The Gifted

    2123. That's a year none of us will soon forget. That's the year that our entire world changed. That's the year that the United States' second cold war, turned into an invasion. No, we weren't invading anyone. We were invaded.      Our enemy was a relatively new country called Hura. However, their disdain and outright hatred of us was old. In fact it was dated to the first Cold War, at least. Hura is what is left of Old Russia. Russia's economy and government collapsed back in 2013. Our history books say that Russia was then thrown into a bloody civil war. There actually isn't any documented end to the fighting. All we know is that the United Nations accepted Hura's petition for being recognized as a sovereign state in 2023. So Hura is new, but they quickly became a rival super power to the United States.  Day One Angelina     The day of the actual invasion? February 1, 2123. Sixteen days before I turned 18. I had just left my house to go to school when I heard the sirens. Those sirens only went off for two reasons – one was they were testing them and two, we were being invaded. I lived on Mac Dill Air Force base, so all I saw were soldiers running to positions, and grabbing weapons. It was generally all out chaos. But that was before the bombs started dropping.  I heard the whistles, and then the explosions. I felt the ground rock from the blasts. I stood frozen with shock. These were soldiers I'd known all my life. And here I was watching them be blown away in a matter of minutes. I might have been trained for this, but I'd never actually been in this situation.      Suddenly someone knocked into me. He'd grabbed my arm and was yelling something at me. I couldn't really make out the words. I knew him, but couldn't remember why, couldn't even remember his name. He was trying to pull me in a direction away from where the bombs were dropping. I don’t know why I wasn’t moving. A bomb dropped pretty close to us, sending us in a different direction. Neither one of us had heard the bomb's whistling, signaling we had to move.      The switch in my head was instantaneous. It was like a light switch was flipped. I knew exactly where I was and what was going on when I landed. As I landed, I rolled to the kneeling position. I took in the American Soldiers fighting the enemy that was now on the ground. I saw more landing, and even more in the air. Paratroopers. They must have jumped after the bombs went off below them. It was like I knew exactly what I had to do. I scouted out where I could quickly get a weapon. The nearest was by a dead soldier about 20 feet away. I hoped like hell I didn't know her.      I looked over at the man who had been trying to get me to safety. He'd rolled into the kneeling position as well. We were equally trained then – but from two different countries. I still couldn't remember his name; I just knew he was on our side. He held a M16 that he'd gotten from a soldier near him.     “Cover me!” I hollered.      At first he stared at me confused. I pointed to the soldier with the weapon. He nodded and got in position. He'd noticed the paratroopers as well. I ducked behind cement barrier for cover and watched as he fired the M16 quickly. I chanced a glance and rolled to another barrier. I'd have to low crawl to get to the soldier. I was beginning to doubt why I'd trusted the man to cover me. It took a split second for the doubt to pass, but it was almost too long. I heard a rifle firing, and then heard the M16 return. I had to move. And I had to do so fast.      I low crawled to the soldier and grabbed the M16, and heard the man's M16 go off. I took that second to dart back behind the barrier and roll to the first one. My M16 was fully loaded, she'd never gotten a chance to fire. I quickly knelt where I could see over the barrier and aimed and fired. I took down two simultaneously, before I ducked back behind the barrier. I heard their rifles fire at us. I glanced at the man; he was safely behind yet another barrier. This volley back and forth between the enemy and the two of us lasted a few minutes, but it seemed like longer. My partner, (cause what else was I going to call him?), and I took down more each time we shot. We were definitely Fighters.  I heard firing from the other side of our enemy, which took the firing off of us. My partner quickly jumped his barrier and darted behind mine, beside me.     “While they're distracted, we need to go now. There's too many of them.” He practically yelled, because there was so much noise. His accent made it difficult for me to understand, but I got the gist. We needed to move now. I chanced a look at where my house was. It was gone. “Come on Angelina!”  He knew my name, I couldn't remember his. We fought our way off the base. We absolutely had to get to a shelter.      We'd run behind buildings, one of us covered while the other figured out where we were going. The town, what we were seeing of it, was basically demolished. They didn't care where they dropped their bombs. We could see Huran soldiers running into still intact buildings and taking hostages. We saw the soldiers execute the ones that fought back.      