Soviet Air Force was massed in a base carved from Canadian tundra. To the south of that base are surviving Royal Canadian Air Force. Early in the day, jets clashed over the Northwest Territories. In the hours since the Soviet nuclear bomb exploded near Medicine Hat, more Canadian power, and elements of Minnesota National Guard deployed.
"Damn, this is going to be hard," Dr. Listley moaned. "We can't push the kid out because of the inflammation. Anti-inflammatories won't work fast enough maybe."
"Maybe we could slow the labor down somehow," the ER doctor said.
"If we had the drugs, yes...But we're at what....nurse?"
"About five minutes apart," Cyndi Trofholz said. "We're running out of time.."
The husband held his wife's hand strongly. "Will my child make it,"
"I don't know," Dr. Listley said. "We may have to C-Section. I don't want to do it, but I can't see any other way. Flashlights are running short of batteries. We need power..Anything...How the hell are we going to do this here. Damned Little House On The Prairie hospital."
The ER doctor shot back, "Well doctor, its seems everything is Little House On The Prairie right now, you better get used to it."
"I think we have some batteries stored down here in the utility closet," Rick said.
"I can do better than that," a soft voice from the corner of the room said. It was Al, another CDU. Before the attack he was the electrician that kept the medical center running.
"The generator," Al said. "Lets just turn it on."
"Now hang on Al," Another CDU troop said. "The Sheriff and the Mayor said we could only use the generator for an emergency."
Al's voice was mousy-soft but determined. "A mama in pain trying to give birth, and a child trying to be born. That's an emergency to me."
Al didn't hesitate he left the room and heading down another flight of stairs.
"Wait up, Al," Rick said. Rick and two other CDUs followed.
"Thank God, my child may have a chance." The husband whispered
"Okay, everybody lets scrub up as best we can," the OB-GYN said. "Do we have anesthesia?"
"We do, and new surgical gear, kept stores down here just in case."
Dr. Listley swallowed hard. She hated C-sections. "Anybody who isn't medical professional is NOT in this room." She barked
The husband protested. "I will NOT leave my wife." He squeezed her hand again.
Listley was serious. "You don't have a choice. OUT! NOW!"
He raised his voice to protest again. He walked threatningly towards the doctor. Ed quickly blocked his path.
"Sir," Ed said sternly. "Come with me please."
The man tried to walk through Ed..Ed threw his body into him hard. It knocked the wind out of the husband.
"I'm sorry about that, sir." Ed said as he helped the man out of room..
"I love you Anne," he said as he was led out..
"Miiiike," she whispered as she slowly slipped into sleep. The first stage of anesthesia beginning to work.
It took Al and the group 15 minutes to run the checks and fire the generator. The fuel tanks, filled with ethanol, would power the hospital, Al made sure that the only circuits firing would be limited to the area around the underground ER. Just enough to heat it and run the equipment needed.
"I hope they work fast," Al thought. ":And I pray we don't need to be here long."
Ed and the rest of the CDU deputies were in the waiting room along with some relief nurses and Ed and the husband. The husband was very troubled, clutching rosary beads.
"Hail Mary, full grace the Lord of with thee. Blessed art thou art among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus...Holy Mary, mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death," the husband prayed.
"You okay friend?" Ed asked. "Sorry about earlier. Just doing my job."
"I know," the man said. "Name's Mike...Mike Wellspring."
"Ed Rochelle," Ed said. "I'm praying for you, your wife and that baby too."
"Thanks," Mike said. "But I have a feeling this is God's way of dealing me penance."
"Why?" Ed asked.
"Because I bear some responsibility for all this," Mike said. "My child, my first child will be born into hell...And I take some of blame.."
"You can't put this on yourself," Ed said. "Hell nobody asked for all this.."
"I helped cause it," Mike whimpered.
"How did you do that?" Ed said. "Is your last name Reagan or Ogarkov?"
"Might as well have been," Mike said. "Until 2 years ago, I worked for the Department of Energy."
"So...The Department of Energy didn't start the war."
"No troop, we just built the weapons. That was my job. I get out of college at Iowa State, did my advanced degree at CalTech...and from there..Oak Ridge, Livermore...I was a true child of Oppenheimer."
Mike bowed his head. "I help designed them. You see the primary weapons research is done by the DoE. I had the works. Damn near bottomless budget and all the toys I could play with, even bigger once Bonzo got elected."
