There was an eerie calm hanging over the city as the women scrambled up into the light of day, like the world before a storm.\u00a0 Lindsay sucked in a breath, her gaze scything across the landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not as bad as I thought it might be,\u201d Kara said.\u00a0 \u201cBut they\u2019re hitting hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindsay\u2019s gaze flicked up toward the sky.\u00a0 She could see the ships in the distance and she winced.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, and there\u2019s some coming around for another pass.\u00a0 Come on, we\u2019ve got to move quick or else we\u2019re in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kara glanced up at winced.\u00a0 \u201cHow many do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough that my uncle\u2019s probably scrambling more just because he knows we bailed on safety.\u201d\u00a0 Assuming he\u2019s even got fighters left to scramble. All of ours are probably in the air already.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is bad.\u00a0 Really bad.<\/i><\/p>\n
At least it didn\u2019t line up with anything she\u2019d already seen that summer.\u00a0 Not exactly, anyway.\u00a0 It was some small measure of comfort that it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m not infallible and I don\u2019t always remember what I\u2019ve seen.\u00a0 Maybe this was something that Brendan would remember but I don\u2019t.<\/i><\/p>\n
She suppressed a wince at the thought as Kara tugged on her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on.\u00a0 We have to move, like you said.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindsay sucked in a breath and nodded.\u00a0 The pair of women moved away from the shelter, thirty yards away from where the Council House stood, eerily untouched by the bombings.\u00a0 They skirted the edge of the trees to the roadway, catching an eyeful of the devastation below.\u00a0 Small craters marked the landscape, the telltale signs of precision bombs dropped indiscriminately, as if their attackers weren\u2019t exactly sure where to hit them.<\/p>\n
Except for the fact that they knocked out the transformers, took down the power grids.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cSomething isn\u2019t right about all of this,\u201d she said quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll find out what it is,\u201d Kara said as they scrambled across the roadway and started down the hill.\u00a0 \u201cAfter we find your husband.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ships whined above them, the sound of their engines leaving her ears buzzing with the sound of their passage.\u00a0 No bombs dropped from this pass; their fighters chased the bombers, engines screaming and lasers firing.\u00a0 Lindsay watched them soar above, transfixed for a moment, her throat tight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this our future?\u201d she whispered, half to Kara and half to herself.\u00a0 \u201cIs this what we\u2019re meant to suffer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know the answer to that question, Lin,\u201d Kara said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Lindsay said.\u00a0 \u201cBut I\u2019m damned afraid that we\u2019re going to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a shudder, she started to run, leaving Kara to trail in her wake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There was an eerie calm hanging over the city as the women scrambled up into the light of day, like the world before a storm.\u00a0 Lindsay sucked in a breath, her gaze scything across the landscape. \u201cIt\u2019s not as bad … Continue reading