The Tears of Eagles

Chapter 1 - The War

Jacob was still sitting in the same spot when dawn broke. He glanced over at his friends. They had made it through the night, unharmed.

Jacob remained still for a moment, taking in the fresh morning air with deep, gulping breaths. It was time to wake the others.

He stood up and strode over to where his friends slept in thick sleeping bags. He nudged Will's head with his toe. Will's eyes fluttered open, and he sat up quickly.

"See anything last night, Jacob?"

"No," Jacob replied, "just the usual kinds of stuff. Nobody came near the school, though."

"Good," Will yawned, "how 'bout you start breakfast and I'll take watch."

"That's fine by me. It gets boring after a while, you know."

"I know."

As Will took his post, Jacob slung his rifle onto his back, then got out the cooking supplies. He looked into their food storage.

Those eggs will probably go bad soon, he wondered. Scrambled eggs it is, then.

The whoosh of the propane stove lighting awoke those still asleep with a start, Nate and Rachel.

"Morning," Jacob said. "You guys sleep good last night?"

"You could've shook our sleeping bags instead of nearly scaring us to death, Jacob," fumed Rachel.

"Yeah, well, you looked like you were enjoying your little nap there, Rachel."

"Whatever. What's for breakfast?"

"Scrambled eggs. Unless they've already gone bad," Jacob answered.

"Well, bad or not, count me in," Nate interjected, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving," announced Will across the roof.

Nate laughed. "Yeah. I guess I am."

A few minutes later, Jacob was passing out bowls and spoons for everyone. Though Will had joked about Nate's hunger, everyone ate quickly, taking seconds, even thirds.

As he scraped the last few molecules of meat from his bowl, Jacob asked, "It's hard to believe that we lost the war, huh?"

Everyone stopped and stared at him. No one had been expecting his question. Finally, Nate declared, "No one knew that Russia had somehow disabled our nuclear defense systems. Not until it was too late."

"Maybe it was some kind of EMP," suggested Rachel. "After all, most of our electricity wasn't working when the nukes hit."

"Yeah, maybe, " Jacob agreed.

They were talking about World War III. The United States had attacked after Russia tried to take over the rest of Ukraine. President Obama may have been fine with Putin claiming the Crimean region, but President Clark had not. Trying to conquer the rest of Ukraine had been the last straw for him.

It was a short war, ending in less than a year. Neither side had been able to gain the upper hand until Russia somehow disabled America's nuclear defense system. With nothing to stop their nukes, Russia annihilated D.C. and the capitals of each state, along with every major city.

Without leadership, the country quickly fell into anarchy. Trust was virtually nonexistent. Roads were unused. Fires raged everywhere. Riots were unchecked,  and usually turned into big, bloody massacres.

None of the remaining countries came to help. They had their own problems to deal with. So the former USA became a no man's land, and nobody wanted to claim it. It was Hell itself, as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

The group sat silently, dwelling on these thoughts until they heard banging coming from the school's front door.