The Twilight War: The Second Week of Hell.

the aftermath continues...

* * *
Another day passes.

National Guard MASH units from around the country have been mobilized to Boston to care for the wounded, sick, and dying. Regular Army MASH units have been reassigned from domestic bases, as well.

Eastern Mass has been declared a Federal disaster zone, eligible for disaster recovery funding.

The International Red Cross, for the first time ever, begins to send assistance from other countries to the US, as disease starts to spread through Boston. Blood donor programs go into high gear around the US and Canada.

Gas and diesel fuel are rationed; ration cards are available to register car owners who can prove they cannot get to jobs by public transit.

President Clinton appears on national television, informing the country of the after effects of the terrorist bombing, emphasizes that there is no detectable radiation, and even if there was, it would blow out to sea. He expects emergency martial law in Massachusetts to end shortly.

MIT closes for the semester, as do Suffolk, BU, BC, and Emerson.

Prices skyrocket, especially for fresh meat, produce, milk and poultry. Medical supplies are available only through the grey market; the black market thrives as it hasn't in years.

* * *
Days pass. The cabal care for the sick and wounded, but have an increasingly difficult time finding medical supplies and food. Niccolo leaves unexepctedly several times... frequently carrying a sniper rifle case. He usually returns within ten or twelves hours with medicine and occasionally fresh vegatables. Once he returns with citrus; Leigh practically rejoices, visions of scurvy having been dancing in her head. Burko plots, Leigh attempts to atone. Ryan appears more and more distant, distracted from one reality in favor of another.

* * *
The World Trade Center in New York is blown up. Fires spread throughout Manhattan, stopping at the rivers' edge. Tens of thousands die trying to flee the city; tens of thousands more burn alive.

There is rioting in Chicago, Detriot, Cleveland, Cincinatti, Miami, Washington DC, Los Angeles, almost any major city with decaying industry and large disadvantaged populations.

* * *
Mexico's government falls to a military coup. A day later, Mexico demands that the US open its border to immigration and free trade, or it will go to war to ensure the right of travel and trade within the US. The border is closed by US forces.

Queubec declares independence from Canada.

Martial Law is declared in most major US cities which suffered rioting.

* * *
A series of violent murders in Boston, apparantly by a group of blood fetishists, results in heavier nighttime patrols by the National Guard. On the first night, an entire platoon is slaughtered and their vehicle driven flaming into a residential apartment house. The following morning, the military government announces that all privately owned firearms and weapons must be turned into the nearest police station for the duration; they will be returned when the emergency is over. That afternoon, military police, equipped with police records of registered firearms, go through every city in 617 area code and much of 781, confiscating all registered and any unregistered weapons.

The next day, an eleven year old child with a toy gun is accidentally shot by a Corpsman in South Boston. Dorchester, East Boston and Roxbury riot, attacking local Guardsmen and Army personnel. Several MASH units are destroyed.

* * *
The US withdraws forces from many overseas location, to relieve its overworked National Guard.

The stock market is in a freefall as major commercial and industrial areas around the world are bombed: London, Paris, Bonn, Rome, Cape Town, Tokyo, Keiv, Moscow, Dublin, Athens. The West Bank and Gaza go into full revolt against Israel; Egypt's precarious government falls to reactionary forces. Syria recognizes Palestine's independence in Israel. Iraqi troops mobilize on its borders on all sides. The Camer Rouge gain power in Cambodia.

* * *
The third week of Hell begins, with the cabal desperately caring for the increasing wounded and diseased.

*

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Last update 26-October-99