“The ocean level’s rising quickly. Is Shanghai like this?” Mitchell asked Huahua.
“It is. Hongqiao Airport is flooded, but the adults rushed some dikes in place so the water hasn’t reached the city yet. It won’t last for much longer, though.”
“New York is still free of water, but it’s not really suited for a UN General Assembly.”
The motorcade headed toward the city and eventually reached dry roads. At times, overturned vehicles on the roadside were visible through the armored car’s small windows, their sides pockmarked with bullet holes, and some of them on fire. There were also large numbers of armed children, clearly not military, walking along the road in groups, or crossing nervously, clutching guns nearly as big as themselves, their bodies slung with ammo belts. When Huahua’s car passed one group, they suddenly threw themselves to the ground as practically simultaneously a rain of bullets from one side impacted on the car’s armor shell with a thunderous din.
“None of this looks normal,” Huahua said, after a glance out the window.
“It’s the times, man. Abnormal is normal,” Mitchell countered. “We ought to have received you in bulletproof cars, but yesterday a Lincoln was shot up by special armor-piercing bullets, and the Belgian ambassador was injured. So we’re taking these armored vehicles as extra insurance. Tanks would be even better, of course, but the city’s elevated roadways won’t hold up under their weight.”
It was dark when the motorcade reached the city. The buildings of New York’s skyline gleamed like a miniature Milky Way. Like every child, Huahua had been full of desire to visit one of the world’s biggest cities, and he looked eagerly out the window at the dazzling skyscrapers. But he soon noticed another light flickering in the buildings, the crimson of firelight, and pillars of smoke reaching to the sky. Sometimes a ball of fire rose in the air, and the shadows of the skyscrapers wavered in its magnesium glare. Closer to downtown, he heard the crackle of gunfire, the whine of stray bullets, and the odd explosion.
The motorcade came to a halt, and they received word that the road was barricaded up ahead. Ignoring warnings, Huahua got out to have a look, and saw sandbags piled up into a fortification that cut off the road. Behind the barricade, children were feeding belts into three heavy machine guns. Dowell was negotiating with them.
One of the children behind the sandbags waved a handgun and said, “The game won’t be over till midnight. Take a detour!”
Angrily, the major general said, “Don’t be cheeky. Do you really want me to call in a squadron of Apaches to take you out?”
Another boy behind the barricade said, “Why can’t you be reasonable? We’re not playing against you. We arranged it with the Blue Devils this morning. If we don’t play, then we’re the untrustworthy ones, you see? If you really don’t have anyone to play with, then wait back there. We might be done early.”
Just then Mitchell walked up behind Dowell, and one of the kids behind the barricade recognized him. “Hey, isn’t that the vice president? That might really be a government motorcade.”
A kid with a shaved head jumped out from behind the barricade and inspected Mitchell and the others from closer up. Then he waved back at the others. “We shouldn’t obstruct official business. Let’s let them pass.”
The children jumped up and began moving sandbags, but as they were doing so, rapid gunfire sounded from the other end of the street, and then the air around them was filled with the whine of bullets and of armor being struck. Everyone out in the open dove into armored cars or behind sandbags. Du Bin pulled Huahua back into the car, and then they heard a kid behind the barricade shout through a loudspeaker, “Hey, Blue Devil leader! Stop! Stop!”
The gunfire stopped, and from that same direction came a kid’s voice over a loudspeaker: “Red Devils, what’s the problem? Check your watches. Didn’t we decide to start the game at eighteen thirty Eastern time?”
“A government motorcade is passing through. It’s a foreign head of state going to the UN General Assembly. Wait for them to leave first.”
“Okay. Hurry up, though.”
“Then you all send over a few people to help.”
“Fine. Here we come. Hold your fire!”
A few children came running from a grassy slope opposite the road. They threw their weapons down into a pile and helped the others move sandbags. Before long an opening was made. When they were done, the Blue Devil children picked up their guns and headed back, but the shaved-head kid called after them, “Don’t go yet. Help us rebuild the fortification in a bit. Also, two of us got injured just now.”
“So what? We didn’t break the rules.”
“True. But when the game restarts we won’t have even teams. How do we know who wins?”
“That’s easy. Mike, you stay on this side. This time you’re with the Red Devils. Of course you’ve got to play for them as hard as you would for the Blue Devils. But you can’t tell them our battle plans.”
Mike said, “Don’t worry. I want it to be interesting, too.”
“Great. Red Devils, we’re giving you the Blue Devils’ best shot. Yesterday on Wall Street he took out three of the Bears. Now that’s fair, right?”
Mitchell was about to get back into the car when one of the children called, “Mr. Vice President, we’ve got something to say to you.” Then he was surrounded by a group of children, their faces smeared with black camouflage so that only their teeth and eyes flashed in the firelight. The children began pelting him with questions.
“What the hell are you doing? The adults spent trillions on tons of fun stuff, but kids are only allowed to play with this crap!” said one, smacking the M16 he was holding.
“That’s right! Why can’t you give us all those aircraft carriers to play on?”
“And fighters and bombers. And cruise missiles. Those would be fun.”
“And ICBMs too!”
“Right. Bringing out the big guns would really make it interesting. But all those toys are going unused right now. It’s a waste of American wealth. The government should be ashamed!”
“If American kids aren’t having fun, you’re going to be responsible.”
Mitchell spread out his hands. “My apologies to you all. I can’t speak for the government here. The president spoke on TV last night about these questions—”
“What’re you afraid of? There aren’t any reporters here.”
“I heard that Congress is going to impeach him. If that happens, that’s the end for you Democrats.”
“The Republican leader promised on TV last night that if they come to power, they’ll let kids play with all of the army, air force, and navy’s big boys.”
“Ooh. He’s awesome. I’m going to vote Republican!”
“I also heard that the army is going to use them for itself.”
“That’s right. Don’t listen to the government. Playing on their own? What’s the point of them staging exercises all the time? Bring them out and play for real!”
Dowell barged into the group and found the kid who had said the army would play by itself and seized him by the collar. “You little bastard. If you spread rumors about the US Army again I’ll have you arrested!”
The kid struggled to speak. “Then go arrest the commander of the Atlantic Fleet and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They’re the ones that said they’ll play on their own!”
Another kid pointed in the direction of the ocean, where lights flashed periodically, like a storm on the horizon. “See! The Atlantic Fleet has been firing offshore for the past two days. Who knows, maybe they’ve already begun to play!”