"So you were a bomb maker," Ed said.
"Yeah, and I know most people would want to kick my ass off the world now," Mike said. "That is why I quit in '82. I couldn't stand it anymore. More bombs. Bigger bombs. More megatons...and then that new neutron bomb. That's really ducky! Keep buildings intact and just kill more people. I was sick of it. I quit. Gave up all the security clearances, and I had top secret clearance. Took my family and got a job as a math professor at Northwest Missouri State."
"Nine months ago, I was happiest goddamn man in the world! My first child was on the way! You have children Ed?"
"One child. A boy he's twelve."
"You think your boy will see thirteen?"
"I pray to God he does."
Mike shook his head. "I think God pulled the plug on us, Ed. Can you blame Him? Look what we did. Look what I did. Me and so many like me playing God...and look what the fuck we've done."
Fifty minutes later....
"Almost got the kid," The ER doctor said.
The OB-GYN was pensive. "I knew the cord would be inflammed. We have to be careful. That cord to strangle the child..I need a another pair of hands...NURSE...uh..NURSE....sorry..your are."
"Trofholz..." Cyndi said.
"I need you to clamp at this intersection. We are going to gently..GENTLY! Work the cord away from the child's neck. We can slowly work the child out.. Doctor, do we have incubator ready.."
"We do," Cyndi said... "Two rooms down the hall. We' moved two down here."
"Get it," the OB-GYN said. "From the looks of thing this baby is maybe 10-14 days early...
"Evie," Cyndi called to another nurse, "Handle this clamp, while I get the incumbators and the spare O2, I know exactly where it is."
Nurse Trofholz, running on adrenalin races out of the OR..She called to Ed. "Excuse me sirs, I need some help here."
Ed stood up, "Sure nurse, what do you need."
"I gotta move an incubator and some oxygen tanks...
"I'll help too," Mike said. "That's my baby at stake in there."
FEMA-NEMA Camp/Wagner Mills-Schuyler same time..
Two national guardsmen in rad suits in a closed lookout above the camp...One looked toward the medical center...smoke rises from an exhaust on the roof..
"Look," the guardsman said.."At the hospital...smoke.."
"Lookout one at NCF main...acknowledge."
"This is main...over..."
"We see smoke rising from the Medical Center...Isn't things supposed to be locked down.."
"Lookout...there are people there...medical emergency...over.."
"Yes...but from what we are seeing...they are running some power source...I repeat...they are running a power source...isn't there a cutoff order on during the storm...over..."
"Shit," the First Lieutenant thought. "Last thing we need is somebody squatting in the hospital.."
"Now hold on Lieutenant," The Sheriff said. "We got a report earlier that somebody went into labor before this snow hit us. Remember?"
"Nonetheless, the Governor called for power rationing. We can't use fuel...But lockout reports somebody is using something over there. We don't know what it could be...But we're going to saddle up.
"Lookout one call all working station..Rally in rad gear...in 10 minutes.."
"Sir? Another voice replied, You realize how high the rads are?"
"That's why you have protective gear. Mount up! Somebody is in the medical center burning fuel or stealing fuel and supplies that shouldn't be...Rally and mount up."
"Lieutenant," The Sheriff said. "If your troops go over. So will my deputies."
"Not necessary," the Lieutenant said.
"Well I think it is," the Sheriff said. "Remember you may be the Nebraska Combined Forces, but according the emergency plan I have full oversight over your actions. Remember that. Some of my deputies are already there."
The Lieutenant wasn't listening. "You just tell your boys its a precaution. And tell them to stay out of our way if becomes a hot zone. Could be looters in there for all you know.
to be continued.
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Odd statement in a way as in the late '70s and early '80s the trend was for smaller, cleaner more accurate devices with sub-megaton yields.
Good chapter.
John Farson
Banned
I think Mike is currently not quite right in the head, understandably. He might mean with "more megatons" the combined number of bombs that he contributed to building.
What coming in LoF
Next updates will come Sunday and Monday as I get into a writing groove. This coming week will be special for inspiration. I'm going to be doing some writing In Omaha. I'm going to be visiting my hometown...So there will be some updates.
As far as the pace of story...I'm looking to head into Spring '84, where four major storylines will focus Nebraska into the summer ahead and into the critical fall harvest.
