The Annex

Chapter 11: The Circus

Taneytown, Maryland

     Sleep was one commodity that he wished he could get more of, but now, sleeping was the enemy. Every time he closed his eyes and left his mind drift he could see the same visuals again and again. The fall of DC haunted his dreams after he escaped capture from the invaders. It was odd because if he thought about it during the day, it felt like the siege happened years ago, but in his dreams, they were from yesterday. It was so vivid to see soldiers and marines around him disintegrate into piles of dust while being overwhelmed in the trenches. It was almost crazy to see how fast the Americans got pushed back to their capital in a matter of days.

     Or was it hours?

     It was dark, but the surrounding embers of the flames around the trenches made the sky look orange. Their Colonel had the idea of creating a barrier around the White House to prevent the invaders from capturing their Capital Building. With a massive military presence in the area, 2nd Lieutenant Cody Vanh thought that there was no way the invaders could smash their lines. Within the first hour of battle, they were getting pushed back to Lafayette Square, leaving hundreds of servicemen dead in the streets. In the final stages of the siege, he, and the rest of the 1st DC Rifles, cut bait and retreated into the suburbs as the Federal Government collapsed around them.

     Now, the rest of the DC Rifles, under the command of Captain Heather Antrim, found themselves in the forest near Taneytown. Between him and Captain Antrim, they had roughly twelve soldiers and marines and enough firepower to annoy the aliens. Being Antrim's second in command, the two were aware of the militia that rose up shortly after the Landfall, but any kind of resistance in and around DC was completely destroyed. The surrounding states all had some kind of resistance movement, and he and Heather have been trying to figure out where to go. Pennsylvania had a well-organized militia, but there was a large presence of aliens there. Delaware's militia was considered well hidden, but their most recent communications with them went dark, so there was a chance they could have been wiped out.

     "LT, where are you?" a voice asked and Vanh looked out of his tent, only to find Captain Antrim looking around with a notebook in her hand. Sighing, Vanh crawled out and sauntered over to his superior.

     "Captain," he started, and the two retreated into her tent. It was regular for the duo to go over supplies and what to improve, and what the next play would be. Almost like a staff meeting with just two people.

     Once inside, Captain Antrim pulled out a map from her rucksack. Flipping so that it was on its back, Heather unfolded the map and placed it on her rucksack, using it as a makeshift table. She then reached for her M-4 and pulled out the magazine. Plucking one bullet out, she placed it where she believed they were located. The map had all of her personal notes of hostile patrols, areas of interest, and potential friendly forces. It was decorated with red arrows and blue circles all over. Seeing this, Vanh took a seat across from his Captain and the two got to work.

     "We're not far from Pennsylvania. We can probably hop the border by nightfall and find one of the militias for support. Maybe there are some tactical units in the area as well." She said without taking her eyes from the map she pulled out.

     "It's not a bad idea, ma'am. But, we heard of the fall of Kingston as well, so I wouldn't get our hopes up." Vanh responded. He trusted Heather Antrim, but her tactical acumen was in question as she wasn't exactly infantry. If he remembered correctly, she was an air defense operator for a few years before going reserves and teaching ROTC at the local university. She saw deployments, but that was years ago, and no one could have prepared for the Landfall.