The Gifted

Day Two

Day Two

Aimee

    “Aimee, wake up.” Papa's voice was quiet and urgent. It was still dark out. “Now Aimee.”

    “Papa it’s still dark out...” I was still trying to get some more sleep.

    “Come on. We've still got a long road ahead of us.” He said, raising the flashlight's light to my eyes. “Now.” I sighed and got up. It was then that I remembered we were on the run. Not the same run we were on when we left Hura, that was sneakily leaving a communist country. This was we were in a country that had been invaded. Papa handed me the bag with the laptop and I saw him and Maria grab their M16's. This was all too surreal. I thought I had been dreaming. We very quickly left the house and went in the direction of the central of the state. I was still confused as to where we were going. Delta Foxtrot 34. Why should I have remembered where that was? 

    We walked and walked. Occasionally we'd c1ome up on a few of the enemy soldiers. Maria and Papa fired, keeping them away from us. I was surprised that there wasn't more. They were probably in the more populated areas. Or along the interstate. We came up to a road at one point. It looked like it was straight out of one of Tomas' video games. It was in utter chaos. I saw the sign then. Interstate 4. There is always hundreds of people on this road. The Hurans killed them all with their bombs, and no regard for the fact that they were humans. I was kind of frozen with shock. I felt Papa nudge me along quietly. An over pass had caved in and smashed at least six cars under it. Cracks in the pavement lead to huge holes in the ground, where the Huran bombs had dropped. Lives ended in seconds. How long was this invasion planned? Why does it look like it was over in the first day?

    “They're wiping most of us off the map...” Maria said, almost disbelievingly. Papa didn't say anything. We were carefully staying hidden as we walked down I-4. I saw a sign that read Lakeland. I knew Lakeland wasn't too terribly far from Tampa. Papa opened a car door to an abandoned car that we had stopped beside. He found the keys on the ground beside it, and sat in the seat for a second and started it. He looked at Maria.

    “This car's got enough gas to get us to our destination.” He looked at me. “Connect your phone. See if you have service.”

    “Alright...” I said uncertainty in my voice. I pulled it out and was surprised to see some bars. I gave him a confused look. “Why do you need my phone?”

    “I want you to figure out how to tap into the Hurans' radios. I need to know where their aircraft are.” Papa said. I gave him this frustrated look. I hadn't ever tapped into my phone with my talent, but I nodded and got to work. This pause gave us a chance to rest while I worked. Maria gave us some water and bread while I was getting my phone to work. I finally managed to get it to pick up radio waves. The Huran radios took me another twenty minutes to get into. I found a cable in the car and hooked the phone up to the audio outlet on the radio. Papa nodded. “Sounds like we can drive for ten minutes before they'll fly over us again.”

    “Well lets go.” Maria said, as she got into the car as well. Papa started driving, avoiding holes, cars, and people. He had to occasionally drive on the grass. He made it look like the car had been there when a bomb dropped when we saw the plane fly over. We did this for five hours. We'd drive for ten to twenty minutes stop for five to ten and go again. I saw what was left of the Disney World symbol as we haphazardly parked the car on the road, and got out. 

    “Why are we here?”

    “Cause Delta Foxtrot 34 is near here.” Maria answered, grabbing my cell phone and handing it back to me. I took the battery out, just in case it was being tracked. I pocketed my phone and quickly followed Papa and Maria into the woods. Maria didn't keep a straight line. I guess she wanted to make damn sure that the Hurans didn't find us. Another hour and a half passed, and we were still walking. Nowhere near the car that we had been in. We emerged from the trees and for the first time in my life I was standing in front of Disney World. Only a lot of it was utterly destroyed. That absolutely bites. I'll never get to go to Disney World now, except today. I glanced at Maria, she'd bitten her lip and was surveying the area. Suddenly two uniformed soldiers came running towards us out of nowhere. 

    “Sergeant?” One of them, a tall one, with a southern accent stopped, surprised. “We thought you were dead!”

    “Nope. Perfectly fine, corporal.” Maria stated. “Where exactly are we going?”

    “Underground.”

    “Underground? In Florida?” Maria asked, confused.

    “Apparently Disney World had underground facilities that led to areas of the park. Faster way to get there? Something like that.” The corporal said, shrugging. “Come on. Commander Kelly is going to be happy to see you two.” The soldier noticed me. “Russik? This must be your daughter.”

    “Yes. Can we get to cover?” Papa said, putting a hand on my shoulder. We followed the soldiers and the stopped at the fence, near the gates, to the park. 

