Page 78 of V-Day

She nodded and lurched to her feet and ran. Duardo settled behind the corner of the Chevrolet and put his pistol on the ground in front of him, for when the rifle was out of ammunition. Then he got on with his work.

*

“CAPTAIN!” CHLOE CRIED, AS HERphone beeped.

Parris spun around and held up her fist.

Locke pushed up behind Chloe and held out Parris’ military-grade armored laptop, already open.

Everyone gathered around.

The view was of swiftly rolling green land, with the glint of buildings here and there. It was the view from the nose camera of the drone.

Chloe’s gut tightened as the green diminished and more and more buildings came into view. The drone was almost over the city.

The view shook, as if someone had bumped into the camera.

“And it’s away,” Cristián breathed.

From the bottom of the screen, a white contrail streaked across the sky, moving faster than the drone.

Chloe drew in a breath which shuddered. Her eyes prickled hard. “Oh, god, those poor people…!”

Cristián pulled her against him. Hard. “Not nearly as many people as there might have been if you had not sent the countdown out to everyone with the Cloak. That’s all your doing, Chloe.”

“Not everyone will make it!” she cried. “It doesn’t matter if everyone is not safe.”

“It’s the price of peace, Chloe,” Parris said. “Those who don’t make it…they will live on in Vistaria’s memory, a reminder of the cost of war. It will help maintain the peace for a generation at least.”

“Just a generation?” Chloe was appalled.

“Unless the new leaders of Vistaria can teach the next generation the same lesson, in a way which doesn’t involve shredding the country in two,” Parris replied. She glanced at Cristián. “People who remember it best must explain it to them.”

“How long until impact?” someone whispered.

“Thirty-three seconds,” Locke murmured back.

Silence fell as they watched the drone track the missile, to record a successful strike in compassionless full color video.

*

THE CELLAR WAS DUSTY ANDdirty, the dull walls thickly coated with coal dust. Calli coughed as she helped Nick push the heavy steel-lined door shut. Roldán pulled the sleeve of her shirt over her hand and held it to her face. “The air!”

The shutting of the door also cut out all the light.

Nick switched on the flashlight app on his phone. He dropped the rifle and moved into the center of the room and twisted on one foot, examining every corner with the light. “That one,” he said, pointing to one of the outside corners. His pointing finger dripped blood, for a bullet had grazed him on the arm.

The corner was beneath a wide, steep chute leading up to the top of the walls. An old coal chute. This was where Minnie and Carmen had stolen into the Palace.

They moved over to the corner, ducking under the iron chute.

“Sit,” Nick said.

Calli kicked away the worst of the coal and rocks in the corner, until it was clear. Nick dropped into the corner and put his back to it. He held out his arm. “Come here. You, too, Maria.”

Maria settled on his left side and hugged her knees to her chest, as Calli tucked herself up against Nick’s side. His arm dropped around her.

“How long?” Maria breathed.