When the Devil Dances

The motorpool at the base was still within the worst effects of the overpressure wave, but the major damage was to the buildings as walls and windows shattered inward. Many of the Humvees and trucks in the motorpool had had their windows blasted out; but, by and large, the overpressure wave left them intact and they were shielded from the worst of the blast by the intervening hills.

The heat from the blast did not cause any flash fires outside the immediate vicinity of the SheVa, but the trees on the surrounding hills were tossed aside like matchsticks and those further out were stripped of their leaves.

Further to the west the explosion washed over the remnants of the corps and division artillery, detonating the remaining ordnance and killing most of the surviving artillerymen. The explosion also caught most of the remaining tenaral, however, tumbling them into ruin on the ground.

The human defense of Rabun Gap had been effectively gutted. The majority of its fighting forces were either under assault at the Wall or already dead from the SheVa detonation. The way north was open.

Well, almost.

* * *

Papa O’Neal whistled as he walked back to the house. He’d been whistling or humming Van Morrison’s “Moondance” just about all morning and Cally was just about sick of it.

“You’re awful smug today, Gramps,” she said. She was feeling edgy from the artillery; it had started up midmorning and had been hammering solidly ever since. From the amount and duration they were hammering a major attack although only recently had the Wall guns started to sound.

“I’m just in a fine mood, young lady,” he answered.

“Yeah, I suppose you would be,” she said with a malicious chuckle.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” he said carefully.

Cally set down the knife she had been slicing with and wiped her hands. Reaching under the table she pulled out a Betamax tape and waved it in the air.

“You do recall that the entire house is wired for video,” she said, darting for the door.

“GIVE ME THAT!” he bellowed, chasing after her.

“You’ve got a lot of stamina for an old guy!” she yelled, darting around the woodshed.

“COME BACK HERE WITH THAT, YOU LITTLE VIXEN! IF YOU WATCHED…”

“Where in the hell did you learn that thing with the legs in the air?” she yelled back.

“AAAAH.”

They both stopped at the sound of a large crack from the direction of the Wall. The afternoon was bright, but there was still a visible amount of light thrown off by whatever had caused the sound.

“What in the hell was that?” Cally asked.

“I don’t know,” Papa O’Neal answered. “But it was from the Wall. I think maybe we’d better get ready to lock the farm down.”

A second series of sharp cracks, like a string of very high explosives, came from the direction of the artillery park and a very loud boom indicated a secondary explosion. Papa O’Neal caught a flicker at the valley entrance of something smooth, silver and very fast moving. “What in the hell was that?”

“I dunno, Granpa,” Cally said nervously. “But I agree; time to lock and cock.” She tossed him the tape. “For your collection. May there be many more.”

* * *

It took only a few minutes to get all the livestock under cover and the minefields armed, but they barely had finished closing the last gate when the sky lit with a white flash brighter than the sun.

“Granpa?!” Cally called, running towards the house.

“DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!” O’Neal screamed, hitting the ground himself.

The shockwave, when it hit, was hardly noticeable, but there was a distinct change in air pressure and the trees on the heights swayed as if in a high wind. Then the ground wave hit like a minor earthquake.

“What in the hell is happening?” Cally called. She was about fifteen feet from the front door on her stomach.

“All clear!” Papa O’Neal called, standing up and sprinting for the house. “Inside!”

“Was that what I think it was?” Cally asked when they got inside the door.

“It was a nuke,” Papa O’Neal answered. “I think it was probably the Corps SheVa going; the direction and size was about right if I remember correctly.”

Cally beat him through the house connection to the bunker by a hair and started throwing on her Kevlar. “We’re not set up for nukes, Grandpa.”

“I know,” he said, turning on the minefields and electronics before donning his own gear. “What bugs me is not knowing what is going on.” He flipped from one camera to the next, but most of them were dead. “Damned EMP.”

“So what do we do?” Cally asked.

O’Neal thought about that. If it was just one nuke, specifically the SheVa going off, it might not be that bad. It depended, of course, on where the gun was when it went off. But the Wall shouldn’t be affected. There was some fighting from there still; or at least those heavy weapons. Those could be Posleen, but think positive.