"Survival"

Author: Haruo Chikamori

E-mail: hhchikamori

Rating: M

Classification: Angst, Romance.

Spoilers: N/A

Summary: Continuity of Government (COG) – a stark term for starting over after a holocaust the likes of which is hoped will never ever happen. This is a what-could-happen if the button was ever pressed.

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.

There is nothing worth having that can he obtained by nuclear war - nothing material or ideological - no tradition that it can defend. It is utterly self-defeating. ~ George Wald

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, 0730 HRS, June 2003

"The President of the United States has been notified that US Forces in the Pacific including the US Marines and Army in Korea and Japan and US Naval Forces Pacific are being placed on DEFCON 2 after Russian nationalist forces have assembled on the Sakhalin Peninsula in preparation to invade Japan." The ZNN war correspondent intoned solemnly looking in to the news camera. "It is likely that the invasion of Japan will occur within the next 48 hours. The US President has stated that if the Japanese islands are attacked, that nuclear retaliatory strikes will be inevitable. Russian TV stations have been playing nationalistic television programs regarding the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 to fan the flames."

Gasps within the confines of the JAG bullpen were audible throughout. With President Bush ordering troops to fight in Afghanistan and in Iraq, the US Forces were spread thin. The Russians (in league with the Chinese) were taking the opportunity to invade Japan. Rear Admiral (upper half) AJ Chegwidden looked morosely at the various TV screens located throughout the JAG office and muttered to himself as he turned back towards his office. Walking over to a locked safe, he pulled out a folder marked "TOP SECRET" and in smaller type was coded "Operation Pinnacle". Reading the contents of the folder, he noted that he and a few other JAG officers were selected for transport. However, Admiral Chegwidden would alter that transport order.

Pentagon, The Joint Chiefs of Staff

Rear Admiral (upper half) Toshio "Animal" Nakamura was called over to the JCS chambers and asked to make himself ready for transport as a result of Pinnacle. "You're needed in this time of war." The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs stated. "The president specifically asked for you to be selected; not just us four-stars." What else could Animal say? The JCS were going to Crow Rock, Animal was to head to Mount Storm.

NAVINTEL

"Meg, can I see you for a minute." Captain Bruce Carmichael stated as he looked into Meg's panicked eyes as she turned from the ZNN broadcast.

"Yes, sir?" she said looking quizzically at him.

"Meg…you've heard of a document named "Pinnacle"? Haven't you?" Carmichael inquired as he looked at her.

"Yes, sir." Meg stated; she knew exactly what that document was and what it entailed. "It's a Continuity of Government document stating the directives to be followed to ensure that the United States Government survives a disaster."

"You're correct. You have less than three hours to pack and be on the next helo out of here to Mt. Storm. The shit is going to hit the fan soon and I want to know that you survive." Bruce Carmichael looked at Meg, holding her firmly by the shoulders; hoping she didn't break from the crushing news broadcasting on ZNN.

"Why me, sir?" Meg's voice trembled.

Captain Carmichael said softly. "You have everything to live for, Meg. That's why." What he left unsaid was that this was his way of paying back Harm for letting him down about Hemlock. That continued to weigh on his mind ever since Meg came into his command. God willing she'd survive to continue on when everything fell to pieces.

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA

"Commanders Rabb, Nakamura and Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, in my office, now." The JAG snapped out. When the three officers were arranged in his office, he looked at the three and stated.

"Commanders, Lieutenant Colonel. You are aware of the Pinnacle document?" AJ stood looking out the window, arms crossed; a stoic postured figure in stark contrast against the maelstrom of panic in the bullpen.

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie stated. "That's the document that indicates who is to be preserved in the event of a nuclear war to establish continuity of government?"

"It states that the JAG can make three officer selections and 2 enlisted. I choose you three officers and I will inform the two enlisted personnel myself. As of now, you three are dismissed and make ready to pack in 3 hours to meet up with a helo to Mt. Storm." AJ let loose a breath that he'd been holding. He didn't want to let his people know just how resigned to fate he was.

