Three helicopters swooped in low over the National Mall; the sun gleaming off the white stripes on the green bodies of the Sea King helicopters that carried the call sign of "Marine One", the President's personal helicopter. They danced in and out of formation as they had practiced for years which was to confuse any would be attackers of which helicopter actually carried the President. Two out of the three were decoys. Any of the Marine pilots aboard could have been forgiven for thinking it was a lovely day had they only the sky to look at but at such low altitude they could see the streets of Washington DC which were bumper to bumper with traffic. People were running in all directions in a state of panic, some stood their ground and fought with whatever weapons they could muster up, though most fled. Had it not been for the helicopter rotors, the marines aboard the helicopters would have been able to hear the gunfire and screams and cries of thousands of petrified people down below. They couldn't hear what was happening down there but they could surely see it. Several columns of smoke were rising into the air from burning car wrecks and buildings. DC was a warzone.
Flying over the Capitol was when it hit home to those young Marines just how much the world had changed as the Capitol Police fired their weapons against a crowd of marauding maniacs trying to storm up the stairs and enter one of America's most important buildings. There must have been a hundred bodies lying on the blood soaked Capitol steps. A limousine was crashed into a lamppost and several black, government SUV's stood idly by next to it with their doors open and abandoned. The Speaker of the House had not made it out in time. This was irrelevant to the United States Marines, however, as their mission was simple: Rescue the President. The White House was now in sight.
The White House still held firm, unlike the rest of the city. The infected had not breached the steel fence that surrounded the complex but there were thousands surrounding the home of the President and who knew how long that fence could hold their weight ? The Secret Service sniper teams were having a turkey shoot but there were simply too many infected to kill them all.
The President of the United States of America, Paul Conroy, stood on the South Lawn of the White House and watched as one of the helicopters decended whilst the other two remained airborne. Beside him stood his Chief of Staff, Connie Spencer and the head of his Secret Service detail John Milne, a former Navy SEAL and winner of the Medal of Honor. Plans were going into effect to preserve the United States Federal Government. As it turned out those plans already going awry with the Vice President missing, the Speaker of the House killed as he fled the Capitol and several Cabinet Secretaries uaccounted for. A handful had relocated to the Mount Weather nuclear fallout shelter in Virginia several hours earlier. Now the President had finally relented to the nagging of the Secret Service and agreed to leave DC for someplace not overrun with walking corpses.
"Connie," President Paul Conroy started, forcing back tears. He was only 45 but the past few days had made him feel order. His hair was considerably more grey than it had been a week earlier.
"Yes, sir ?" she asked as the chopper finally touched down, it's blades kicking up leaves from the ground and messing up the Chief of Staffs immaculately kept long black hair.
"How did it come to this ?" Paul managed to barely squeak out as his Secret Service guard practically man handled him into the helicopter. He took one last look back at the famous mansion, then turned his head away in shame as he buckled up whilst the helicopter began its accent into the cloudless sky.
"I'm sorry." Paul managed to say to no one in particular, a tear escaping his eye. "I failed this nation."
As the trio of choppers flew over the National Mall the pilots radio up front came to life with a call from one the other helicopters.
"Holy shit ! Was he bitten ? Get him off me, get him off..." and then the chopper to the left began to bank violently, right towards the Presidents helicopter...