Glimmer of Hope (Land of Tomorrow Book 1)

Part I, Chapter 4

Reginald Philips was not a man who sought duty or responsibility, but throughout his life he seemed to consistently find both. He was voted high school class president despite telling anyone who would listen he didn’t want the job. He had grudgingly served as county judge when the incumbent died without warning, and then he was voted back into office for three subsequent terms. Reginald had even been put in charge of his neighborhood watch program, despite telling his neighbors he would not be around often enough to watch said neighborhood. He had accepted the post as Kentucky Lieutenant Governor mostly as a favor to Governor Jason Henry, his old college roommate.

Reggie was told he simply carried an air of purpose and quiet dignity about him that people admired without feeling threatened. Right now he wished he did not have any of those qualities.

He paused in front of the mirror and continued to knot his tie. A tall, gaunt figure with grey hair and wrinkles stared back at him. Many would say he was ridiculous for putting on a suit and tie; that such trappings were now out of place. Reggie could not disagree more; he believed appearances were even more vital now.

He also knew people were desperate for any type of information, and without it they would believe anything, no matter how outlandish. This was the main reason he agreed to the weekly radio broadcasts in the first place. They were initially a simple means of putting out information, but they had since turned into one of the most anticipated events of the week. Reggie became the public voice of the Jackson Purchase; even though he wasn’t really officially in charge of anything. Heck, no one is, he thought.

The Jackson Purchase as a geographic area was an anomaly. It was composed of the extreme western part of Kentucky bounded on the west by the Mississippi River, on the north by the Ohio River, on the east by the Cumberland River, and on the south by the Tennessee state line. The region was technically part of the state of Kentucky when it was organized in 1792, but in practicality remained under Indian control for many years. Only in 1818, when Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby purchased the area from the Chickasaw Indians, did it really open for settlement and development. For nearly two hundred years the name ‘Jackson Purchase’ was no more than quaint tradition and history, of no real significance. That all changed with Nuke Day or N-Day for short.

Reggie made his way down the stairs and out the front door of his father’s old house after giving his wife Janice a quick kiss. He rode towards the radio station on the ancient three-speed bike he resurrected from the garage. It had needed some oil on the chain and air in the tires, but otherwise was in decent condition.

The town of Murray was mostly quiet, which he thought of as a good thing. The people he passed waved back to him readily enough. Armageddon is no excuse not to be neighborly, he thought.

At the WKPO station, he entered the front door and walked back to the control booth where Tim was setting up for the broadcast.

“Hey, Reggie, you ready?” Tim asked.

“I believe so. Same as usual?” responded Reggie.

“Yes, I’ll introduce the show, then you, then allow you to put out general information,” Tim explained. “Based on available time, I’ll ask you some of the more popular questions that people have requested we bring up. Here’s a list of what we’ve got.” Tim handed Reggie a sheet of lined notebook paper with all too familiar topics written down. “We’ve got about six minutes before air time. I’ll signal you one minute out.”

Reggie scanned the topics and was not surprised by anything on the page. People wanted to know exactly what had happened and why. They wanted to know who was responsible and who was to blame. They also wanted to know when this would be over and they could go back to their normal lives. Reggie had held off as long as he could, but he was afraid it was time to wake everyone up for their own sakes. It had been over three months since N-Day, and society had not yet fallen apart, at least not in the Jackson Purchase. Reggie suspected things would eventually get much worse.