Prologue 3

River McIrish: I knew for a fact that things were not going to go well today when I saw the old bald guy come out with an enormous frown on his face. On top of that he was dressed in his Navy uniform. That spelled trouble with a capital T. I was playing the piano...but I could hear him grumble to that guy that my eyes always seem to gravitate towards. The Asian guy. He's got that air of quiet dignity and doesn't seem to say much. He just goes ahead and does what needs to be done. I had no idea the bald guy was so high-ranking. He had a metric plum-ton of gold braid on the sleeves of his Navy jacket.

My jaw nearly drops when I see the Asian guy come out of the bathroom, with an identical disgusted frown on his face as he sees the new group of people in the building.

Evidently they are townspeople that the military has designated are necessary to the rebuilding of society. This is some scary news that has been floating around the bunker. Quiet whispers of the possibility of nuclear war. We've been selected to continue on humanity should it come down to the whole world being destroyed by nuclear weapons. In a ways, I'm thankful that Mom, me, Bebe and others have been selected, but I'm still saddened for the people who lost the chance to survive...if what they are saying is true and that the town is going to be incinerated by a nuclear firestorm.

If I thought the old bald guy was decorated...the Asian guy was even more so. But I doubt he'd notice a little brown-haired waif like me...and drats...he has that ring on his finger. I wonder who the lucky woman is.

The Asian Vice-Admiral (I think) walks over to the old bald guy and comes to a stop right next to him...practically in an identical position...I don't know how these military guys move with such precision that they can come to a stop right beside someone mirroring their steps so that they move as one. It was like staring at a set of bookends. I heard the Vice-Admiral audibly snarl, "AJ, what the **** did they drop in my nicely maintained building?" I guess the old bald guy is called AJ, though I'd be too scared to call him that to his face. And what startled me is as I thought the old bald guy was the highest ranking officer in the group. But evidently the Asian guy outranks him, obviously with the one extra stripe on his sleeve. AJ replied, "I don't know, sir... All I know is that SECNAV made a suggestion...that we needed more manpower in case the balloon goes up... We can't save the whole city...but we can save what will become the core of a new society." I don't know what they meant by balloon, but it's probably not the thing that floats around the sky over Sunset Valley and it doesn't sound good. Evidently the Asian guy wasn't impressed because he growled audibly, ""I can't see it through all the grimy sleazeballs, I'm seeing floating in front of my eyes." and it was a definite confirmation that the Asian guy outranked the old bald guy because the old bald guy said, "Yes, sir."

It was at about this point that Madison Van Watson looked up and went, "OH Hey, look...some Navy guys..." then realized that her mouth had excreted her words and she got the expression of "Oh...flark...".

What they were staring at with so much disgruntlement was at a gaggle of people milling around the computers like a group of geese, squawking with joy at electronics. The two admirals looked like people who were used to immediate discipline and order and this kind of noise and disruption was tantamount to throwing a rock in a still pond. They didn't like it at all.

There seems to be a lot of really handsome older men here. And frankly the guy in the white shirt, even with his hair somewhat white, was one of them. His nose was a prominent feature on his face. And from what the Asian admiral referred to him, he was called Dwayne. I didn't catch his last name. He said, "I just got a call from CINCPAC...he says things are heating up in the Pacific. Two tin cans got hit with Yu-8s. Completely unsalvageable. Had to evacuate all hands and then sink them so the Chinese couldn't get their hands on them." That didn't sound good at all...

And the Asian admiral's eyes narrowed in anger as he queried "CINCPACFLT OK?" Dwayne responded to the query with a nod. "CINCPACFLT was in Oahu when it happened. He wasn't visiting the battlegroup.", The Asian Admiral nodded, "Good. We can't lose our men like that, how many casualties?", Dwayne replied, "162 combined from both ships."

The Asian admiral looked over at AJ and at Dwayne, "It's time these slack-turds got with the program." and strode over to the milling group of gabbing townies.