"I can't believe it..." He said as they flew over the countryside in thier "re-barrowed" helicopter. "Believe it," replied one of his companions. "When did it get like this?" The pilot asked. "Within the last four months," said feminine member of the group. "I can't believe it got this bad..." said the first one again. He was looking down out of the open side of the huey helicopter. The land below was a virtual wastland. Where had once been beutiful farmland, was now a hot, sticky, muggy desart. Every now and then they would see a shanty town or a traler park that was a town. The run down roads were hardly more then dirt tracks, and the power and suage system were virtually nonexistant. "Four months," he muttered, "it looks more like fourty years...How did this happen?" He asked, looking away from the window at his companion on the far side. "Missles? Bombs? Nothing so bold. No, they slowly gaind power, and them, when no one could stop them, they hit hard and fast. They covered most of the country in two weeks, burning everything in thier path. This is the result..." The fiminine member of the group, who was in the co-pilots seat, continued the story: "They were ready, we didn't know how they managed to do it without more people knowing. They planted an explosive in a building in the center of each major city across the nation. They detonated them in sinc and blamed it on masive arsonal terrorists-" "That could've killed thousands!" The pilot exclaimed in shock. For a brief moment, the helicopter lurched to the side, but the pilot quickly regained his sences and leveled them off. "It did..." the co-pilot said. "It's a good thing I'm belted in, or I would be on the ground by now," The first said, triing to lighten the mood some, it didn't work...his name was Thomas Brigs, he always tried to lighten the mood in light of something diar. He and his friend, the pilot, had been in Russia on a mission trip that had tied them off from the country. An ace mathmatition that speaks in English, Spanish, and Russian as well as a fundimental knowledge in Greek and Latin, he knows some basic computor programing skils as well. The pilot, named William Birch, was the leader of their two man unit. Obviously, he was a trained pilot and long time friend of his younger partneer's parents. He has an extinsive knowledge of the Bible and human nature, makeing him capeable of out-guessing opponents when nessicary. The shocking change in the U.S. is what brought them back. The co-pilot, Jessie Backer and her two minute older twin brother, Jessy Backer, were an unbeatable team. They were sent to assist Brigs and Birch when someone was triing to kill them back in Russia. It statred about three days earlier. "Mr. Backer, you assignment is to assist them in any way possible," said the older man over the phone. "But sir, there's no way we can-" "You have to, I need every one of the members of my team to make it work, and...it'll be real bad for them if they get caught by those trators..." "Jessie? All right, sir, I think we may have a plan...We will contact you when finished, that is, if WE aren't finished." "That's a good lad, now get it done, out." Jessy and Jessie Backer had been watching from the rooftop of a three story building. Below, on the road, there was a ring of troops calling to the two in the center: "Put your hands in the air and surrender, now!" "All right, Jessy," Jessie started, "here goes nothing..." She tossed down two gasmasks that landed right down next to the two in the center, thinking to herself, I hope they can figure out what's going on... The troops started looking up at the surrounding buildings, triing to figure out what fell down. Thier commander began yelling at them to watch the prisioners, but as he himself looked into the center of thier ring of troops, he saw Thomas Brigs smiling through his gasmask. The commander's jaw gaped open as the canisters of gas were dropped over the street by the two Backers above. A moment later, the commander and his troops slumped to the ground in a deep sleep. The last conscience thought he had before he fall to sleep was, the general isn't going to like this. Sliding down cables, the Backers led the way to a nearby fire escape and up they scrambled to the top of the building. There was a helicopter that the Backers had waiting. They piled abord with little persuasion, as soldiers were waking thier way up the fire escape, and had taken a few pop shots at them from ground level. It was clear that some one didn't exactly like Brigs and Birch. Jessie skillfully lifted off amists the storm of gunfire from the blacksuited troopers that had just reached the top of the building, and they flew off into the horizon.