The federal government sends in a military reconnaissance team led by Colonel Browning to assess the situation, assisted by Jenny Swensen and her Spitfire robot suit.

Faced with the enormity of the disaster and the possibility of it being a Soviet strike, Browning institutes a severe security lockdown, ordering Swensen to abandon attempts to rescue survivors and shooting down a news helicopter.

Swensen ignores Browning's orders and retrieves a car holding a family who were pulled into the crater by the winds and were slowly sinking into the mire of debris and liquid accumulating in its depths.

Parallel to the main storyline, the Witness observes the unfolding of events, from Ken Connell's initial cause (which he mourns being unable to prevent) and a possibly hallucinated encounter with the vengeful souls of all those who died in the Pitt.

The destruction of Pittsburgh (and the unsolved mystery of its cause) lead to a dramatic rise in international tension and a vast militarization of American society, including the suspension of some civil rights.

New York and surrounding areas in particular suffer severe economic downturn as, in addition to general depopulation, ash and smoke drifting Eastward from the Pitt have a negative environmental impact.