The Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives is a dystopian science fiction short story written by Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. who was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction.

Excerpts:

The line of towers I was following showed the faintest spread in the direction of their canting—they must have been only a few miles from blast center. As I passed each one I could see where the metal on the blast side had been eroded—vaporized by the original blast, mostly smoothly, but with welts and pustules where the metal had merely melted and run. I supposed the lines the towers carried had all been vaporized too, but with the haze I couldn't be sure, though I did see three dark blobs up there that might be vultures perching.