Ted stood down, letting his heart rate run out and settle for a few seconds.
“I should have been dead about twenty times over the past many days. How we are still alive at this second is a miracle beyond my wildest dreams. You got us into a bunker, Ted. An honest-to-God bunker built to withstand what’s coming at us.”
“I hope—”
She shushed him again.
“Ted, I would fail at my duties as leader of the armed forces if I didn’t make at least one promotion during this conflict.”
They’d already talked about promoting him. He’d refused to allow her to bump him up multiple ranks because it simply wasn’t possible, as per the rules of the United States military. He had his arguments ready to go, but she immediately zagged in a different direction. “I want to advance you to the rank of First Gentleman.”
He froze in his boots. Not because he was afraid to commit to the woman he’d spent every second of the last week with, but because it was an offer way too good to be true. He couldn’t deny it had been on his mind a lot. In any other time, he might worry about moving too fast, but under the circumstances, he had a strong argument to say he’d been moving far too slow.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” She giggled in a girly and decidedly unpresidential way.
The female computer interrupted again. “WARNING: NUCLEAR STRIKE IMMINENT.”
On instinct, he got down on one knee. “Emily Williams—”
The ground rumbled, then went to 8.0 on the Richter scale. He rose off his knee, boosted by the kinetic energy of the nuclear blast. A second impact knocked out the lights, adding to the shaking ground.
They fell flat on the concrete, but he didn’t let go of her hand.
A third blast came in. Then a fourth.
A voice yelled in his ear, but it sounded as if they were inside a rock tumbler. The mountain itself seemed to hop around.
“I—” Emily shouted.
“What?” he screamed.
“I said I do!” she yelled an inch from his ear.
They pawed at each other until they fell into a kiss. He figured it wasn’t the worst way to go out. Married to the president of Old America.
The fifth impact came in a second later.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO, aka Reboot Legion Headquarters
The chill of a tear cooled Tabby’s cheek as it rolled down her face. After the man apologized, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He hunched over, clearly in a lot of pain, simply so his bird could walk up his arm. She found it endearing he would sacrifice himself to take care of his little friend.
“She’s really a beautiful bird. I swear if I would have known what she looked like, I would have helped you find her.” To herself, she wondered how anyone could have missed such a large, colorful bird, but there were many things she didn’t understand about the underground bunker. Looking for a bird seemed crazy.
The door shut, but the man inside threw himself against it, shouting.
“I can’t hear you!” she cried out.
For a few seconds, the guy tried to mouth his words, then he pointed to his bird. Thinking there was nothing she could say he would hear, she gave him a thumb-up—to show approval.
His eyes lit up, and he said more words, but then the light came on, forcing her to avert her gaze.
When she looked up, the light was gone, as was the man.
“You’re next, missy.” The guard roughly separated her from Victor.
“Hey, let us say good-bye!” Victor complained.
“You two lovebirds want some more time together?”
She was torn between saying yes or no. There were arguments to be made either way. It didn’t matter, however. The guard closed the door before she could respond. To her, it was simply an event over which she had no control, but Victor seemed to take it personally. He lunged at a guard.
“Oh, shit,” she blurted.
Victor slammed the guy against the outer wall of the cube, causing him to drop the tablet that controlled the white light. A second guard closed in, but the tank of a young man swung his arm and practically decapitated the hapless guy. Two others moved in, blood in their eyes. It became a free-for-all as Victor fought off both attackers.
She and Victor were the last two in the line, so many of the guards had already left the room. However, several came rushing back in at what must have been the sound of cussing and shouting by the fighters.
Victor managed to put down the two original guards, and got the better of the second two, but those coming into the room were a lot warier. They came in with rifles at the ready…
Tabby noticed the first guard struggling to get to his feet.
“Hey! Victor! He’s behind you!”
The guards spread out in front of the kid dressed in the blue jumpsuit, but he waved them toward him as if still willing to fight, guns and all. It was an impressive display, if misguided, but she cheered him on. However, the man who’d fallen against the cube was almost on his feet.
She banged on the clear wall. “Victor!”
The injured guard wiped blood from his mouth, leering at her the entire time. He worked some controls on his portable tablet and she heard a hum begin.
Frantically, she pounded the wall.
Victor did turn around. They locked eyes, for a split-second, before the onrush of men took him down.
A white light flicked on and off. The brightness overwhelmed her for a few seconds. When she blinked the glare away, she found herself in the box, but Victor and the guards were gone.
However, the room was not empty.
A man in a white-and-orange prison uniform ran up to the cube, surprising her. He had a tablet, same as the other man, and he tapped at it, so it released the door.
“Come on, get out of there!” he advised in haste. “Go