Next updates will come Sunday and Monday as I get into a writing groove. This coming week will be special for inspiration. I'm going to be doing some writing In Omaha. I'm going to be visiting my hometown...So there will be some updates.
As far as the pace of story...I'm looking to head into Spring '84, where four major storylines will focus Nebraska into the summer ahead and into the critical fall harvest.
Would that I wasn't busier than crap this weekend; I'd offer to buy you beer(s).
Land Of Flatwater: Phoenix (con't)
Colfax County Medical Center -- Schuyler, Nebraska 11:32pm Thursday March 8, 1984
"Almost....there..."
"We just about have it."
"Steady vitals....steady.."
Dr. Kate Listley. OB-GYN. University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Dr. Jennie Duell. Lead ER physician. Colfax County Medical Center/Emergency Medical Director for Colfax County Civil Defense
Cyndi Trofholz RN. Lead Nurse, Colfax County Medical Center
11:33pm Central Standard Time, Thursday March 8, 1984.
Four loving hands. Reached into the birth canal. They worked through the forest of an inflamed umbilical.
Hands covered in the ooze that brought forth a new dawn.
They reached in, through a tricky operation. In a mother sleeping.
The hands reached inside. The placenta waiting.
The life. The precious life.
Life. So much of it lost.
Life. So much of it fading away.
Life. The balance book growing redder each day amid the chaos of the past.
Life. On a snowy night in Nebraska, the bank of life would get a deposit.
A small deposit..but immeasurable in value.
Dr. Listly held the child. A gruff doctor softened a little. She coughed and cry. Straining for breaths.
As sickly and blue as she was....she was beautiful.
"It's a girl," Dr. Listley whispered.
The doctorwent back into command mode. "The incubator ready?"
" it's powered up," nurse Trofholz told her.
Dr. Listley placed the child in as Dr. Duell adjusted the oxygen level.
The child's breathing was less labored.
All three women were in tears as they saw her.
"I'll get the father," Cyndi said.
She walked out of the room, and saw Mike. He was holding onto his rosary beads. Lost in thought.
"Sir," Nurse Trofholz touched his shoulder.
"My wife. My child" He said desperately "Please, are they safe?"
"Your wife is under sedation. She is resting. "
Mike was still worried, "My child," he said sadly. "I lost my child.."
The nurse smiled through tired tears, "Congratulations,you have a baby girl...."
Mike bolted up and sprinting into the room. Overwhelmed.
He went into the ER. He saw his wide slumbering peacefully. He saw his daughter inside the incubator next to her. Fighting for breathe through sleep.
He cried again in joy and anguish.
By this time the CDUs had gathered at this makeshift crèche*
Ed and Rick stood and watched as Mike knelt at his wife's bed, holding her hand. Both men understood the tears of joy of a new father.
Al looked on silently weeping. Happy for Mike but also saddened. He thought of his two boys. The electrician was a widower for 15 years. He raised his boys alone. Both of them were in the Army. Both of them were in the European battleground of World War Three. Al thought of his boys.. Of his loss.
Nurse Cyndi Trofholz smiled and prayed. She didn't realize that she was thinking aloud.*
"Heavenly Father, we thank you for this gift for which we are not worthy. Again You show us through grace that we can rise. Father we ask that you place your arms and comfort around this new hope. This new life....this this...
"Phoenix," *Mile whispered. "That will be her name."
Dr. Duell smiled. "Amen."
Dr Listley could feel her own tears now. Everyone could.
The basement-turned-ER at that instant seemed to set apart from the world. The continuing snow above them set a stage. Flickering lights within the room, the quiet wheeze of the monitors and the generator provided the soundtrack.
March 8 became March 9th...
Another day after The Day The Missiles Came.
A nativity scene in Schuyler, Nebraska.
The quiet rudely interrupted by a bashed door. By boots, by the clanking of weapons.
"What the hell?"
Rick reacted quickly. "Somebody trying to get in. Everybody find cover and cover the entry points. Ed get up high."
Rick and Ed had their own MO. Rick would be on the grown, Ed being a hunter since he was a boy in Arkansas would always take a high "snipers" position.
The CDUs and deputies who volunteered to help with this birth found cover in the under ground. They all loaded weapons.*
The saw the shadow drawing closer coming down the stairs.*
The CDU captain yelled into the darkness. "Attention. If you are looting we will kill you."