    “If you go inside, Corporal Jones will tell you where to go.” The second soldier finally said. “We have to keep watch here. Good to see you sergeants.”

    “You too.” Maria said. We went through the gates and quickly found Jones waiting for us. He pointed us to where there was an entrance to get underground. In ten minutes, we were being led to where Commander Kelly was. 

    “Commander? Sergeants Morelli and Russik have arrived.” A thin soldier said, knocking on an open door. 

    “Maria?” A man in his early fifties walked out of the office. “Tom! I'm so glad to see the two of you! I see Aimee, girl your program worked like a charm. Where's Tomas and Angelina?” He asked, concern filling his face.

    “I'm thinking still in Tampa. We weren't around the kids when it happened.” Maria stated.

    “Tomas told me to run, and I did. It was luck that Maria found me.” I said; once again mad at myself for leaving Tomas on the base. “He was going back to get Angelina.” I felt bad for being here. Papa put a hand on my shoulder again.

    “Well those two are Fighters, so we can pray and hope for the best.” Commander Kelly said, trying to boost Papa's and Maria's morale. “Can you tell me anything you have learned on your lovely trek here?”

    “A lot. We need power and internet. Aimee can pull it up for you.” Papa said, motioning to me.

    “I can get you that. I'm surprised an electromagnetic pulse hasn't been dropped.”

    “I'm betting it was dropped in Washington and at the Pentagon. Seeing as those are strategic spots.” Maria said.

    “We can hope they don't drop one here.” Kelly said as he led us down the hall to a bigger room for us to set up a little meeting. The room actually looked like a meeting room. I wondered if this was where the Disney Staff used to have their meetings. Papa had me pull up everything I'd pulled up the day before. The transportation of survivors, when it would start, anything I could find. Commander Kelly seemed impressed.

    “I have to hand it to you. Even though we're trapped, this information could help us.” He said, leaning back in his chair. “What about Washington and the Pentagon?” 

    “If you give me a few minutes...” I bit my lip as I started my search. I was quick with my keystrokes, and was hiding my path at the same time. Papa and Maria started talking to Kelly about some plans and what they needed to do. I found a Huran document stating that Papa was in fact correct. Electromagnet pulses had been sent to those two areas. Effectively separating them from the rest of us. I saw that Quantico and a few other places had had this happen as well. “If I may interrupt, Commander.” He nodded. “Washington DC, the Pentagon and Quantico have been separated from the rest of us. If we could get a Techie there, we might be able to get communications back, but right now that's not even an option. A majority of Huran commanders and higher ups have planted themselves all over the country. They brought thousands of troops here. They weren't just going to destroy the U.S. They were going to make it a providence of Hura.”

    “Hmm. This isn't what I had expected. If I could get a hold of other groups we could plan something.” Kelly said, leaning over the desk to look at my screen.

    “We're either trapped here, or we have to fight our way to another location, where we may or may not find other soldiers.” Maria said scathingly.

    “That sounds about right.”

    “Jesus, this is straight out of a freaking sci-fi show.” She said, taking a seat on the other side of the table from me. 

    “Except instead of aliens its humans.” 

    “Not funny.” 

    “I know.” Kelly said, “Because humans are worse.”

    Papa stood from his seat and went to look at the military map that had been hastily put up when Kelly took over this little bunker. I saw him study it for a minute.

    “Aimee. Where are the survivors being taken?” He asked, not turning from the map. I quickly brought up the transportation info.

    “They're all being sent to the middle states. Hagerstown, Maryland and a few surrounding areas there. Clarksville, Tennessee...hmm lets see...” I listed off several different locations. They ranged from Maryland to Kansas, to Colorado, to South Dakota. Not a single transport was going to be in a state that bordered the water, or another country. Hura left Canada and Mexico alone. I wondered how long that would last. I looked at the information again. Alaska hadn't been touched but Hawaii had been all but obliterated. 

    “Why did they destroy Hawaii and not Alaska?” I suddenly asked, looking at the three of them. “They didn't touch Alaska.”

    “I guess they figure that Alaska wasn't all that populated anyways.” Kelly surmised. Maria sat up. “What is it?”

    “Alaska is close to Hura. Not next door close, but close enough that someone could get over there or here and not notice.” She said. She then got up and pointed at the map. “There's about sixty miles of water separating Alaska from the Huran coast. What if our traitor got sanctuary from Huran attacks? What if he's in Alaska?”

    “That's a really good point Maria.” Kelly said, leaning back again. “But we can't communicate with Alaska. Right now. We'll focus on Alaska later.” I suddenly had a scary thought. I remembered how Papa, Tomas and I got to America.

