Eloise walks over and crouches down to inspect the head. It’s gnashing teeth and eye rolling focus on her and ts as if the head still has some kind of rudimentary intelligence. ”Fascinating,” she whispers to herself.
”El, we need to get out of here,” calls Chelsea from next to the cars tail door. She pops the boot and folds out the rear seats, throwing both hers and Eloises bag into the back never climbing in.
Eloise takes one last look as the head before bolstering her gun and sighing. She begins walking to the rear of the car, climbing in and squeezing herself in next to Chelsea.
The group gathers up the gear it has found. Brian finds a $20 bill and several credit cards in the wallet along with a Virginia Drivers license with a picture of the now-deceased man. A few receipts are in the wallet, mostly grocery. There is also a Personal Identification Validation card, with a picture of the guard and an embedded chip. The card likely allowed him access through the plaza for his job
The SUV 7 starts up in one go. The group opens the doors and turns on the fans to flush out the sickroom smell of the vehicle. A Siri voice inquires
“Good day. Do you wish to engage manual, semi-AI, or full AI driving mode?”
The voice rolls on unperturbed
“This vehicle is now on full manual mode. Be advised that while in this mode the AI system cannot assist with driving. If violations of driving laws occur, the AI is limited to verbal warnings, and any damages occurred while in manual mode are the liability of the driver. Have a safe and pleasant journey “
The SUV’s AI voice replies after an odd atonal beep
I am not an iAI. I have been programmed to respond to the designation “Blart”. Please use “Blart” in the future, as it will enable me to process your requests quicker
After a pause it continues
Semi-AI allows the human driver to maintain overall control, but if there is an accident possibility or a driving violation the AI can intercede and take over driving functionality.
The group piles in and the SUV guns and heads for the ramp. The SUV comes to a sudden stop at the top of the ramp at the guardhouse. A slot for tickets is on the left, and there is a traffic arm across the exit.
In the passenger seat I growl in frustration at the gate being down, "Did anyone grab the guy's security ID? Maybe that will open the gate?"
I will also look in the visor or the glove or the arm rest compartment for a ticket.
Al leans forward and says Blart open the garage gate for security patrol access and he shrugs hoping it works
I’m sorry, I am not programmed to do that task
Brian waves the card and the arm lifts. The SUV heads out into the street.
The streets are strangely quiet at the moment. Al mentioned the wreck at the intersection he saw to the north and so Brian heads south. A few streets down and Blart speaks up again
Traffic jam ahead. Please slow down
Brian feels the SUV slowing on its own as they see a large tangle of cars ahead. Somewhere ahead something is on fire. Dark smoke rises into the sky. There is a large *BOOM* from somewhere in the distance. Those with military experience could swear it was a tank firing off its main gun
Very disturbed by the noise, Nick looks at the others.
"This is no riot! Why would a MBT use its cannon? In any case, please move AWAY from that noise!"
take the sidewalk and turn off the AI and get us out of this jam and out of here! Al says as he jumps a bit in his seat at the large thump explosion sound
"Was that a cannon?
Man, DC populace may be in full scale riot over this latest outbreak".
He pauses for a few seconds, "Any of you have any medical training? What the hell happened back there. I have heard stories of guys on PCP getting shot and still attacking the cops but that guy had a damned hole in his chest. What kind of drugs was he on? I guess the really good s$*$".
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"Okay, yeah, moving away from an Abrams is always a good idea.
Are we...being invaded? Did the Chinese finally land an invasion force? Maybe hid themselves in a cargo liners or....
Yeah, let's get away from the city.
Blart, full manual."
Brian turns the wheel and tries to make a way...by any means necessary.
I start to load the shotgun that Al provided to me from the passenger side, "Huh, never thought I would be riding actual shotgun...
I have had some weird days but this might be the weirdest yet".
Eloise watches out the rear window as the car speeds along. While maintaining her rear vigil, she glances occasionally between Chelsea beside her, and the rest of the group seated in the mid and front of the car. "What the hell is happening," she mumbles under her breath, loud enough that only Chelsea could hear.
Blart goes through his liability song and dance and releases the car to full manual. Eloise spots a confused-looking child wandering on the sidewalk. The child looks up and Eloise is horrified to see her lower jaw is hanging loose, swinging from a shred of gristle. The young girl shuffles along, a blood-soaked teddy bear clutched in her hand
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"Is everyone okay back there?
And is everyone buckled in? Because we're about to take the 'scenic route'?
And, yeah, Dennis. This might even surpass the 36-hour fire watch I got stuck with in 'Saudi. By the end of it I thought I was some kind of hummingbird."
Having well prepared everyone for a brief interlude of off-road action, Brian turns onto the sidewalk and tries to run over as few fire hydrants and small kittens as possible.
Brian manhandles the SUV through the traffic snarls. He sees few pedestrians right now, but he does see a few prone people, either sick or dead. None in his path thankfully.