The National Guard Lieutenant yelled back. "HALT. We are Nebraska Combined Forces! Drop all weapons and contraband and we will not kill you."
"Nice going beating down the door asshole," Rick yelled. "Now we'll all glow in the dark."
"You are running a generator?"
Doctor Listly answered. "A woman went into labor at the camp. We had to C-Section. They baby was delivered and is on a respirator right now. She was premature! If we can't get her oxygen she'll die."
"Listen," the Lieutenant said. "Just lower your weapons we are coming in. We want to check it out."
The troops in NBC suits moved in. Rick was trusting it at all neither was Ed, hiding a rafter above the scene.
The CDU Captain and both doctor meet with the Lieutanant
"Use of that generator was in violation of emergency regulations," He began. "You will shut it down or we will be forced to."
"Sir," Dr. Listley said, " We have a mother and a child in there. She has just given birth it was an emergency. "
"The regulations are in place for your survival and protection," The Lieutenant *said. "This is a illegal use of resources."
"Excuse me!" Al said harshly, the tone of his voice surprising all,"Didn't you her what would you were told, son? That Is a mama and her baby in there, both aren't out of the woods. That isn't wasting resources. We're saving lives here!"
The Lieutenant peered into the next room. Seeing the mother and. The child resting. The tiny wheeze of oxygen generators going.
"Please," Dr. Duell pleaded . "That child can't breathe on her own right now. We need her in that incubator for a few days."
The Lieutenant motioned to some of the troops, "Cut the generator."
"What?" roared Dr. Listly. "You cannot do that. That child will die if you do that!"
The trooper head toward the door leading to the generator.
"Its a matter of greater survival," the Lieutenant said. "Besides, babies can't work or fight. We don't have the resources to handle infants."
SNICK!
Mike was at the door, with a 9mm in hand. Nobody knew he was armed.
"Back away," Mike cried. "You will not kill my child."
Snick!Snick!Snick!Snick!
Around the room weapons reloaded and primed.
The deputies who came with the guardsmen began to break ranks.
Deputies "The Lieutenant said, fall back in."
"Negative," the deputy said tersely. "The sheriff said check it out, not start a war. We aren't firing on Dr. Duell. She's a part of our emergency government. If she says it's an emergency.. I'll believe her before I believe you."
The guardsmen found themselves outnumbered.
One of deputies got on his radio, "Sheriff come in... This is Butch."
"Yeah Butch? What going on at the hospital."
"Just like you thought, sir."
"Lieutenant you will stand down, NOW!" The Sheriff said firmly. "Dr. Duell, you carry on..and make sure that child is okay. You will hold these NCF assholes there until its all clear."
Lieutenant, you will be reported to Norfolk and to the NCEG."
"Sheriff, " The Lieutenant said, "You and I know what this decision will do to our fuel supplies. We must shut the generator down! What about after this storm passes, clean up activities, dealing with those who need help. We have a tight rationing program and it must be adhered to! One child who may not make it over thousands who might? As a part of the power of the NCEG I must take the role of superior authority..
Dr. Duell shot back. "The ultimately authority lies within our ruling Emergency council of which you are one member, First Lieutenant."
"So you are willing to risk all for one premature baby?" The Lieutenant said.
"What if it was your baby?"Ed said holding his rifle. "Would you be so easy about killing then?"
"Easy?". The Lieutenant said. "It is that easy. This child will take away resources. It's simple triage. The resources needed to keep a baby alive are not worth the cost in fuel, manpower and productivity. Who the hell wants to bring life into this hell anyway? You should have aborted the child. Instead you've used needed fuel we'll need to directly aid our survival."
The stand-off continued through the night it was almost as the doctors grimly look at the tiny baby.
The child fighting for her little life, while adults continue arguing the meaning of it.
FEMA-NEMA Camp/Main Command Post -- 8:00 am Friday March 9, 1984
The storm was gone by morning.
More than a foot of cold snow and fallout was dropped along a wide swatch of Nebraska. From Chadron to the North as far southeast as Falls City.
In Schuyler, the town's emergency committee came into session, mainly by radio or morse code. The tense standoff in the hospital spurred a serious debate on the meaning of triage.
"So they turned on the generator and delivered the baby," Schuyler's Mayor said. "Sounds like a blessing to me."
