As they crossed the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, Rick spoke to Dr. Evans. “The State Department’s just over the bridge, right?”
“The area their main buildings are located in, yes. I’ll guide you to the general location, then we’ll have to walk around and explore a bit to try and find the exact place.”
“Sounds good,” Rick said, turning back to focus on his driving. Once they were across the bridge they were faced with a spaghetti nest of roads going in all different directions. Some of the roads—like the one they were on—were clear, while others were covered in remnants of all types of vehicles and debris from collapsed buildings.
From their elevated position coming off of the bridge, Rick could see that many of the large, older government buildings were still intact, though their brick facades were covered in soot and ash. The age and importance of the larger buildings had meant that they had actually suffered the least amount of damage during the event, though they had not survived unscathed.
Parking near many of the structures was forbidden, and lots or garages some distance away were used by a few employees while many used public transportation. This limited the number of exploding vehicles near the buildings and reduced how many were turned into piles of rubble. Many of them also featured outdated gas and electrical systems that Damocles couldn’t access simply because they weren’t modernized and connected to the web. With no way to reach inside the older buildings and cause leaks and fires, they stood intact, separated by wide streets, sidewalks and medians from buildings burning nearby.
While many buildings survived unscathed, not all were so lucky. From a distance, the trio could see that the Harry S. Truman building had suffered massive amounts of damage, as had several of the buildings to the east. The National Academy of Sciences just to the south, however, looked as though it had suffered only minor damage from the intense heat of the Truman building’s fires, but was otherwise untouched. Trails of smoke drifted up to the north and east in different places, and the pattern of blackened and intact sections of buildings was patchwork and random.
“There,” Dr. Evans pointed to a nondescript tan-colored building in the shape of an “H” just ahead of them as Rick followed the curve of the elevated road off of the bridge back down to ground level. “Navy Hill, where the Old Naval Observatory is. That’s where we want to go.”
“You mean the buildings right in front of us?” Rick slowed down the car, looking for a way to get into the complex.
“Yes, but we’d have to go all the way around to the main entrance if we went in by car, and those streets might still be blocked off. We could park somewhere around here and use the car to boost over the wall.”
Rick looked in the rearview mirror at Jane. “You gonna be up for some walking and climbing?”
“Oh yeah, sounds like a blast,” she said, nodding with some small amount of sarcasm. “Or I could just stay with the car while you two go see if it’s the right place first.”
Rick closed his eyes for a moment, contemplating their options before pressing down on the accelerator again. “Doc, tell me where to go to get around to the main entrance. I don’t want to split up or risk hurting her legs any more than they are.”
Dr. Evans nodded and pointed ahead. “Just keep following this road around until you get to an intersection. I’ll tell you where to go from there.”
Chapter 13
Outside Ellisville, VA
Late afternoon in the winter, when the snow was melting from a particularly warm day, was a pleasant sight in southern Virginia. The trees, mostly stripped of their leaves, rose up from the earth with spindly arms to touch the sky, scraping against the clouds. Fields of grass whose snow had not been protected by shadow lay bare beneath the sun above, a cool breeze rushing over their stalks as they sat in dormancy, awaiting the arrival of spring.
It took just over two hours for Dianne to make her way back home. Not willing to take the main road and surrounding service roads and fields she had used to get into Blacksburg for fear of being caught by her pursuers, she went the long way instead. At the first opportunity she went off-road, taking care not to gun the engine too hard and leave deep tracks in the soft grass and soil. Once she was a few miles away from the city she turned east, making for the general location of a back road that she had frequented some number of years back when she had carted Mark back and forth for piano lessons. Upon hitting the narrow two-lane road she continued east, heading for the general direction of Ellisville, hoping that if her pursuers had gone that way they would already have left the area.
Dianne checked her watch as she neared Ellisville. While it hadn’t felt like ten hours since leaving the house before dawn’s first light appeared, the clock didn’t lie. With a hard deadline of twelve hours given to her by Tina, Dianne was both relieved that she would be home early and terrified that Jason might have taken a turn for the worse. Risking life and limb only to arrive home and find that she was too late wouldn’t be just difficult—it would be devastating for everyone.
As she approached Ellisville proper, Dianne slowed the truck to a halt and shut off the engine, then opened her door and stood up to poke her head up and out. She stayed there for nearly a full minute, listening intently for any sign that the vehicles from Blacksburg might be in the area. The dense tree cover over much of the area surrounding Ellisville would mask any that were only a moderate distance away, but any in town that were still running would be more than audible. With naught but the sound of wind, rustling trees and the ticking of her truck’s engine to be heard she sat back down, closed the door and started the engine. “All right, everyone,” she said to herself. “I’m coming home.”
***
The road through Ellisville from the south was more congested than the one heading out to the west towards Blacksburg, forcing Dianne to divert to side streets and alleys more often than not in her attempt to make her way through to the northern side. Most of the southern portion of the small town consisted of residential neighborhoods, and many of the houses had either completely burned to the ground or looked as though someone with a blowtorch had blackened and charred large chunks of the buildings.
When Dianne finally reached the main portion of Ellisville, she felt a sense of familiarity and relief wash over her. There, just a short distance away, stood the grocery store and the town square with the high school and football field a bit farther out. Despite having gotten virtually no sleep over the last few days, she felt a renewed sense o
f vigor and purpose as she made the final turn onto the road that would lead out to her house. What awaited her there, she didn’t know, but she had given the mission her all, nearly sacrificed everything and had still come out on top. That, if nothing else, was at least worth celebrating.
As asphalt turned to gravel and dirt and the road went from smooth to bumpy and rough, Dianne found herself increasing the speed of the truck. Every foot closer she drew to home served to increase her desire to get there even faster. As she made the final turn onto her driveway and approached the closed gate, Dianne felt a lump in her throat. Finally, after what felt like weeks of being away, she was back home.
After getting past the gate and the barriers in the road, she pulled up in front of the house and sat for a moment, staring at it through eyes blurred with fought-back tears. Mark was the first to bound through the front door as it opened, racing across the porch and drive to the truck and wrapping his arms around his mother in a bear hug as she stepped out of the truck.
“Mom! You made it! We were so worried about you, you were taking so long.” He looked down at her arm and recoiled a few paces in shock. “Are you hurt?!”
Dianne pulled him back in for another hug and shook her head. “I can’t believe I made it back. It’s so good to see you. And no, I’m fine, kiddo. It’s not my blood.”
“Not your… oh.” Mark nodded with understanding.
“Dianne? Dianne!” Tina came bounding out of the house next, her thin and wiry body charging across the driveway in a power walk. “What happened to your arm?”
“I’m fine,” Dianne replied with a smile. “Not my blood.”