《Rising of the Red Tide》Chapter 7 (Part 1)
Advertisement
John Miller reached the end of the cold and dark hidden hallway breathing heavily from his run. The tunnel was poorly lit, and they had rarely thought of it as a viable option. Yet in this case amazingly it was. As John turned back he looked and listened carefully. There was no sign that he was being pursued.
Cautiously John reached out and pushed a button. He exited the tunnel through the secret door. As he entered the solarium, John took a quick look around. It seemed safe, and so he got out and quietly shut the door behind him. He wondered how long it would take for his captors to realize that he was gone.
John fumbled around the solarium until he found the hiding place for the ancient cell phone.
"Who even uses these anymore?" John whispered to himself. Crazy he thought, but then again who would even think that it would be a possibility that the President of the U.S. would use one. He guessed, that added to the security of using this outdated method of communication.
John found the number he needed and dialed. On the other end was one of his senior staff at the Pentagon.
"Hello, yes this is President Miller. Yes phase 2 of Code Blue verified. Please send a team for my family first do you understand? Yes, yes I know, but get them first. I am holed up in the solarium for now. Yes I will call back if anything changes. Thank you general."
After hanging up the call John looked around. One thing he noticed was just how quiet the White House had become. It was usually bustling, and even in a less utilized space such as this room you would be able to hear the activity. Right now there was dead silence. John being a military man himself felt the urge to survey the situation. He knew he couldn't engage because he wouldn't even be able to take a single one of these soldiers out. He had seen what they had done to his secret service agents.
John began to feel remorse thinking about his secret service agents. So many of them were dead, who knew what the final count would be. Many of them he had grown quite close to. Just then a ray of sunshine struck John's eyes, temporarily blinding him. The sun had come out from behind the clouds and lit up the entire solarium. John looked up at the beams running across the room. It really was a beautiful room, but he had always found himself too busy with the task of running the country to take the time to really enjoy it. That would change he thought, if he was able to make it out of this thing alive.
Advertisement
Just then John's remorse turned to anger. These men and women needed to pay for what they did even if it cost him his life. He slowly crept to the doorway of the solarium. Upon reaching it he carefully checked in all directions to make sure no one was there. It seemed clear so he came out. As John moved quietly and slowly down the hallway he looked at the walls. They were full of decorative tapestries and photos, many of these things had been there when they had arrived at the White House. Neither he nor Joni were much into decorating. Probably because of its age and history the White House had a kind of old fashioned feel to it that John had always been hesitant to disturb, knowing he was only a temporary occupant.
At each intersection John would look around, trying to ensure that no one would catch sight of him. But what really seemed to stand out to John was the lack of a sound. It seemed to be complete silence. How could that be? Were they just standing around in complete silence? Had they discovered that he was missing?
Yes that must be it, they must have discovered by now. Perhaps that meant he should move a bit faster and make it more difficult to find him. He picked up his pace, but still proceeded with caution.
Now John had moved far enough to start finding bodies. He lifted one of the men up and looked at is face.
"Oh God Walter I am so sorry. You were so young and you didn't deserve this." John said quietly as if Walter could hear him.
Tears welled up in John's eyes. Certainly he hadn't imagined anything like this happening during his Presidency. Having to see good men and women buried all in the name of protecting him was a bit more than he could take. The tears ran down his cheeks now and some reached his lips. He could taste the saltiness.
John began to move further along, and he could tell he was getting closer to where the battle had been. There were more bodies all around him with each step it seemed. He looked down at one of the bodies and lifted it's head.
Advertisement
Well at least we got one or two of those bastards. John thought to himself as he looked into the face of one of the attackers. But they were just too good for these poor men.
Then John's thoughts turned to Code Blue as he walked further onward. Code Blue had been activated, those bastards won't know what hit them.
He kept walking further down the hallway when something broke the silence. John looked around, and could hear the footsteps drawing closer with what sounded like incredible speed.
John's heart felt like it skipped a beat. This is the end John thought to himself as he looked around and realized there was no place to hide. How foolish it had been of him to move around like this with no plan to hide. The footsteps grew louder and then John saw a figure emerge from the haze of the edges of his sight. The person approaching him was in full tactical gear and moving toward him fast.
John froze, ready to accept his fate.
"Sir the cavalry is here!" The man said to John.
"Oh, you are one of my men, this is fantastic." John said.