"Sounds like another mouth to feed," the county extension director said.*
"A baby? Where ate you going find diapers and formula huh?"
"That generator was only to be used in a dire emergency."
"And saving two lives isn't dire?" Dr Duell spoke through the radio, "Sir do you realize a new life is here' Amid all this... Life! Life! If we cannot celebrate that , what are we surviving for? We fed and clothed and cared for babies while our ancestors were riding covered wagons. You didn't hear them saying 'Babies Can't Work!'
Across the room, the Lieutenant was silently countiIng. On the other side of the room was another trooper standing innocuously. He calmly reached for his belt, grabbed a canister, and pulled the pin as he tossed it.
BOOM!
A blinding flash and smoke filled the room.
A group of trooper broke past the deputies and CDUs and heading into the basement room were the generator was. Through the fog and din nobody could get a clear shot.
Mike and other franctically raced downstairs and a fight ensued. Mike Rick Al and some other CDUs mobbed the guardsmen. The generator still ran.
Through the radios, the town committee heard cussing screaming and confusion. And then a shot,
A troop shot at what he thought was one of the CDU's shooting him, the glimmer he saw was straw sunlight reflecting off of a railing.
The bullet caromed through the ER room and it struck the incubator's motor.
The motor was silenced...
A cough was heard... A cry was heard.. Little Phoenix was awake.
Little Phoenix was breathing.... On her own. Miracles happen, even after a nuclear war.
"Cease fire! Cease Fire!!! Stop that goddamned firing!!!!!" Dr. Listley yelled.
Through the smoke she picked up the child, wrapped her in a blanket and walked out. Holding the infant... So tiny and frail... Barely 9 hours old. She felt her wheezing, breathing roughly.
"Look, see...." Dr Listley held the child in front of the Lieutenant. She was seething.
"This is our only hope!"
to be continued.
Colfax County Medical Center -- Schuyler, Nebraska 11:32pm Thursday March 8, 1984
"Almost....there..."
"We just about have it."
"Steady vitals....steady.."
Dr. Kate Listley. OB-GYN. University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Dr. Jennie Duell. Lead ER physician. Colfax County Medical Center/Emergency Medical Director for Colfax County Civil Defense
Cyndi Trofholz RN. Lead Nurse, Colfax County Medical Center
11:33pm Central Standard Time, Thursday March 8, 1984.
Four loving hands. Reached into the birth canal. They worked through the forest of an inflamed umbilical.
Hands covered in the ooze that brought forth a new dawn.
They reached in, through a tricky operation. In a mother sleeping.
The hands reached inside. The placenta waiting.
The life. The precious life.
Life. So much of it lost.
Life. So much of it fading away.
Life. The balance book growing redder each day amid the chaos of the past.
Life. On a snowy night in Nebraska, the bank of life would get a deposit.
A small deposit..but immeasurable in value.
Dr. Listly held the child. A gruff doctor softened a little. She coughed and cry. Straining for breaths.
As sickly and blue as she was....she was beautiful.
"It's a girl," Dr. Listley whispered.
The doctorwent back into command mode. "The incubator ready?"
" it's powered up," nurse Trofholz told her.
Dr. Listley placed the child in as Dr. Duell adjusted the oxygen level.
The child's breathing was less labored.
All three women were in tears as they saw her.
"I'll get the father," Cyndi said.
She walked out of the room, and saw Mike. He was holding onto his rosary beads. Lost in thought.
"Sir," Nurse Trofholz touched his shoulder.
"My wife. My child" He said desperately "Please, are they safe?"
"Your wife is under sedation. She is resting. "
Mike was still worried, "My child," he said sadly. "I lost my child.."
The nurse smiled through tired tears, "Congratulations,you have a baby girl...."
Mike bolted up and sprinting into the room. Overwhelmed.
He went into the ER. He saw his wide slumbering peacefully. He saw his daughter inside the incubator next to her. Fighting for breathe through sleep.
He cried again in joy and anguish.
By this time the CDUs had gathered at this makeshift crèche*
Ed and Rick stood and watched as Mike knelt at his wife's bed, holding her hand. Both men understood the tears of joy of a new father.
Al looked on silently weeping. Happy for Mike but also saddened. He thought of his two boys. The electrician was a widower for 15 years. He raised his boys alone. Both of them were in the Army. Both of them were in the European battleground of World War Three. Al thought of his boys.. Of his loss.
