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  “They seem to be able to find people no matter where they are hiding. Maybe the people start running and that triggers them. I don’t know for sure but I don’t want to tempt fate a second time,” he told her.

  “How many others have you come across so far?” Alice asked.

  “You’re the first one,” he told her.

  “No one else?”

  “Not a soul, just an occasional body part. Everything else has pretty much been wiped out.”

  “Others have to have survived,” Alice insisted.

  “Maybe, but these new things seem set on destroying everything still living.”

  “Where will you go?” Alice asked.

  “I guess I’ll try to get to the mountains,” James told her.

  “The mountains? They are a long way from here. I don’t see how you will ever make it that far.”

  “I have to do something. If I stay here they will find me. Going to a city doesn’t seem like an option either. The only place I can think of is the mountains.”

  “What did you do before all of this?” Alice asked.

  He looked at her for a few seconds. Why would she want to know? What was going on here?”

  “I worked for the DEA.”

  “DEA? Drug Enforcement Agency?”

  “That very one,” he told here.

  “Do you know much about medical treatments?”

  “I’m not following you. We have some basic training in case we get hurt in the field but I’m not a doctor if that is what you mean.”

  “But you would know what to do if someone was hurt?” she asked.

  “It depends on how badly. Some things I can handle. Basic stuff mostly.”

  “Head injuries?”

  “I don’t know. Why are you asking me this? Is your husband hurt?”

  “I think so. How bad I don’t know. He was knocked down the bunker stairs and it split his head open.”

  “How does he feel now?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get him to wake up,” she said.

  “That doesn’t sound very promising. What have you done for him so far?”

  “Why don’t we go down in the bunker and you can take a look at him. I’ll pay you in food and water,” she said.

  “Pay me? I’ll look at him but you don’t have to pay me anything.”

  “Please, just look at him.”

  “Alright,” he finally said and followed her back to the bunker opening.

  He was surprised to find lights burning. Halfway down the stairs he could see Alice’s husband lying on the floor. A dried pool of blood had spread out from his head. When he got down the stairs he knelt down and checked his pulse.

  It was very weak. His breathing was shallow and his skin was clammy. Alice had put a rag over the wound to help stop the bleeding.

  “Alice, he is in really bad shape. It isn’t the loss of blood that concerns me as much as not waking up for three days. If we can’t get some fluids in him, well...”

  “I’ve tried but he won’t wake up enough to eat or drink. We don’t have any medical equipment like IVs. I guess that is something we just didn’t ever consider.”

  “I hate to say this but unless we can get him to a doctor very soon, he will probably not make it. I’m sorry to be so blunt but the fact is, without water or food in his system he isn’t long for this world,” James told her.

  “I know. I don’t see any way to get him to a doctor. How could I transport him? I mean, even with your help in getting him out of here, where would I take him and how would we get there?” Alice said.

  James didn’t say anything. He knew she was just working through the process and would eventually realize that her husband wasn’t going to survive. Nothing he could say would help her at this point.

  CHAPTER SIX

  For the first time in his military career General Erickson had no idea what to do next. Nothing that they had tried had even slowed the advance of the machines. Now they were less than ten minutes away.

  “General you have to get out of here,” his aid said.

  “And go where exactly?”

  “To NORAD or someplace safe.”

  “And I would get there how? Airplane? Car? Tank? Everything that moves is immediately destroyed. I appreciate the sentiment, really I do, but there is nothing I can do. Just like the rest of my men, I’ll stand and fight with them.”

  “Sir. That is not what Generals are supposed to do. You know that as well as anyone. I’ve even heard you tell others the exact same thing.”

  “Oh hell, that is just political bullshit. Everyone is expendable. Why not Generals? Stop and think about it a minute. Foot soldiers go off to war because the Commander-in-Chief determines that is the best course of action. Why do they risk their lives? Because they know the President or the officers above them? Hell no. They go because they are told to follow orders, not to question them. One thing I have learned is that it is easy sending men and women to fight some stupid war but going yourself, well that isn’t so easy. That’s why I have always advocated that anyone who is willing to send troops to fight and die should be willing to follow those same orders themselves. Instead, Kings, Presidents and Dictators send young men and women to die while they sit back safe and sound. They never know the terror of what a battle is like, what a body that has been cut in half with a machine gun or shrapnel looks like. Cowards are usually the ones that send armies off to die,” the General said bitterly.

  “But what can be accomplished by your staying here? You can’t stop them anymore than anyone else. We don’t have the technology to halt them,” his aid said.

  “You might as well get it through your head that I am staying,” the General said.

  **

  General Erickson was watching the awesome destructive display as it came closer to the base. He was standing looking through binoculars, trying to discern how the disks were able to locate and destroy everything on the ground. He was just about to give up when he noticed a thin, almost transparent line reaching high up into the sky.

