The Burning Fields (Surviving the Fall 5)

“What happened then?”

Jason and Sarah looked at each other, then Jason spoke. “Then things got worse. I figured whatever was going on would blow over so we went back to the hotel. That turned out to be in flames which sort of signaled that something really bad was going on. The couple of radio stations that were working for the first day or two said that whatever was going on was happening across the world.”

“And,” Sarah clarified, “that it was getting worse.”

Dinner was long over and night was fast approaching before Jason and Sarah finished their story. After spending a day and night in their truck in Maryland they had started driving south in an attempt to head back home. Impassable roads and the presence of looters in the cities had forced them off of the main roads but they soon found themselves stymied as they tried to get around Washington.

The capital was under complete lockdown and the pair were turned away and forced to go a hundred miles out of their way in order to get around it. While Jason had his pistol in a lockbox in the truck to keep them safe they hadn’t brought more than the few day’s worth of food

that was contained within their go bag. This combined with the new route they had to take had forced them to loot from more than a few homes and businesses to get enough food for their journey back.

All in all the pair had actually encountered less trouble than Dianne would have guessed. They only ran into a few unfriendly people though that was because they stayed as far away from populated areas as possible. There was one close call involving a group of young men and women who had surrounded their truck in the region of Fredericksburg but a few well-placed shots from Jason had driven them off.

“I still can’t believe you managed to make it all the way back here in that old piece of junk. Though that’s probably the only reason you made it back.”

“How’s that?” Jason sat on the couch next to his wife, gratefully accepting a cup of coffee from Dianne. Mark, Jacob and Josie had gone upstairs to read while Jason, Sarah and Dianne talked and Dianne finally felt comfortable speaking as openly and frankly as she wanted.

“Didn’t you wonder why your truck wasn’t damaged while so many others were?”

Sarah looked at Jason and poked him in the side. “See! I told you there was something weird going on.”

Jason gave Sarah a sideways glance and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I guess you were right.”

“Anyway.” Dianne steered the conversation back on track. “The reason why is because your car is old. Old enough, anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

“When all of this first happened I went into town. The Eat Rite had a newscast playing on the TV while everyone was freaking out and panicking. The reporter said something about it being a computer-based attack.”

“Huh.” Jason nodded in understanding. “The truck’s old enough it doesn’t have any computer systems that would be affected.”

“Exactly. And that’s also why there’s a burned-out wreck out front.”

“I was wondering about that when we came in.” Jason stroked his white beard and let out a soft whistle. “That’s something else. Explains why the power’s off, doesn’t it?”

“Yep. The TV still works, as do the tablets the kids have been using, but I bet this attack was designed to hit big systems first. Things like cars and power stations and airplanes.”

“We saw a hell of a lot of downed planes around D.C. A hell of a lot.” Jason looked at Sarah and sighed. “I guess we should be glad we never bothered to get that new car, huh?”

Sarah nodded and the trio sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting both their dinner and the information they had shared over the last couple of hours. It was Jason who finally spoke, glancing at his watch as he did. “Well, I guess we should be getting back home. We need to get unpacked and figure out what we’re going to do to shore things up over there starting in the morning.”

“Go?” Dianne shook her head. “No way. You two are staying tonight. And tomorrow we’re going to have a long talk about next steps.”

Jason started to argue when Sarah elbowed him gently in the side. “Just nod and say thank you so we can both get some sleep, you big oaf.”

Chapter 11

Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies

Rick jumped out of the Humvee and looked behind him only to dive back into the vehicle as he shouted in terror. “Holy shit!” The Humvee shook like a toy as a massive aircraft descended out of the clouds. Flames and black smoke engulfed the left wing, lighting up the side of the mountain like the sun itself.

Only one of the C-130’s turboprop engines on the right wing was operational. The two engines on the left wing were both on fire while the other engine on the right wing was sputtering and smoking. The enormous cargo door was open and through the fire and smoke Rick could make out the forms of dozens of people all seated inside. He only caught a glimpse of them for a split second but the look of panic and horror in their body language as they thrashed around in their seats made him incredibly glad that the sound of the plane’s engine was loud enough to drown out their voices.

A piece of aluminum from the wing bounced off the road in front of Rick as he ran back across to the guardrail, nearly causing him to slip in the snow as he abruptly changed directions to avoid the flaming piece of debris. A shower of fuel fell from the sky behind the plane as the pilots desperately tried to get rid of all that they possibly could.

Once he was back at the edge of the road, Rick watched as the plane banked hard in the valley, barely missing the edge of a row of trees with its left wing. It cut low over the treetops and pulled up for a brief second in which Rick thought it might make it over the next mountain. Gravity, however, had different plans.

The plane’s upward climb slowed dramatically to a halt. Time paused for a fraction of a second as the one remaining engine struggled to pull the mammoth piece of metal up and over the mountain. The herculean efforts put out by both the machinery and the pilots inside were to no avail and the plane drifted back and sideways, plunging its right wing directly into the valley floor. The wing collapsed instantly under the weight of the body and remaining wing. Metal screeched and trees snapped like toothpicks. The smell of fuel hung thickly in the air and Rick wondered for a moment if the pilots had managed to dump out enough fuel to keep the craft from turning into a fireball.