The Decay

Chapter 33 - The Pentagon

33

Alexia stood inside the control room of 'The Pentagon', a massive room aptly named for its 5 sides, and as a tribute to the old headquarters of the Department of Defence. It was, without a shadow of doubt, one of the most technologically advanced rooms in the post-nuclear era. The room itself was incredibly large, having an area of little over 2,000 square meters. The walls were dark brown and the lighting gave it an ominous appearance. Electronics lined the walls, control panels and monitors making up most of it. A large monitor was suspended from the ceiling at the far end of the room, preceded by a pentagon-shaped command table with 5 chairs.

The room had the primary purpose of surveillance. Part of the technology inside US government buildings had been salvaged thanks to them being located within thick steel vaults and had therefore been spared the fate of the rest of the buildings.

Every time she entered The Pentagon, Alexia stood in awe, taking in everything that stood before her for a couple of seconds. Even after so long, it always had the same effect. Had it not been for Artemis, The Pentagon would have been even more impressive than it was now. Artemis had been a four-star general and the right hand of the man simply known as 'The President'. They had been very close until The President had decided to send a kill squad after Artemis' daughter after she had accidentally given classified information to an outsider. This was after he had promised Artemis that no harm would come to her if he'd give up her location. Artemis had been hesitant initially, but trusting The President, he told him. After the shocking news of his daughter's ruthless slaughter, he turned against The President, swearing to avenge her. Causing an up-rise, he and a group of people who weren't favorable of The President and his rules, revolted, causing as much damage as possible and taking whatever they could with them before escaping and setting up their own establishment.

Now, Alexia looked at a group of 4 monitors sitting on the left wall. They showed images of the ruined financial district and were heading in a northern direction. At the bottom-right side of each monitor was the text 'D_' followed by the sequential number of '01 to 04'. Her interest sparked when looking at the monitor of 'D_03'. Swiping a finger across the screen, the image popped up on the large monitor at the far end of the room. Approaching it, she looked closely at the three-storey building in front of her. The small drone was made of a lightweight polymer, with a battery charged by kinetic motion, leaving the 12 centimeter long drone with potentially unlimited power. Inspired by an insect, the drone was oval with a pair of wings made of modified carbon nanotubes and a single, frontal high-powered camera lens.

Two soldiers were searching the second floor, but that wasn't all she was interested in. What was significantly more worrying, was the faint outline of a person on the third floor of the same building. Richard!

Knowing that the drones were recording everything they saw, she hurried to change its path, hoping that the shadow would be missed by whoever was going to review the footage later. But it was too late. As she moved the drone, she heard footsteps behind her. General Adams stood behind her and saw what she was doing. “Traitor,” he hissed, before grabbing her by the arms. She tried to struggle, fighting him off, but was unable to. A violent punch to the head knocked her unconscious.

A few hours later, she awoke in a prison cell. I never heard him enter. Damn it!

She tried to stand up, but the effort was too great and she started feeling dizzy, which made her sit down again immediately. Her eyes welled up and she started sobbing quietly in the corner of the cell.