  A tether possibly? He scanned as many of the disks as he could see and found each had the same umbilical line running up to what he assumed was the command ship.

  “Over here,” he yelled at two men carrying MANPAD shoulder launched Surface to Air Missiles(SAMs).

  “Laser guided?” the General asked.

  “Yes sir,” the both answered.

  “Good. Look through these,” he said handing the binoculars to one of the men.

  “If you look carefully you can see a thin transparent cable or tether coming down from the sky to the disk.”

  The soldier looked for a long time before saying, “Yes sir. I see what you mean.”

  “Good. When they get a little closer, I want you to see if you can hit one of those things. Show the other soldier what I am talking about.”

  A few seconds later the second man said he knew what the General was talking about.

  “Good. I’m going to round up a few more of these things and see if we can do some damage.”

  General Erickson had always been one to never ask any of his men to do something unless he had done it at one time. It took him a few minutes to locate an Avenger 1097 Air Defense platform. It was a truck that had a series of laser guided SAM missiles that could be manipulated with a joystick.

  “Can you operate this thing?” he asked the soldier sitting in the truck.

  He was hiding in the passenger floorboard.

  “Son, I asked you a question,” the General barked.

  The man still didn’t move or answer.

  “I’m going to ask you one more time. If you don’t get off your ass and operate this thing you won’t have to worry about the disk. I’ll shoot you myself. Now get your sorry ass up and do it.”

  Slowly he got off the floor of the truck and climbed into the operations compartment. The General explained what they were looking for and what he wanted him to do. It was actually easier to spot the tethers
on the CCTV scope than with binoculars.

  “I’ll be right here with you. You wait until I tell you to fire. How many different ones can you fire?”

  “I can lock on to twelve different targets,” the soldier said, getting his courage back.

  “Good. Go ahead and lock them in. I’ll give you the signal to fire. When I do, I want you to take out as many as you can. Once the last one is away, you can haul ass if you want,” Erickson told him.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Can you point me to any other 1097s?”

  “Two are over by the LOX hanger.”

  “Good. I’m going to get them to do the same thing. I’m counting on you son.”

  “I’ll get it done.”

  “Good. You’re a good man. We are all scared at times,” the General said and took off across the air field.

  **

  The disks were within a mile of the base by the time the General had everyone briefed on what they were going to attempt to do. Thirty-eight individual targets had been identified and the lasers locked on.

  Communications had been established between the three 1097s waiting for the General’s command to fire. He knew they would only get one chance at this. Even then he wasn’t sure what would happen if they did actually bring down one of the disks. The airplanes they had sent up earlier had been totally ineffective.

  He was counting on the smaller missiles getting through by waiting until the last minute. If he was wrong it wouldn’t make much difference so he felt they really had nothing to lose.

  Erickson had always been a strong believer that it was better to make a decision with the information you had on hand rather than sitting on your thumbs waiting for that last bit of information that may or may not affect the outcome. The worst thing any leader could do was to not make a decision when action was called for.

  Far too many battles and men had been lost because a leader was afraid to make a command decision. He was backed into a corner. If he did nothing, they would be decimated. At least they would go down fighting.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Is anyone down here?” a soft voice drifted through the tunnel.

  Fingers and JD froze. It was definitely a human voice but how did they find them and what were they doing down here? They waited, hardly breathing.

  “Come on. Someone has to be down here,” the voice insisted.

  JD leaned over and whispered as quietly as he could into Finger’s ear.

  “What do you think?”

  “They will stumble on us sooner or later. I just want them to shut up,” he whispered back.

  “Alright then,” JD said.

  “Hey, hold it down. You need to keep quiet or get the hell out of here,” he hissed.

  “Sorry,” came the quieter reply.

  JD waited until he could almost feel their presence before he turned on his light.

  “Whoa.”

  “Quiet dumbass,” JD said.

  “It took me by surprise.”

  “Just keep it down. They may send one of those things down here looking for us.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Just sit down and whisper. Who the hell are you and how did you find us?”

  “Us?”

  “Fingers and me.”

  “Fingers?”

  “Yeah, the guy sitting next to me. Who are you?”

  “Ben Scott and Vivian Fowler.”

  “Vivian? You have a woman with you?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “I didn’t hear her. So that makes four of us. Any others?” JD asked.

  “Not that I am aware of.”

  “How did you locate us down here?”

  “We were hiding when we saw you going into the station. We followed but couldn’t find you. Vivian noticed the rocks pulled away and a hole. We figured that had to be where you went.”

  “Crap. That means one of those pods could get down here as well,” JD said.

  “I don’t think so. We piled up some rubble around the opening once we were inside,” Ben said.

  “Good. Good thinking. What do you know about these new things?”

  “Not much. They are smaller and seem to be looking for survivors.”

  “I forgot to ask. Fingers, is there another way out of here?”

