“No, it’s not out of control.” He paused again, obviously struggling with his thoughts. Metzger reached for the mute button, but Andrew continued. “She… she tried to stop the attack because she didn’t think it was the correct course of action.”
“I have raised our alert levels as a precaution, Mr. President. The use of nuclear weapons is not a situation Russia takes lightly. Especially when a nuclear-armed country like the United States has a crisis of leadership. You must assure us you are in control of your military forces.”
“There is no crisis of leadership, President Vladimirov. I am in charge. The armed forces answer to me.”
“That does not seem to be the case, Mr. President.”
Jessie muted the connection. “Andrew, he’s trying to trick you! Don’t you see! You can’t show any weakness, not now!”
“Jessie… I don’t know what to—”
She slapped him. Twice. “Andrew, you will tell President Vladimirov that unless he lowers his alert levels immediately, we’ll be forced to raise ours. Tell him, Andrew. Now.” She unmuted the call. She noticed his eyes were changing… the confusion draining away.
“President Vladimirov. I will be forced to raise our alert levels, unless you lower yours. You are taking us to the brink of a conflict neither country can afford.”
“It is not I who is taking us to the brink, Mr. President. You understand that Russia will not allow the creatures in your country to pass beyond your borders.”
“What are you implying?”
“You know exactly what I mean, Mr. President. Good luck to you.”
The connection went dead.
Jessie gently took the receiver from Andrew’s hand. “That was a fine job, Andrew. You did what you had to do.”
Andrew said nothing, his gaze fixed at the phone receiver. Jessie watched a scowl form on his face.
“I’ll send the order,” General Metzger said. “We’ll put our forces at DEFCON 1.”
They were both shocked to hear Andrew Smith’s next words.
“No, General.” He gripped the side of the desk and stood. “You will not.”
Metzger quickly glanced at Jessie. She looked astounded at what she’d heard.
“Andrew, the general must raise our alert level. The Russians are—”
“It’s over, Jessie.” Andrew took a step away from both of them. Though he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were clear now. Piercing.
She walked toward him. “Andrew, please, you know you want to listen to—”
“Get away from me. Get the fuck away from me. General Metzger, you will get on the horn to the vice president and—”
He swiftly pulled his sidearm. “No, Mr. President. I will not. You’re done giving orders here.”
Jessie knew Andrew Smith had been the strongest man she’d ever encountered. After all she’d done to him, he’d still been able to fight his way back to the surface. For a moment, he’d been himself again.
His last moment.
The report was unnaturally loud in the small, confined space.
General Metzger holstered his sidearm and picked up the direct line to the bunker’s communications center. “This is General Metzger. All forces are to assume DEFCON 1. By order of the president of the United States.”
She was sad, in a way.
But it didn’t matter.
They wouldn’t need him anymore.
Everything was in motion now.
And there was no stopping it.
Alone in a locked command bunker, deep below the fields of Kentucky, Jessie Hruska and Thad Metzger knew their purposes in life had been fulfilled.
After the fires burned out, the dreams of Marx and Lenin could once again be realized.
A utopia on earth.
CHAPTER 80
“Lincoln, this is Grant. I have movement to my front. Over.”
Peering through his powerful night vision scope, the Army sniper could see forms emerging from the ground two hundred meters away.
Before the things had gone to ground the night before, he’d been positioned on a hill above the area, picking them off with his M107 long-range sniper rifle — a .50-caliber monster that could put a round through a truck’s engine block from over a mile away.
It had worked just as well on the creatures, at a much closer range.
“Lincoln copies. All forces prepare to engage,” came the reply over the radio net. Through his headphones, he could hear the muffled thunder of jet aircraft flying overhead in the darkening twilight sky, preparing for their attack runs.
They had blasted the area all day with high-explosive bombs, rockets, and artillery, trying to blow as many of the casings apart as they could before sundown.
The things had gone to ground, but they hadn’t gone deep.
Not this time.
They’d killed hundreds of them.
Maybe thousands.
But they were emerging again, and if what the intelligence officer had said was true, there would be two of them for every single casing they’d failed to destroy.
There weren’t going to be as many of them, but there would still be way too many.
Too many to stop.
But they—he—had to try.
His orders this night — as they had been the previous night — were to go after the humanoid creatures, the ones standing on two legs.
It didn’t bother him to think the things had once been people.
He’d killed people before, lined them up in his sights and sent a half-inch shell through their skulls at incredible distances.
No sweat.
It was his job.
He’d never enjoyed it, but it was what he’d been trained to do, and he was good at it.
But these things sure as hell weren’t people anymore, and he did enjoy killing them. One after the other, after the other, after the other. Ten rounds at a time from his semiauto rifle. Blowing their heads apart as rapidly as he could before having to reload and move back as they advanced.
He drew a bead on one of the glowing green forms… and hesitated.
Something was different.
The thing was standing, and around its feet scurried smaller creatures. Both types much smaller than he’d witnessed the night before.
It looks like a person, he thought. “Lincoln, this is Grant. Confirm I have no friendlies to my front. Over?”
“Stand by, Grant.”
That’s it? Just stand by? Come on, guys…
He saw more of the humanoid forms stand up. They were nothing like the long-legged beasts he’d seen the night before. Nothing at all.
It looked like a crowd of people standing in a group.
Milling around.
But he’d seen them emerge, right?
He’d seen them rise up out of the ground, right where the casings had been.
He was sure of it.
But what could explain what he was seeing now?
Those are people, he thought. And the smaller creatures… Rats? They’re the same size as a normal rat! What the hell is going on?
He heard a call over the radio net: “This is Lincoln. All forces hold fire. I repeat, hold fire.”
A trigger had already been pulled. He watched one of the being’s heads violently snap back as another overly eager sniper hit his target. The body dropped to the ground.
The call over the net was immediate. “Hold fire! I repeat, hold your fire!”
The beings closest to the body quickly crouched and huddled together, and then began to… wave their arms?
“Jesus Christ! Those are people!” He ripped off his helmet, and heard a sound that chilled him.