"Yes, sir." Harm snapped out as he locked to attention.

Mac, Harm and Lia looked at each other silently as they filed out of AJ's office for the last time.

As they waited for the helo to arrive, Harm turned to see Gunny Galindez and Yeoman Coates run with bags to meet them.

The smart ones plan early was all that ran through Harm's mind.

Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia

Harm as he looked out could see several helicopters converging on the Mount Storm facility. He had heard whispers about the Mount Storm facility for COG but never really gave credence to it. Now he was seeing the facility with his own eyes as the helicopter made its final descent to the helipad. Harm, Lia and Mac were armed with their regulation side-arms as AJ had counselled them. As they saw another helo land, Mac heard Lia cry out as Animal jumped out, armed with an M-16A2 and Beretta as he ran towards them. They waited for the third helicopter to land and Harm saw a face he thought he'd never see again. An older face, but still beautiful to his eyes.

"HARM!" Meg yelled as she sprinted towards the group. Harm gave up on military protocol and ran towards her.

"MEG!" They met in a solid embrace, while Mac's eyebrows nearly shot up to her hairline.

"SIR!" yelled someone in black fatigues. "Let's get you to the facility! We need to go NOW!" The urgency in the man's voice was apparent. The group went at a run towards where the man was pointing. A blast door almost 10 feet thick on monster sized hydraulics pivoted out just far enough that the group could get through. "Sir. We need to take your side-arms and your rifle, sir. We'll add them to the armory."

As they went farther into the underground complex, a man who was familiar to both Animal and to Harm, grinned that familiar grin and stated. "Welcome to Mount Storm."

"CAG?! Admiral?" Harm said quizzically. In the background they could hear the resounding bang as the blast door closed behind them.

"Yes, I'm the commander of this facility." Rear Admiral Thomas Boone USN (ret.) said with a sobering look.

"This was why I dropped off the face of the planet, when I retired. The JCS wanted me to headline this project. I got to select who was going to be a part of this, when the balloon went up. I hope to God, it doesn't, but it doesn't look good from this point." He said as he looked over at the group, ushering them to follow him deeper into the cavernous underground facility by means of what appeared to be a heavy duty electric golf cart.

"What's this facility rated for? Admiral." Animal said as he rotated looking up at the mountainous cavern that housed this facility.

"Admiral Nakamura, this base is rated to withstand a surface detonation with a yield of almost 2 megatons." Boone replied. "We're EMP shielded. So anything that you've brought with us in terms of telecommunications, laptops and other items will be protected."

Animal winced as he remembered his camera equipment was still outside the facility but realized if they survived the holocaust that was brewing, they would be more apt to be doing other things than leisure activities. "So if they hit us with anything larger, we might have the cavern cave in on our heads or we end up as 'baked squids'." Animal raised an eyebrow. "You're well aware of the SS-19's Mod 2 capability, right?"

"Yes, sirree, I do, sir." Boone said. "I doubt very much though that they'll throw a Mod 2 at us, the Mod 2s are targeted on our operational bases."

"Well, Boone, I hope so, because I'd hate to be wrong in this case." Animal gave him a grim look. "We'd probably only have about an eighth of a millisecond to worry though." By this time they were far into the complex and in one of the operations centers. There were plenty of people here already and the majority of them were military. "So where are the politicos?" Animal said sarcastically. "We're supposed to be supporting COG."

Admiral Boone gave a knowing grin. "That's where I differentiated between who was necessary and who wasn't. Admiral. We won't be allowing the people who got us into this mess in. Even if it takes deadly force."

"Glad you thought of me, Admiral." Animal snorted.

"Oh, you pissed me off on occasion but you're alright. Admiral." Boone replied. A soldier came up to Boone and handed him a clipboard. He nodded and signed off on the form.

"So who else is left to show up?" Harm thought to ask and then his heart sank as Boone looked at him without feeling, shaking his head.