Tomas, that's his name. Tomas got us some cover in what little trees still existed in Tampa. We were out of breath, but I knew we'd run pretty far. Almost to I-75 if I had to guess, but I couldn't hear the sounds of cars flying past. Probably wouldn't be any cars for a while. Or if there was, they'd been bombed as well.      “Angelina, we've got to ditch the weapons. We've got to look like civilians.” His voice was urgent. “They won't exactly harm us if we're civilians...well they won't kill us at least.”     “You expect me to go without a weapon? They're Hurans, aren't they?” I shot back at him.      “Yes they're Hurans. I understood them when they were yelling at each other. They will not hesitate to kill us if we have weapons. You especially. And if they figure out we're 'gifted.' We are dead on site. You have to trust me Angelina.” Tomas explained, his eyes begged me to believe him. I leaned against a tree for a minute.      “Let’s find a hollowed out tree and stash the M16's there.” I sighed. Tomas was Huran. Well Huran American. There was some sort of doctrine that allowed citizens of 'communist' (whatever that means) countries to gain asylum in the U.S. So Tomas' father (coincidentally a friend of my mother's) managed to bring his family here. Tomas earned his citizenship when they found out he was “gifted.” Once we stashed the weapons, we wondered back through the woods.      As I followed him, I studied the man that had saved my life. Tomas Russik was definitely something else. I never took the time to notice the guys before, but how I even missed Tomas is beyond me. He was tall and really well built. As a Combatant that came in handy, it also made him noticeable. He had black hair that came to the bottom of his ears. It was too long by the military standards, but I doubt it interfered with him now. His skin wasn’t too pale, but it was obvious that he won’t be as dark as I am; it’s obvious he’s from the far north of the hemisphere. His eyes were the color of amber and they were not as pronounced of an almond shape as mine were. They seemed to match his lean long face. The sweat and ash and cuts didn’t seem to diminish from the way this man looked, in fact it made him look all that more appealing, for some reason, to me. He was wearing the traditional brown BDU uniform undershirt, and it was haphazardly tucked into the BDU pants he wore. His combat boots were worn outside the bottom of the pants and were making the path that we followed. It struck me as odd that he was wearing BDU’s because they haven’t been used since at least 2010. That makes them almost a hundred years out of date…      We walked for hours. Ducking under trees and attempting to avoid roaming soldiers. The sun was hitting the horizon, flitting in through the thick leaves of the woods around us. Twice I stumbled over an unseen tree root, Tomas turned to make sure I was alright and I waved him on. I was grimy and covered in sweat. I just wanted to go lay down somewhere. I stopped watching where we were going. I know I shouldn’t have though. I let him lead the way and he led us directly into the hands of Huran soldiers. I bumped into him before I realized he had stopped. I started to ask him what was wrong, but something on his face made me look in the direction he was staring at. I found myself looking at the pale Huran soldiers. All of which had their rifles pointed directly at us. It is almost impossible to keep from switching, but I somehow managed.     One of the soldiers, the biggest one, pointed his rifle at us and said something in Huran. I, of course, didn’t understand him. I felt my face contort with confusion. Tomas kept his mouth shut. Good. I think. The same soldier lurched forward towards me suddenly but Tomas grabbed my arm (none to gently I might add) and pulled me behind him. The soldier glared at Tomas for a minute before pointing us in a direction. He motioned that we needed to go in that direction. I think it was west, but I wasn’t really sure. One of the other soldiers took the lead and we followed him. I noticed that Tomas put himself between the first guy and myself. The man’s intentions didn’t have to be interpreted. I guessed that from the look on his face when he jumped forward.      We walked until we got to some sort of Jeep at the edge of the woods. I glanced at Tomas. He gave an almost nonexistent nod. Right at the second I saw one of the soldiers shove his rifle into Tomas’ back. Tomas winced slightly and gently pushed me into the vehicle. He climbed in after me and the soldiers all piled in afterwards. The big one decided to take the wheel. I caught every furtive look that he sent in my direction. We made our way through town to Hillsborough High School. It looked like where they were keeping their ‘prisoners.’ The school was heavily guarded and already crowded. Right as we pulled up to the bus lot, the street lights were just coming on. I glanced at the faces of the citizens that they’d corralled here – all scared, dirty and bunched up as close to each other as they could get.      I was boiling with anger. These were civilians! They didn’t deserve to be treated like cattle. I felt Tomas’ hand grip mine hard. I glanced at him. He was feeling the same way I was. I wasn’t sure if his grip was to keep me from switching or him. A nearby soldier grunted at us and pointed to the grass. I assumed that’s where they were storing us for the night. I sighed and let Tomas lead me over to the grass.      We had a couple of other teenagers and a terrified looking woman as company. No one said anything to us, nor did we say anything to them. We studied each other though. I wanted to help them, but I knew that we had no hope of getting out alive. I guess we’d have to wait. Wait and see if the Hurans were going to kill us or do whatever they wanted to do.     Full dark covered the horizon. The stars weren’t even out. Huran soldiers handed out measly little blankets and stood guard around the entire school. A couple of soldiers gave every one an apple. That was our dinner. I sighed and laid down on the blanket. It was warm enough to not need the blanket. I felt the hot tears unabashedly pool and slide down my face. I didn’t know where my mother was or if I’d ever see her again. I felt Tomas’ hand again, this time gentle. I drifted into an uneasy sleep. Aimee     Tomas told me to run. I did. I ran until I couldn't breathe anymore. Everything was covered in smoke, or fire or gunfire. I was surprised I wasn't shot down. I felt trapped. I found myself in a wooded area so I sat against a tree, small enough to be completely hidden. I felt the hot tears slide down my face, I couldn't help it. Papa had brought us to the United States to save us from the Huran Government and they came here and just went crazy. Even being as far away as I was, I heard screaming, gunfire, and I could still hear the bombs dropping. I wasn't a Fighter. I knew why Tomas sent me away; I'd be in the way.      I must have stayed like this for hours. I heard the leaves crunching nearby. I tried to make myself shrink even smaller than I already was, as I saw a shadow approach near where I was. I chanced a glance at the newcomer. She was wearing a BDU's like papa did. I actually knew her too, I realized. Maria Morelli. I saw her take in her surroundings for a second. She saw me and almost jumped out of her skin. She regained her composure, and moved her weapon over her shoulder and knelt beside me. She looked absolutely exhausted. I noticed that in the time I'd run off the base and got here, to that point the sky was starting to darken.      “Are you hurt?” She asked, her Spanish accent making it difficult to understand. I shook my head. “Aimee Russik, right?”      “Yes ma’am” I answered. I saw her breathe a sigh of relief and she stood up and held a hand for me. I didn't understand why, but I let her help me up and we walked back the way she'd come. We walked a little ways until we got the interstate. Which was in total devastation. “Why are we..?”     “It’s okay. Just stay really close. We're going to run across fast, okay?” She said, looking down at me until I nodded. I wasn't ready when she took off running, but I quickly caught up and we darted into the woods on the other side. I ran smack into someone else. I looked up, intending to apologize. It was papa. Who wrapped his arms around me. “I found her in the woods. I didn't see Tomas.” Maria told him as he tossed her his canteen.      “Aimee where is your brother?” Papa asked me, looking at me.      “I don't know. He told me to run, and don't look back.” Papa gave me a confused look. “I glanced back and the house he was running towards blew up.” Papa's face paled considerably. I didn't mean to give him bad news but that was the last time I'd seen Tomas.      “Tom I'm sure he's fine.” Maria told papa. He nodded. “Aimee what house was he going towards?” Maria finished, looking at me.     “Um...yours I think...” I felt my eyes go wide at that realization. I suddenly remembered that Angelina Morelli had been standing in front of her house when Tomas ran over there. “He was going after Angelina...” I saw Maria close her eyes and I saw controlled breaths made. Angelina was her only child. I couldn't imagine what she was going through.      “Tom here's an M16.” She said, as she passed one over. “Found them in tree about a yard or two away from Aimee.  Had extra ammo too.”      “Thanks. Very curious as to why there was weapons in a tree though.” Papa replied, really confused. Maria shrugged. I watched as papa put the extra ammo in one of the many pockets he had on his uniform. “If it were safe to head back to the base, I would, but I can still hear the racket caused by the Hurans.” I have no idea why I didn't see it before, but both papa and Maria were wearing radios. I heard them crackle.     “Any American soldier that can hear this. Meet at Destination point Delta Foxtrot 34.” A crackled male voice came from the radios. “Again, any soldier, meet at destination point Delta Foxtrot 34.”      “Well if the Hurans follow them, they'll know where Delta Foxtrot 34 is...” Maria said. “But we really don't have a choice, that was Commander Kelly's voice.”      “It could be a trap?” Papa suggested, looking over at Maria. Who gave him a stern look. “What?”     “I've known Commander Kelly since I met my husband. He would rather die than betray the U.S.” She said. “Besides, even if it was a trap, we have no choice. At least I have no choice. He's my commanding officer.”     “I don't want to risk going into a trap, Maria.” Papa said, grabbing Maria by the arm. “Especially when I have my daughter with me.”     “Let go Tom. He's my commanding officer. You can either go with me, or stay here and risk running out of ammo and getting caught.” Her accent was really thick, but the venom in her voice was clear. I had to remember that Maria Morelli was Spanish. Her daughter had been teaching me to speak it a little bit, but Maria was speaking in English. Papa just stared at her for a minute before he nodded.      “Alright. Let’s go.” Papa shouldered the weapon, and Maria kept hers in her hand, and she started walking slowly away from the base. He looked at me. I saw that he was extremely exhausted. “Aimee you walk between us okay?” He told me. Papa used to speak to me in Huran, but recently he's switched to English. I nodded and started following Maria.      “Papa where is that location?” I knew I should know, since as a Techie, I helped make the program for the Army, that chose and told random locations. It didn't record its decision, its memory used the computers RAM, and it was erased after the computer was turned off. I programed the software telling it not to make a copy to the actual hard drive. Child's play for me. But in all the confusion, I'd forgotten where that was. Maybe Tomas and Angelina were there.      “It’s further inland. Actually I think Delta Foxtrot 34 is a meeting point so that everyone can be sent to other spots.” Papa looked at Maria. “I am correct, right?”     “Yes. Delta Foxtrot 34 is just a meeting place. And a good couple of day's walk from here. And it was the perfect place for a meet up. I commend you Aimee for that program. It picked the safest location around for the emergency meeting.” Maria Morelli had never complimented me on anything, having never actually seen me in action.     “Thank you ma’am” I managed to stammer. The sky was getting black and we were still walking. We must have walked for hours. Occasionally we saw Huran planes fly over, and I followed Papa's example, and ducked under the trees to not be seen. We came upon a small little neighborhood. Some of the houses were destroyed, by the random bombs dropping. Others were still intact. All of them were black. It looked like a ghost town. I stared in amazement. The Hurans were destroying America...     “Aimee you stay here, under the trees. Maria and I are going to check out the houses real quick.” Papa ordered. I nodded, because I never disobeyed my papa. He and Maria quickly ran to the houses. After checking one or two of them, I saw Papa run back over to me. “Come on, we've got to get in one of these for the night.” Papa led me to one of the houses that they'd broken into. Maria was standing in the door way with her M16 ready for anything.      “The house is clean. They had blankets and food. But we can't risk turning the lights on, if they work. We'd be an easy target.” She said, looking at my father. He nodded. We all quickly got inside and Papa shut and locked the door. I went to the kitchen, in the dark, and took my useless cell phone and used it as a flashlight. I found canned goods on a shelf along with two gallons of water. And a can opener. I realized it was the residents' hurricane preparedness kit. I looked at another shelf, and saw batteries and flashlights. And a weather radio. It probably didn't work, but that's okay.      I heard someone come up behind me, I looked and it was Maria. She gave me an appreciative look and took the batteries and flashlights and got them ready for use. I hated that we were using someone's stuff, but I really didn't see where we had a choice. I took a can of Spam and a can of green beans and the can opener off the shelf. I opened a cabinet and found plates. It took me three tries to find the pots and pans. I turned on one of the eyes on the stove. I was really surprised, when after a minute or so, I saw it glow red. They still had power. I wondered why.      I heard Maria close the blinds behind me, and I put the pot on the stove full of one of the green beans I'd grabbed. On a frying pan I cut the spam into slices and fried them. My brother did this with bologna, nasty tasting stuff, fried bologna is. But the spam was smelling good. Maria picked up one of the gallons of water and poured three glasses. She also found unopened mayo and bread. The mayo was going to be useless soon, because we were opening it, but for now it was going to be fine. It only took me about ten minutes to make the dinner. Papa came in close to when it was done. He downed one of the glasses of water and poured another. I guess he was thirsty. When it was done we had spam sandwiches and green beans with water.      “This house doesn't even look like the Hurans were here.” Papa said. Maria nodded as she finished her glass of water and made another.      “The Hurans cleaned out the neighborhood though.” She said, taking a bite out of the sandwich. “The only sign here was the broken glass at the back door.”     “We're going to leave first thing in the morning.”     “If we're going to hit Delta Foxtrot 34 in two days, yes.” Maria agreed.     I just sat there in silence. I wondered for the umpteenth time what happened to my brother. I really wish I hadn't listened to him when he told me to run. I should have told him to come with me. Why did he go after Angelina? She wasn't his girlfriend, so why? I didn't notice that Papa had left the dining room and had returned. He handed me a laptop.      “I know you're probably still in shock. I just want you to see if there's anything about Tomas or Angelina online or anything.”     “Sure. As long as I can get into their database.” I answered, turning on the laptop. It took the computer five minutes to get connected to the internet. I was very surprised that the former residents' service still worked. “Lets see what I can find.” I somehow tapped into Mac Dill's computer systems, even though they were miles away. Coding after coding flew through the screen. Some I recognized, since I'd made them. Others were in a different language. The Hurans were in the Military's system already. I didn't see anything about Tomas or Angelina. But I could look again tomorrow or the next day. If Papa let me bring the laptop. I shook my head no and looked up at Papa. “It’s still too early to see anything, but the Hurans are already tapping into the military systems. I don't know if they have a Techie working for them or not. I don't know who they were, since I wasn't allowed to go to the schools in Hura. But I could take this with us and check again.” I made sure to get out of the site quickly, covering my tracks and location. It was like I was never there.     “Alright. See if you can find a bag and everything you'd need for that.” Papa sighed. I knew I should have said something different, but I didn't even see glimpses of them. I did know that survivors were being brought to some of the local high schools. Readying them for transportation to other sites apparently.      “I don't know if this is pertinent or not. But the Hurans are taking survivors to local high schools. The info I had found said that they were going to be transported to other areas, to be workers and such.” I said. “There's no way that this wasn't planned. They have allies in the U.S.” I earnestly finished. “Someone who betrayed our government...”     “I was afraid of that.” Maria said. “That's very similar to what happened in Spain. Only Spain was treated as an ally instead of invaded.”     “Alright. Let’s try to get a little sleep.” Papa said. “This info needs to be passed to Commander Kelly.” Maria nodded and we headed to a room where we could quickly get out if needed. I laid down thinking about Tomas. I closed my eyes and that was it. Tomas     I was walking down the street headed to school with my sister when I heard the sirens. Aimee and I looked at each other, and I could see the fear in her eyes. Those sirens only meant one thing – invasion. An invasion I had been confident that would never happen. That signal came to us too late though. I heard the whistling of the dropping bomb just before it hit the ground. The ground shook under us, knocking Aimee off her feet. I glanced up around the street as I helped Aimee up real quick. Angelina Morelli stood frozen in front of her house, even as bombs were dropping and getting closer.      “Get out of here, Aimee! Go! Just run until you can go no further! I'll find you later!” I yelled, shoving her in the direction of the gates and woods, away from the bombs.     “Tomas!”     “Go!” I exclaimed. “Get out of here!” The ground shook again as another bomb hit the ground. Aimee took on last fleeting look at me before she took off running. I glanced back at the Morelli house. Angelina was still frozen with fear. I didn't understand. She was trained for this. The same as I was.  I vaulted over the concrete barrier beside the street and ran across it to where Angelina was. I grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away from the house, because any moment it was going to explode and take us with it.     “Come on! You've got to move!” I practically yelled in her face. She just kind of gave me this blank look. Like she didn't understand what I had said. This is from a woman who had the top scores in all of our training exercises.      