By Bruce A. Smith
The Men of Honor if Unity House is a novel based upon my experiences as a therapist at a foster care facility for young men coping with sexual assault charges. In 2001, during the Anthrax scare that followed 9-11, my agency’s director and I mapped out a plan for how we would deal with our men, aged 12-18, if we had to go into lockdown in the event of a local terrorist attack. The following pages are based upon those discussions.
The plot so far: A 2-kiloton suitcase nuke has exploded in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the staff of Unity House form the Men of Honor Society for two purposes: One, to keep the twelve teen-aged boys of Unity House busy and not fighting each other, and two, to act as a rescue group to the local neighborhood. Due to the destruction and radiation, the police and army can not get into this section of Worcester. The people living on Marion Avenue and Plantation Street only have the Men of Honor aiding them.
~
Chapter 23
Day Five, 3pm
Following Montoya’s instructions, the first deuce and half backed up to our main entry at the Commons room. Ryan and TT were ready to receive it, while Naleef and I stayed outside since we were wearing our rad suits, and we helped in the transfer while the other soldiers were hooking-up the all-important water lines.
In two hours, we had the cargo trucks and Humvees unloaded. Naleef and I took off our rad suits in the portal to take a break, and when we walked inside Unity House, we didn’t recognize the place.
The Commons room was turned into a twenty-five-bed hospital ward with another thirty cots downstairs in the basement. The dining room was transformed into a surgical operation theater.
Stacked and packed. Continue reading