"We're on lockdown as of now." Boone said. Switching to the exterior cameras thrown on the monitors. They saw a long convoy of vehicles heading up the road, tanks included. "These people coming now are too late." A shiver went through the officers assembled at the cold statement. "They can launch rockets at us, or try to blow our blast-doors with SADMs, but we have alternate methods of taking care of ourselves – contingencies that the government politicians haven't gotten wind of including multiple blast doors.

"So, essentially, we're having a mini-insurrection." Meg asked looking at Harm wryly.

Harm replied. "It looks like it. Not that I particularly cared for politicians one way or another."

"That'd be contemptuous words if the world wasn't going to hell in a hand basket." Boone snickered.

"Well, they can court-martial me later…if any lawyers survive." That brought a weary laugh from the beleaguered group.

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA

"General, I can't order Mt. Storm to open up. Once they go on lockdown, they're locked down. Until they receive a cessation of orders from a sequence of individuals from high command – they know who they are – you will not get in." Admiral Chegwidden said, feeling a rush of satisfaction coming from informing the bombastic General Isaac Carruthers, United States Army, that he and his political buddies could suck sand as far as he was concerned.

"They were supposed to wait until the politicians were brought to the site before they went on lockdown." The general blustered over the phone, "There was no communication from Mount Storm that they were going on lockdown. Now I have several pissed off politicians who are thinking about bringing up SADMs to blow the blast doors in."

"Then you guys won't be able to get in period. You'd have to wait two weeks until the radiation dies down. You'd be better off at Crow Rock instead of harassing Mount Storm." AJ replied.

Next Day, ZNN Broadcast

"Military build up in Sakhalin has reached new heights upon receipt of threats by US forces." Stuart Dunston stood outside what appeared to be Cheyenne Mountain Complex. "It seems as though the world is heading over the nuclear abyss without stopping. In other news, a US Navy Task Force was attacked on the high seas by a group of Chinese submarines with ship to ship missiles. A US destroyer was sunk and all Chinese submarines were destroyed. This proves to be a provocation to the Chinese who have threatened nuclear retaliation, should another one of their ships be destroyed by the US fleet."

AJ thought to himself as he sat fingertips templed. "Well, looks like it's not going to be long now before we end up going the way of the dinosaurs." He looked over at the TV screen as he switched over to the Dodgers playing the Red Sox. The civilian populace seemed to be blissfully unaware going about their daily business. How he wished that he could be like them. It was only a matter of time.

"So long, Mom, I'm off to drop the bomb, So don't wait up for me, But though I may roam, I'll come back to my home, Although it may be a pile of debris" ~ Tom Lehrer

There was a knock on the door of AJ's office. "Come in…" he barked. Lieutenant Commander Bud Roberts stepped into the office. "Sir, permission to ask a question?"

"Go ahead" the admiral sighed.

"I've noticed that Commander Rabb, Commander Nakamura and Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie didn't come to work today. Are they alright?"

Admiral Chegwidden looked at his young subordinate. How could he tell him that he had to make a decision based on who lived and who would die…and that not sending him with Mac, Lia and Harm had sentenced him to die when the mushroom clouds rose. Because it seemed as though nothing would stop that now. The Russians had their hands on the buttons, and the Chinese were making their rockets ready to go at a moment's notice. But with civilian spouses and children not on the list of transportables, he wasn't able to select Bud. "Sit down, Bud." He said softly as he nodded to the lieutenant commander addressing him by his given name. "I had to make a decision." He said as he looked the officer in the face.

"By the end of this week, we are going to be in a holocaust the likes of which the world has never faced before. Commanders Rabb, Nakamura and Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie were sent away to someplace where they may have a chance to survive because they did not have dependents." AJ's eyes saw Bud's face take on a countenance of horror.

"Sir. What does that mean for the rest of us?" Bud asked tremulously half not wanting to hear the answer.

AJ owed it to him to give him the answer straight. "The government has deemed us expendable."

