BooksBarbecue
Back The Asset
Chapters (86)
  1. Foreword
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. 50
  52. 51
  53. 52
  54. 53
  55. 54
  56. 55
  57. 56
  58. 57
  59. 58
  60. 59
  61. 60
  62. 61
  63. 62
  64. 63
  65. 64
  66. 65
  67. 66
  68. 67
  69. 68
  70. 69
  71. 70
  72. 71
  73. 72
  74. 73
  75. 74
  76. 75
  77. 76
  78. 77
  79. 78
  80. 79
  81. 80
  82. 81
  83. 82
  84. 83
  85. 84
  86. Afterword

When she caught her breath, she said, “We’ve got to get everyone back inside. There’s going to be bloodshed if we don’t.”

“We’re not going back inside,” the man said. “They can’t keep us like this.”

Sofia stood and climbed onto the fence to give herself some extra height. The soldiers immediately turned their guns on her.

Sofia ignored them and faced the crowd. She raised her voice.

“Listen to me. Everybody listen to me.”

The people in the crowd looked up at her.

“We need to go back inside the hospital and wait this out. We’re not safe out here.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” a man shouted.

Sofia’s eyes were so irritated by the chlorine she could hardly see.

Someone shouted, “Look at her. The virus is already taking her.”

Sofia tried to tell them it was the chlorine but too many voices were drowning her out.

Then she heard a rumbling in the air. She looked up at the sky.

“What is that?” someone cried.

Sofia turned to the soldiers. They were all looking at the sky.

A moment later, a single Sukhoi SU-34 fighter jet blasted overhead at low altitude.

The jet had taken off from Chelyabinsk, two hundred kilometers south of the city, and was traveling at a strike velocity of mach 1.2

The sound was deafening.

A moment later, a massive explosion knocked everyone to the ground. The people were flung against the gate, almost crushing Sofia who fell to the ground at their feet. She couldn’t hear anything. Her vision went blank. And when she was able to make things out again, she realized she was looking out through the gate at the soldiers. They’d been blown back by the blast too.

She put her hand to her head and touched her ears. Blood was coming from them. She struggled to her feet, using the gate for support, and as the smoke cleared, she realized that the hospital morgue had just been completely destroyed.

She shook her head. She didn’t know what she was seeing. She couldn’t comprehend it.

The people on the ground were beginning to get back to their feet. They were dazed, disoriented, but as soon as they gathered their senses, panic set in. Everyone, at once, wanted out.

The hospital was being bombed.

They took hold of the gate and started shaking it. Some people began climbing it. It was twelve feet high and wasn’t difficult to scale. It had been designed to keep out vehicles, not a crowd. Sofia was trapped, pinned by the mass of people against the gate.

There were speakers on one of the vehicles and a voice came out from the loudspeaker.

“Get back,” the voice said. “Get back or we’ll open fire.”

The crowd surged forward. More people began to pull themselves up onto the gate. Some had reached the top and were swinging themselves over the spikes.