State of Alliance

I will not shoot him again. He will die. My job is done.

“Cassidy!”

Uriah sprints to my area of cover from a few yards away. He stops on the other side of Chris, who is methodically and calmly finishing off the front lines of Omega’s defenses.

“Ma

“GOOD!”

I have been worried about Ma

But what did Elle say to me on the train ride to Monterey?

I was at a ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains. My Uncle’s place, after the EMP. I went back afterwards… it was empty. He was gone. Everything I thought I knew was changed. That fast.

Was it possible…?

Bam!

I hit the tree chest first, the wind knocked out of my lungs. I collapse on the ground, ears ringing. I look down at my body, sca

My hip is screaming with pain. It feels like it’s on fire.

Chris is instantly by my side. He fires off his gun and I turn. The dying trooper on the ground is gripping a handgun. There is now a bullet hole in the center of his forehead.

“You’ve been shot,” Chris says.

I touch my hip. Hot blood seeps through the material of my pants. I probe the wound with my fingers, flinching.

“I don’t think it hit bone!” I yell over the noise. “It’s just a scratch!”

“Are you sure?” Chris asks.

“I’ll let you know when I need to get carried off on a stretcher!”

I kiss his cheek and force myself into a kneeling position. My hip is throbbing, but it’s not unbearable. The adrenaline of warfare will keep the pain at a minimum for now. I tear my medic bandage off my vest and slap it on my hip, sealing the wound up. It’s only skin deep. I should be fine.

We continue this pattern, pushing and shooting and moving until there are no survivors. Until there is nothing but the sound of weapons being checked and the heaving breaths of tired soldiers.

Sweat runs down the sides of my face, plastering my clothes and my hair to my skin. I lick my lips, dry and cracked. I taste blood in my mouth — I must have bitten my cheek during the fight, concentrating on hitting my marks.

I turn to Chris. The jarring thought that occurred to me before the begi

“Chris,” I say. “This doesn’t make sense.”

Chris takes a drink of water from his canteen. The Lieutenants are sweeping the area, checking for any survivors. Putting down anyone who is left alive.

“What?” he breathes.

“Two hundred here, three hundred there,” I say, shaking my head. “This isn’t enough to take over a city. This is a distraction.”

Chris looks at me. I can tell by the way he closes the lid on his canteen that this is a thought that he has had, too, but he said nothing. It does no good to upset the nerves of your troops right before a battle, after all.

And then I say,

“Ma

I turn on my heel, away from the forest. I run through the brush, the pain of my wounded hip on the backburner for the moment. I reach the clearing. There is a little highway here. It has been cleared of all vehicles, and Ma

“Ma

He is standing on the wing of his biplane, his leather duster caught in the wind, his flight cap stuck to his head, tangled with his wild gray hair.

“Cassidy,” he smiles. “What is it, my girl?”

“You’re not going to believe this,” I say. “But I think we found your niece.”

Ma

“Elle?” he asks.

I nod.

He takes his flight cap off and hops off the wing of the plane.

“But where? How?” He walks closer. “How did you know I had a niece? I was under the impression that I’d kept that a secret.” He pauses. “Have I been talking in my sleep?”

I laugh — almost hysterically.

“No, Ma

“Where is Elle?”

“She’s safe. She’s at the Naval Postgraduate School. She’s got a bomb dog.”

Ma

“Makes sense,” he says, but I can see the excitement on his face — the total relief.

“Ma

“I’m focused. Bright eyed and bushy-tailed.” He grins. “What’s the situation, Commander?”

“You’ve been flying overwatch, right?” I ask.

“Just about three times a day,” he replies.

“What have you seen?”

“Well, I didn’t see Harry’s cronies hidden in the dunes,” he replies. “I’ve got a biplane, not a modern aircraft. I couldn’t see them through that thick fog.”

“Have you seen anything else?”

“I’ve been circling the city about twenty or thirty miles out every day. Haven’t seen a thing.” Ma

“Have you been flying today?”

“No. The threat of missiles put a cramp in my organized schedule.”

“What about last night?”

“No. Pulled aircraft in. I was searching the bay, looking for you.” He smiles softly. “I’m glad you’re alive, my girl.”

I blink, hard.

“Me too,” I say, clearing my throat. Then, “So all of our forces, all of our resources have been concentrated on the coastline, keeping those warships out of our hair.”

Ma

“Too late.” My eyes widen. “Ma

“Yes, they knew that the first line of defense is always killed, so why waste the rest—”

“—Ma

“How do you figure, my girl?”

“Five hundred troops. Warships that are just sitting in the harbor, blowing up stupid buildings on the shore…” I look Ma

Ma

He just looks at me with an expression that says,

Here we go again.

We are back in the forest. Chris is on the radio, contacting the Naval Postgraduate School. Don’t pretend this isn’t happening, he keeps saying. Something bigger is coming. This is a distraction, smoke and mirrors. We’re in trouble. Call in the Alliance’s air support — everything.

I am breathing hard. Normally I can control my breathing, but right now I am on the verge of panic. I have lost quite a bit of blood, and I lean on Ma

In the distance, the sound of gunfire and rockets echo across the sea.

“They’re not answering,” Chris says.

Ma

“Try again,” he tells Chris.

Chris does try again. And again. We try contacting the guard posts, anyone.

“What the hell is going on?” Uriah mutters.

Nobody knows, so nobody answers.

“We should send scouts into the city to see what’s going on,” I suggest. “If something bad did go down, we won’t risk sending all of our militia forces into the heart of the city where we can’t make a quick exit.”

More gunshots. More rockets.

There is a distant scream, like someone is punching the air. I look up. Two fighter jets scream above our heads. “Enemy aircraft,” Chris says. “Damn.”

“What do we do?” I ask Chris.

Because I really don’t know what we should do.

The city isn’t responding. We’re stuck in a phantom gray area. Without communication with the rest of the Alliance, how can we know what’s going on?