"Don't worry. Get some rest first; we can take the back roads." Jerry started the pickup. After the old clunker belched a cloud of black smoke from its rear, it started successfully once more.
Despite being old and beat-up, pickups were tough and durable. They had plenty of uses across vast rural areas, and their oversized tires and high suspension gave them a certain degree of off-road capability.
If they ran into another bison migration, perhaps they could leave the highway and drive through the fields.
Of course, as the news broadcasts continued pouring from the radio, the family grew more and more worried.
Just moments ago, they had learned that the White House had fallen. Even the president, who had tried to take shelter in an underground bunker, had been captured and killed by a supervillain. His body was still hanging from the Washington Monument.
The Pentagon had been silenced as well. The lunatics had somehow acquired Tactical Neutron Bombs. One blast had left the entire building intact, but every living thing inside had been instantly wiped out by Fallout.
Besides these iconic institutions of the United States, governments at every level, emergency public service departments, military bases, and arms factories had all come under attack.
Strangely, the internet and communications systems were still functioning normally. If someone was controlling these lunatics from behind the scenes, then that person clearly wanted everyone to watch themselves die with their own eyes.
At least, that was what Laurie believed. She glanced at Clark, who was resting with his eyes closed in a corner of the back seat, then lowered her head to look through the documents she had found earlier.
She had basically concluded that something she did not understand was lurking behind this entire chain of events. Now, she only