"Please be cautious, they are extremely dangerous. I would prefer if you all just extract me and get out of harms way." John said examining the young man's face.
"Negative sir, our orders are two fold, to extract you and to eliminate the enemy threat sir." The young soldier said as he grabbed John by the arm and signaled for the rest of the team to come.
A team of 5 men suddenly surrounded the President and moved him along, trying to get him out of harms way as soon as possible. After they made it outside they put the President into a vehicle.
"And my family?" John asked.
"Safe and secure sir, as you requested. We will take you to reunite with them now."
They drove off away from the White House and as they exited 4 more vehicles fell in line around them as an extra layer of security. They headed rapidly to the Pentagon and when they arrived a general greeted them.
"Hello sir."
"Hello general Howard. If you wouldn't mind I would like to see my family."
"Not at all sir, right away."
The general led John to a secure room to see his family. As he entered the room his whole family ran to him and surrounded him. He gave each one of them a hug and held them tightly for a moment.
"Why am I still alive general?"
"Sir it appears their plan had little to do with you. Our men just finished a sweep of the building and there was no one left there, I mean that was alive anyway."
"Really, they just left?"
"Yes sir. We are trying to figure out what their plan was now, but it appears that they have done a good job of wiping all of the footage clean. It is going to take us some time to restore the data."
"Get your best people on it general."
"I already have sir."
"Very good. And now that Code Blue has been activated we will get them, I am sure of it."
"Me too sir. Part of the team will stay and become your new security force for now."
"Thank you general."
"No problem sir."
John looked around at the room at his family. It felt so good to be in their presence, and he was truly grateful for it. But what the hell was it that the aggressors had wanted? He didn't have a clue.
Advertisement
Glitched! Uplift Arc
[Winner of the April 22 Royal Road Writathon Challenge] In 2202 the System reached Earth. Thankfully it had learnt from previous uplifts and implemented an introductory arc to acclimatise the new participants rather than chucking them in the deep end. The previous practice of just dumping unsuspecting beings into a System designed for the growth of the multiverse had led to catastrophic and sub-optimal results. The return on investment was abysmal. That old trope was so over-cooked - after nearly extinguishing itself through negative returns new policy was required. That was 356 trillion local years back. Now over 5600 successful uplifts had joined the ranks of the multiverse. But the System was always learning, always growing. Still there were glitches. Mostly minor. Mere irritants really. Sometimes even they were catalysts, triggering a fresh expansion. Soon the System would understand why. Our Earth was 7912th. - Ascend - Battle - Challenge - Dominate - Expand - Gro... - Glor... - Where’s the eff word? - Glitch... File corrupted. ---END SYN---
8 226The Cassidia Saga
Roric is the only son in a family of farmers. He dreams to leave his village and break free from its rules of life. When a tragic event shakes the roots of his life he is left alone, almost dead and forced to confront his childish powerlessness. With the help of a mercenary band and a kind priest, he will deal with the shadows of the past and find his true strength. The Cassidia saga is a sword and sorcery styled adventure. It spans several books. Updated on Tuesday and Friday. You can support the project and gain early-access to future chapters via my Patreon page. Official Facebook - Official Discord server
8 136Heroes and Ancients
The arrival of the frog who was also a self-confessed God brought a variety of changes to Earth that affected the lives of every living being on the planet. Everybody felt a significant change on their bodies as if great power can be attainable even for the most ordinary people. Treasures and abilities await the arrival of their rightful owners as the "patch" that the frog brought to this world was installed and everybody has just started the game that will change their lives.
8 180Maharlika Kingdom
"This monsters actually exist?!" "I want to go back! I want the wi-fi, the warm bed, the good food and I want to surf the web so bad!" This is the story of a borderline NEET suddenly thrusted into an era he barely have any knowledge of!
8 145Road to ninja reacciona A su futuro
En una sala de cine aparece todos los personajes de Road to ninja, lo que ellos no saben es que van reaccionar a su futuro .¿Qué pasará?¿Cómo reaccionatan?"Nota la historia será igual a la de Naruto la única diferencia es que se van a cambiar las personalidades pero no por mucho jijiji"Pues no se hablé más ,y vengan a ver está historia sin más que decir hasta luego Konekos
8 162A strange version of ipkknd
This is really a strange version of ipkknd. You'll get to see that side of your favourite character which you never thought existed. So... ready to see my version of Arshi?
8 137