Marian Rizzo

April 23, 2058A distant explosion woke me from a sound sleep. I untangled my legs from my quilt and managed to slide out of bed. Another distant rumble drew me to the window. The horizon lit up with a flash. Next came another rumble, kind of the way thunder follows a lightning strike. I knew the truth. It wasn't a storm at all, but military drones setting off electrical discharges several miles away.
We hadn't expected our neighborhood to get targeted until next weekend. Another flash-closer-told me they were already near our doorstep. Weeks ago we'd received the warning. The new regime was annihilating everything that had been built by the old administration. The Chinese wanted to rebuild America using their own materials and design specifications. They had done what they always wanted to do.
They had taken over America.