“Okay. When the United States went to Iraq, before they sent our soldiers on the ground, they sent fire from the sky, bombed cities and military installations. They did this to shake things up, to remove the threat and make it safer for our soldiers. Following me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Good. So, the way I figure, there is a country or countries that want to come after us. They want to invade us. We ain’t had that happen since the war of 1812. The civil war doesn’t count because we were fighting against each other. But we haven’t had another country fight on our soil since 1812.”
“Except for now.”
“Exactly,” Harry said. “It think, like I said, countries wanted to take us over, but we’re the good old US of A. We don’t go down that easily. In order to do so, they hit us with some bombs, some chemicals and made us run in confusion, like chickens with their heads cut off. Following me?”
“So they hit us with bombs. We get confused and then they think hitting us with bombs makes their soldiers safe.”
“Exactly, only they’re going for the scattered effect. They cause some destruction and send us scattering. While we’re trying to make heads or tails out of what happened, they come in. That’s what I think we just heard. All those planes were bringing soldiers in.”
“To where?” Tyler asked.
“I suppose they set up a front line somewhere. But they’re gonna need more than soldiers. They’ll need equipment. That’s stuff they will have to bring in on boats.”
“We’re close to the ocean.”
“Yes,” Harry said. “Yes, we are. And because of that, we have to get moving. Now, I’m thinking that for a spell, it’s safe. The planes went somewhere and aren’t worrying too much about us. But those tanks and whatever, they’re gonna have to drive to the front lines. And chances are they’ll come right through here.”
“This is like a movie, Harry.”
“I know. So let’s go upstairs and get out belongings. We’ll go as far as we can in the car. Take the back roads and then play it by ear. Okay?”
Tyler nodded.
“I’ll do the best I can to get you out of this situation. But to be honest, Tyler, I don’t know how far all this goes. It could end in New York or it could go farther.”
“We’ll get out of it, Harry. I’m sure you’ll get us out of it.”
Harry felt pretty good about the vote of confidence he received from the young man. He took him by the hand and they went upstairs.
Even though Harry had the car already packed to go he wanted to get a few more things. He wanted to gather items he knew they would need to stay warm, to eat and to be protected, just in case they had to abandon their vehicle.
They didn’t waste much time in the house; they were out in just a few minutes.
Harry was a little timid when he started the car, looking about to see if the engine noise had drawn any attention. Then he pulled from the driveway and headed from Windsor ,planning to go directly north.
Harry knew he had two goals— stay focused and stay alive.
Was he insane? In fact, Abby yelled that question at Foster when he ran back to the building. “Foster? Are you crazy? Come on!” She waved him to come on as she backed up.
“I can’t leave them. I have to move them somewhere safe, maybe to the back of the building.”
Abby looked up. More parachutes were falling, but there were many that had already landed. Some were in the distance, but a lot were close. Too close. They landed on roof tops and in the streets. Men were everywhere and all of them were armed. “Foster. We have to run. Now.”
“Then run.” Foster tuned and went into the senior citizen center.
Abby did.
She looked over her shoulder to the five or six soldiers that had landed a block or so down from them and took off running.
She slipped through two buildings and then darted to the next street over. Carefully she peeked around the corner, but pulled back when she saw more soldiers.
It was hard to determine by looking at them where they were from. They appeared to have dark complexions, but it was hard to tell through their battle gear.
Battle gear, she thought.
They’re invading New York City like Normandy Beach.
Abby waited until she saw they all had passed and then she ran out from between the two buildings.
She saw the front door of a townhouse. It was standing wide open and Abby made her way in that direction.
Someone could have been in there, but she didn’t think of that. She needed to hide and stay hidden, at least until the wave of paratroopers had passed her by.
Abby made it up the stairs, paused in the doorway, looked back and ran into the house.
She wasn’t thinking about anything but hiding. Hide and wait it out. She stopped at the first room she came to, the living room. She saw the couch which was angled out from the wall and raced behind it for cover, huddling with her knees brought up close to her chest.
“We have to move! Everyone! Move now!” Foster yelled. He didn’t want to yell and knew it wasn’t the smart thing to do, but it was his only choice if he wanted to be heard by those who could barely hear.