  “Yeah but it is a long way off. All the way out to the Dyckman Street Tunnel. The one at 181st Street was caved in when I went to check it out earlier.”

  “So they could come from Dyckman Street.”

  “It’s a long way off,” Fingers replied.

  “They have lots of time. I don’t think they are too worried about that.”

  “What should we do?” Vivian asked, speaking up for the first time.

  “Block it if we can.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know but I’m certainly open to suggestions,” JD said.

  **

  What they didn’t know was that the only thing that was saving them at this time was the coolness of the tunnel and the fact that Ben and Vivian had filled the hole with rubble. The pod was picking up faint vibrations of sound but it was distorted enough to give the impression of background clutter.

  It had entered the station and came all the way down to the station platform, probing for life forms. Failing to find any it had finally left.

  The other saving grace was luck. They had quit talking out of sheer luck while the pod was surveying the platform. They were all deep in thought about how they could find a way to block the Dyckman Street entrance. They had no way of knowing how lucky they were to still be alive.

  **

  “Maybe they won’t even bother to look down here or in the other stations,” Vivian finally said.

  “I seriously doubt they will leave anything to chance. They are on a seek and destroy mission and they will probe every nook and cranny,” JD told her.

  “But we don’t know that. We may draw attention to the underground stations if we attempt to block it.”

  “You were outside. You saw what they are capable of. Do you honestly think they are going to just leave or not finish whatever it is they came to accomplish? We can’t just sit here and hope. At some point we are going to need food and water. We are going to have to take some chances if we are going to survive or else we will die right here.”

  “I can’t see tempting fate,” Vivian insisted.

  “Then you can stay here. I’m going to go see if anything can be done. I’ll come back and tell you the plan if we come up with one before we attempt anything,” JD assured her.

  “And if they see you and then come down here? You could get us all killed,” she replied.

  “Look, the fact is we are all in a situation that could end up in our death at any time. We are all going to die, some just sooner than others. I am willing to take my chances rather than dying from thrust and hunger,” JD told her.

  “That’s fine for you but I have a life as well so I’m not willing to turn it over to you,” she said.

  “You can stay here. I’m going. It’s that simple,” JD said.

  “I’m coming with you,” Fingers replied.

  “Ben?” JD asked.

  “I’m staying with Vivian.”

  “Alright. Good luck to you,” was all he said as they started out down the rails toward Dyckman Street.

  Once they were a good distance down the tracks, Fingers said, “There is nothing like a woman thrown into the mix to complicate things.”

  “Honestly I don’t blame her much. We are wired with the stupid gene that makes us think we are invincible. They have more sense.”

  “Humph,” Fingers replied.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  General Preston rushed into the room and found the President deep in thought.

  “Sorry to interrupt but the men are back.”

  “Great. Send them in,” President Coaler replied.

  “I have their report.”

  “No, I want to hear it directly from them,” he insisted.
r />   “Yes sir. I’ll have them sent in.”

  “I want you here too general. I just think it's better if I hear it firsthand.”

  He had forgotten how controlling Generals were. They always had to be at the forefront or else they pouted.

  A few minutes later three Marines in MCCUU’s entered. MCCUU stood for Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform; it had replaced the earlier Battle Dress Uniform’s or BDU. The General had made them leave all weapons in the other room.

  “Sir,” they said in unison as the President stood.

  “Easy men. I want you to take a deep breath and think about everything you have seen in the last hour or so. I will ask each of you what your impression was and I want straight answers. This is not about career advancement or any punishment for what you tell me. I must have honest answers no matter how painful it may seem at the time. Is that clear to each of you?” the President asked.

  “Sir, yes sir,” they answered, again in unison.

  “Okay, rule one. No more of the ‘sir, yes sir,’ stuff. It about makes me pee my pants,” he said smiling.

  The Marines laughed easing the tension.

  “Now take a seat. I would like to start with you Captain. I see your last name. What is your first name?” the President asked.

  “Brad.”

  “Alright Brad. Tell me what you saw out there. Take your time.”

  “Mr. President the first thing I saw was mass destruction. I didn’t see a single building still standing. A few were partially standing but most were just piles of rubble. I have never seen anything like it before. I saw pictures of Hiroshima after we dropped the atomic bomb and it looked about the same. Everything has not just destroyed but pulverized. Even the cement pavement was brittle and you could break off chunks with your hand.”

  “And the machines or whatever they were? Did you see them?”

  “No sir, not really. I saw what looked like lightning in the distance but I didn’t hear any thunder. It was very strange,” the Captain told him.

  “Excuse me, Lieutenant. What is your first name?”

  “Terry.”

  “Okay Terry, tell me what you saw?"

  “Total destruction like the Captain said. It was eerily quiet. Even seeing the lightning off in the distance, I heard nothing.”