Blart keeps up a running commentary as they hop and swerve
There is a traffic stop up ahead. You have just driven through a red light. Driving on the sidewalk is illegal. You just injured public property ...
Brian eventually gets annoyed enough to try and mute the AI, but there is some sort of override that allows it to be a nag when laws are being broken.
They skirt most of the worst traffic, taking D street over to 12th, then hanging a right on Maine Ave and heading down towards the Wharf area and heading to Ohio DR. The Jefferson Memorial looms on their right, its dome shrouded in construction gantries as it gets one of its periodical makeovers. Behind it is the placid Tidal Basin. Ohio Dr melds into East Basin Dr, which brings them by the Memorial before turning north along the parkland along the Tidal Basin headed to the Lincoln Memorial.
Ahead of them is the Potomac and the Rochambeau Memorial Bridge. They see the on ramp right ahead, but it is clogged with cars. There is a fight going on on the on ramp, and the group sees a man with a shot gun firing at others who run at him heedlessly. He drops a couple before getting swarmed and falling under a pile of people.
oh damn? Oh damn! Al exclaims as he sees first the little girl and then the crowd overtake the guy with the shotgun. we ain't gonna make it up the ramp and I don't want to try on foot!
Al knows that the East Basin drive leads to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. It’s a lesser-used bridge that leads across the Potomac into Arlington National Cemetery
hey man take us back around East Basin Drive to Arlington Memorial Bridge, it will take us across into the cemetery and beyond Al says
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Brian takes the moment to adjust the AI before he goes insane just from the voice. He enters into Settings mode.
"Blart, your name is now Anya. Voice is accented, female Australian, sleezy."
He breathes a sigh of relief as that important thing is now taken care of. If it's going to nag him for saving his own life, it can at least be enjoyable to listen to.
"Wait wait, don't we want to at least try to save that guy? He might still be alive. We've got a lot of guns, we could drive by, make a hole, and let him get in.
Maybe he knows more about this huge riot that's going on."
”We’re all better that the people outside,” calls Eloise at Brian’s question.
She watches what is going on outside the car with increasing dread, but still has time for an admonishment at Brian’s choice for the car’s interface.
The man with the shot gun is currently under roughly a dozen combatants. The bridge seems to be occupied by a lot of people
"That seems like a bad idea. Heroic. But not tactically sound.
If we were a trained group of soldiers maybe but we are not, we are mostly civilians in this car.
We need to find out what is going on here in this city. This was not an isolated incident at the mall, this is way bigger than that".
I will turn on my glasses once more and search for news reports as to what is happening.
let's pick living and take the bridge less traveled, please? Al says with a forced ile on his face wanting to get away from this whole mess as soon as possible.
The SUV guns past the on-ramp congestion, hopping over a curb to avoid a skewed sedan. The SUV turns down East Basin, speeding up as traffic thins. A few people can be seen running here and there, some chasing others. A few other seem to be standing confused in the cherry trees bordering the Tidal Pool, as if admiring the iconic view.
As they roll up towards the Arlington Bridge, they see a barrier across the road. A group of soldiers, about platoon strength, guard the road. There are sandbagged machine gun emplacements on either side of the road. A soldier in the new active camouflage gestures for them to halt with his rifle. The group sees a stack of bodies farther off from the road, and several field tents are erected in the same area
I will turn on my glasses once more and search for news reports as to what is happening.
The news services are confusing and contradictory. There is video shot of riots in several cities, buildings burning, and hospitals packed with wounded and ill people. Martial Law has been declared for the US, a radical step. Several news folks are discussing how rapidly things seem to be unraveling. One woman looks at the camera in shock
“This morning I commuted here and the world still made sense. Now I am unsure if I could even leave this building in safety. We can see Times Square from our windows and the scene below is unrestrained chaos. This disease makes those ill go mad. Be careful near anyone infected!”
I will report to the rest of the car what I watched, "Wow, this new disease is making people just lose it completely. That was. That was fast.
Martial Law. Hope this does not last long..."
I look up, "And there's the Martial Law we just heard about in action".
Al looks at the upcoming military barrier and says maybe they will let us through?
The two heavy machine guns aim at their SUV. The soldier approaches, gun held at the ready You notice he’s wearing a filtration mask. His shoulder patch is the Washington Monument with a sword diagonally across it
“Is anyone infected in your vehicle?”
"No but then I don't think most of us are residents, just here on business and then things went haywire at the Mall.
We are just looking to get out of DC".
