Chapter 10

Genette looked onwards at the smoke rising from Washington DC against the dark red sky of the night from the white house window. The office was a mess and occupied by the President and a dozen secret service personnel.

The president was sitting at his desk, head sunk just above the polished wood. White paper reports covered every inch of the desk. Normally the President would've been ushered out and into his bunker but the bunker site itself had been overrun at the start. Since then he'd just waited in the White house as it had been turned into the fortress.

A staff member opened the door, swung his head around and spoke softly

"Air force one is almost prepped sir. Suggest you make your way there now" The leader looked up with bloodshot eyes and nodded. He then turned to Genette and said in a dried voice

"What'd happening?"

"The plane's ready sir and you need to leave" This was the wrong answer

"Not that dammit!" He said rising up and knocking his chair back "I meant out there, what is happening to my country?"

"In all honesty sir, I haven't the faintest idea"

With that the President got up and left just as echo's of artillery fire began for a second round of attacks. Genette followed him with a nervous look. She could only speculate how the mind of President was coping with this seemingly impossible set of events

Outside the office they walked along corridors to outside of the White house and onto the lawn at the front where a helicopter was starting up. As Genette moved outside she felt a wave of heat coming from all around her; by the expressions on everyone else's faces they felt it to. She looked around only to see nothing that could give off anywhere near the heat she felt

With horror she realised that the wind was blowing the hot air from the rest of D.C straight to the White house and the smoke was approaching there quickly.

Inside the helicopter it was nosy and stuffy with the secret service agents crowding all available space. Genette was unfortunate enough to get a window seat where a clear view was given of the burning city as they lifted higher and higher into the red sky. Hoards of Exclamber birds swooped through the air at a distance as a squadron of fighter planes protected the helicopter.

The chopper was a massive MH-53 loaded fully, having been quickly torn from battle cargo runs to in need areas of the city. The pilot was not happy about this at all and so the comms on Genette's headset was full of moaning about protecting the upper classes and such. She had lost all care for politics, to her it didn't matter when the world appeared to be ending.

She looked across the cargo bay of the chopper and saw the once great President slumped down head dangling limply down by the knees. He had no comprehension what was going on she thought, but he would when they got somewhere save.

The minigunners at each side of the helicopter opened fire out, each turned quickly to lock on and hit their target with the streams of lead being projected. The political rant over the headset stopped and was replaced with unending combat instructions

"We're overhead an Exclamber advance. How have they moved so quickly forward!"

"If we don't get sprint on they'll overrun the airstrip before we can get there"

"The birds are making another pass"

"Bring her round to the right and I can get a good shot at them"

"No time, it's all forward at this point, you have to make do"

"Open the rear and we can gun em down from there?"

"What about the president?"

"Just open the thing and fire the fucking weapon!"

With that one of the men rushed back and joined the crewman at the back that was lowering the ramp down mid flight. At that moment the helicopter started turned violently left and right, suddenly losing altitude then gaining it back.

As the hatch was opened the mini-gun at the rear was dropped down and the crewman manned it on full auto with a deafening noise from all three weapons now. Several secret service personnel added their weapons to the orchestra of noise happening. Shells crashing to the ground over the whir of the engine, the howl of the mini-guns and explosions down on the ground

After an extremely rough journey the helicopter descended rapidly towards the airstrip only just ahead of the Exclamber force below. An armoured force had assembled below to hold the airstrip but it wasn't enough. The landing was rough which jerked everyone around violently before coming to a halt

The President leaped up and ran out with his bodyguard before Genette could even stand up. She ran to the edge of the ramp and looked out. Air force one was fully fuelled and ready to go at the end of the runway. Already two jeeps were rocketing to the large plan leaving one for the secretary and the leftover secret service agents.

They jumped in, not wanted to waste time and sped across the runway. Just as they did, to the right of them an explosion along the perimeter fence sounded. From the blast came a hoard of Exclamber rushing full pelt at the nearest thing in sight. Genette and Air Force One

As a result the flying fortress started gliding into position. This sent fear shooting through Genette's body as she was being left behind. The jeep was racing for the moving plane but almost alongside them the Exclamber were doing the exact same. The driver of the jeep, a lad of about twenty, wearing a National Guard uniform noticed this

The jeep did a sudden and jolting 360 degree turn so it was facing the MH-53 that had brought them there. He slammed on the accelerator pedal and wheel-spinned before hurling back off towards the helicopter. Genette was now reduced to blind panic and she grabbed the driver and started shaking him violently

"What are you doing? We need to go that way!" She screamed

"We won't make it and the plane won't make it far off the tarmac" He replied with shaky calmness

All in the jeep now noticed that he was right; the Exclamber had reached the plane which was only just gathering speed. As a result the first wave smashed through the door, ripping them straight off and poured into the body of the transport.