A bomb took out her house, and sent us flying through the air. I felt the switch, I hit the ground and ducked behind a concrete barrier. It took me a second to take in my surroundings. There was a dead soldier near me. I grabbed his weapon and got a few shots off at the landing Hurans from the planes.      “Cover me!” I suddenly heard Angelina's voice, so I turned to her for a second. She pointed at the nearest soldier to her. Twenty feet away. Her switch must have happened. I nodded at her, and got the attention of some Hurans. I glanced at her and saw she'd made it to one of the barriers. Directly in front of two soldiers. They started firing their rifles, so I quickly aimed and fired my weapon. It gave her the opportunity to low crawl to the soldier she'd seen and then low crawl back. I continued to cover her until she got back to the barrier she'd been at.     As soon as she got herself situated behind the barrier, she got a lot of the attention off of me. Every time she aimed her weapon, two or three Hurans fell. She was one hell of a shot. I fired when she did, covered when she did. She had to be a Weapons Master. If I could get close enough for hand to hand, I'd be good, as I'm a Combatant. I think she was taking down twice as many as I was. Suddenly there was rapid fire coming from the other side of the Hurans. American troops, a lot of them. It took attention off of us coincidentally. I hopped over my beat up barrier and ran over to hers, hopping down beside her.      “While they're distracted, we need to go now. There's too many of them.” I had to basically yell to be heard over the sounds of war. She gave a quick look of confusion before she understood and nodded. We got up to go, I saw her glance back at where her house had been. The look in her eyes was complete sadness. “Come on Angelina!”     The Hurans fired at us but their aim was terrible. She unshouldered her M16 and fired three times. The grunts and yells I heard confirmed that she'd taken out at least three possibly four. We took off running towards one of the edges of the base. Every other minute or so we'd have to take cover and return fire at the invaders. I finally took the lead and got us off the base. There was a lot of dead Americans on the ground, so if it was a soldier, we took their ammo. We needed it.     We got into Tampa itself and it looked like utter chaos. Cars had been blown up and there were Americans lying on the ground, either from the flying debris of the bombs, the bombs themselves or Huran soldiers. I couldn't believe that Huran soldiers had gunned down civilians. I would say that it looked like a war zone. Well. I guess that’s what it was...     It took us several hours to get into some woods. Turned out the woods were near the interstate. You just couldn't hear any cars any more. It was very disheartening. Though the sounds of weapons firing and soldiers yelling seemed to permeate through the air. We stopped a good distance into the woods. I leaned my shoulder against a tree and looked over at Angelina to see if she'd been wounded. She had her back against a tree, with her head leaned back. Her switch had been long since 'turned' off. She'd calmed down, as much as you could in this situation, no doubt remembering all we'd seen both on Mac Dill and through town. Her dark hair looked almost black; it was so soaked with sweat. Strands of her hair stuck to her gleaming olive skin. She had ash smeared across her face from where she rubbed her hand over her to remove the sweat.      I'd never noticed just how good this young woman looked. I guess I never had the time. Sadly though, I can’t believe I didn’t notice before. She'd taken her hoodie off and wrapped it around her waist. Her blue t-shirt was sticking to her – revealing just how fit she was. Her jeans were ripped, probably from all we've done today, but they fit her nicely. I even found the fact that she was wearing combat boots to be a nice sexy touch. I should have noticed her much earlier. She had those curves that could turn heads. Though I doubt she ever thought or noticed it. Her brown eyes showed just how exhausted she was. We wouldn't be able to keep running. We were going to have to stop, but there was a chance that we were going to be found as well.      “Angelina, we've got to ditch the weapons. We've got to look like civilians.” My voice was urgent, after I managed to catch my breath. The act of talking made my throat feel scratchy and dry. “They won't exactly harm us if we're civilians...well they won't kill us at least.”     “You expect me to go without a weapon? They're Hurans, aren't they?” Angelina practically spat at me.     “Yes they're Hurans. I understood them when they were yelling at each other. They will not hesitate to kill us if we have weapons. You especially. And if they figure out we're 'gifted.' We are dead on site. You have to trust me Angelina.” I explained, begging her to believe me. I saw the hesitation go through her eyes, and then she sighed.      “Let’s find a hollowed out tree and stash the M16's there.” She said reluctantly.     