JamesSavik

Originally published as Twilight, the name was changed to avoid the inevitable confusion with the dreadful sparkly vampire story. For the first time here at GA. Five Colorado teens face the outbreak biological and nuclear warfare and civil disorder at home.

Eagle Rock Tom was just finishing breakfast when Barlow approached from the direction of the base command post looking more stern than usual. Barlow said, “Tom you’ve got a couple of visitors at the front gate. When you are done, the Colonel would like to see you at the Command Post.” “Visitors? Who is it?” Barlow said, “I don’t know. The men at the gates said it was a couple of kids who asked for you by name. Remember that we’re still under quarantine conditions. Keep your d

US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Offutt Air Force Base Omaha, Neb Colonel Jacobs was still shaken from the suicide of his long-time boss. He had a cup of black coffee to steady his nerves and continued with his work. Except for some short ranged missile launches near the battle areas in the South China Sea, there had been no more strategic threats. All eyes were on the Chinese ICBM sites scattered across the sprawling country. One of the men on his staff said, “It’s the red p

Camp Castle 2nd Infantry Division HQ- Dongducheon, South Korea The North Korean artillery had worked its way across the northern side of the DMZ and was now working over the South side of the zone. Six companies of BMPS were deployed as scouts and T-72s were forming up behind them preparing to move out. General Jackson and his aide Captain Warren entered the room in the Command Bunker where Lt. Raines and the SkyDrake team were assembled. Jackson got right down to business and sa

Eagle Rock Tom went outside to see what had been going on while he was asleep. Thankfully, the bodies of the bikers had been removed, and the access road had been cleared of the debris of destroyed vehicles. Army engineers were clearing the rock slide/roadblock with an absolutely ferocious looking bulldozer. Barlow’s men were placing some landing lights out near the edge of the ridge. Tom walked over to Barlow and asked, “What’s going on Sarge?” The big man disengaged from the ta

North Korea Boudreaux hit the cold rushing water feet first. The river was swollen by melting snow packs on the rugged mountains. Even through the insulated suit the shock of the cold water seemed to make his heart skip a beat. He didn’t know whether it was because the river was too deep or the current was so strong, but he did not hit bottom. There was no swimming in this river. There was merely surviving the relentless current. He tried to go feet-first as the current pushed him down

Bobby and Ronny watched as the helicopter taking their friends lifted off into the star filled night sky. Bobby looked at his brother and saw that he was shaking. He put his arm over his shoulder and said, “Chill out dude. It’s over. Come on inside.” They went into the den and sat down on the sofa. Ronny started sobbing and said, “I killed somebody tonight.” Bobby put his arm around his brother's shoulder and said, “So did I. If I remember right, the guy you shot was aiming a rocket la

Bingo pulled his Suzuki dirt bike up to the gate as the rest of the column caught up and began milling around behind him. He put the kick stand down and walked over to the keypad. He took off his night vision goggles and pulled out a mini Maglite to get a better look. Jed jumped out of one of the 4X4’s and said, “So. You think that you can beat it?” Bingo said, “Yeah probably. Most of these gadgets have four digits codes. Most people make them simple so they’ll remember. This pad has b

Eagle Rock During Tom’s shift on the radio that night, he decided to browse the internet. He hit ABC News and CNN and found that the special that had run earlier was available for viewing online. He tried to connect to it at both sites, and it timed out. Frustrated, he looked on YouTube and was astonished to find a video of his presentation on the AQM and the CNN/ABC special in its entirety. Tom pulled up his presentation, and it began to run. He looked down the page and was astonished

“Good evening this is Paul Larkin of ABC News.” “I am Kelly Newman of CNN. Welcome to a rare joint venture of our two networks: A Family of Heroes: Three Generations of Service.” The opening credits roll, serious sounding music play and images from past broadcasts run across the screen. Once the beginning credits were done and a commercial or two was out of the way, Kelly Newman began her narrative, “This week we accompanied Representatives Sanchez and Hollister of Colorado on a f

Guam Air Force Lieutenant Jake Morrow was just settling into bed after a few Saturday night beers. He could hear his “shack-mate” David Carver snoring away in the next room. Suddenly, a huge low-flying aircraft passed overhead and rattled his BOQ like a dog shaking a chew toy. Just as soon as it was over, it got quiet again, and he could hear Carver snoring again. The pitch had not even changed. Forty-five seconds later another large low-flying jet passed over the house rattling

