Mark sat back. “Oh my God.”
“Seven hundred and thirty-two missiles… heading where?” Regis asked.
Dalton looked at Regis, then to the road ahead as he pushed humvee full speed. “Everywhere.”
GROUND ZERO CITIZEN – Three
His options were limited for getting west of the city, and ideally that was where Terrence needed to get his family. East was Andrews Air Force base and Annapolis, all potential targets. Without knowing how long they had, it was all a crap shoot on which way to take.
His mother, June, argued that they should go south, while Macy insisted on going north into the city and crossing over. To Terrence that was insane, and they’d be in the worst place possible if the bombs landed.
What truly was insane was taking the Beltway, but it was the only way and for a mile or two traffic moved well, and then just as the sky lightened, everyone merged and it became a nightmare.
There were accidents, arguments and cars just stopping. What was wrong with people? Why would they stop to fight, they should just move, and make it out of the city.
Once they made it across the Potomac, Terrence pulled off the first exit south of Alexandria. He figured his best bet was try to take side streets and keep moving.
As he hit the light off the ramp and prepared to turn left, the long beep of the emergency broadcasting system played on the radio.
At first his instinct was to hit the brake, because every part of Terrence froze.
“Oh my God, it’s happening,” Macy said in a panicked voice.
After a brief moment, Terrence hit the gas.
‘Attention citizens of the Metro D.C. and surrounding areas, this is not a test,’ said the automated male voice. ‘You are urged to seek immediate underground shelter. Avoid windows, if at all possible….’
Terrence wasn’t the only one who heard the warning. In a split second, everyone seemed to abandon their cars and run. Others were flying off the exit. They were in a business and office district. It was chaos, people broke windows to get inside businesses.
“We have to get off the streets,” June urged. “Get below, but get to cover.”
“We can’t abandon the car, we have supplies,” Terrence argued.
“Abandon the car, grab what we can and hope for the best,” his mother said.
“Look.” Macy pointed. “Up there. A parking garage. It has a ramp down.”
“Lower level. Perfect.” Terrence slammed his foot into the gas pedal and jolted the wheel to get on to the sidewalk, he hit into three parked cars while trying to get to that garage.
Then as he felt the ‘home free’ feeling, when he turned to get on the driveway, the car just stalled.
“What happened? What happened?” Macy asked.
The girls screamed.
“Are we out of gas?” his mother question.
“No,” Terrence said. “Out of time.”
Their car was still in drive gear and aimed down the ramp of the garage, Terrence yelled, “Macy, sit here. Everyone else down.” He opened the car door, jumped out and without waiting until Macy climbed over to the driver’s seat, giving it all he had, he pushed the car in hopes it would coast and pick up speed to make it all the way down the sloped entrance.
The first flash came, reflecting off the side view mirror, nearly blinding Terrence and it caused such a heart racing fear, a ringing filled his ear drums.
A split second later there were two more pulses of light, and then another.
Flash, Flash. Flash.
At the bottom of the thirty foot slant was a wall where the driveway turned right.
“Turn the wheel!” Terrence shouted, as he felt the car move on its own and slip from his grip. He tried to grab on, but the momentum was too much, the car sailed downward and Terrence fell to his hands and knees.
On his stomach, he lifted his head in enough time to see the car veer right, with the driver’s side of the car scraping against the wall.
They made it.
Terrence scrambled to stand.
The triple play of booms rang through the air, vibrated the ground and a pressure filled his head. Before he could run, a super speed hurling wave of energy belted into Terrence, lifting and launching his bulky six foot four frame from the ground, spinning him like a top before slamming him back first into wall of the driveway bend.
Terrence was immediately disoriented, he didn’t feel any pain. There wasn’t time for that. Unknown to him that energy blast also acted like a tide, as fast as it came in, it sucked back out. In an attempt to stand, the reversal caught hold of him. He struggled with everything he had, but it carried him forward, then picked him up again and throwing him back.
This time the blast was full force. It didn’t last a moment or a few seconds, it kept going, hitting Terrence with hot air that moved hundreds of miles per hour his way.
He turned, rolling his body into a fetal position and facing the wall as it battered his back. It wasn’t a fireball, for that he was grateful, but it carried heat and he could feel his clothes start to singe. It was so loud, he tried to cover his ears.
It lasted a minute, but it seemed so much longer and finally it was done.
Terrance uncurled his body and sat up.
He was alive. He still wasn’t feeling any pain, he supposed that would come. When he stood he instantly ripped off his shirt. It was hot and smoldering.
Back against the wall, he could see the top of the driveway. It was smoky. Sounds began to carry to him, howling wind, people screaming, continuous car horns blaring and Terrence was driven. He had to see it for himself.
He needed to see.
His right leg didn’t want to move and his side hurt, yet, Terrance staggered up that first ramp of the driveway to get to the street level.
At first he saw nothing. It looked more like an earthquake had hit. Debris and papers filled the streets, some of them ignited and on fire. A few cars had been tossed and rolled. Windows were shattered and door frames hung down.
A woman and her young son raced by Terrence into the garage. It didn’t even register to him that she ran right into him. He pivoted his body and when he did… he saw.
He stepped further into the street and stopped.
Terrence couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe.
In the distance, reaching high, all a different shape and size were three mushroom clouds.
Black and orange swirled through them almost angrily as they burned their image into the sky. Even ten miles away he could hear the inferno of them. Whirling, howling.
The vision of the destruction was magnetic, pulling at him to watch, but Terrence knew he couldn’t. He hurried back to the garage. He had to check his family. Make sure they were okay and alive. Although, after what he just witnessed, he wasn’t sure ‘being alive’ was all that great of a thing.
THIRTEEN – Turmoil
After she had eaten and had two glasses of wine, Kit sat on the couch. It was hard to believe it was only four in the morning. From the time they crashed to the time she got to Harland’s bunker, everything was rush, rush. Of course the red eye didn’t help, her body was still in night mode and desperately needing sleep. She got comfortable on the sofa, rested back her aching head and fell asleep.
It wasn’t restful because she dreamed. They were horrendous dreams. One was of her daughter pushing a baby on a swing and being flash burned by a nuclear warhead.
After three or four sequential nightmares, Kit had enough and sat up. At first she really believed everything was a nightmare. The crash, the bombs, but in the dim light of that bunker she absorbed the reality of the situation.