Every major city in America is down, most of them abandoned wastelands, those left controlled by ruthless mobs like those you call reivers. More than fifty thousand of them control Chicago and have declared a dictatorship under some whack job who calls himself \u2018the Great.\u2019 The prisoners he takes? The lucky ones get thrown off the top of the old Sears Tower. The rest he crucifies along the shores of Lake Michigan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn enemy on the field of action, it is kill or be killed, and that was Burnett and me just several weeks past. But then the next rule comes in, and in a more civilized age, most nations actually signed treaties that they would obey this. A wounded soldier no longer in action was out of the fight. He was not to be fired on. If captured, he was to receive the same medical treatment as one of your own. Some thought it was a paradox\u2014try to kill him, then patch him up. But some saw it as at least trying to be civilized in the madness of war, to lessen its horrors, and I for one believed in it. I remember seeing a video on the computer, shortly before the Day, of one of our medics being hit by a sniper, wounded but still able to do his job. Minutes later, a couple of our troops dragged in the sniper who had hit the medic, and you know what he did?\u201d \u201cOh, let me guess,\u201d Dale retorted sarcastically. \u201cHe patched him up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBetter get back from the window, John,\u201d Maury said, pointing to the northeast where the two Apaches had leveled off and were now coming back in. And then, for a chilling instant, John\u2019s eyes were blinded by the distinctive red sparkle of a laser sight. He dived for the floor and scurried to the back of the room. If these choppers were equipped with the facial recognition technology rumored to be in development before the Day, they would have just painted him with that laser, and within seconds, the computer\u2014if indeed such were on board and loaded with his profile and pictures\u2014would have come back with a positive ID, and this building and all in it would be dead. There was no telling what high-tech equipment positioned in the Middle East on the Day had survived to now be used here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy first tour of duty was guarding the approach out of New York City. My unit was down in Hoboken with orders to shoot anyone trying to get across the river.\u201d \u201cWhat?\u201d She gazed at him and shook her head. \u201cDidn\u2019t you hear, sir? Plague, ebola\u2014you name it\u2014was rampant on the other side of the river. Rumor was there was still a hundred thousand or so living in the wreckage. It was medieval, the way the city was still burning. Hard to believe anything could still be found to burn. Those trying to get out we were ordered to shoot on sight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The entire unit is recruits from Jersey. I did start to wonder about that, why were they shipping us here and taking recruits from down here and shipping them up north.\u201d \u201cStandard routine, Deirdre. Never set one\u2019s own people against their neighbors and kin. Tell them the other side is different and hates you. They were going to take a hundred or so from my community and offered me the job of major general.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Only a little over five thousand civilians were still alive in Asheville proper, and John had won most of them over with a most simple gesture. The ANR troops had over one hundred thousand rations stockpiled, and John decided they would be divided evenly between his community and Asheville. The following day, after the storming of the courthouse complex, a delegation had come to Black Mountain seeking John out with the request that, during the current crisis and until things were \u201cstraightened out,\u201d he and the citizens of Black Mountain would consider a \u201cconsolidation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know who you really are, John Matherson,\u201d the reporter concluded, \u201cthough there have been rumors of folks like you trying to reestablish order in spite of what is claimed to be the central government. But I can tell you this: either you take Bluemont out, or they will take you out\u2014and in the process perhaps retrigger a nuclear war that will burn off the rest of this insane world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
By midnight, there was a near consensus to have a charter drawn up for the various representatives to sign, and for the moment, John would be tasked as an emergency commander, but any actions regarding life or limb of a citizen or relations with communities outside their own would be referred to a council made up of representatives from each of the communities. The establishment of an actual elected government was then brought up, and it was decided that, this time, they would indeed take a census of all those over eighteen, identifications would be issued, and in one month\u2019s time, elections would be held for all posts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe there\u2019ll be a painting some day, like the one of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These highlights are from the Kindle version of One Year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15162,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"\n
"One Year After" Highlights<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n