Handling a Crisis

Chapter Forty-One: The White House Burned, Burned, Burned

Edit: grammar

Chapter warnings: mentioned cannibalism, talk of death. Nothing too bad.

Let's take a couple steps back, shall we?

America's kids woke up after a restless night, feeling fatigued, as if someone had come in with a vacuum and sucked the energy out of everyone. They made their way down the stairs like a horde of zombies. Confederacy was already downstairs, making breakfast for them. Georgia and Louisian joined him in the kitchen to cook while everyone else went to the living room couches.

To say that NATO's condition had a bad impact on the kids was a severe understatement. As stated before, they were much more worried for America and Confederacy than they were before because they still had to go outside for meetings, which elevates their risk of being attacked. The kids who were already struggling with mental issues had also become worse. The therapists among them were working a lot more to keep their siblings from fully relapsing.

They all had one collective thought: America was right; they shouldn't go outside.

Of course, they thought this before the incident. They've had this mentality for years, but with time, that mentality grew weaker and weaker. The attack on the countryhumans and NATO's injuries and coma, however, made the mindset stronger.

Delaware, who was sitting on one of the couches with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, sighed to himself. He couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for what happened to NATO. He was the oldest, so he should be protecting his younger siblings, right? He's been doing that for over two hundred years, and now look. His little brother was in the hospital.

Massachusetts, who was on the couch next to him, put her hand on his shoulder. Delaware looked at her, and Massachusetts silently reminded him that he couldn't have prevented this. What happened to NATO wasn't his fault. He couldn't do anything.

"Breakfast is ready," Louisiana called half-heartedly.

Everyone trudged to the dining table and sat down in their seats. Breakfast was eerily silent, save for the clinking of silverware against the plates and glasses being set on the table after people drank. Nobody knew what to say. All they could think of was NATO, and bringing him up would only dampen the mood even more.

When the kids and Confederacy finished their breakfast, they washed their own dishes. Confederacy went upstairs to change for the meet-up while Minnesota and SpaceX cleaned up the table and Oregon and Nevada cleaned up the kitchen. Everyone else wandered about the downstairs. Nobody went outside, not even NASA, who spent most of her days out of the house within the boundaries of America's property, flying around to look for anything interesting.

Confederacy came downstairs, adjusting his tie. "Alright, I have to go," he told the kids. "I won't be long, and America will come back with me. If anythin' happens to y'all, y'all know what to do. If somethin' happens to me or Ame, we'll let y'all know. The original thirteen and DC are in charge, okay?" The kids nodded. "Okay, I'll see you guys later–"

"How are you going to get to the meet-up?" Virgin Islands asked. "You can't drive."

"I can't, but Meri's car can. He told me to put the car on autopilot and plug in the address of the buildin' we're doin' the meet-up in." Confederacy grabbed the car keys. "Bye, guys. Take care o' each other."

The kids bid their uncle goodbye and watched and listened as he left the house. It was going to be awhile before the interview started, so they had some time to themselves. Most of them stayed in the living room while some wandered around the downstairs.