Nurse Cyndi Trofholz smiled and prayed. She didn't realize that she was thinking aloud.*
"Heavenly Father, we thank you for this gift for which we are not worthy. Again You show us through grace that we can rise. Father we ask that you place your arms and comfort around this new hope. This new life....this this...
"Phoenix," *Mile whispered. "That will be her name."
Dr. Duell smiled. "Amen."
Dr Listley could feel her own tears now. Everyone could.
The basement-turned-ER at that instant seemed to set apart from the world. The continuing snow above them set a stage. Flickering lights within the room, the quiet wheeze of the monitors and the generator provided the soundtrack.
March 8 became March 9th...
Another day after The Day The Missiles Came.
A nativity scene in Schuyler, Nebraska.
The quiet rudely interrupted by a bashed door. By boots, by the clanking of weapons.
"What the hell?"
Rick reacted quickly. "Somebody trying to get in. Everybody find cover and cover the entry points. Ed get up high."
Rick and Ed had their own MO. Rick would be on the grown, Ed being a hunter since he was a boy in Arkansas would always take a high "snipers" position.
The CDUs and deputies who volunteered to help with this birth found cover in the under ground. They all loaded weapons.*
The saw the shadow drawing closer coming down the stairs.*
The CDU captain yelled into the darkness. "Attention. If you are looting we will kill you."
The National Guard Lieutenant yelled back. "HALT. We are Nebraska Combined Forces! Drop all weapons and contraband and we will not kill you."
"Nice going beating down the door asshole," Rick yelled. "Now we'll all glow in the dark."
"You are running a generator?"
Doctor Listly answered. "A woman went into labor at the camp. We had to C-Section. They baby was delivered and is on a respirator right now. She was premature! If we can't get her oxygen she'll die."
"Listen," the Lieutenant said. "Just lower your weapons we are coming in. We want to check it out."
The troops in NBC suits moved in. Rick was trusting it at all neither was Ed, hiding a rafter above the scene.
The CDU Captain and both doctor meet with the Lieutanant
"Use of that generator was in violation of emergency regulations," He began. "You will shut it down or we will be forced to."
"Sir," Dr. Listley said, " We have a mother and a child in there. She has just given birth it was an emergency. "
"The regulations are in place for your survival and protection," The Lieutenant *said. "This is a illegal use of resources."
"Excuse me!" Al said harshly, the tone of his voice surprising all,"Didn't you her what would you were told, son? That Is a mama and her baby in there, both aren't out of the woods. That isn't wasting resources. We're saving lives here!"
The Lieutenant peered into the next room. Seeing the mother and. The child resting. The tiny wheeze of oxygen generators going.
"Please," Dr. Duell pleaded . "That child can't breathe on her own right now. We need her in that incubator for a few days."
The Lieutenant motioned to some of the troops, "Cut the generator."
"What?" roared Dr. Listly. "You cannot do that. That child will die if you do that!"
The trooper head toward the door leading to the generator.
"Its a matter of greater survival," the Lieutenant said. "Besides, babies can't work or fight. We don't have the resources to handle infants."
SNICK!
Mike was at the door, with a 9mm in hand. Nobody knew he was armed.
"Back away," Mike cried. "You will not kill my child."
Snick!Snick!Snick!Snick!
Around the room weapons reloaded and primed.
The deputies who came with the guardsmen began to break ranks.
Deputies "The Lieutenant said, fall back in."
"Negative," the deputy said tersely. "The sheriff said check it out, not start a war. We aren't firing on Dr. Duell. She's a part of our emergency government. If she says it's an emergency.. I'll believe her before I believe you."
The guardsmen found themselves outnumbered.
One of deputies got on his radio, "Sheriff come in... This is Butch."
"Yeah Butch? What going on at the hospital."
"Just like you thought, sir."
"Lieutenant you will stand down, NOW!" The Sheriff said firmly. "Dr. Duell, you carry on..and make sure that child is okay. You will hold these NCF assholes there until its all clear."
Lieutenant, you will be reported to Norfolk and to the NCEG."
"Sheriff, " The Lieutenant said, "You and I know what this decision will do to our fuel supplies. We must shut the generator down! What about after this storm passes, clean up activities, dealing with those who need help. We have a tight rationing program and it must be adhered to! One child who may not make it over thousands who might? As a part of the power of the NCEG I must take the role of superior authority..
