THE COLLAPSE: Swantown Road (9 page)

Social media abounded with memorial posts for those who perished inside the city, from both sides.  People posted missing persons alerts in desperate hope of finding loved ones who were inside the city before or shortly after the Chicken Slaughter occurred. 

Two camps developed on social media, those who supported the rebels (protesters) and those that claimed to be “Patriots” that supported the government/military.  The protesters cried foul and advocated raising awareness of the government’s debauchery.   The patriots supported martial law and military action, and defended the government’s actions with vicious posts declaring that the lawbreakers of Memphis were just poor, cruel, rotten people that simply took advantage of a crisis to loot, plunder, rape, and even kill for the sheer enjoyment of it.  The soldiers that were deployed to Memphis were just doing their job as ordered.  Why did they have to die at the hands these selfish, disrespectful punks?  Why couldn’t they just chill out and let everything go back to normal?  The patriots, however, were outnumbered by a majority of the population.  Most believed that the government was completely out of line.  Some even believed, and professed, that the government was attempting to “cleanse” the urban area of Memphis of its poverty-stricken and impoverished individuals.  And of course, race was brought into the scheme, since two-thirds of the city was classified as African-American. 

Some of those individuals that claimed governmental treachery had exceptionally large followings on social media accounts, and used their powerful electronic soapboxes to “warn” of a greater government conspiracy, that the “cleansing” will not end in Memphis, and shall continue the progression to every major city in the United States, and maybe even the entire world, until all the dregs on society have been eliminated.  Wiped out.  Killed.  Beware!  Your city is NEXT! 

The unfortunate aspect of these prophetic postings and absurd predictions is that they were shared millions upon millions of times.  And, of course, since it was officially on Facebook and shared so many times, it had to be true, right?  Everything on the internet is true and real.

Chapter 11 – Fish’s Surprise and The Executive Offer (Order)

Over on Whidbey Island, not much else had changed in the days following the Chicken Slaughter, other than the occasional argument amongst those who were either passionately for, or against, the government’s occupation of Memphis.  Most of them were repeating what they had read on social media, and had nothing new of their own to offer up in the argument.  Hardly anyone, save a few older folks, and some so-called ‘paranoid’ folks, began to prepare.  Prepare, yes.  For what?  Who knows.  But
they
were the smart ones.  In today’s lingo they would be labeled as “Preppers”.

In nearby Seattle and Tacoma, things weren’t as humdrum.  City center protests were staged in support of the citizens of Memphis. 
Free Memphis!  Leave Memphis!
Stop the Slaughter!
People marched in great numbers to demonstrate their anger of the occupation of Memphis, and others went ahead and ‘occupied’ the downtown areas much like the Occupy Wall Street groups had done a few years prior to that.  By and large, the protests were peaceful in nature and very few were arrested.  But, for how long would that last?

*****

Stephen had not heard from Fish for a few days, but assumed that he was busy with work and with Constantine. 
Real busy
, alright.  Although Stephen appreciated the peace and quiet, he wondered what his best friend was up to, and if he was ever going to get his truck back from him.   Stephen was relieved when he finally received a text that Fish would be coming over on Friday, February 8th to drop off his truck and show him his ‘new ride’.  He also told Stephen not to worry about helping him with the dropoff, since he would be employing Connie to follow him there to return the truck.

“Bring over my new ride?”  Stephen quoted the text, reading aloud.  Tarra heard him while she went around and picked up some used napkins and empty plates that had previously held snack food from the living room.

“You didn’t expect him to borrow your truck forever, did you?”  She asked, walking past him.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”  Stephen laughed.

“Nope.”  Tarra said, with mock seriousness.  She already knew the answer.

“At least I finally get my baby back.”  Stephen said with a smile, his arms raised high above his head as he stretched in his recliner.  Tarra quickly side-stepped over to him and plopped down hard, butt-to-crotch, on Stephen in mid-stretch.

“I thought that
I
was your baby?”  She laughed.

“You are!  Too!”  Stephen shouted as the air left his lungs from the impact.  “You also just ruined any chance of us having any more kids!”

*****

It was raining on Friday evening, and the island was dark and chilly when two sets of headlights warned the Alexanders of Fish and Connie’s arrival.

“I can’t wait to see this!”  Stephen exclaimed as he ran to the door.  Tarra followed as well, with the Kays at her heels screeching “Uncle Fish!”.

Tarra told the girls to stay inside, for it was too cold and wet for them to be running around out there.  As Stephen remained on their tiny concrete porch to stay dry, he almost gasped as he witnessed Fish plop out of a shiny black mammoth in the driveway.  A brand new Ford F-150 with a six-inch lift kit and a foglight bar in all its fresh-from-the-dealership glory stood stalwartly in the rain.  It had huge tires and a menacing chrome grill-guard.  Stephen and Tarra were both speechless as they watched Fish hustle over to Stephen’s truck to let Connie out. 

“What in the hell is that?”  Stephen yelled.

“My new truck!”  Fish replied proudly, as he and Connie ran toward them to get out of the rain. 