She talked fast, and with an accent. Her accent wasn't American either, it was something else, Spanish maybe. If she was having a hard time understanding me, I was having just as hard of a time understanding her. We found a hollowed tree maybe fifty feet from where we had stopped. We tucked them into the tree, and hid them with the moss that was on the ground.  I took the lead again and we started walking. I wasn’t really picking a direction, I was just walking. We walked without talking for hours. It was starting to get dark when I heard the click of a gun. I barely suppressed a groan. I’d led us right into a group of Hurans without meaning to. Angelina bumped into me when I stopped. I thought she’d say something, but thankfully she didn’t. I knew my face looked grim, considering how tight it felt.  “Look what we’ve got here.” The biggest soldier said. He said it in Huran. “Looks as if we’ve got ourselves a couple of runaways.” I kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t see Angelina’s face, so I don’t know what her reaction was. The same soldier for some reason decided to lurch towards Angelina. I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind me while I glared at the man. We stared at each other for a moment or two. I could feel the beginnings of a switch.  After we had our moment of glaring at each other, he pointed us in the direction he wanted us to go in. I made Angelina go in front of me; I wanted to keep myself between the soldier and her. One of the other soldiers started leading us out of the woods. I heard the first one just mumble and grumble about not getting to have a little fun. We walked a little ways until we cleared the woods. I saw an off road vehicle parked, just idling. I sighed and glanced around us. Maybe I could find an escape. One of the men around us shoved his rifle into my back pretty hard. I winced and helped Angelina get into the truck. I climbed in after her, keeping my eye on the big soldier. Luckily he decided he was going to be the one that drove.      They drive us to Hillsborough High School. It looked like it was where they'd set up a camp to keep the civilians in one place while they went through the town. City. Whatever Tampa was. It was nightfall by the time we got to the high school. As we crossed the gates into the school a Huran soldier shoved two blankets at us and pointed to where on the ground they wanted us to go. Angelina hadn't said anything to me since I led her right into Hurans, and I couldn’t blame her. I won't forgive myself for that either.      What I saw as we crossed to the grassy area we were walking to made me so angry. I gripped Angelina’s hand so that maybe I could control the switch. It would be a useless switch if I lost control of it now. We didn’t say anything to other people in the area. I don’t know what my face looked like, but none of them really met my eyes. The general feeling of the people was fear. A sentiment I could agree with, even if I had been taught never to show fear. I’m pretty sure this would be considered an exception.      Angelina laid down and just stared at the stars. I sat against the wall. The sounds of gun fire went all night. I was praying that my father found Aimee. That they were safe. I looked at Angelina and saw the silent tears slide down her face. I didn't know her all that well, but I understood the pain. I wondered where her mother was, if she was okay, and maybe she'd found my father and sister. I leaned my head against the wall. I shouldn't have told her to run... David     I woke up early today. Sarah shifted lightly beside me, and slept on. I decided I wanted to go take advantage of the deer hunting that was available. I put my hunting knife in my leg strap and strapped it on securely. I knew, without looking out the window that the ground was covered in snow, I could feel it. I threw on a green sweater over my t-shirt and then put a sturdy brown leather jacket on. I then grabbed my Remington and my gear. I glanced at the clock. Three-forty five. I had the chance of snagging a deer or two today then. As long as they were antlerless I wouldn’t get into trouble.      I slowly walked down the hall, careful not to wake anyone. When I got to the living room I had to smile. Sarah had left me a few treats to take with me on my trip. One of which – her delightful homemade hot chocolate in my thermos was prominent on the table. I packed the beef jerky and the pork rinds. I clipped my thermos onto my belt and headed outside munching on my honeybun. I loved that woman. I smiled and went to my beat up, almost unrecognizable ford ranger. This thing was so old that the color was faded. I’d accidentally rolled the truck about five years back – pretty much destroying any resemblance to a truck. But it was mine, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.      