The huge, multi-picture screen in the front of the crowded room changed when the next clock hit four minutes, flashing to a satellite view of the incoming missile careening towards the Sunshine State, and Pat found he couldn't look away.
Why, in God's name, had the former President done this? And who had given the technology-challenged man the disk that would allow him such unforgiving control? Surely this was a bad dream? If not, millions more were going to die in only: 03:45 03:44 03:43 The computer went to full alert, alarms all over the vast compound warning of the impending arrival. The Press Secretary's stomach churned as the ceiling lights began to flicker a hazy red.
America was in the same panicky state as this room, thanks to the convoys of soldiers taking all males, ages 10-60. Told to get a full truck of warm bodies any way they had to and be back within eight hours, gunfire was filling town after town. They had reports of it in nearly every major city across the country, soldiers and civilian wars over their sons and husbands and over remaining food and weapons. The end was close… and everyone felt it.
02:50
02:49
02:48
Would mankind survive? Had they really blown themselves up? How much of this new hell was he personally responsible for? Millions of lives were already gone… so many cultures, and their history!
01:20
01:19
01:18
Pat cringed at a freshly braying siren from the front of the loud, crowded, tactical room. They'd destroyed the world. Was that the red stain on his hands that refused to wash off?
00:40
00:39
00:38
When was my last orgasm? he wondered suddenly, too scared to recall what it had felt like or what the intern's name had been. Greg? Gary?
00:25
00:24
00:23
When was my last confession? Pat struggled to remember, heart thumping wildly, stomach lurching. Did I mean it? Is it too late?
00:15
00:14
00:13
He closed his eyes and began the comforting, useless litany from his seat, still unable to make himself get on his knees even though the true hour of judgment had come.
"Please forgive me, Father, for I have sinned…"
00:02
00:01
00:00
"I did it for my country..."