Invasion Read Free Page A

looked down at the boots, as if he could see the socks.
    “Over there,” Grace pointed to some large boulders up in the woods.  She didn’t wait for a response; she simply started walking towards the rocks.
    Joshua kept his rifle ready and leaned against the rock as Grace unlaced her boots and removed the extra layer of socks.  “Why do you think this all started?” he asked.
    Grace tucked the socks in one of the pouches on her backpack and put her boots back on.  She was fairly knowledgeable about world events, politics and history.  She could recall hundreds of discussions around the dinner table with her parents about current events and the impact of political decisions. 
    Grace was often more knowledgeable than her friends and sometimes more up to speed than her high school teachers.  Before the world changed, she thought she wanted to go to college and study International Relations with a focus on European and Russian relations.  Her father thought she would make for a great diplomat and possibly work for the State Department.  She spoke four languages, and was actually thinking about listening to her father and going into the diplomatic corp, or the FBI.  She had a fleeting thought about the CIA, but stuff like that seemed really out there…that is until the world changed.
    “I think it’s a klaster,” she said, letting the Russian roll off of her tongue.
    “You think it’s a what?” Joshua asked.
    “A klaster.  It’s Russian for cluster,” she answered.
    “Do you speak Russian?”
    “Da, ya govoryu po-russki,” she said with a smile.  “I also speak Spanish, French, passable Chinese and really great English!”
    “Damn!  That’s impressive,” Joshua said, nodding his head in approval.
    “Both my parents took Russian in college.  Mom says that’s the first time they met.  Dad doesn’t think so.”
    “Did they go to the same college, or something?”
    “No, Dad went to Auburn and Mom went to William and Mary…she says they met on some mid-semester language trip over seas one year.  Supposedly, they both crossed paths while touring with the schools in Russia.  Dad doesn’t seem to recall that, so I guess Mom didn’t make a great first impression,” she said with a smile at the memory.
    “What about the Chinese?” Joshua asked in reference to Grace’s language skills.
    “Yeah, I’m taking first year Chinese as a senior year elective.”
    “As an elective!  You’re nuts,” Joshua deemed.
      “No,” she said, “I just like languages.  Really, once I was able to make the transition from the Latin languages to Russian, Chinese just fell into place,” she said, trying to make herself seem humble. 
    “That must take some work to keep it all straight.”
    “It’s all really just a process,” Grace said, trying to verbalize her language talents; something she really never thought about.  “Once you know the structure, you…”
    The ground shook as the air around them rumbled with the boom of a far off explosion.
    “What the…what was that?” Grace asked, dropping her banter about her language talents.
    “Sonic boom, I think,” Joshua looked to the sky.  “There!” he pointed.
    Grace followed the trajectory of his arm pointing to the early morning clouds.  Overhead there was a lone jet streaking across the sky.
    “Is it ours?” she asked.
    Joshua squinted up to the sky.  “I think it’s an F-18.”
    “Navy!” she said before he could.
    “Yup,” he agreed.  “Look at that!  He just fired a missile!”
    They watched as the missile streaked away from the fighter jet and headed towards the city. “Come on!” she commanded, breaking into a run to get to the top of the hill.  They reached the crest of the hill and crossed the road to lean against the guardrail and view the city.  From this vantage point they followed the trail of rocket smoke to the impact area.
    The rocket had impacted something several thousand feet above the city, leaving a