“Don’t you want to defend your country?”
“They have people for that,” Ben said.
“Yeah, they’re called soldiers, marines and seamen,” Harry retorted. “And in war time, homeland invasion, just like the war of 1812, revolutionary war, everyone takes arms and defends their freedom.”
Ben shook his head and grabbed Lana’s hand. “We just want to be safe and away from this all.”
“Huh.” Harry nodded knowingly. “So you’ll leave your country.”
“If that’s what we need to do,” Ben replied.
Tyler tugged on Harry’s hand. “You aren’t gonna ask them to stay, are you? You aren’t gonna try to reason with them again, like you did on the bridge, are you?”
“No, son,” Harry laid his hand on top of Tyler’s head. “Not on this one.” He kept his eyes steady, shifting between Lana and Ben as he spoke. “These two lived a good life here in America. Well, they got what they could, the good life’s over and it’s time to bail. If they feel that way, then I’m pretty sure I don’t want to ask them to stay. Come on.” He turned Tyler around and started to walk out. “I’ll let you watch us make those explosives, from a distance.”
Lana slipped a little from her husband and turned to him. “Ben? Going to Canada, is it really the right thing?”
“Yes,” Ben said assuredly. “Yes it is. There is no other choice.”
Lana nodded, but her eyes stayed fixed on Harry and Tyler as they walked away.
There was a very nice woman named Angeline who gave Judith little things to do to help her learn to use her hands without her eyes. Angeline’s mother was blind. Actually her mother became blind when her diabetes took a turn for the worse and she recalled her mother had to learn to do things all over again.
Judith was pretty confident that her sight would return. At first it was dark and light, then shadows, and as evening rolled around and she hit her third dose of medication, she could see silhouettes.
She wasn’t tired, but she felt she should be since she had slept until noon. Of course, sleeping until noon was normal underground; the place came alive at dark.
Packs of men would go out to search for things, items that were needed.
She was worried. It was the first night in nearly a week that she would be without Jimmy. Such a young man and he was going out doing a grown up thing and to her it was too dangerous.
Manny assured her that he would watch out for the young man. He assured her that they weren’t going to gather items but to scout. They needed food and some more medications. There were people in the shelter who had long term medical problems and they needed things.
They were just going to scout out things, just that. He promised Judith he would do his best to bring Jimmy, or Foster, as Manny called him, back safely.
Judith accepted that. What choice did she have? And while she waited for his return, she would pray.
Pray for the teenage boy who so quickly had come to mean so much to her.
Ten million people.
That was the estimate George threw out as to the loss of American’s lives so far, but, in truth, he believed the number to be much higher. It had to be.
Ten million. More Americans lost their lives in one day than in all the wars combined. Fewer Americans had died during the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918.
Using a computer and PowerPoint, George projected a map for everyone to see.
Two days earlier he had sent scouts out on horseback to the north, south, east and west.
Based on what the scouts had reported Massachusetts had not been touched yet.
The war was being fought, at minimal levels, with minimal American troops, farther west and to the north.
It was clear cut that Agabarn was deep within occupied territory.
They could only assume the east was secured by the enemy because they controlled the beaches.
One person asked why the fighting and number of troops was minimal. George could only give a guess and suggested it was because something big had to be on the horizon. There had to be. He hoped there’d be.
Were there allied forces helping out?
Their allies, like the UK, were dealing with their own destruction. Although by what was being picked up, they weren’t invaded.
Only the United States had been.
Then the big question came to George, “Do we know who invaded?”
The media blackout and coded radio transmissions made that question hard to respond to.
Hating to just say ‘No.’ George informed everyone that one of the scouts had spoken to an American soldier and the soldier referred to the enemy as the ‘Ranuelans.’
That was all the scout had learned before he was told he had to leave the area.
The scout told the soldier about their town and people there, and then returned. He could have taken a ride with the American forces to a safe camp. It was offered to him, but he had declined.
“Ranuelans?” a man asked. “What the hell are Ranuelans?”
“Has to be a combination of names,” said another. “You know, like the tabloids do for celebrity romances.”
Harry started thinking about it and breaking it down. It was as much a puzzle to him as the rock was to Tyler.
