"Nobody panic." Les said. Too late for that. Mel had shrunk back against the couch. Naomi stared off into space, as if not sure what to do. Seph was glancing around the room. Vivian had her head in her hands.
"Panicking?" I said. I sounded crazy. "Who is fucking panicking?"
I panicked.
Les shook his head. "If anywhere is safe right now, it's here, in a government building."
Naomi took a deep breath, and spoke softly, as if trying to convince xyrself. "Yeah. No one's going to risk losing someone like Whiteford to a bomb."
"Hell, no one's going to risk losing Cade to a bomb." Seph added. My cheeks briefly flushed red. After a moment, I realized what I was doing and blushed even more. I turned my head. I could not let Seph see that.
All was silent, and I believed the red had faded from my cheeks, so I turned back. Everyone was staring blankly at points around the room. I pictured armored missiles launching through the sky, followed by trails of fiery smoke. I could see it in my mind—hitting cities. The screams and explosions burned themselves into my brain. I shook my head, focusing back on the scene in front of me. I opened my mouth, but an announcement cut me off.
"All intelligence agents come down to sector B-2." Echoed from the speakers. The metal on the doors retracted slowly.
There was a brief pause. "Is that... it?" Mel asked softly. "Are we safe?"
There was the thud of footsteps down the hallway. Officer Sanchez burst in, panting. "Get down there." He said between breaths. "There's something you need to see."
We were on our feet in an instant. Sanchez led us down the hallway, and we burst into the main lobby. He turned toward the two double doors leading out to a gravel path. He shoved the doors open, and each of us pushed them back as we came, from the little they slipped back in the gap between runners.
Gravel crunched below our feet. I almost slipped once or twice, but kept up with the group. We turned to what I assumed to be B-2, exiting our current course to the center of Xarnon, B-3: The Sphere. B-2 was a mainly square building, with just a little jutting out toward the direction of the main building I had entered through. Sanchez slid to a stop. He fumbled for his key chain, then put an ID card up to a small black scanner, currently with a red light. It beeped after a second, and turned green. He swung upon the door, holding it for us, and we stepped in.
A maze of black walled, shiny-tile floored halls awaited. Officer Sanchez wasted no time in rushing to lead us to a door labelled "Analysis."
We stepped in. The room was an exact duplicate to The Sphere, from the rows of computers, to the stage, to the large projected screen. But there was no lesson going on here. Officer's hands were flying over keyboards, typing and clicking. They chattered with instructions and results. At the top was a table of data along with a map. Bits of results flashed so fast that my eyes couldn't comprehend everything. There were red x's across countless countries, countless dotted paths, and blinking dots.
"What the hell is happening here?" Seph whispered.
"We're trying to figure out who's targeted, where the missiles are, and who is already dead." Sanchez responded. We kept close to the doorway.
"Who's... already dead?" I asked hesitantly.
He nodded. "Old enemies. Now that Valamir's in with North Korea, and maybe a few others, he's probably launching attacks on previous targets as soon as possible."
My face paled. Seph gasped. Les and Naomi were unreadable. Vivian and Mel's expressions did not change.
"Please tell me countries like Ukraine are okay," I pleaded.
Sanchez looked down at me, sympathy glistening in the center of his eyes. "I wish I could tell you so, but... the chances are not looking good."
I felt an ominous pang in my heart. It can't be... no, fuck no!
Sanchez didn't seem to notice. He walked toward the front of the room, meeting Whiteford. They exchanged shortly, then motioned for us to come over. Everyone began to follow Sanchez's previous path. I didn't dare budge. All I could think of was my last living, loving relatives engulfed in a fiery blaze. They had been trapped in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. I had kept in contact with them under the pretense that I was still in school, studying in my junior year.
And now... they were gone. Livia and Khan, their young, high-pitched screams. Their bloody, burnt, broken bones. If those were still left under the carnage. Tears threatened to spill out, a pain in my chest. I can't be weak, I protested against the visions flashing in my mind.
I closed my eyes and bit down. I focused on the irony of the acrid taste of the blood pooling in my mouth.
A rush of memories pounded in my stomach. I was suddenly lying in the bed, pinned down. A weight so heavy was on my chest. And my head was being hit over and over again. There was too much blood, blood everywhere. Gunshots and blood. Little fragments. Livia and Khan waving goodbye. Their bodies; broken. A man and a woman, fighting. I was hurt. I hurt them. Fighting, so much fighting.
And death.
So much death.
I felt a tugging, no longer in my chest, but on my arm. I opened my eyes, and saw Seph's face. It was gentle, but his face was unreadable.
"Come on." He said softly. He led me forward.
My... whatever that was... had gone unnoticed by most in the room. Whiteford was staring at me. Sanchez had averted his eyes. Vivian was staring at the people working. Everyone else looked at me with a mix of sympathy and concern. I let myself get pulled to the front of the room.
Whiteford began briefing us. "Things may get a little messy here," she began. I braced myself. "You okay, kid?" She asked.
"Yeah." I lied after a brief pause.
She bit her lip, as if pondering whether I was truly alright. She seemed to accept my answer and began: "We have confirmed nuclear missiles in the airspace - not only today, but also a few days ago. We have come to the unfortunate conclusion that Russia struck once already, on what we believe to be Ukraine."
I pushed down the feelings building up inside me, and just nodded. I needed to feel numb. Whiteford continued. "Now we believe Canada has fired back, not at us-" The group breathed a collective sigh of relief. "-But at Asia. Where, we do not know. But we think you might be able to find out." She pointed at a set of six computers at the edge of the room.
Les immediately dashed towards the set. We all followed. They took only a few seconds to boot up, and we got to work. Each of us sent high-level pings to computers across the globe.
"Indonesia is fine." Les said.
"Vietnam is unharmed," muttered Mel.
"How the fuck are we supposed to ping North Korea?" I asked in a panic, when we reached it on the list of countries.
"Do an illegal connection, or something!" Seph said, his fingers racing across the keyboard. "There's got to be one little weak spot."
"Found it!" Les yelped.
"How-" I began.
"No time!"
He entered the command. Everything slowly stopped as the color drained from his face.
"What? What is it?" Naomi asked.
All was quiet for a moment. "They're gone. All of it's gone." Les whispered.
Whiteford rushed over. "We've closed the case."
"Us too." Seph muttered.
Whiteford took a look at Les's screen, and immediately rushed to the front of the room. "All agents, listen up!" She called. The operatives slowly stopped what they were doing and turned to her. "Today was a momentous day, a tragic day. It is of regret that I announce," she stopped, as if fighting to keep emotion out of her voice. "We lost two countries today. One was always considered an enemy, another a friend. But that does not account for the great evil that has been done."
And then she spoke the words that I had been dreading:
"Both Ukraine and North Korea have undergone a complete genocide by nuclear attack."