The State by G. Allen Mercer

her right hand.  “That’s what I would do.”
    “Don’t you think they’re doing that now?”
    Grace thought before speaking.  “I don’t know if they are or not.  I get the feeling that most people feel that the US Government is going to ride the white horse in and save them.  There’s been nothing to show for it, I mean we’ve only seen one jet take out one drone.  Shit, our two families and Mary have done more damage to the enemy than the Government has!”
    Joshua smiled; he had been directly responsible for inflicting most of the damage by blowing up a water tower.  The resulting destruction took out most of a platoon of soldiers, a truck and a communications relay station.
    “It sounds like the guys in Texas and Louisiana are fighting back,” Joshua offered.
    “Yeah that’s good.  But that is a long way from here,” she offered.  “Maybe that’s a good thing that we aren’t bearing the brunt of it?”
    “So, if there’s some of them fighting back and some not fighting, I guess the questions is, what, if anything, will the United States do by the deadline tomorrow?” he asked.  “Or, for that matter, what will our state do?”
    “You mean Alabama?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You think they will cave?” Grace asked, not believing that her predominantly conservative state would kneel down and change sides.
    “No, actually I don’t.  We have a lot of well armed bad ass rednecks in this state…”
    “And we’re probably two of them,” she cut him off with a snicker.
    They both laughed quietly.  To Grace, it felt good to smile, and even to laugh.  Has life changed that much in such a short time? She grew serious again, her mind shifting back to her parents.
    “You’re a military family, like I am, right?” she asked. 
    “Right.”
    “So,” Grace continued.  “I guess you get the need for secrecy?” she asked, suddenly feeling her questions helping her parents justify their own secret life in the CIA.
    He nodded, not wanting to sidetrack her line of thinking.
    “Joshua, my parents are actually in the CIA,” she said flatly.
    Joshua looked at her, waiting for more, but that is what she needed to say.  “Well,” he said, taking a deep breath.  “That explains a lot.  Doesn’t it?”
    Grace was about to say something, when they both heard something outside of the stable.
     
    Wu froze once he stumbled over the rock, catching himself from going down. His arm screamed in agony at the motion. He bit his lip and tilted his head towards the red building, listening for the voices, but they had stopped.  He knew that their silence would not be good.  He started walking backwards up the hill, his feet following the smooth ground of a trail.  He was desperate to find something to hide behind.  The moon was still bright, and he was by no means safe from being seen. 
    Wu found a moss lined boulder several meters up the hill and crouched behind it.  He pulled his rifle up, struggling against the pain in his shoulder.  He didn’t want to fire, at least not yet.  His training was crystal clear when it came to being separated from his command structure.  He was to gather as much information on the enemy as he could and then find a way to communicate with the command structure.  He was not to engage the enemy unless it was a last resort, or the enemy engaged him first.
    Wu peered through the small scope of his rifle.  In the silvery light of the moon he could see that two enemy soldiers had emerged from the large horse building.  They each split directions, one moving along the split rail fence, and the other moved through the silver edged shadows of the trees.  They had clearly heard him stumble…a mistake he hoped never to make again.
    Wu pivoted his rifle over the moss, acquiring the target that moved along the edge of the woods.  That one would be an easier kill.  The second one would be exposed to the open, and should also be easy…that is if he had full control of his