Lieutenant Commander Bud Roberts gulped down the lump that was rising in his throat, stood up straight and said. "Sir. With your permission, I'd like to secure early…and see my wife and children."

"Yes…Commander Roberts. By all means." AJ responded, his voice hollow.

Bud got up from the chair, walking over to the door like a condemned prisoner. At the door, he paused. "Were you not on that list, sir? I would have thought the JAG…"

"Bud, I sent Commander Rabb in my place and added Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie to the list, she was not on the list of transportables." Bud's eyes opened wide at the revelation.

"Francesca?" Bud asked the admiral. Admiral Chegwidden stared out the window for a long minute before he nodded.

"Dismissed… Lieutenant Commander." …and Bud knew that was the admiral's farewell.

As the Lieutenant Commander closed the door, the admiral slumped back into his chair, put his head in his hands and said softly "Francesca…my daughter…"

Mount Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia

"I'm not leaving Lieutenant Commander Roberts, Harriet and her family out there." Harm said as Animal backed him up on the statement."

"What if the bombs start dropping before then?" Admiral Boone asked.

"I've never left them behind. I don't intend to go back on my promise now." Harm stated firmly.

Animal snapped out; his eyes flashing in anger, as he stared lasers at Boone. "Where's a helo?"

"The one we came on is still out there on the tarmac. It's a Blackhawk. It should fit everyone. But you're not rated to fly one, Harm!" Boone looked at Harm when Animal stepped in front of Harm, taking him by the shoulders and calming him down.

"I'll fly it. I rated on helos during my stint as CAG and I have 100+ hours in the rating." Animal looked grimly at his friend.

"So what if the balloon goes up before you get back…" Boone asked.

Animal flippantly shot back over his shoulder as he grabbed some flight gear. "Then…Tom…I'll see you in hell…" was his retort. "Get me a car, I'm going to need it to get to the helipad."

Lia grabbed him by the collar. "You'd better make it back or I swear, I'm going to haunt your sorry ass for eternity…mmmph…" She was about to say something else, but Animal cut her off by lowering his lips down on her mouth and showing her just how much he loved her. Grabbing his M-16A2 and clipping his M92 Beretta to his side, he and Harm headed for the vehicle that would take them to the landing pad. They could see the Blackhawk in the distance. The blast door opened just far enough to let the vehicle out. Animal saluted Admiral Boone as he and Harm drove out the blast door.

"God Speed Harm, God Speed, Admiral." Meg said.

When they got to the helo, Animal snapped out. "Keep the radio on, on the helo. I want to know what the hell is going on and whether they're going to be dropping ICBMs on top of our heads as we're trying to locate Roberts and family."

Flipping switches, the admiral got busy warming up the engines on the Blackhawk helicopter and getting it ready to fly the most important mission of their life.

Somewhere in the Urals

"Yavlyayutsya li sokhrannosti na rakety na ?" Marshal Mikhail Goprov said to his Senior Colonel of Rockets. [Are all safeties on, on the rockets?]"

"Vse ustroystva zashchity , tovarishch general. [all safeties are on, Comrade General]" the Senior Colonel stated. "Mikhail Dimitryevich, is it my impression that Moscow is rather jumpy these past few weeks? Are they expecting an attack by the imperialist dark forces?"

"Who can tell, whether they are getting in their cups of vodka or whether they see things, one cannot tell." The Marshal replied as he took out a cup and poured himself his own vodka. "All I can say, Fyodor Gennadius, take three looks on your radar before you respond to any orders to launch. Then wrap yourself in a bedsheet and walk slowly to the cemetery."

Bud and Harriet Roberts Residence, Fairfax, Virginia, 20 min later

Harriet was shaking "I…I…can't think, Bud…" she stuttered. "We're going to die!"

"Harriet…get the kids…We're getting out of here." Bud said firmly.

"How are we going to get out of here, Bud?!" Harriet screamed at him. "We're going to die on the road when they drop that nuke?"