Dr. Duell shot back. "The ultimately authority lies within our ruling Emergency council of which you are one member, First Lieutenant."
"So you are willing to risk all for one premature baby?" The Lieutenant said.
"What if it was your baby?"Ed said holding his rifle. "Would you be so easy about killing then?"
"Easy?". The Lieutenant said. "It is that easy. This child will take away resources. It's simple triage. The resources needed to keep a baby alive are not worth the cost in fuel, manpower and productivity. Who the hell wants to bring life into this hell anyway? You should have aborted the child. Instead you've used needed fuel we'll need to directly aid our survival."
The stand-off continued through the night it was almost as the doctors grimly look at the tiny baby.
The child fighting for her little life, while adults continue arguing the meaning of it.
FEMA-NEMA Camp/Main Command Post -- 8:00 am Friday March 9, 1984
The storm was gone by morning.
More than a foot of cold snow and fallout was dropped along a wide swatch of Nebraska. From Chadron to the North as far southeast as Falls City.
In Schuyler, the town's emergency committee came into session, mainly by radio or morse code. The tense standoff in the hospital spurred a serious debate on the meaning of triage.
"So they turned on the generator and delivered the baby," Schuyler's Mayor said. "Sounds like a blessing to me."
"Sounds like another mouth to feed," the county extension director said.*
"A baby? Where ate you going find diapers and formula huh?"
"That generator was only to be used in a dire emergency."
"And saving two lives isn't dire?" Dr Duell spoke through the radio, "Sir do you realize a new life is here' Amid all this... Life! Life! If we cannot celebrate that , what are we surviving for? We fed and clothed and cared for babies while our ancestors were riding covered wagons. You didn't hear them saying 'Babies Can't Work!'
Across the room, the Lieutenant was silently countiIng. On the other side of the room was another trooper standing innocuously. He calmly reached for his belt, grabbed a canister, and pulled the pin as he tossed it.
BOOM!
A blinding flash and smoke filled the room.
A group of trooper broke past the deputies and CDUs and heading into the basement room were the generator was. Through the fog and din nobody could get a clear shot.
Mike and other franctically raced downstairs and a fight ensued. Mike Rick Al and some other CDUs mobbed the guardsmen. The generator still ran.
Through the radios, the town committee heard cussing screaming and confusion. And then a shot,
A troop shot at what he thought was one of the CDU's shooting him, the glimmer he saw was straw sunlight reflecting off of a railing.
The bullet caromed through the ER room and it struck the incubator's motor.
The motor was silenced...
A cough was heard... A cry was heard.. Little Phoenix was awake.
Little Phoenix was breathing.... On her own. Miracles happen, even after a nuclear war.
"Cease fire! Cease Fire!!! Stop that goddamned firing!!!!!" Dr. Listley yelled.
Through the smoke she picked up the child, wrapped her in a blanket and walked out. Holding the infant... So tiny and frail... Barely 9 hours old. She felt her wheezing, breathing roughly.
"Look, see...." Dr Listley held the child in front of the Lieutenant. She was seething.
"This is our only hope!"
to be continued.
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Jesus Christ. Powerful.
I'd warn Lincoln about a few fighter jets coming. Hint: They may have a painting of a northern state on them.
I'd warn Lincoln about a few fighter jets coming. Hint: They may have a painting of a northern state on them.
Very moving and an echo of the origional TL in there. Well done.
In a way both sides of the stand-off are right and both are wrong.
In a way both sides of the stand-off are right and both are wrong.
Falkenburg
Monthly Donor
A bitter-sweet Update, Chippperback. 
The fact the Lieutenant is right, in a technical sense, doesn't stop him from being wrong, in a human sense.
All he has actually achieved is to drive a deeper wedge between 'Regular Folks' and 'The Military'.
That and damaging/destroying a potentially irreplacable piece of equipment.
Not a candidate for rapid promotion, methinks.
Falkenburg
The fact the Lieutenant is right, in a technical sense, doesn't stop him from being wrong, in a human sense.
All he has actually achieved is to drive a deeper wedge between 'Regular Folks' and 'The Military'.
That and damaging/destroying a potentially irreplacable piece of equipment.
Not a candidate for rapid promotion, methinks.
Falkenburg