John Miller reached the end of the cold and dark hidden hallway breathing heavily from his run. The tunnel was poorly lit, and they had rarely thought of it as a viable option. Yet in this case amazingly it was. As John turned back he looked and listened carefully. There was no sign that he was being pursued.

Cautiously John reached out and pushed a button. He exited the tunnel through the secret door. As he entered the solarium, John took a quick look around. It seemed safe, and so he got out and quietly shut the door behind him. He wondered how long it would take for his captors to realize that he was gone.

John fumbled around the solarium until he found the hiding place for the ancient cell phone.

"Who even uses these anymore?" John whispered to himself. Crazy he thought, but then again who would even think that it would be a possibility that the President of the U.S. would use one. He guessed, that added to the security of using this outdated method of communication.

John found the number he needed and dialed. On the other end was one of his senior staff at the Pentagon.

"Hello, yes this is President Miller. Yes phase 2 of Code Blue verified. Please send a team for my family first do you understand? Yes, yes I know, but get them first. I am holed up in the solarium for now. Yes I will call back if anything changes. Thank you general."

After hanging up the call John looked around. One thing he noticed was just how quiet the White House had become. It was usually bustling, and even in a less utilized space such as this room you would be able to hear the activity. Right now there was dead silence. John being a military man himself felt the urge to survey the situation. He knew he couldn't engage because he wouldn't even be able to take a single one of these soldiers out. He had seen what they had done to his secret service agents.

John began to feel remorse thinking about his secret service agents. So many of them were dead, who knew what the final count would be. Many of them he had grown quite close to. Just then a ray of sunshine struck John's eyes, temporarily blinding him. The sun had come out from behind the clouds and lit up the entire solarium. John looked up at the beams running across the room. It really was a beautiful room, but he had always found himself too busy with the task of running the country to take the time to really enjoy it. That would change he thought, if he was able to make it out of this thing alive.

Just then John's remorse turned to anger. These men and women needed to pay for what they did even if it cost him his life. He slowly crept to the doorway of the solarium. Upon reaching it he carefully checked in all directions to make sure no one was there. It seemed clear so he came out. As John moved quietly and slowly down the hallway he looked at the walls. They were full of decorative tapestries and photos, many of these things had been there when they had arrived at the White House. Neither he nor Joni were much into decorating. Probably because of its age and history the White House had a kind of old fashioned feel to it that John had always been hesitant to disturb, knowing he was only a temporary occupant.

At each intersection John would look around, trying to ensure that no one would catch sight of him. But what really seemed to stand out to John was the lack of a sound. It seemed to be complete silence. How could that be? Were they just standing around in complete silence? Had they discovered that he was missing?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Yes that must be it, they must have discovered by now. Perhaps that meant he should move a bit faster and make it more difficult to find him. He picked up his pace, but still proceeded with caution.

Now John had moved far enough to start finding bodies. He lifted one of the men up and looked at is face.

"Oh God Walter I am so sorry. You were so young and you didn't deserve this." John said quietly as if Walter could hear him.

Tears welled up in John's eyes. Certainly he hadn't imagined anything like this happening during his Presidency. Having to see good men and women buried all in the name of protecting him was a bit more than he could take. The tears ran down his cheeks now and some reached his lips. He could taste the saltiness.

John began to move further along, and he could tell he was getting closer to where the battle had been. There were more bodies all around him with each step it seemed. He looked down at one of the bodies and lifted it's head.

Well at least we got one or two of those bastards. John thought to himself as he looked into the face of one of the attackers. But they were just too good for these poor men.

Then John's thoughts turned to Code Blue as he walked further onward. Code Blue had been activated, those bastards won't know what hit them.

He kept walking further down the hallway when something broke the silence. John looked around, and could hear the footsteps drawing closer with what sounded like incredible speed.

John's heart felt like it skipped a beat. This is the end John thought to himself as he looked around and realized there was no place to hide. How foolish it had been of him to move around like this with no plan to hide. The footsteps grew louder and then John saw a figure emerge from the haze of the edges of his sight. The person approaching him was in full tactical gear and moving toward him fast.

John froze, ready to accept his fate.

"Sir the cavalry is here!" The man said to John.

"Oh, you are one of my men, this is fantastic." John said.

"Please be cautious, they are extremely dangerous. I would prefer if you all just extract me and get out of harms way." John said examining the young man's face.

"Negative sir, our orders are two fold, to extract you and to eliminate the enemy threat sir." The young soldier said as he grabbed John by the arm and signaled for the rest of the team to come.

A team of 5 men suddenly surrounded the President and moved him along, trying to get him out of harms way as soon as possible. After they made it outside they put the President into a vehicle.

"And my family?" John asked.

"Safe and secure sir, as you requested. We will take you to reunite with them now."

They drove off away from the White House and as they exited 4 more vehicles fell in line around them as an extra layer of security. They headed rapidly to the Pentagon and when they arrived a general greeted them.

"Hello sir."

"Hello general Howard. If you wouldn't mind I would like to see my family."

"Not at all sir, right away."

The general led John to a secure room to see his family. As he entered the room his whole family ran to him and surrounded him. He gave each one of them a hug and held them tightly for a moment.

"Why am I still alive general?"

"Sir it appears their plan had little to do with you. Our men just finished a sweep of the building and there was no one left there, I mean that was alive anyway."

"Really, they just left?"

"Yes sir. We are trying to figure out what their plan was now, but it appears that they have done a good job of wiping all of the footage clean. It is going to take us some time to restore the data."

"Get your best people on it general."

"I already have sir."

"Very good. And now that Code Blue has been activated we will get them, I am sure of it."

"Me too sir. Part of the team will stay and become your new security force for now."

"Thank you general."

"No problem sir."

John looked around at the room at his family. It felt so good to be in their presence, and he was truly grateful for it. But what the hell was it that the aggressors had wanted? He didn't have a clue.