G Hopf - The Long Road

“She’s a fucking mess,” Brandon quipped.

Sebastian shot him a look and barked, “Shut up! Her father is dead. Show some respect!”

“Whatever, whose parents aren’t dead!” Brandon retorted.

Sebastian just glared at him. He knew Brandon had a lot of pain and was unable to channel it in a constructive manner. Not wanting to get into a back-and-forth, he chose to ignore him.

Brandon matched Sebastian’s stare but after a few moments chose to leave well enough alone. He walked away mumbling something unintelligible.

“I’m worried about him,” Luke said.

“Yeah, I would agree. That kid needs to stop being so fucking angry,” Sebastian responded, clearly irritated by Brandon’s disrespectful comments.

“So are we leaving?”

Sebastian didn’t hear Luke. His attention was completely on Annaliese. He found her incredibly beautiful. Her deep pain at the loss of her father made her so fragile and vulnerable. He had to resist the urge to go over and just hold her. He looked away and asked Luke, “What? What did you say?”

“Ha, I asked if we’re leaving.”

“Yes, we are. Ask me when, though.”

“Okay, I’ll play along. When?”

“When she’s ready to go. Not a moment before. Got that? I go where she goes,” Sebastian said, pointing at Annaliese.

Luke looked at her, then back to Sebastian. He was a bit confused but started to see that Sebastian was making it his responsibility to protect her now that her father was dead.

“Well, I go wherever you go, so I hope you don’t mind I tag along?”

“Of course not. Now stop bugging me about when we’re leaving.”

Willis walked up to the two of them. “Sebastian, Mrs. Sorenson wants to talk with you.”

“Sure, where is she?”

“She’s in the living room,” Willis answered, pointing toward the main house.

Mrs. Sorenson was rocking back and forth in a rocker recliner next to the large bay window. In her hands she clenched a handkerchief, damp from her tears.

Sebastian knocked on the wall just outside of the room. “Excuse me, Mrs. Sorenson. You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, yes. Come in, please.” She motioned to a love seat across from her.

Sebastian walked over and sat. “How can I help?”

“I see how you look at my daughter.”

“I, aaah, sorry, but… ” Sebastian stuttered.

“Listen, my husband liked you and I like you. You seem like a good man. I also know that Annaliese has feelings for you.”

“Aah, please don’t.” Sebastian continued to stutter. He was put on the spot by her direct comments.

“Please be quiet and let me finish,” she softly but firmly commanded him. “Sebastian, you seem like a good man. You also seem like a very smart and capable man. The other men around here, while smart and nice, are not up to the task of protecting my Annaliese and her siblings. You, Sebastian, are that man. I see it and my husband saw it. I brought you in here to ask you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“I have a brother who lives in Sandy, Utah. He has a large piece of land, and like many other Mormons, he’s prepared. I know that he’s not going to Zion. You see, there’s always been a lot of debate about the holy land. He for one thinks it’s hogwash. I talked to him today.”

“You talked to him?” Sebastian asked, interrupting her.

Mrs. Sorenson stopped rocking and looked at Sebastian with a slightly irritated expression. “We have ham radios. We kept a lot of our equipment in Faraday boxes.”

“Okay, sorry to interrupt.”

“Our life here is over. Most of the group here wants to go to Zion. We’re not going. I have you here to ask if you’d escort me and my family to Sandy.”

Sebastian didn’t have to think about it. He answered quickly, “I’m your man, but can I ask something too?”

“Sure.”

“The two boys I found. I want to bring them with us.”

“That Luke seems like a fine boy, but please keep your eye on the other one. He worries me.”

“I’ll do that. So when do you want to leave?”

“Tomorrow, let’s leave tomorrow.”

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

“Either we’re alive because we’re lucky or we’re alive because it was planned. I don’t know. In fact, I’m coming to realize we don’t know shit about anything!” Cruz yelled as he slammed his fist down on the table.

Around the table sat his team. No one said a word. They all just looked at the table or the walls.

There wasn’t much to say. Either they had somehow averted death or they weren’t on the list.

“With the loss of these underground facilities, we have lost a considerable amount of food, water, and other precious resources,” Baxter informed the team.

“So what do we do? We don’t have enough now to help those in the Midwest. I’m at a loss here, I need some good counsel. Somebody give me something?” Cruz asked.

They all just looked at each other.

Wilbur broke the team’s silence. “Mr. Vice President, what happened today might give us a boost with Australia and our South American friends. Knowing that we have lost a large portion of our backup supplies, they might now come to our aid out of sympathy. So, I will also suggest we don’t undertake any type of retaliation unless we have solid intel and we run it by them.”

Frustrated and tired, Cruz stood up. He started to pace around the large rectangular table.

“So we exploit today’s attacks?” Baxter asked.

“I wouldn’t use the word exploit . We can’t change what happened today. We have to use what happened to our advantage. Do you have an alternative?” Wilbur fired back.

“As a matter of fact, I do!” Baxter responded.

“Enough, enough! Stop! There are two things we need to know. Who did this and how? Any thoughts?” Cruz asked. He continued to pace the room.

“These attacks all had similarities outside of the obvious. They were directly targeted at our underground facilities. Whoever did this knew what they were doing and wanted to disrupt our COG plan,” Baxter stated before being interrupted by Dylan.

“COG?”

“Continuity of government. Seriously, Dylan, why are you in here? You don’t seem to know anything,” Baxter said mockingly. His even temper and patience were gone.

“I’m here because…”

“Dylan, stop,” Cruz ordered him.

“Mr. Vice President, this attack was designed with the sole purpose of preventing our government from reorganizing.”

“But why now? Why not do this before? It’s so strange,” Cruz muttered.

“Does it matter to know why?” Baxter attempted to answer.

“Yes, it does matter. Why not here? If we ask these questions, we gain some control and eventually find out who did this,” Cruz said.

“Sir, I think whoever did this might have left us alone because they are showing us that we aren’t in control, they are.”

Inside unknown military installation

Knowing that his window of opportunity was shrinking, Gordon didn’t stop to reload or gather more ammunition from the dead guards. He hurried past their bodies down the hall with Hunter in his arms.

When he turned the corner, he saw Derek leaning against the wall holding his shoulder.

“How are you?” Gordon asked.

“I’m good.”

“You okay to move?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Derek said, slowly getting up. The shoulder wound was painful and would need treatment, but escaping Rahab’s grasp took precedence over the pain.

They raced down the stairwell and exited into the hallway.

“Take the lead,” Gordon ordered.

Obliging, Derek walked in front of him and began to make his way toward the main entrance.