3

September Attacks.

2 Hours After the Bombs.

"God Damn it!" Jake Green yelled as he woke up in pain. He had lost consciousness after his truck got slammed into by an old station wagon after he turned from looking at a mushroom cloud over what he knew was Denver. Sitting up slowly, Jake noticed a searing pain coming from his left leg and as he looked down, he saw a small gash on his leg. 'Alright Jake, get your shit together. Assess and calm down. I just saw a fucking mushroom cloud coming from Denver which I just left 2 hours ago.' Jake thought to himself. Undoing his seat belt and climbing out of his truck, Jake reached into the back seat of the truck and grabbed his go bag full of basic medical supplies, water, and spare ammunition for his Glock 17. After checking he had everything, he limped over to the wrecked station wagon to check on the two occupants. Opening the door to the passenger side, Jake pushed his finger to the older woman's neck and realized she was dead, looking up, he also knew the driver was also gone. Shutting the door, Jake grabbed his pack off the ground and started limping back towards Jericho.

Meanwhile in Jericho, April Green was in a slight panic. Having stayed at her mother-in-law's house and hearing what happened to both Denver and now Atlanta, she couldn't keep her mind from what might have happened to her husband. Deciding to keep herself busy, she left to go to the clinic to try to help with the incoming patients she was sure that they would be coming in. But before she could get to the clinic, she ran into her brother-in-law. "Eric, did Gail tell you about what happened?"

"Yeah, so that means Denver and Atlanta are gone. We've been trying to reach the governor in Topeka but have yet to hear anything from him."

"Have you…. Have you heard anything about Quantico?"

Shaking his head, Eric looked at her. "No… We haven't heard anything about Quantico or anything for that matter.."

Taking a sharp breath, April shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked at Eric. "Can you check for me? Please?"

Eric smiled slightly. "Dads been trying to reach Jake on his cell phone. He's fine April. But you will be the first to hear about him if we do hear. Listen, I gotta go alright?"

April nodded and turned to leave only to run into both Gail and Johnston. They both had heard what she was asking Eric and moved to talk to her. Gail quickly pulled her into a hug and just held her. "Jake is going to be fine honey. Remember, he's a former Ranger and an FBI agent. He's got the training to survive. Plus, he's got a wife to get back to." Johnston said to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a comforting squeeze. While he didn't show it, Johnston was worried about his oldest son. True, Jake had deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan and could handle himself, but Johnston still feared for him.

About 13 miles outside of Jericho, Jake continued to hobble along the side of the road. Intermittently checking behind him to make sure he was in the clear and no one was coming up behind him. He had bandaged his leg up to the best of his training, but he still knew that he was gonna need stitches. He had limped another dozen or so feet when he heard the faint shout "Mister!" He stopped and looked around and when he turned to his right and up the hill, he saw two little kids running down to him screaming. "Mister! Mister please help!"

Instinct took over and Jake started to run/limp fast up the dirt road. "What!? What is it?" Reaching them, Jake grabbed the little girl's hand light and did a quick assessment check on her. "Are either of you hurt?" He said turning to the little boy that was with the girl, also giving him a quick once over.

"I…. I think they're dying!" The little boy shouted, turning back to run up the hill. Jakes' eyes went white and face paled, he started off after them. Running for a solid 5 minutes, Jake and the kids got to a school bus that had a deer under the front passenger tire. Holding the little girl's hand, Jake listened to her as she explained what happened. "The deer started going crazy running all over the road."

"It's okay just don't look at it." Reaching the bus, Jake pushed the door open and jumped inside, groaning as pain shot up from his left leg. 'Smart Jake. Real smart, jumping into a bus with a fucked-up leg.' Jake moved over to the driver, checking his pulse, and quietly swore underneath his breath. He was dead.

"Is he alive?" A soft feminine voice said behind him. Jake looked back and noticed a younger teacher lying in the front part of the bus, looking like she was in pain. Shaking his head, Jake looked at the woman and said, "I don't think so." Moving over to her, Jake noticed her leg didn't look right.

"Are you hurt?" Jake asked as he knelt slightly and pulled his backpack off his shoulders. The young teacher took a sharp breath and said "I.. I think my legs broken.."

"Can you feel your toes?"

"Umm yeah, but don't worry about me. Worry about them."

Jake nodded and stood up, groaning lightly as he did so. He turned to the kids and asked, "Is anyone else hurt?"

One of the kids raised his hands and said, "Stacy's sick. She can't breathe."

Jakes face again went white as he grabbed his bag and limped over to where the little girl was lying. Looking at her throat, Jake swore underneath his breath "fuck me." Kneeling, Jake opened his bag and began to pull out a basic medical kit and began rummaging through it and found that he didn't have what he needed. "Son of a bitch." He mumbled to himself. 'Okay Green think. She doesn't have much time.' Jake looked at one of the kids to his right and asked, "Do you guys have and ice pack?" He turned to look at the teacher. Nodding her head, the teacher turned to one of the students and said, "Underneath the seat is the first aid kit." The little girl grabbed it and hurried it up and handed it to Jake and he quickly pulled out a ice pack and pressed it to the girls throat to hopefully stop the swelling, but it was too late for that. Jake looked at the little girl and noticed she had stopped beathing. Leaning down to confirm, Jake couldn't hear or feel her breathing.

Swearing to himself, Jake turned to the kids and said, "Alright. I need your help. Do you guys have a pen? Does anyone have a pen?"

"We have pencils!" The kid next to said in a hopeful tone.

Jake sighed and shook his head, "No I need a tube. Something hollow. Like a straw!"

