"Our embassy in London has stopped responding to our calls. We can't contact our consulate in Edinburgh either. It seems the UK is now more or less in the same situation as we are. Most of London is in flames after jets bombed the city. Rumour on the net has it that the Queen committed suicide after Prince Philip was killed before he could be evacuated from London" the Assistant Secretary of State said tiredly. She had only 12 hours sleep in the past week. She was nearing exhaustion, but soldiered on nonetheless.
"What about the Prime Minister? Any word on his whereabouts?" Jim asked. He never really took to the British Prime Minister given the PM was more right wing whereas the President was towards the left of politics. But still , he did not wish the leader of Americas main ally any harm.
"We don't know. We believe he may be in a bunker somewhere in the Welsh countryside but we haven't been able to get in touch with him or anyone in the British establishment since London was overrun. On top of that all contact has now ceased with French government officials. Paris is gone. Marseilles was the last city holding out but they have been dark for almost three days now and intelligence thinks the city is lost. We have some information from Russia though. Last we heard President Putin had been moved outside of Moscow along with his senior military command. The Russian military is disintegrating however and there is little command and control over whatever remains of Russia's forces." Kim said struggling to keep her eyes open. Even the coffee barely helped anymore.
"Jesus; the whole world is coming crashing down." Jim said staring at the ceiling, as though waiting for a miracle from the god he no longer believed in. "Any luck with contacting the Chinese?"
"China has gone dark. The CIA told me about twenty minutes before I came in here that because the population of China was so large before the outbreak, the number of these so called walkers is ten fold what we are facing here. The last satellite feed from Beijing showed bodies stacked five or six high and rivers of blood running into the gutters. They no longer have a functioning government. The CIA have it on good authority that their senior leadership was killed when walkers stormed the heliport they were waiting at for rescue. It's the same in India. Millions upon millions dead. Complete state collapse. The Japanese won't hold our much longer either. Tokyo is crawling with those things and the Emperor is in hiding along with the Prime Minister."
"It's just...I don't even know what to do anymore. We can't save our allies, or even our own people."Jim took in a deep breath and finished another glass of whiskey. His last comfort.
"We have some good news." Kim said hoping to brighten up the President "The North Koreans have retreated back to their side of the border. They thought the South would be easy prey after we withdrew our troops from South Korea and deployed them here, but instead of the South Korean Army ,the Norths forces ran into hundreds of thousands of walkers. Needless to say the Norths soldiers hightailed it out of there, but not without some of their troops contracting the virus. We believe there are several outbreaks in North Korea now."
"There is no hope," Jim said quietly "that's what you're really telling me isn't it Kim?"
"Mr President..." She struggled to find the words she was looking for "there is always hope. There are still people out there hoping that we will get this under control. We can't let them down."
"Do you know what a $100 dollar bill is worth right now Kim?" The President asked, then answered his own question "it's worth a piece of toilet paper. Because that's all it's good for. The economy has completely collapsed. Our health care system has completely collapsed as most of our hospitals are either overrun or abandoned. Our education system is defunct as most schools have been converted into Red Cross shelters to house the displaced. Our military has all but disintegrated with desertion and casualty rates increasing everyday. Emergency services in most areas have stopped functioning, the tv networks have gone off air, the power grid has failed in most states, our transportation network has evaporated and every store from New York to Seattle has been looted." The President said it all without barely taking a breath. It was a rant plain and simple but he couldn't help it. It had to be said. Kim said nothing. Her boss was right.
There was no hope.