I attuned my hearing and vision for being outside. I could see clearly in the dark like any owl or cat could. I could probably hear better than any bat could as well. My sense of smell was as good as a wolf’s was. These enhanced abilities gave me an advantage over other hunters in my area. I kept it a secret though. Only the Department of Defense knew about the abilities. They’d called me ‘gifted. I knew the story behind it of course, but I tried not to think about it. I really didn’t think my abilities made me a ‘perfect soldier.’ That honor belonged to the Fighters.      I tried to start the truck. The engine whined and complained. It took three times for the truck to start. I shook my head and backed out of the driveway.  I merged onto US Highway 15 heading south out of Warrenton. I was heading into Whitney State Forest. It only took me maybe twenty minutes to make it to the park. I parked and showed my license to the guard at the entrance.  I then made my way to my favorite hunting spot. I made sure to don my lovely orange vest before getting settled to await the arrival of a deer or two.      I sat there for what felt like hours. I was only able to get one doe. I skinned the doe, and filleted it as well. I threw my treasure into my cooler, deciding that I’d had enough of the cold for the day. I could still try again tomorrow. I lugged my gear to my truck and headed back to Warrenton.  I glanced at the truck’s dashboard. Seven thirty five. I hadn’t realized I was out there for hours. I had just reached Warrenton when I saw aircraft flying awfully low. I pulled the truck over so I could watch.      It didn’t dawn on me what was happening until one of the buildings suddenly blew up. I then saw several bombs dropping from the aircraft. I quickly tried to restart the truck, which was ornery at best. I gave up and grabbed my rifle and bolted out and down an alley way. I had to make it to my house. My parents, my sister. Sarah…. I had to get there now. I took off running as fast as I could. Maybe we could hide out in the storm shelter. Or the woods. I heard more explosions and felt the ground shake more. Screams filled the air. Suddenly gunshots. I picked up my pace.      I thought I would never reach my neighborhood, but I did and I bolted to my house. I glanced behind me to see several men in paratrooper gear land. I stumbled and took off again. I hit the house right as my sister Jessi came running out.     “Where’s mom and dad? And Sarah?” I asked out of breath.      “I don’t know. Mom and dad had already left for work. I don’t know where Sarah was going.” I heard gunfire nearby. I grabbed Jessi’s arm and pulled her towards the woods. We had to get out of there quickly.     “Move. We need to keep going. Now!” I urgently screamed. Jessi didn’t argue. She matched my pace as we bolted into the woods.  I heard the sounds of running boots behind us. I pushed Jessi behind a tree. She yelped as she hit the ground. I ducked behind another one. I loaded the Remington and aimed at our follower. I pulled the trigger, not bothering to stay and watch as he fell. I grabbed Jessi’s hand again and pulled her along with me. We continued to run. Jess and I had a secret spot we had as children. I just had to get us there.      It took us an hour to get to the spot. I had to stop and make sure we weren’t being followed. I was glad I had a decent shot with the rifle. All those years of hunting have come in handy when Jessi and I are running for our lives. I wanted to go after Sarah, but Jessi had no idea where she went. I only hoped that she was fine. We were out of breath and cold by the time we reached the cave. Jessi had a few scratches on her, I guessed I probably did.      “The only thing we can do now is wait…” I hated saying that, but I knew it was true.     “Who were they? What are they going to get from us?” Jessi asked, doubled over to catch her breath.     “I don’t know Jess.” I sighed, sitting against the cave wall. “Where’s that weather radio we hid up here?”     “Further in. I hid it pretty well.”     “We should probably get it. I want to know what’s going on.”     “Other than an invasion?” Jessi asked sarcastically.     “I want to know who and why.”      “I doubt we’ll get anything right now, Dave.”     “Will you get the damned radio?” I snapped.     “Fine.”     Jessi  went to the back of the cave and searched through the stuff that we had stashed back here over the years. A few minutes later she brought back the old midland weather radio we had bought years ago. She tossed it to me and sat down across the cave from me. I turned it on, fumbling through the stations. Every station was static. No updates, no weather. Just static.     “They must have knocked out some of the radio towers….” I said, leaning back against the wall.     “I told you that you wouldn’t get anything.” She snidely said.      “It was worth a shot Jess…”     “We can’t stay up here.”     “No. But until we stop hearing the aircrafts go over and the bombs dropping. We’re stuck here.” I acknowledged. Jessi gave an exasperated sigh and settled into the little niche. I’d go get us some food once the night fell. Which was going to be hours.