"Well, we're certainly going to die here if we stay here." Bud yelled back.

"Bud. SHUT UP!" Harriet screamed back at him. "I hear something." A distinctive sound from when he was over in Iraq interrupted what he was going to scream back at his wife. It was a helo…a Blackhawk from the sounds of it. And from the sounds of it, it was landing in their back yard.

"Grab the kids!" Bud yelled as he grabbed his sidearm. "We gotta get ready to go."

An enormous hammering on the back door came as Harriet bundled the kids down the stairs. The twins were in her arms. Harm grabbed the twins from Harriet and told her to run for the helo. He brooked no argument as he shoved her towards the Blackhawk. Bud gathered his kids and ran for the helo.

"Admiral Nakamura?" Bud said as he helped his children into the helicopter then got in while Harriet was strapping in. Harm shut both sliding doors of the Blackhawk and piled into the helicopter's co-pilot seat. "Thank god…you came to save us!"

"Don't thank me yet…" Animal replied as he lifted the cyclic raising the helo. "We ain't out of the roasting pan yet…and I just heard the President decided to go to DEFCON 1. We got maybe half an hour or less to get back to Mount Storm and we're not landing at the helo pad. I'm gonna put her down outside the blast door. Animal didn't give a shit if he burnt out the engines by the time he set her down. They were within 27 minutes ICBM hit from either Russia or China. He had less than a 15 minute window to get back to Mt. Storm and get them in cover before the warheads started dropping if the Russians launched.

Mount Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains

When they were over Fenton Lake, Animal heard the warning that he knew he didn't like. The KH-12 satellites detected launches from China and he knew Russia would soon follow – then all the other countries that had nuclear weapons in stockpiles. He could already see the US missiles making their ascent towards their destinations. That's when he gunned the throttle…and put the Blackhawk into a straight-line shot for the bunker entrance area. They got there with barely minutes to spare. Bellowing "Get them into the shelter." Animal didn't bother shutting the rotors down. They all exited the Blackhawk, crouching down as they cleared the still spinning rotors and sprinted for the door which was barely open just wide enough to let them all crowd in…then the shelter door shut with a bang, sealing them in. Running deeper into the facility, they hit the close button to the second set of blast doors.

When Lia saw Animal, she rushed into his arms, sobbing. Harm looked over at Mac who was holding herself tightly, wondering if she was going to come unglued. Meg looked up at Harm with eyes brimming with tears. Bud looked over at Animal as Lia released him. Bud stepped up to Animal saying quietly.

"Sir…I'll be in your debt. You risked your life to come get us."

"If it goes like it might…we just might envy the dead, Lieutenant Commander." Animal replied soberly.

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA.

"I see…" AJ stated as he gazed at the television monitor in his office "Well, I guess that's it, isn't it?"

It would be less than 10 minutes. The Chinese had launched their largest missiles with 5 MT warheads and one was heading directly towards the center of Washington DC.

He got up and poured scotch into a glass, as he thought of his daughter and his ex-wife. As he sat down to drink it, a flash lit up the corner of his office from the far distant detonation of the 5MT DongFeng ICBM's warhead. Less than a second later, the blast wave tore the entire JAG Headquarters building immolating it in a blast of its own as the gas mains ruptured and exploded. Not a single person survived from that office. In less than 10 seconds, over 250,000 people perished in the blast and over 500,000 would perish from radiation. The 800 kt Topol detonation over Dulles and another 800kt Topol detonated over Washington National-Ronald Reagan International were lost in the midst of another DongFeng 5 MT blast over Andrews AFB.

Mt Storm Emergency Facility, Somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Virginia

As they looked on in horror through the monitors of the mushroom clouds going up all over the Washington DC area, they felt what felt like an earthquake overhead and the facility shook. But there was only that one explosion. But that one explosion knocked out all the cameras in the facility and the only thing that was showing on the monitors was static.