The soldier nods, and takes a look in the SUV. He sees the shotgun
“Keep all weapons out of your hands. Put them in holsters if possible. Any hostile moves will be met with deadly force. We’re not disarming civilians, but we will not tolerate any gunfire. Get on the bridge, go to Arlington National Cemetery and follow the guides to Fort Myers. We are setting up a shelter area there “
He gestures to the soldiers at the roadblock and they move it aside
Al nods and holsters his shotgun in the backpack and leans back feeling a bit better but not saying what he's really thinking as soon as we get out of here we are splitting away from people as far and fast as we can go
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Out of habit Brian gave the important parts of the soldier a quick once-over; lapels for rank, pocket for name. He considers saluting, but thinks better of it. These guys have enough on their plate without some used-to-be giving them business.
"Affirmative. Inbound to Fort Meyers," he curtly responds to the soldier, not wanting to take up more of the man's time.
Inwardly he thinks of the piled-on civilian that had seen. 'Maybe you should tolerate a bit more gunfire, though.'
Once the roadside is moved he gently accelerates through, onto the bridge.
Once out of earshot of the soldiers he says to the car. "Does everyone here want to head to Fort Meyers? I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but government 'shelters' of any sort tend to be...dicey, at best. Massed civilians means doubtful supplies of water and food. Diseases.
And almost always crime. That's true no matter what land you're in.
We can if y'all want, but...I'm willing to listen to alternate ideas."
"Home for me is New Jersey and I doubt any of the rest of you want to head there.
I am fine with not heading to a shelter but where should we go to temporarily to get our bearings and decide how to proceed next?"
"Need to check in on the kid. I should also cal the office too...", I think to myself.
Titian looks at the sandbags and memories of times go by flash.
Looking for rank insignia he falls back to his soldiers tone.
", there is a mass of at least 20 rioting civilians. They are unarmed, but are not effected by surpression fire and extremly aggressive. Any advice beyond wearing breath protection?"
As Brian talks about shelters Nick nods.
"I have seen them ... in a bad place. If possible I would avoid them!"
The soldier, a sergeant, looks at Nick.
"They're infected. Infected are bug s*&# crazy. There's literally no way to calm them down. They attack anyone. They take a lot of damage."
He gestures to the pile of dead bodies over at the side of the road
"The only thing I can tell you is stay away and shoot first. We are getting orders to drop the bridges soon, once we get anyone we can outta DC."
He gestures to the bridge. A few cars speed across it, and Nick can see a group of Army soldiers wiring up explosives at the side area
A crack of gunfire rings out. One of the soldiers shoots a man running towards their position. He staggers and drops, but twitches on the ground. A pair of soldiers in MOPP gear run out and stab the twitching man in the head with a sharp pole, then carry the body over to the pile
"Go on! MOVE OUT!"
"Home for me is New Jersey and I doubt any of the rest of you want to head there.
I am fine with not heading to a shelter but where should we go to temporarily to get our bearings and decide how to proceed next?"
"Need to check in on the kid. I should also cal the office too...", I think to myself.
Dennis calls up his ghost board, the translucent letters appearing in front of him. He types out a quick message to his daughter. She replies quickly to say that she is sheltering in place and to get home soon. She's seen crazy people outside the house but no one's tried to get it and she's locked and barricaded the doors.
He next tries to call the office, but the call isn't getting through. There's an old-fashioned *beepbeepbeep* sound he hasn't heard in years. The "line is out of order" beep signal
As Brian heads onto the bridge with the SUV, he hears a roaring noise. Several fighter jets scream overhead. Most keep going, but a pair peel off and make a bombing run towards the nearby Rochambeau Bridge. One fires a missile, which hits the bridge in its center, blowing a large chunk out of the four-lane span. The group feels the concussion of the blast wave pass through them, not physically damaging, but the sound makes their ears ring and the air pressure is noticeable. Cars and bodies begin to drop into the turgid Potomac below. The jets scream off. Soon after, several other explosions can be seen further into the city.
I text back, "Good. Stay there. We have food and water for just such an emergency, should last you at least three weeks. I have a sword and a shotgun in my bed room closet. But stay as quiet as you can in the house. I will get home as soon as I am able to".
"Damn office line was just fine thirty minutes ago. My daughter is safe but she says there are loons in my town as well.
This is not just a city thing, it's in the suburbs too. What the hell is going on with this infection?"
I try and pull up the CDC website to see if there is any information on this new infection.
The CDC website address wont load. It flashes a 503 error icon. Dennis flips to the news again and finds that the NYC news channels he usually watches are offline. CNN is still up, and is alive with footage of absolute chaos. One chiron notice grabs Dennis’ attention
Manhattan engulfed in massive infected riot. National Guard Units retreating across Bridges to New Jersey and Brooklyn
Eloise lowers her gun out of sight in the back of the car as the people in the front talk to the soldiers. "This is crazy," she thinks to herself as they speed away and watch the missile hits the bridge.
"I don't much like the idea of heading towards a Military Base. We had somewhere we could go, but I'm not too sure that avenue will still be open to us with all this crazy going down." She turns to Chelsea. "What do you think? Will they still be accepting people into the compound?"