“What’s the matter, sir?” a female National Guard soldier asked.
“Corporal Robertson has just informed me of some very grave news.” Rupp turned to the man. “Corporal?”
The corporal stepped forward to address the crowd.
“I want to first applaud the efforts of everyone here for taking down the dome. You did one hell of a job.”
The soldiers erupted into another round of applause. Then Rupp stepped forward, his eyes narrowed. “Everyone, shut the hell up and listen to the rest of what the corporal has to say. Do not interrupt him again. That’s an order.”
The crowd went quiet other than for a couple of throat clearings.
Robertson continued.
“You’ve given us very valuable information on how to take these domes down.”
“Domes, sir?” Rodriguez asked.
“Nashville wasn’t the only city domed and attacked.”
Someone dropped an empty bottle, which rolled away and clanked to a stop. Nobody spoke.
“We have confirmation of attacks on Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans—hell, most major American cities are under domes right now.”
Reno’s mouth fell open as if he’d been left in shock, but something in his mind had felt it all along.
“I know this news comes as a shock to you.” Robertson paused, and he seemed to be reassuring himself as he spoke to the troops. “But I don’t want us to forget how important the victory today, here in Nashville, was. Now we know how to take down the domes—and what happens when we do. Those alien bastards run with their tails between their legs.”
“Permission to speak, sir?” Rodriguez asked.
Corporal Robertson nodded.
“We’ve had no contact with anyone outside the dome until you all came rolling up in here just now, no way of communicating once the thing turned black. It’s great that we know how to drop a dome, but how are we supposed to get that information to the people trapped in those other cities?”
“That’s a fair question, and I’d be lying if I told you we had a solution for that right now. But we’re working on it.”
Several of the other soldiers tried asking more questions, all at the same time. Rupp came forward and silenced them all with a steely glare.
“Thank you, Master Sergeant Rupp,” Robertson said. “Now, I know you all have a lot of questions. But what’s important now is that we work on evacuating the city and getting all of you to a place where we can be ready with our next move. My men will have further instructions for you, so please get with them right over there.”
Everyone grumbled as they lined up to get their orders. Various men kicked at half-empty champagne bottles and stubbed out celebratory cigars.
“Harvey,” Rupp said. “Come over here.”
Reno looked to John, signaling for him to join him. The two men walked over to Rupp and Robertson.
“This is him,” Rupp said.
“We’ve got to get you somewhere safe where we can debrief.” Robertson turned and started to walk away before turning his head and waving Reno along. “Come with me.”
6
Maya lay on the bed in her childhood room, staring up at the ceiling. Despite using every breathing technique she’d learned from martial arts and meditation to try to calm herself, she couldn’t. Even keeping her eyes open didn’t keep her from seeing Gerald’s face.
She wanted to kill him. It didn’t matter anymore that he was the father of her children. Maya didn’t give a damn who he was. He had come into her mother’s home and taken the kids. Maya had custody of them, and even though the world had gone to shit, that didn’t mean he could do whatever he wanted. The days of her equally splitting custody with him were over. Whenever this thing ended, she would do everything in her power to make sure Gerald’s children never saw him again, whether that was through the court system or by putting him into a grave.
Maya exhaled and sat up. She wiped the sweat from her brow and pulled a hair tie out of her pocket. Slipping her hair into a ponytail, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way to the empty space on the floor at the foot of it. If breathing steadily wouldn’t calm her down, then maybe exercise would.
She put herself through a rigorous circuit training routine, alternating between twenty reps of different exercises with only a ten-second rest in between each round. Maya channeled her anger into the movements. Sweat dripped down her face, and her body hurt. But it was the good kind of pain.
Maya was on her third round of push-ups when the ground trembled. It wasn’t intense enough to throw her out of her push-up position, but it was enough to make the China dolls rattle on top of the dresser. She pushed herself up onto her knees and breathed heavily.
“What was that?”
It had felt like an earthquake, but Maya had never heard of any happening in the Nashville area. Fear suddenly hit her, that it could have been something much worse.
“Maya! Get out here, quick!”
Maya jumped to her feet at the sound of her mother’s voice and ran out of her room.
“Mom?”
“I’m downstairs. Get down here!”
Maya hurried down the stairs to see that the front door was open. Outside, her mother stood near the steps, looking out towards the city. Maya followed her gaze.
A mushroom cloud had formed on the horizon, and Maya knew instantly that it must be over Centennial Park. And then it hit her. She could see the city. The dome was gone. And so were the obelisk and the massive spaceship that had been connected to it.
“Is that—”
“Centennial Park,” Maya said. “That’s where it came from.”
“Where the obelisk is?”
Maya shook her head. “Was.”
High, light clouds floated across the morning sky and birds flew in tight flocks from east to west. Maya scanned the sky in all directions, but saw no sign of the spaceship or the flying aliens.
“He did it.”
“Who?”
“Jack. He destroyed the engine—took down the dome.”
“What does that mean?”
Maya ran back into the house. Her mother hurried after her, calling her name and asking her for some sort of explanation. But Maya ignored her, rushing up the stairs and back to her room.
She threw all of her clothes and things into her bag, and then made sure she had water, a protein bar, and her loaded handgun. Then she went back downstairs to where her mother was waiting.
“Talk to me, Maya.”
“Mom, you need to go and pack a bag.”
“What for?”
“We need to get out of here. We need to get my kids.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Did you see what happened? The dome is gone!”
“Exactly. And do you really think an alien invasion took place only in Nashville? Do you think the rest of the world has been watching this like a Hollywood movie? They’ll be back, and when they return, it won’t be pretty.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yeah, well, we’re not going to be around here to find out. Now, go pack a bag.”
Maya looked over to see her mom standing with her arms crossed. She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Maya’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“This is my home. I can’t leave.”
Maya walked over to her mother and took her hand.
“Mom, this is just a place. Okay? You can get another house.”
Her mother shook her head again, more firmly. “This isn’t just a place. Your father and I lived in this house our entire adult lives. I’m not leaving.”
Maya went to say something else, but her mother cut her off.