"We were lucky that was only a Topol 800kt." Admiral Boone said quietly "If that DongFeng landed on top of us, we'd have been goners. The Chinese targeted Washington DC and dropped a 5 MT on her."

Harriet had an utter look of terror on her face. "We could have died if Admiral Nakamura and Harm hadn't saved us." She whispered softly. "We would have been on that interstate and we would have died."

"Satellites are out" Harm said. "We have absolutely no idea what's going on outside…and it's too dangerous to look out while the bombs are still falling. We have to assume that Pax River and all other military installations were hit with 5MT bombs."

Animal looked over at Boone. "So, how many people do we have here?"

"There's 50 in total including security people, officers, and family as well as doctors and maintenance people. This place was designed to fit 1,000 people in here comfortably for a period of up to 10 years. Considering that we have 50 people in here, we've got the possibility of living comfortably up to 80 years and we have stockpiled food to last that long."

Animal and the rest knew that the radioactivity of the fallout would make living in the Northern Hemisphere impossible, considering the helicopter outside was now radioactive debris.

Remember, Mommy, I'm off to get a commie, So send me a salami, And try to smile somehow.
I'll look for you when the war is over, An hour and a half from now! ~ Tom Lehrer

"Mac, are you all right…" Mac was asked by Harm who looked over at him with her eyes uncomprehending - a thousand-yard stare. "Mac, snap out of it!" Finally Boone came over, snapped a flat hand across Mac's face. That slap audible to everyone else, shocking Harm, and especially Mac who snapped out of it as anger flitted across her face.

"Welcome back, Lieutenant Colonel." Tom Boone said, raising an eyebrow. "You looked like some of the guys I met coming back from Viet Nam. That's why I slapped you. You were out of it, looked like you were going to go for the door and we can't have that."

"It was horrific." Harriet sobbed as she curled up in Bud's arms. "Just the thought that we could have been obliterated out of existence just like that. The admiral didn't make it, did he?" Bud shook his head knowing that she was referring to AJ.

"We have enough provisions to make a life of it, but we need to also consider the fact that we may have to move to alternate locations as the radioactivity dies down." Tom continued. "We stashed Blackhawks further down the tunnels and Farraday-caged them to double-protect them from EMP. We have techs who are well versed on the type and will be able to teach others to help maintenance the helos."

Considering the 800kt warhead on the Topol-M SS-27 had knocked out the exterior cameras (pretty much had melted and vaporized them) Mount Storm was effectively blind and cut-off from the rest of what remained of the world. Satellites were knocked out as was everything else. There would be no more GPS navigation. The earth had effectively been bombed back into the Stone Age…well the Iron Age, at least. There would be no communication with other survivors, if there were any. And anyone left out on the surface, was dying of radiation sickness. Social norms would be taxed to the very limits in this new world of theirs. Civilization would have to rebuild again. And the populations would all depend on how many shelters survived the impact. They could write off the White House situation room, and the Pentagon situation rooms right off the bat. The DongFengs that obliterated the Pentagon and the White House with city-destroying ferocity were 5 megatons each. If it had been a surface blast, there would be a crater 200 feet deep eliminating any one that was inside the bunker. Even an air detonation would have impacted with so much pressure that the environmental seals would have been breached and everyone inside would have slowly died of radiation poisoning. There was no way of surviving a nuclear blast of mega tonnage. There was no structure that would be able to survive such a blast at close range.

The only way that Mount Storm was able to withstand the barrage of nuclear devastation was its secrecy. There was no communication out during construction, every document related to the installation was classified to highest classification. The deliveries were made by military contractors who were sworn to secrecy with the promise that they would be one of the ones protected should the balloon go up. There was no communication with outside contractors. And the military provided security for the base and they knew exactly what was being protected – the future after annihilation.

"Admiral." Tom Boone said to Animal. "As the active highest ranking officer, I want you to be my executive officer. I'm more familiar with the facility so I will stay as the officer in command but in order to run this place for the duration of time that we're in here, I'm going to need someone to help me with it. Are you game?"

