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ward? 
    Trent finished his cigarette. He was about to light another when he decided it could wait . A child just lost her world and I am the only adult around. I am far too sober for this shit.
    “Hey. Jessica.” 
    The little girl remained silent.  She didn’t even raise her head from her mother’s bloody corpse.  She was still whimpering. 
    “Jessica, I need to get you to—”
    “Mommy, no!” Jessica got up and threw her arms around Trent. She sobbed for what seemed like an eternity. 
    “Jessica, my name is Trent.  We need to leave.  It’s not safe.”                Trent donned his assault pack and picked up the girl. She was dead weight. Around them, the scene was apocalyptic: Manhattan burning, military aircraft flying low overhead.
    “Jess, just close your eyes.  There’s nothing worth looking at right now.  Let’s go.  I’ll keep you safe.”  The turns life can take, thought Trent.

JACK
     
    Beneath his seat, Major Jack Rugerman felt reverberations from the poorly maintained Jersey City access road.  Glad our tax dollars are going to good use.  He rode in a four seated M-998 Humvee with the driver, Specialist Brendan Harrison, two soldiers for dismounted security, and a gunner scanning his sector of fire with a belt-fed M-240B machine gun.  Awesome.  My weekend’s out the window.  All that money, all those leave days I put in six months ago… Goddamn it.   Jack was more concerned about his vacation plans being foiled because the military made him plan everything he wanted to do several months in advance.  The severity of the current situation was still lost on him. 
    Their military convoy of around fifty vehicles extended along Johnston Avenue for over a mile, from Liberty State Park all the way to the more populous area of Jersey City, a good distance from the Route 78 overpass.  They were in chalk two of five chalks.  Within six hours, the remainder of the 1 st Brigade Combat Team would be on site, ready to establish a base of operations.  Details were extremely scarce.  The last forty-eight hours had been a whirlwind of preparation and deployment.  I sure as shit hope someone has some answers when we get out of the trucks.  The only orders Jack had received thus far regarded pre-deployment activity.  There had been nothing regarding the operation once the brigade established itself at Liberty State Park.  At least my job’s a little easier. “Hey S2, what’s the enemy situation?”someone will ask. And my response:“I have no idea.”
    “Sir, we’re almost there,” said the driver.  Do you want to get out and go ahead of us to see what’s going on?”
    “Yeah.  Dismounts, stay on me.  Hit me on the truck internal frequency if you need anything.  I’ll give you more info when I get it.  My rucksack is in the trunk with the rest of the S2 shop’s computers.  I’ll guide you in once they give us a spot.
    “Roger, sir,” replied Harrison.
    “Thanks, guys.”
    Jack and the dismounts were clad in their Army Combat Uniform (ACUs), body armor, ballistic eye protection, and Kevlar helmets with metal night vision goggle mounts.  They began walking southeast, toward the Hudson River’s edge.  Ordinarily this area was a steady stream of tourist traffic going to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Liberty Science Center.  Now, it was a ghost town.  The Army is setting up a firebase in Jersey City of all places?  What the hell is going on?
    Jack couldn’t finish his thought before his eyes settled on the most frightening thing he had ever seen in his life: a large, geometric mass sitting about 10,000 feet over lower Manhattan.  Holy shit.  This is huge.  I need to find Colonel McColgan.   Just then, Jack remembered his DMT-induced journey into the great beyond, courtesy of Steve Wells. That had been almost a decade ago.
    “Major Rugerman!” yelled the Brigade Sergeant Major, Sergeant Major Fredrick Earle.
    “Sergeant Major!”