By their guess, they had about until noon to reach their goal before all of the bombs dropped. Ever since the camp, the trip was one of silent panic. But then they saw it, in the distance. They checked and double checked the map, and when they were sure Dallas put the pedal to the metal and the raced towards the front gate.
"Woo!" Wolf shouted, "We're gonna make it!"
"Wait." Bill said, "What are all of those tents and trailers outside the gates?"
Sure enough there were tents outside the gates to Doomsday Mountain. Hundreds of tents, maybe even thousands. There was an ocean of makeshift shelters clustered near the gates. The survivors saw movement and decided to slowly approach the camp sites very quietly.
To their surprise, the moving figures were human. When the survivors stopped their vehicle and stepped out with their hands above their heads and unarmed the heavily armored and gas mask wearing guards greeted them with surprised looks. One notified the commander and the other gave them a rather stern look.
"I am going to ask a few questions." The guard said, "If you fail to answer truthfully or answer incorrectly, I will shoot you on sight. If you get them all right and you are not lying I might consider letting you in."
The survivors all looked at each other and shrugged. They were immune, and they were not going to cause any trouble. They agreed to answer the guard's questions and smiled as genuinely as they could.
"Okay then." The guard said, "Have any of you encountered the infected?"
"We were at ground zero of the outbreak son." Bill said, "What do you think?"
The guard sighed in an annoyed fashion and got out a small index card and cleared his throat before continuing.
"Have any of you experienced headaches, nausea, high heart rate, or gastroenteritis since encountering the infected?" the guard asked.
"Uh…" Francis said, "I am not sure what that last one is but I think that is a solid no."
The guard seemed like he was about to ask yet another question when a loud siren pierced the quiet of the surrounding landscape. The survivors saw the massive blast doors open wide and dozens of soldiers and other official looking people ran into the bunker. The survivors followed the guard but just as they were about to get in the guard turned and raised his gun.
"If you follow any further I will shoot!" the guard shouted.
All of the survivors backed up and the gaping maw that was the blast doors closed shut. They ran as fast as they could back to the car and jumped in and drove as fast and far away as they could. Overhead they could see several missiles streaking across the sky.
"Where are they headed so we don't drive directly there?"
"Well, there are four of them." Bill said, "One for each of what I would assume to be the most densely populated areas on the US east coast."
"What areas would that be?" Dallas asked.
"I would imagine Fairview PA would be one of the targets." Bill replied, "Then probably New York City, D.C., and then maybe New Orleans."
Suddenly another volley of missiles shot across the sky. Then another, and another and another until there were almost twenty four missiles hurdling towards their targets.
"Wait." Francis said, "What is that one going for? Some place in Mexico?"
"No, but Roswell is in that direction." Dallas replied, "Maybe they want to make sure all of the towns in the immediate area are also blasted out of existence."
Then all of the survivors realized what that would mean if one of the missiles detonated only a few dozen miles away. But before they could react there was an earth shattering boom and a blinding light. When the light finally cleared there was the roar of thunder everywhere and the ominous mushroom cloud loomed over the landscape in the distance.
"Great, now we just need to survive all of the dust the blast must have kicked up!" Zoey shouted, pointing to the horizon.
Sure enough there was a wall of sand and ash rushing towards them so quickly that by the time they noticed it, it was already upon them. For seven brutal minutes sand and ash pelted the survivors and their vehicle, suffocating them to the point of unconsciousness. As the dust storm passed, the survivors lay on the ground nearly suffocated to death, knocked out due to lack of oxygen. All around them, the world burned in a series of nuclear blasts.