"You got it, Tom." Animal replied looking at Harm. "And I'll have Harm give me a hand."

"As the radiation dies down, we'll see survivors coming by attempting to gain access." Boone said as he pointed to his holstered sidearm. "We have the armory down this way…" He ushered all of them towards the armory to show them where it was located. "We cannot let any of them in. They will contaminate the shelter and we cannot have that. Once they have been exposed, it's pretty much a death sentence. They have to stay out."

"So repelling them will involve deadly force?" Animal asked emotionlessly.

"Yes." Boone replied with sombre finality. "If we're exposed to contamination, it will be a death sentence for us." He continued the tour of the facility which appeared to go deeper inside the mountains, showing the stockpile of food, and medicines; introducing them to the doctors and security staff, pointing out Animal to the staff who had been here longer, indicating that he was the XO of the facility now and to render him respect as well as any assistance required.

The former JAG staff and former aviators realized that survival was going to require a total mental shift – to take nothing for granted. After the tour, Tom Boone showed them their quarters in the shelter. There were bunks…but the XO and the CO had their own separated quarters. Lia and Animal moved in together as they were already married. But Harm and Gunnery Sergeant Galindez were on their own in the male quarters along with any other male staff – Gunny excused himself saying that he was going to check on the security section and take command of facility security. Mac, Meg and Jennifer Coates were in the female quarters. Bud, Harriet and their children were given a section of quarters for their family to use and an ad hoc wall was set up with shelving. The bunk rooms were designed for a lot of people so given that only 50 people were in the entire shelter; there was a lot of space to do with what was necessary to make comfortable living quarters. Considering there were 37 other people in the entire complex which was designed to hold a thousand people, there was a vast amount of space to work with.

Lia and Animal's quarters.

Lia collapsed on the bunkbed provided, they had disassembled the bunk bed and made it a standard bed side by side; pushing the mattresses together. "We have a water reclamation plant, but I think we're still going to have to ration water." Animal said partly to Lia, partly to himself as they made themselves ready for bed. It had been a long day…having survived a nuclear war.

Already their thinking had changed from what would have been considered normal behaviour to "no-holds barred" thinking which meant "their survival was upper-most in their minds". Animal would not hesitate to draw on or shoot anyone who endangered the lives of the people in their shelter.

And Lia thought to herself that she wouldn't hesitate to notify Animal who to keep an eye on if it came down to it and already she was worried about how one person would react to this whole situation. When it came down to it, she would keep an eye on a certain Marine because with the way she reacted today when the bombs fell, Lia wasn't sure of their safety around her. She had lost faith in the formerly stalwart Marine and it was going to take a hell of a lot to get it back.

"Did you see Mac's face when we got hit with the 800 kt warhead? It looked as if she was going to run for the door and open it." Lia stated on the pretext of starting a conversation.

"What do you mean?" Animal asked.

"I think she's terrified." Lia said, her eyes locking on Animal. "And she may be one of the first to crack. She wanted out of the situation and she didn't care if she took all of us with her."

"Mmmhmmm." Animal nodded quietly. He didn't like what he was hearing, but he had seen it with his own eyes: Mac's thousand-yard stare – the fact that Boone had to slap her to bring her back to her senses. The sheer terror in her eyes when the 800kt warhead detonated on the mountainside above their underground shelter.

Would he have to draw on her to bring her to her senses or cut her down if she made a move toward attempting to open the blast shelter doors. He hoped for Mac's sake that she had made note of Tom Boone's stark comment of the use of deadly force to protect the shelter occupants and whether she realized it or not, it meant the possibility of using deadly force against shelter occupants who endangered the lives of those who sheltered within the underground facility. Survival made for hard choices. He thought to himself that it could potentially come down to Harm having to do the same thing when he was on watch.

As of now, though she didn't know it, Mac was living on borrowed time if she didn't make that necessary mental shift to survival mode.