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"Oh, nothing. " murmured the Lieutenant, returning to his puzzle.

They had everything to record the event, the nuking of the largest population of Dead-heads they could find, some twenty five thousand strong. Satellite tracking had difficulty mapping the area since zombies gave off no body heat and no respiratory gases, per say. Finally someone suggested searching within a range of sub normal temperature variants which works enough to find moving targets amidst the uneven thermograph readings within the city zone.

They identified the target, sterilized an area around the observation post so to safely drop off the two soldiers at the site, already set-up to take every kind of measurement under the sun. Except that the millions of dollars worth of high tech equipment was now unable to do shit since Lieutenant Asshole left a backdoor open.

The last image that either men saw over the monitors was the beginnings of a flash, the spectrometers going crazy before there was a crackling sound and the stifling smell of ozone!

After the blast, Owen had managed to get enough juice out of the reserve batteries to keep the air scrubbers going, so they wouldn't suffocate. It kept him busy enough to keep them alive while Lieutenant Asshole did nothing but work at his brain games. The crossword was still unfinished so Tad had to find distraction elsewhere...

"How far do you think the fallout has gotten by now? "

Again with the questions. Jeremy liked it better when he'd been left to his own thoughts. Keep them alive so he could get out and away from Asshole.

"I can't be sure. Winds comin in from the north-west, but the eggheads hoped that an airburst would keep the hot debris within a narrow zone of only a few hundred miles in all directions. " responded the technician. "What are you thinkin about? "

"There'd be further deaths from radiation sickness, maybe. " Tad remarked almost to himself, as if he hadn't heard Owen at all. "Most within the hot zone but a few further out as some radioactive particles get into the water table or the food supply... "

It wasn't that big a bomb anyway. Several times Hiroshima but way below the megatonage delivered by most of the missiles in the US nuclear arsenal. "What are you suggesting? " demanded Owen.

"I was just considering the notion that we figure on curing death with more death. " Asshole told him, giving his bunker buddy a sickly grin. "That we use a weapon which, even at a low yield, puts lingering poisons into the environment. That those just outside the range of maximum destruction would still fall sick and die... "

Suddenly Jeremy got it, the scenario which the otherwise idiot officer, caught up in his word games and brain teasers, had slowly created over the course of their imprisonment...

He crossed over to the small locker where the emergency supplies were stashed. Water and rations, elementary first aid kit and two silvery radiation suits. "Screw this, I'm leaving now. Before it's too late. "

"You understand it's only a hypothetical. " Asshole told him, even as enough brain cells fired for the Lieutenant to begin donning his own suit.

"Nuts to your hypothesis. " answered Owen rudely, still he checked the officer to make sure the seals on their suits were secure. "I need your help on the door. "

With the power down, the security codes were disengaged and a small hand crank was needed to crack open the bunker, but only from the inside. The pneumatic system was tough enough to get through, requiring both men to force the twin doors apart.

"Once the doors are open, it's only a minute or less before they close again. " warned Tad, as if Owen was the idiot, not himself. "The Pressure in the lines are still... "

They fitted the crank into the wall socket and each man pushed against the tremendous resistance, slowly cracking the positive pressure seal. For just a second, Owen felt light headed as the atmosphere rushed into the airlock ahead of them. But it was just a temporary change as the men repeated the process for the outer door...

"Can't see a damn thing outside. " Asshole remarked, his voice muffled by the bulky helmet as the officer stared out the tiny port. "Too much glare on the glass. "

Owen didn't give a shit, he wanted out. If they were lucky, the portable oxygen would last enough to carry them out of the danger zone. But as the last barrier was breached, the soldiers still momentarily blinded by the sunlight as they left the bunker at last, Luck was nowhere to be found.

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