ABC News-CNN Conference Call Marty Maier, ABC New York: “Have you guys seen the stuff that Newman and Larken brought back from Colorado?” Steve Dulles, CNN Atlanta: “Hi Marty. Yeah, it looks like pure gold. When the twins sang that old Simon and Garfunkel song I cried like a baby, and I’m three marriages and twenty years past jaded.” Tony Clark, ABC New York: “Are those kids for real or are we being set up?” Kelly Newman, CNN: “There’s no way anybody could have staged this. O

USS Chancellorsville, Persian Gulf At 0300, the Duty Officer could wait no longer. They had been tracking an Iranian patrol boat since midnight, and it was on a steady intercept course. Whoever was aboard that boat was hailing the Chancellorsville over the international Guard channel in terrible English. He picked up the PA system and signaled, “This is the Duty Officer, Captain to the CIC please.” Three minutes later a beleaguered looking Captain Carson arrived in the CIC.

Warrant Officer Al Powell had flown helicopters for nearly twenty years: as a combat pilot with experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and as a pilot for the Denver police department. In all of that time, he had never seen the weather turn so savage, so fast. Powell liked to tell people that he had never been frightened in a helicopter. He had a great deal of confidence in and affection for the UH-60 Blackhawk, but he had to admit that at the moment, he was gravely concerned. Half of his i

The euphoria over the collapse of Iran’s Ayatollahs was short-lived. The next morning shocking pictures of the carnage in Israel and Jordan began to appear on television. Ironically, Iran’s germs and nukes may actually have killed more Arabs than Israelis. The networks picked up on a particularly shocking picture of a rabbi with horrible burns carrying an Arab child out of a burning building. No one needed to be told that they had both received so much radiation that they were the walking dead.

Tom woke up a little before 5am, got up, showered, dressed and began to prepare. He had taken speech the previous fall semester and decided to use the same method to ready himself for the presentation. He sat at his Grandfather's desk with the AQM manual, a notebook and some index cards. Tom created a short outline and took some time to get more familiar with the device. The Air Quality Monitor was a remarkable machine. There was no wonder that it was so heavy. The main box housed thre

The phone call from his Dad brought up Tom’s spirits. He decided to take on his father’s next assignment. He found the case with the radio and a few other items. Tom took the case upstairs and began to unpack it. The radio wasn’t the only thing in this case. He unpacked two Bushmaster rifles, two Mini-14 rifles and additional clips for both. Both rifles were chambered for 5.56 mm ammunition and was interchangeable. There were 24 boxes of shells in the crate. When the twins entered the

The old place looked just like they had left it back in March when Tom had come up with his Dad and Jimmy to clean up. Snow was still hiding in shady spots. Wildflowers were growing and the grass of the lawn was beginning to turn green. Down the hill a field of lupines looked like a flowery ocean blowing in the warm West wind. Brian said, “Whoa, it’s stunning up here.” “Yes it is.” Tom said. “There’s nothing like spring up here. Grand Dad used to say this is what he thought heaven must

It was a beautiful April day, but Thomas Ross knew that something was wrong. His father, an epidemiologist for the CDC, was attached to the Air Force Academy as an instructor. He had been out of town for the last two weeks. They talked every night and Thomas could feel something in his Dad’s voice that he was completely unaccustomed to: fear. Something serious was going on, and he couldn’t talk about it. At 10:00am, just in time to catch him between classes, his cell phone vibrated. He look

Five Colorado teens face the horrors of nuclear and biological war and civil disorder

Your move creep!

Just got back from Dallas where it snowed like a boss. My little nephew wanted to play in it until he found out that it was a lot colder than it looked.

It was the best of times and the worst of times. You could get a job anywhere. The economy was booming. A mysterious new disease was killing gay men and Haitians. The soviet Union was on the decline and would collapse in 1989. Classic rock was in a golden age. Pink Floyd started the decade with the Wall and Metallica finished it with the Black album. The plagues of Disco and New Wave (of nausea) run their course. Action stars like Arnold Schwartnegger, Dolph Lundgren and Jean Claud van Damn made some of the best and worst movies of all time. The PC became a force. The Internet was in its infancy and packaged by companies like AOL and Compuserve. It was a decade of divided governance with Ronald Reagen, George H W Bush serving from 1980-92 and the senate and house majority democratic. The supreme court saw its first sexual harassment suit. Electronic glitches and paranoia nearly start WWIII between NATO and the Soviet Union on three different occasions.

I'm still having trouble buying an Aspie as the shooter. I've never heard of them being violent. They withdraw- they avoid people. There's so much confusion over this case and contradictory information. I am beginning to wonder.