President
I have been preparing for this job my entire life. I graduated cum laude in Harvard, worked at the office of a Supreme Court Justice, was a state senator first and a US senator later. I climbed in the ranks of Senate until I served as chairman of some of the most powerful committees… no one has ever prepared as much as I did to become President of the United States. And now that I’ve finally achieved my life-long dream, a 21-year old brat becomes a few miles tall and fucks everything up!
My first reaction is to find someone to blame. I can see plenty of people in my mind. The first name that comes to mind is that of my predecessor when the brat’s sister, Eileen Peterson, became a hundred feet tall thirteen years ago.
Had it not been for the fact that there had been victims, her appearance in River City would even have been taken as amusing. She was a cute girl and the footage of her trek across the city, her size rivalling with buildings, had been as entertaining to the public as it had been shocking. Someone should have sounded the red alert back then. If Eileen Peterson could grow gigantic and mock any attempt at stopping her, someone else might be able to do the same in the future. And yet, after some initial years of intensive research on the girl without any results, funding had started to divert to other projects. And here, I know that I have some of the blame too, since I was one of the ones at Senate that pushed for that.
I was not looking at this right, back then. I looked at Eileen Peterson only from her military value. If we could find a way to replicate her growth process and her powers we would be able to create the super-soldier. Never again would America have to sacrifice any lives in those nasty foreign conflicts. Our supremacy would be ensured forever. I never thought on the project as something preventive, as something that would help the country prevent another person from becoming a giant. And I never thought that, had someone have to grow again, it would be another girl in a bikini, this time considerably more spoilt and with the ability to become way bigger.
And now, it appears, I have to pay the consquences of my lack of judgment. And the country is paying them too. Earlier in the morning I was concerned about the political implications of Victoria O’Neal’s growth. Now I’m worried that there might be no country left to vote if we cannot stop her soon.
Damn! She did not even let me enjoy my first hundred days as President!
“Sir” a voice to my right calls for my attention and I turn. General Sanderson wants to point something out at me.
I look at the large screens of the situation room in the Air Force one and see a view of the girl from above. Seeing her size rival some of the features of the landscape sends a shiver down my spine.
“She’s off the coast of Georgia. She has stopped” the General says.
“Why?” I ask
“Wait, it’s not Georgia… she just corrected her position. She stopped right in front of the naval base in Charleston”
I see her crouching down and reaching out. I don’t see what she’s picking, but she’s bringing it to her mouth. It’s harder to see it from the azimuthal view, but soon it becomes clear that she’s chewing.
“Oh my God!” I say.
Then, through the line that has been open to communicate to her, I hear my Secretary of Homeland Security screaming.
“Please, stop eating people!”
I see the girl looking up as she hears the words in her ear. Then, she frowns and speaks in the childish and very mischievous voice that I’ve come to hate:
“PAUL, I THOUGHT I HAD BEEN CLEAR ABOUT BEING INTERRPUTED” she says in a scolding tone.
“Please, stop eating those ships!” Paul Carson, audibly shocked says.
“I’M HUNGRY” the girl says, as if this explained everything. “I THOUGHT YOU’D APPRECIATE ME NOT EATING A CITY THIS TIME” she adds, noticeably mocking.
I feel some cold sweat running down my back. She is eating ships. She is eating ships, full of Navy personnel whole. And from up here, with the impersonality a satellite camera with no sound can convey to an entire scene, it barely looks as if she were eating some snacks.
I realize that despite all the briefings and all the meetings, my mind cannot really grasp what’s happening, what this girl is about.
“I’LL BE IN DC SOON, PAUL. GET READY. FIND A CHOPPER. I’LL WANT A FACE TO FACE WITH YOU”
Everyone on the room is taken by surprise. I can hear Paul shivering through The line. Victoria does not give him time to reply.
“IT’S EITHER THAT OR I’LL BLOW THE ENTIRE CITY TO ASHES WITH YOU ON IT. SO, YOUR CHOICE. FROM MY SIDE, EVEN IF I MADE VEGAS MY NEW CAPITAL, I’D RATHER KEEP DC IN ONE PIECE… OR MOSTLY IN ONE PIECE. I NEED TO LEAVE A BIT OF THE COUNTRY STANDING IF I’M TO RULE AND ALL THAT, AFTER ALL”
“But…”
“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING ELSE UNTIL I’M AT DC. ANY OTHER WORD, AND ANOTHER CITY GOES” Victoria says, as a little girl throwing a temper tantrum.
The line closes. In the situation room, we all look at each other, no one saying anything for a few very uncomfortable seconds.
Some chatter erupts. And then, General Sanderson raises and eyebrow and says he has an idea. All the conversations are suddenly put on hold. Sanderson finally exposes his plan.
“It’s very risky” I say
“We have no other options” the General replies.
“What if it does not work?” I ask
“It has to work. She cannot be invulnerable to everything” the General assures.
“Oh my God” someone says in the background.
We all turn to look at the screens showing the antics of the gigantic brat.
“What’s going on?” I ask
“She did it just for fun!” someone says in a very upset tone.
“What did she do?” I ask. From the images, it’s hard to see what’s going on. Then I notice, The coastal area right next to the girl seems to be in bad shape.
“She just… she just splashed some water into the coast… with her feet… just for fun”
The girl’s volume was turned down, but someone is working quickly to recover both the images and the sound and I soon see the girl playfully kicking some water and giggling.
“Several cities in the area are reporting major damage. Victims are in the tens of thousands” someone with a phone next to her ear says.
I feel my blood starting to boil. I turn to General Sanderson and say:
“Let’s do it”
We are speaking with Paul Carson soon after the decision is made. The General takes his time to explain the details of the plan. The land becomes silent.
“Ok” I can hear my Secretary of Homeland Security saying.
“What?” I ask.
“I’ll do it” he says.
“You don’t have to be on the chopper, Paul. You just need to talk to her. She will never be able to know if you’re there” I say.
“No. I have to be there. We cannot risk the plan failing just for a man” Paul says.
“What the hell are you saying?” I ask.
“We have no clue about what the brat is capable of. If that chopper lands in her hand and she, somehow, finds out I’m not there, the entire plan will fail. The future of the nation should not depend on one man” he says.
“Paul…” I start.
“Look William, it’s not like I enjoy being a martyr. But we both know it’s the only way. Get me in touch with Sanderson’s men. We need to start preparing right away. The damned brat is fucking fast” Paul says.
“I will never forget this” I say.
“Make sure that everything’s ready to hit her once the initial strike goes. Make it count” Paul says.
“We will” I reply solemnly.
“I’ll make my best to lure her as far away from the urban areas as possible” the voice of the Homeland Security Secretary comes back through the line.
“Thanks Paul”