He had seen enough History Channel to know some sort of headquarters was being initiated underground in New York, tucked safely away and out of sight from any aerial attacks.
He knew they weren’t Americans and he didn’t know the language or recognize the uniforms. Brendan wasn’t sticking around long enough to find out. Before being spotted he took off running back the way he had come.
The others didn’t follow right away.
Brendan heard gunshots.
He kept going and didn’t look back.
Was the beach house still intact? It didn’t smell like it was and from his view under the bed Ben saw a lot of dust and smoke.
“You okay?” he asked Lana.
“Yeah. You?”
“Yeah.” Ben lifted his head, banging it on the bed. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Me either. You think it’s safe?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ben. What are we going to do?
“If I were to theorize, I’d say this house is one of the safest places to be right now. But…we can’t stay here.”
“Who was it?”
Ben shook his head. “Stay here. Okay?”
Lana nodded.
Ben scooted out backward from under the bed. When he saw the bedroom, he whispered, “Oh God.”
The room was riddled with bullet holes. How they had escaped being hit, he didn’t know. He crawled to the window and peered out.
He didn’t see anything or hear anything.
“Come on out.”
Like Bill, Lana inched her way out. She gasped, covering her mouth at she saw the bedroom.
“I don’t even want to know what the rest of the house looks like.” Ben stepped over debris.
“Why would they shoot at us? We were two people sitting on a deck.”
“I don’t know. Maybe they were just being assholes at that second. Who knows? Maybe they couldn’t see us.” Ben took Lana’s hand and they made their way from the bedroom.
“I remember a fight we had.” Lana stayed close to Ben as they headed toward the living room. “We discussed America getting invaded. Remember?”
“I slept on the couch for two nights over that one,” Ben said and exhaled when he stood in the living room and look around.
“I said, no way could America ever get invaded.”
“And I said that most of our troops were overseas and… a world war had never been fought on our soil and we were long overdue.”
“I thought that was the hidden c\Conservative Republican in you talking.”
Ben shook his head. “I said it more to piss you off.”
They stood in the middle of the living room. The sun peeked with ease through the huge hole in the ceiling.
Ben cleared plaster from the couch. “Sit down.”
“I’m okay, really. I’m not hurt, just shaken.”
“Are you sure?”
Lana nodded.
“Good. Because I need to pack some backpacks. We need to get some items and head on out.”
“Where? How?”
“Well, we shouldn’t take the car. We’re gonna have to walk. Stay between houses, stay out of sight and be very quiet,” Ben said. “The planes were headed inland, so we head north and stay north for a while.”
“On foot?”
“Are you up for it?”
Lana exhaled. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“None at all,” Ben said and turned to start getting things in gear.
Lana reached out to him. “Ben, we’re going to make it, aren’t we?”
Ben swallowed. His jaw twitched as he sought the right words to say.
“You don’t think so.”
Ben shrugged. “I don’t know. But I do know this. We’re together, Lana. And for that I am so grateful.”
Lana pouted, her lips tightened and her face tensed up as she held in her tears. With glossed over eyes she grabbed on to Ben and embraced him. “Me, too. Trust me. Me, too.”
Every noise, every motor sound, every plane had disappeared and quiet had returned.
Harry figured it was safe to emerge from under the work bench.
“Can I talk now?” Tyler asked.
“Yeah, I think it’s safe.”
“What happened, Harry? What was all that?”
Harry led Tyler to the stairs and encouraged him to sit.
It had reached a point where all his years of living and all the experience he had would come into play.
Harry could make reasonable deductions and be correct on his guess as to what happened.
And while they had waited under that workbench, Harry had thought about it all.
But he had to explain to Tyler what he believed was happening before he moved forward with his plan.
After listening to the sparse reports from the Utah man, Harry pieced together in his mind a worst case scenario.
“What grade are you in?” Harry asked Tyler.
“Third.”
“My God, are you young. Have you learned about any wars yet?”
Tyler nodded. “Revolutionary. The Civil War.”
“What about World Wars?”
“Not much.”
Harry cringed. How could he explain? Tyler seemed like a bright boy; it wasn’t going to be too difficult. “Okay. When a country wants to take over another country, there are a couple of phases to do so. Are you with me?”
Tyler nodded.
“First, they know they eventually have to send in ground troops. But in order for the ground troops to be as safe as possible, the invading country has to clean house. Are you with me?”
Tyler nodded. The he shook his head.
