THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA Chapter 8: CHAPTER EIGHT - Two Minutes Before the Storm

Read chapter 8 of THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA by JE PAYNE on NovelPedia.

CHAPTER EIGHT SEATTLE Washington Interstate 5 -- 2 Minutes Before the Storm Hannah was not thrilled at the prospect of being carted around by her sister. She was 17 and didn't need a babysitter. Besides, this trip was supposed to be fun. It might have been work for Tanya, but it was supposed to be a vacation for Hannah. This was her winter break. And instead of spending it with her friends in sunny California, there she was, stuck on some stupid freeway outside Seattle. "I can't believe you want to live up here. All it's done since I've been here is rain." Tanya finally got her phone into the hands-free mode in the rental car. "Yes, yes, I'm still here. Please don't hang up. I'm trying to get through to Professor Henry Giles... No, Giles." "You promised me dinosaurs and the Space Needle!" "Please, Hannah! I'm trying to get downtown, but I need this phone call, okay?" "At this rate, they're going to be closed before we get there," Hannah pleaded. "Hannah, I have no control over traffic; stop acting like a child... Hello? Hello, Professor?" All at once, the car died, along with every other car on the freeway around them. The car behind them slammed into the back of the rental, a jarring shock that both girls could feel in their teeth, and Hannah screamed. The center console sparked and buzzed as acrid wisps of white smoke seeped through the seams. "Hannah, sit back and don't touch anything," Tanya snapped as she took her hands off the steering wheel. She could see the whispering arcs crawling across the surface of the car and the cars around her. The static jumped from the cars and into the ground. Both girls watched the sky through the windshield as strange purple and green flashes appeared above the dark clouds. "Hannah, call Mom!" "I can't. Something's wrong with my phone!" Hannah dropped her phone as the casing all at once became too hot to touch, and the screen had gone black. Hours had gone by. Both girls were trapped in the car, now pinned from all sides by the other cars around them. Tanya had debated breaking a window and trying to climb out, but the strange static she had seen earlier on the surface of the cars had changed her mind. "Tanya, what are we going to do? We can't just sit here in the car," Hannah said, through almost a whisper. Through the side view mirror, Hannah saw men working their way through the stalled vehicles. They were dressed in military uniforms and seemed to be checking every car. "What the hell? Why aren't they helping anybody?" "What are you talking about?" Tanya said, reaching up to grab the rearview mirror and adjusting it to see what Hannah was looking at. All at once, both girls jumped and screamed as a gloved fist pounded on Tanya's window. "Sir, we found her!" the man hollered back over his shoulder. "Tanya Ramirez?" Both girls froze, scared, but Tanya managed a small nod. "Ma'am, we are going to have to break your windows to get you out. I need you both to lean toward the center of the car, put your hands and arms over your heads, and protect your faces." Both girls did as they were told, but Tanya protested, screaming back, "This is a rental. You can't just break—" The glass shattered into tiny little cubes and squares, showering the inside of the car. "What the hell, man?" Tanya looked up and glared at the Marine. "Hey, jackboot! Don't fucking touch me!" Tanya looked over to see that they had already cut Hannah's seatbelt and were dragging her out of the window. Not waiting for the Marine at the side of her door to even reach in, Tanya unbuckled and pulled herself out of the car. She cut her hands on the broken glass but managed to avoid the grasp of two Marines. She made it over the hood of the car and to her sister, grabbing her arm. "Don't you fucking touch her. Let her go!" One of the soldiers grabbed her from behind, only to find himself on his back looking up at her, just in time to see her fist coming down onto his face. It took five U.S. Marines to put both girls into two di