Bionica: The War

It's a Boy

Ruby Hale lay in her bed, unable to sleep. Her little seven-year-old body was too full of wiggles. Suddenly she heard her mother's ear-splitting cry out from the next room. Ruby didn't like hearing her mother like this, but a woman in a white dress had told her to stay in her room until someone came to get her. Ruby had trusted the woman because the Red Cross pin on her lapel had looked important. But this was her mother they were talking about. She couldn't be expected to just stay away while Mommy was obviously in pain.

She threw the covers off her feet and ran across the hallway. Her little breaths grew heavier and more frequent as her bare feet slapped the linoleum apartment floor. Why did the room have to be so far away? Finally, she burst into the room and found her father out cold on the floor.

Women in white dresses were all around him as her mother screamed. Ruby shoved them out of the way and knelt by his head. "Daddy?" she said, tears in her eyes. "You've gotta wake up!"

White-clad women took her away, saying things like, "Lawrence? Don't you want to be awake to see your girl?" As Ruby kicked and screamed, her mother screamed even harder.

And as soon as she stopped, another voice took her place.

As the woman put her down, Ruby ran to her mother's bedside. She was sweaty and pale, but smiling from ear to ear. Another woman came over with something wrapped in a blanket. It was screaming fiercely, and Ruby had a guess what it was. A squishy-looking thing peered out over the blanket and the screaming stopped.

"Ruby," said her mother, "meet your baby brother, Jackson Allen."

_______

Another five years passed, and Jackson grew into just the sort of wiggler that Ruby had been. He was always running around somewhere, and wherever he went, twelve-year-old Ruby would follow. They did everything together. Their parents couldn't even separate them at bedtime.

It proved useful during that fateful day.

Alarms ripped through the slow Chicago night as lights were turned on and families flooded the streets. Lawrence Hale heard them first and shook his wife.

"Marcella," he said urgently. "The kids."

Marcella Scranton nodded and tore out of the room, running across the hall to the room where her children slept. Jackson sucked his thumb and Ruby turned, stirring. She sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. "Mom?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"It'll be okay, sweetie," said Marcella. "Your dad's going to pack some things. Get Jackson and follow me downstairs." With that, she turned and walked out of the room.

Ruby turned and grabbed her five-year-old brother, following her mother onto the street. Jackson stayed asleep for most of the time, despite the sirens that continued to wail. The run was somewhat long, at least in Ruby's mind, and seemed hurried, as if they didn't have enough time to get where they needed to be. A robotic voice broadcasted throughout the entire city, saying, "Impact in T-10 minutes." Suddenly Ruby knew what this was.

Chicago was the target of a nuclear strike.

Her mother stopped in front of a sidewalk where two metal plates protruded from the concrete. She stepped on a button and the plates started to open, revealing an elevator. As soon as it was fully extended, Ruby and Jackson were shoved inside.

"Your father and I are going to make sure people get out of the apartment safely," Marcella said. "We're going to come through a different entrance, but we'll find you afterward."

Ruby nodded, wishing it were different. Her parents would die if they stayed out there. But it was out of her hands. So she let her mother press the button and take them down.

The elevator opened in a crowded public bunker. Some ran around aimlessly, while others were trying to settle in. Ruby figured she didn't have much to settle, so she leaned against the wall and waited for the inevitable blast.

A muffled voice said, "Impact in T-1 minute." As soon as this was heard, the bunker became silent. Everyone waited for the verdict: would the concrete structures stay upright or come down and kill them all? They waited for what seemed like forever. Ruby hugged Jackson close to her body and shielded him from whatever was to come.

And just when she'd almost let her guard down, the bomb struck.

The explosion was unlike anything Ruby had ever felt or heard before, and she couldn't even see it. The entire bunker shook violently, and a deafening roar could be heard up above. Dust fell from the concrete ceiling, but no cracks appeared. The bunker had stayed up for the moment. The roaring continued long after the quaking died down. But it was all over so fast in Ruby's mind.

After it had ceased, Ruby began to search the bunker. It wasn't an enormous place, only about the size of a ballroom. She should've had no trouble finding her parents. But as she started asking around, she realized no one had seen them.

They weren't here.

Tears spilled from Ruby's eyes as Jackson stirred. He rubbed his eyes, looked at Ruby, and smiled. Then he asked a question that would haunt Ruby for the rest of her life.

"Where's Mommy?"