[ IP ] Wilderness

I stood on the stony outcrop, the cold wind biting through me. It had been 2 months since I had seen another person, but that was okay with me. The desolation that stretched before me was a testament to the destruction the past year had wrought. 
 
 There had been chatter that the Iranians had allied with the Russians, but throughout the intelligence community, the end-game was n't figured out until it was too late. The sleeper agents had been placed so deeply into government positions slowly over the last decade that it was easy for them to take over. It was a massive coup that took mere weeks to orchestrate. 
 
 When the bombs began dropping on US soil, my unit, the 101st Airborne, had been dispatched to the Rocky Mountains to prepare the bunkers for the top brass, but they never made it. The attack was so well coordinated that nobody saw it coming. The only saving grace was that it was so swift, there was n't even an option for the nukes to be launched. 
 
 Our unit had quickly been overrun, the Russians far outnumbering us. I had watched half of my team die in the first of the fray. The rest of us quickly retreated into the woods to try and regroup, but over several weeks, we were hunted down like animals. Now I was on my own, the last of a rebellious team. I knew that I was still being hunted, but I was well away from trouble right now. 
 
 I had been told about a cave up here in the northern Rockies where I may be able to find some help. I hoped that they were still there. I could use some food, shelter, and mostly, some friendly faces. I prayed that somewhere in the valley below me, I would find some peace, even for a short time. 
 
 Rifle in hand, I stepped off the small stone pillar and began my trek down the hillside. As I walked into the last vestiges of daylight, the birds migrating south over my head, I knew that we had lost our country, our home, but I would be damned if I was going to give up. As long as the blood still coursed through my body, I would fight for the land that I loved.
