Extermination Day Read Online Free PDF Page A

she said.
    And somewhere high above the Eastern seaboard, unseen by most of the world, Judge Hughes administered the presidential oath of office that legally made Charles Paulson the forty-ninth President of the United State of America.
    Paulson drew in a deep breath, raised his right hand, and repeated the simple words. “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
    There was no joy in what Paulson said. He felt no thrill to be president, not at the expense of Martin Diaz’s life. There was only the aching loss, the grief at lives needlessly and ruthlessly wasted. He inhaled another deep breath, knowing he carried a heavy burden into office. The scope of the tragedy was just unfolding, but the devastation was unlike anything America or the world had seen before.
    After the oath was administered and the scattering of staff, observers, and press wished him luck, he returned to his office. He’d been trying to get updates from military bases and government installations over the last few hours, but hadn’t had much success getting any more information than he was finding on the streams.
    “Sir, NORAD is on the line,” Melinda said over the intercom. “They have updates for you.”
    “About fucking time,” Buddy muttered under his breath. He tapped the screen at the right side of his desk and pulled up the video call from General Thaddeus T. Rowan, commander at NORAD.
    “General, I hope you have good news.”
    The General’s hard face came into view in a hologram above the desk. He was just a few years younger than Paulson, and they’d known each other for years. Rowan’s face normally showed no emotion about even the gravest of national threats, but today, Paulson read the stress, the ignorance, in his eyes.
    “Sir, unfortunately there is no good news. The attack began at twenty-one thirty hours—about nine-thirty p.m. in Washington—and was near simultaneous around the world. There is no response from any of our major bases. Drones and video feeds show that everyone on those bases is dead. Our military has been decimated. All above-ground bases likely have a one hundred percent casualty rate. This attack, sir, is unlike anything I’ve seen before.” He shook his head. “Unlike any scenario I’d ever imagined, sir.”
    Paulson slumped into his chair. Everyone wiped out. Almost the entire U.S. military, thousands of good men and women defending freedom, now dead. The largest fighting force the world had seen since the dawn of civilization, destroyed in moments.
    Paulson recalled his own military career. He’d been a member of the elite Navy SEALs, and he’d seen combat in Desert Storm, the second Gulf War, Afghanistan, and various other hellholes around the world. He’d been injured and decorated for heroism multiple times and he sure as hell had no intention of folding before this enemy, whoever it was.
    “We’ve been able to get in touch with a few bases and operating networks, as well as several subs in both the Atlantic and Pacific. It seems that the only military survivors are in underground facilities or underwater, with their own independent air supply. I’m alive because I’m underground, and you’re still alive because of your sealed and pressurized plane.”
    Rowan frowned at someone speaking at his side and then added, “A few remote scientific bases in the Arctic and Antarctic are still untouched.”
    “And the civilian population?” Paulson asked, not wanting to hear the news.
    “Sir, I have Dr. Samuel Bellany, from the CDC, who can provide more detail on that. Yet I have to say that we expect the civilian population is being cut down as well and not just here in the U.S. but worldwide. This attack, the devastation, is unprecedented.”
    Paulson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d watched various feeds coming in