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"I don't want to go further into her question, but just this much about it. If Russia wants to risk a war, we will be ready with the necessary determination and with all the means at our disposal to go to extremes to defend our country and our allies with all the means at our disposal. We will not start the war, but we will defend ourselves if it comes to war."
A murmur went through the hall. The U.S. president had de facto declared war on Russia, as he had said this morning that if further sanctions were imposed on Russia, war would ensue.
All of a sudden David Thompson burst into the house. He was in a hurry. He was about 5'8" and very slim. He wore a classy black suit and white shirt and a blue tie.
"Honey, we've got to go," he said, panting for breath, as the almost threw his brown leather briefcase on the table. He was quite out of breath.
"What is it darling?" said his wife Eva. When she asked, she was surprised at herself for asking such a stupid question. Because she already suspected what it was about. About the possible thermonuclear war, which was imminent. Was it because it was so surreal yet? She didn't know.
"We have to get out of the city. Off to the country. There's probably going to be a war soon. Quickly pack your things. Take only what you need. And pack food, too. I've already seen a supermarket being looted near here," he said, speaking quickly. His bustle was contagious.
"Emma, you go wake Tim," Eva said to her daughter Emma. She was now seized with mild panic as well.
Emma ran to wake them brother. She rushed into his room and immediately yelled, "Tim wake up."
He woke up right away.
"What is it?" said Tim, who was still totally sleepy and sitting in bed in his pajamas, to his sister.
"We need to pack the things. Quickly get dressed." She ran and got a suitcase from the storage room. She ran with it back to Tim's room, who was still standing there in his pajamas.
She threw the suitcase on the floor near his closet and frantically opened it.
"Why haven't you gotten dressed yet?" she said to Tim, annoyed.
"What's the hurry?" said Tim.
"There's going to be a war soon. We have to get out of here," Emma said to her brother, who didn't really understand the hurry.
"Come on, now get dressed," she said to him with emphasis in her voice. Tim began to get dressed.
Emma pulled open the drawers of the closets and hastily threw in some clothes.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, David was busy packing groceries. He had gotten boxes from the garage and was emptying the pantries. He threw in cans of food and disposable jars. A jar of pickles fell to the floor and broke. Broken glass and pickles lay scattered on the stone floor.
He looked down. His wife Eva, seeing this, said, "Leave it. I'll clean it up."
"No, leave it. We don't have time," David said, looking aghast at Eva, who blushed. It was probably habit and reflex that she wanted to clean it up. But it was strange, it seemed like she still didn't get what situation they were in.
"This is going to stink. It's vinegar," Eva cursed, still hoping they would come back later after all.
"Doesn't matter. There may soon be no more London," David said to forcefully remind his wife of the situation they were in.
Nevertheless, she got a rag and a bucket and put the broken pieces and the pickles into the plastic bucket and mopped up the vinegar.
David cursed a little, but would not say anything. He just let her.
"Where did you put the long-lasting food? I bought some for Pandemic once, didn't I?" asked David.
"Those? Och, I stashed them in the basement," said his wife.
David packed the one box full and then took it to the SUV. He then ran down to the basement and got nine boxes of long-life food and stowed those, too, in the increasingly full SUV.
His wife Eva, meanwhile, had packed suitcases with clothes and brought some down, too.
"There are more suitcases up there in the bedroom," she told David.
He looked toward the car.
"Oh, a few more things will go in," he said, and ran up to the bedroom, where he also immediately saw the packed suitcases, grabbed those by the handle and ran downstairs. He stumbled as he ran down the narrow stairs.
Don't break your neck now, he thought, and cursed and ran a little slower down the stairs.
Emma and Tim were coming. Tim had a small backpack and Emma had two suitcases in her hand. "There's another suitcase upstairs," she said to her father.
And cursed when she saw the full car.
"Is there anything important in there?" asked David.
"Uh. Which of my clothes. So important yes," said Emma.
"It's fine I'll get it," David said and ran up and got that suitcase too and squeezed it into the trunk.
They were already in the SUV and about to leave when David remembered.
"Did you load any of the camping stuff into the car?"
"No. Forgot," his wife cursed.
He got out, so did his wife Eva, and they ran to the garage and hurriedly picked up a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads and other things. They stowed it in the SUV. Some of it also in the back seat between Tim and Emma. David remembered that he had four full 20 liter gas cans, which he had bought once because of the pandemic. David ran into the garage and got the four gas cans. He cursed, only getting one of them into the trunk by pushing. He saw a suitcase where he suspected some of his stuff was inside, since it was one of his suitcases, and pulled it out and threw it toward the house. He stowed the other three gas cans in the SUV and slammed the tailgate shut. He got back in the car and they drove off. As they drove down the street, they saw some of the neighbors were also frantically packing up and heading out of town. They still drove slowly, also to see what the neighbors were doing. David turned on the radio.
On the radio they heard:
"Russia is issuing an ultimatum to the United States. They have one hour to withdraw the sanctions". It was also said that the stock markets in Russia had collapsed. There were bank runs. Also, all over the world, similar images of chaos in the financial markets.
After leaving the neighborhood where they lived, David drove as fast as he could in the traffic. Again and again he drove a little faster than the speed limit. He didn't care if he got a speeding ticket.
Near the on-ramp to the freeway was another major gas station. David glanced at the fuel gauge. The tank was only half full. He slowed down and looked at the gas station. It was busy, but not so busy that one had to wait longer. It seemed to still go that one could refuel. He saw no looters.
He put on his blinker and turned into the gas station.
"You go on in and see if they have any gas cans left. If they have any, buy some," David told his wife.
He stopped at a free gas pump and saw that the one next to him was also busy filling gas cans. As were others he saw at the pumps. Eva got out and went into the gas station. She looked around. On a shelf she saw two more 30 liter gas cans. She ran over and grabbed both and then went to the cash register and paid for those. David meanwhile had finished filling up outside and was still waiting for his wife. He then saw her coming with the two gas cans. She handed them to him. Hastily, he opened the cap and inserted the gasoline gun.
"Go ahead and get in line to pay," David told his wife. The latter ran back inside the gas station. She paid and then hurried back into the vehicle.
David started the car and drove off. He stopped at the exit of the gas station and checked the traffic. A government convoy was just passing them. Several state cars, accompanied by some policemen on motorcycles with blue lights. When the convoy had passed, it drove onto the road. The convoy was going faster than allowed.
They were following those on the highway for some distance. In the air, they could see about a dozen military helicopters flying to the airport. They then saw that convoy turn off toward the airport.
"They must be going to the airport," Eva said as she saw the convoy turn onto the highway exit that led to the airport.
"Yeah, they're probably fleeing," David speculated.
They drove out of town.
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