    “Um they could be using that straight to get into the U.S.” I piped up. I gave my father a sheepish look before continuing. “That's how we got into the U.S.”

    “I'm in a room full of smart people. Good.” Kelly appreciatively said. “Let us get back on solid ground and actually get a hold our military personnel. We can go from there after wards.”

    “Aimee what's going in those cities you mentioned? What do they need the workforce for?” Papa asked. I looked back at my screen. There wasn't anything yet. At least not that I could see.

    “There's nothing mentioned about what's going there. Just that there is something going there. Well,” I was steadily going through the document. “Some locations will be home to Project X. What's Project X?” I asked, looking up at Papa. He groaned. 

    “I didn't realize that they were serious with that project...” Papa muttered. He sighed and looked at the rest of us. “You know how pregnant women were injected with the gene mutating serums?”

    “How could I forget?” Maria practically growled. 

    “This Project was going to make the water contaminated. The city water. The rivers and such were gonna be okay, but they were trying to figure out a way to surreptitiously add those same genetic mutations our gifted have, without the knowledge of the citizens. They would then train these children to be soldiers. Very much like what both Hura and America did to our children. Only on a country wide level. They tested it in Sura.” Maria and Kelly gave him a confused look. “Old Moscow. There are children being born every day that are gifted.”

    “That's insane.” Maria said. “So the next generations are also going to have gifted ones as well.”

    “See there are a few children who's body managed to reject that serum. So there is a chance that some will reject the serum or the genetic mutations here too. But Project X is the making of more gifted children.” Papa finished.

    “What cities have Project X going into them.” Kelly asked me.

    “Two as of right now. Hagerstown and Clarksville.” I replied. Well at least our generation wouldn't be alone, but most of us don't like it anyways. Papa circled the two cities on the map. As if we were going to need reminding. 

    “Okay. We need to get situated and then we need to get moving. I want to stop Project X from even getting started, let alone expanding.” Kelly said. “Aimee, Corporal Jameson will get you started trying to find a way to contact any other American troops we can. Got it?”

    “Yes Commander.” Whether I liked it or not, I was technically a soldier. This is what I was trained for. I got up when Jameson walked in and he helped me gather my new computer and we left the room. I didn't hear what Papa's or Maria's orders were. Jameson stopped at the makeshift cafeteria that they'd set up. We got us some plates to take with us so I could get right to work. I was actually kind of excited. I was going to get my own area to control. I'm damned glad that my program worked the best. A bittersweet victory indeed. I spent a few hours working in the new space before I absolutely needed to get some sleep. I radioed for Jameson and finished up what I was doing while I waited for him to arrive.

    “Commander Kelly got a little place for you and your father to stay in. I can show you to it if you would like?” He said, as I shouldered my bag. I nodded, getting really too tired for words. He led me down stairs. Downstairs! In Florida... Its already weird that we were underground, but there's another level? As it turns out? It’s the 'dormitory' level. Jameson stopped in front of a door and handed me a key. “Need anything else?”

    “No. I think I'm gonna go to sleep now.” I responded. “Thank you.” He nodded as he chuckled and walked away. Leaving me to discover the room Papa and I'd been assigned. I unlocked the door and went inside. It looked like Tomas' dorm at Mac Dill. Two beds, a little fridge, two closets and a television set. I wondered vaguely who's dorm this was just a few days ago. I put my bag down next to one of the beds and climbed in. I was past thinking. I was tired.

David

    I didn’t realize I’d gone to sleep in the cave. The cold air had permeated into the cave and Jessi and I were huddled up close to each other. We had to get back to the house soon. We weren’t going to survive in this cave long if the temperatures kept this up. This was Virginia in February; we’re smack dab in the middle of the coldest months of the year. I moved my hand to brush my sister’s cheek, she was ice cold, but still breathing. Carefully I slipped off my coat and tucked it around her and slowly got up. 

    My enhanced senses picked up the traces of movement outside the cave. I quietly picked up my shotgun and carefully made my way over to the entrance, making sure I was on the side of the cave that our visitor was. I didn’t want him or her to see me, so I relied mainly on my other senses.  I heard a twig snap and then another one. Each step this visitor took sounded closer than the last. They were breathing through what sounded like a thin line between their lips, like they were barely holding them open. It’s a technique used to quiet your breathing, a technique taught to the other Gifted to try to mask their approach from a Radar. This person wasn’t just a random visitor, they’d been properly trained. That could only mean that they knew a Radar was around. I barely kept from sighing. I slipped my hand over my knife strap and gripped the handle tightly, ready to slide the knife out and defend my sister and I.