His shoulders slumped, though it was difficult to say if he was putting on an act. “You misunderstand why I brought you here. I don’t need to explain what we’ve already done. I’m showing you what we’re going to do. America is gone. You have to accept it. Other than a couple of pinpricks in Texas and North Dakota, and two lousy ships fighting us off the coast of New York, your people don’t even exist in your homeland anymore. I’m trying to get you to see there is a way out for you. A way to make the best of a bad hand which has been dealt to you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Let me and my friends go, and we’ll call it even.”
David sighed, finally giving her a moment of triumph over him. He leaned off the rail and headed for the same door they’d used earlier. “Come on, I want to show you what your alternative is…”
She followed, wondering what could be worse than a weapon designed to kill continents.
CHAPTER 6
Glendo, WY
Kyla woke up in the back seat of the truck after a nap. She expected the scenery to be different from what it had been since they left North Dakota, as that would prove they’d made some distance in the time she’d been asleep. However, the world outside was almost the same as it had been. Flat, grassy, and boring.
“There’s a town coming up I’d like to take a look at,” Ted said from the front seat. “It’s called Glendo. It looks like there’s a lake there, too. I see signs for fishing, camping, and motels.”
The clock on the dash said it was a little after three in the afternoon, but she was ready to call it a day. They’d been driving, often at over a hundred miles per hour, since they rolled out of bed. She was beat and was certain Uncle Ted was toast as well, though he’d never say it in front of his important friend in the front seat.
She smirked at her own thoughts. It sounded funny thinking of the president as her uncle’s girlfriend. Was there protocol for such things?
“Hey, Unk, if you and Emily are together-together, does that make you the First Boyfriend?”
He glared at her in the rearview mirror, though Emily laughed as she shifted in her seat to look back at her. “I like the way you think. There’s an office in the White House which could answer your question, but I don’t think they’re picking up their phones. I do, however, quite enjoy the thought of my boyfriend—”
“Friend,” Ted interrupted, without conviction.
“My friend,” she repeated with heavy sarcasm, “being the First Friend, at the very least. That would make you the First Friend’s niece.”
They had a good laugh at Uncle Ted’s expense. Even Meechum thought the naming game was hilarious, which probably embarrassed him even more.
“All right. Here we go.” He pointed ahead to the little town. As he exited the highway, they remained wary for enemy forces wandering around, but the place was like everywhere else. Empty. It was also a postage-sized location, with three or four short streets, at most. They went through without stopping.
A few miles down a remote road, they found a large log cabin near a lake. It sat at the top of a rolling hill, tucked away inside a grove of tall pines, which was unusual for the grassland area. “This is it,” her uncle declared. “We have tree cover from those drones. We have the high ground on this flat terrain. And we have access to a large lake.”
He backed the truck up to the front door, presumably to make it easy to unload their gear. There were no vehicles parked there, which meant they wouldn’t be able to refill on gas, but it also suggested there wouldn’t be any bundles of clothes inside. That was good, too.
Uncle Ted still wouldn’t look at her. When the motor was off, he got out of the truck as if it was on fire.
“Did I say the wrong thing?” she asked the two ladies.
Emily glanced outside to make sure Uncle Ted was out of earshot, then she leaned her way. “Ted is a private man. I think he’s ripped to shreds about having the hots for his boss.”
“Well, he should get over it. He’s not going to do better than you, and I don’t just mean because the rest of the dating field has been wiped off the planet. You’re the freaking prez.”
Emily’s lips curled up in a wicked smile. “It is fun to tease him, isn’t it?”
Meechum chuckled. “I’ll leave you hens to it. I’m going to secure the premises. This is going to be the White House for tonight. Needs to be checked.” She took a rifle, leaving her and Emily alone.
The other woman stared at her for a drawn-out moment, then seemed to snap into action. “Come on. Let’s go see what this place has to offer for food.”
She hopped out, catching sight of her uncle going around the side of the wooden cabin. Emily went directly for the front door, following Meechum, so she tried to take her uncle’s advice and never leave anyone alone.
Kyla found him standing on the crest of a gentle hill leading down to the water about fifty yards away. The deep, clear blue of the reservoir contrasted harshly with the vibrant green grass on the far shore, maybe a mile away. “Hey, Unk. I didn’t mean anything back there.”
He looked over his shoulder for a second but went back to watching the scenery. “You’re a lot like your mother, you know. She loved gigging me about my girlfriends. Except for Priscilla. I should have known my marriage was doomed when your mother didn’t take a shine to her.”
“Nope, she didn’t like her one bit.”
He chuckled. “I always thought it was your mom being dramatic. Like maybe she consulted