The little girl he ran into back in the road rose her hand and said, "I have a straw."

Jake looked at her and motioned her quickly, "Okay quick bring it here." She ran up to him with a juice box in hand and as soon as she handed it to him, he realized it was too thin. "No that's too thin. Does anyone else have a juice box?" All the kids raised their hands, and Jake quickly gave out orders. "Okay quick, give them out and hand them to… What's your name?" Jake asked the little girl. "Julie." The little girl responded. "Okay give all your straws to Julie, okay?" The kids quickly began to bring their juice boxes to Julie as Jake prepared his knife by running the blade over the alcohol pad of the band aid. "Okay wrap the straws with the band aids alright?" He said to Julie as he began to cut into Stacy's neck. After he made the cut, Jake quickly took the straws and placed them into her throat. He began to blow into the straws, quietly pray to whatever god there was for help. After 4 solid breaths, Stacy's eyes opened, and Jake felt his adrenaline give out as he collapsed into one of the pews behind him.

Taking a shuddering breath, Jake looked up and saw all the little kids looking at him. One of the kids, the young boy who was with Julie asked, "Where did you learn to do that?"

With a slight smirk, Jake responded "Military school."

"Were you a soldier?" The boy asked in wonder.

"Yeah, I was." Jake replied.

"Cool!" Said the little boy and Jake just laughed.

Back in Jericho, April entered City Hall with Gail when she heard about a brawl starting to happen at the Texico gas station. Johnston, having tried to reach somebody on the radio, gave up and was getting ready to leave with Eric to go deal with that problem. Riding with her in laws, April's mind continued going to husband and praying that he was okay. While Jake wasn't much into religion, much to his mother's dismay, April on the other hand was a devote Christian and much of the time not spent helping where she could, was spent praying for not only her husband, but for the nation. Pulling up to the gas station, April could hear Gray Anderson, Johnstons opponent in the upcoming election, giving a speech before the crowd. Johnston, having heard enough, pushed his way through and confronted Gray and was soon about to be overwhelmed with scared towns' folk. While she tried to help calm people down, she realized that it could turn into a full-blown riot, but before that happened, she heard a horn blaring as she turned and saw the bus pulling up.

"It's the bus!" April heard someone cry as firefighters and paramedics moved ahead of the crowd and waited for the bus to stop. When it did and the doors opened, she heard a voice that she knew quite well and had hoped she would hear again. Before anyone could stop her, April ran to the bus and watched as Stacy was brought out and saw she had an emergency trach done to her. Knowing that the EMTs had her, April continued too the bus and as the last kid was out, she saw him.

Jake had turned after talking to the teacher briefly, her name was Heather and saw the one woman that he loved more than anything. "Baby." He said as he turned to get out, but groaned as the adrenaline from the day was finally starting to wear off. Quickly, April climbed onto the bus and gently grabbed his head. "Jake... I thought. I thought you were still in Quantico." She said shakily. Then April finally noticed the cut on his leg and his skull. Gasping slightly, April immediately tried to help him up but couldn't until she turned and saw Eric climbing onto the bus.

"Where did you come from?" Eric asked as he helped April lift Jake. Jakes concussion was starting to truly set in at this point and he smirked lightly. "Oh, you know, around." He said before he needed to stop and throw up. Grimacing, both April and Eric quickly got him onto an awaiting ambulance as Gail and Johnston both followed them. An EMT ran over and helped get Jake onto the gurney. April and Gail both climbed in and sat down as Jake grunt as he tried to move himself further up onto the gurney. "There's an empty prison bus out there."

"Where abouts?" Eric asked him as he started to move away.

"Cedar Run."

"Okay relax, I'll take care of it." Eric said and then he was gone.

Turning his head, Jake looked right into his wife's eyes and smiled weakly. "Hey baby, sorry I didn't call."

April let out a wet laugh as tears were already coming down her face. "Don't worry about that Jake." She leaned down and hugged him tightly. A hug that he immediately returned. Gail sat quietly, smiling softly as her oldest son and his wife embraced. Gail knew that while April tried to put up a brave face, not knowing where Jake was, and if he was okay, was hurting her. Soon though the hug ended, Jake lightly ran his thumbs against April's cheeks, whipping the tears off her face. "I thought you were supposed to stay in Quantico for the next couple of months?" April asked as she pulled away still holding onto Jakes hand.

Jake sighed and rubbed his thumb against his wife's knuckle. "I was, but suddenly, my unit was told we were going to have some time off to spend with family, before a massive case was going to be dropped on our laps. I didn't complain and jumped on the first flight out." Just then Johnston came around and nodded at Jake. "Good thing you came home when you did son." He told Jake. "Had you have not gotten here when you did, I don't know what we would've done. April especially. Jake nodded and realized why he was uncomfortable. Sitting up and groaning, Jake reached behind him and pulled out his holstered Glock 17 and handed both it and the holster to Johnston. "I want that back dad." He said to him. Johnston nodded and quickly took it from him. Lying back down, Jake turned and said, "Any news out of Denver?"

Both Gail and April shook their heads as Gail said, "No. Your father has been trying to reach the Governor but hasn't been able too."

Nodding his head, Jake asked, "Do we know anything?"

"We know Denver and we know about Atlanta." April said softly.

"Atlanta?" Jake asked her. She nodded her head and both she and Gail heard Jake whisper "it's an attack then."

April leaned down and lightly kissed Jake on the forehead and whispered, "I am so happy your back baby." She felt Jake tighten his hold on her hand and kissed her forehead as well. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."