“It is….pretty big.”  Stephen said, not knowing what else to say.  Tarra instructed the lovebirds to kick off their shoes as they entered the house.

“Yeah, it is.  That’s why it took so long for me to return your truck.  I had to wait for the dealer to jack it up with the lift kit and swap out the stock tires with the big knobbies.  Otherwise I would have brought it back sooner.”  Fish explained.

Fish gave Stephen a hopeful glance and asked, “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, man, it’s pretty nice.”  He replied, then added, “How much did that monstrosity cost you?”

“A little bit more than the Mustang did, after all the work they did to it and the new tires and stuff.  But, check this out, I don’t have to make any payments until May!”  Fish said, excitedly.  Connie stood next to Fish, nodding her head in agreement as if it all made sense.  It didn’t.  Stephen figured that she must have been as clueless about finances as he was.

Tarra, who had not yet commented, still had her hand over her mouth in disbelief.  She then snapped out of it and grabbed Fish by the shoulders and shook him roughly, shouting, “What in the hell is wrong with you!”  Directly into his face.  Connie shot her a quick evil glance, as if to say ‘get your damn hands off my man’ but elected to say nothing.

Fish countered Tarra with, “It’s all Stephen’s fault!”

“Stephen’s?  What?” 

“Yes.  It’s all his fault because he borrowed me his truck.  If he hadn’t borrowed it to me, I wouldn’t have liked driving it, and then I wouldn’t have wanted one of my own.”  Fish said.

Stephen was stunned, and said, “What in the hell kind of logic is that?”

“Real logic!”  Fish said.  “I’m serious!”

“What’s sad, is that you really
are
serious!”  Stephen cried out.  He shook his head and then pointed out the door toward the truck and added, “That giant beast out there probably isn’t even diesel, is it?”

“No, you’re right, it’s gas. Unleaded.”  Fish replied, sheepishly.

Tarra laughed loudly and roared, “That thing is gonna get like ten miles to the gallon, jackass!”

“Yeah, but I pretty much only do island-driving.”  Fish said, as if ‘island-driving’ somehow magically bestowed more miles to the gallon upon a vehicle.

Stephen noticed that Tarra’s eyes suddenly lit up out of nowhere.  She reached a hand out to Fish and ordered, “Give me the keys.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so!”  Tarra demanded.  Fish was dumbfounded and didn’t know what else to say, so he dug into his pocket and threw her the key, still dealership tagged and solitary.

Tarra eagerly looked at Stephen and said, “Let’s go.”

“What?”  Stephen asked, shocked.

“That truck reminds me of Alaska and it’s raining, lets go puddle jumping!  Fish and Connie can watch the Kays for a few.”

“Bye guys!”  Stephen shouted without hesitation as he leapt out the door and ran through the rain toward the giant truck.  He hadn’t done anything spontaneous with his wife in a long time.  It was turning him on!

Tarra shouted as she ran behind him, “I’m driving, fool!”

As the sound of his new ‘big knobby’ tires tearing up the pea gravel driveway outside indicated that Tarra wasn’t joking around, Fish shrugged his shoulders at Connie and the Kays and said, “I guess we’re stuck here for awhile.” 

The Kays responded, of course, with a very loud, “Yay!”

*****

After Tarra and Stephen returned and everyone settled down, the Kays were put to bed and the adults were able to talk.  Fish and Connie told Stephen and Tarra some interesting and disturbing things that had
not
been highlighted in the news lately.  The Memphis Occupation and protests in nearly every city across the nation had smokescreened the fact that the Continuing Resolution had expired, and the military budget was frozen.  Since they both worked in the supply department, they knew that all requistions for non-essential supplies had been cancelled.  Only very few emergency items such as food and fuel would be approved.  To make matters even worse, the frozen budget included military personnel compensation.  There were rumors floating around the squadron that nobody was going to receive a paycheck on February 15th, and everyone was worried. 

Stephen’s heart went out to his fellow sailors for a moment, and then realized that his own retirement check was on the chopping block as well!  He was optimistic, however, and figured that the government would have everything figured out before payday

Stephen brought up a point, “So, all those soldiers guarding Memphis right now are probably not going to be paid on the 15th either?  That’s not good.”

“Yup.  Probably not.”  Fish shook his head.  “I mean, that’s what everybody is saying.  We aren’t going to be paid.  They are also saying they wished YOU were back in the Personnel Office right now.  Everyone is scared!”

“I’d do whatever I could for them.”  Stephen said, gallantly.  Tarra looked at him as if he was Superman.  But in reality, there would have been nothing he could have done for them at his own level.

Connie added, “They shot down every supply request that I submitted this week.  We’re running out of pretty much everything, and they won’t approve anything.”

Tarra cocked her head at Fish and asked, “So, again, knowing all this, why in the hell did you buy that truck?”

Stephen waved her question away and said, “Nah, nah.  This has happened before.  They threaten a payday shutdown and everyone gets upset, then suddenly, BOOM, Congress approves the budget and we all get paid on time, or shortly thereafter.
Someone
gets to play the hero. It’s just a political tool they use.”

“I’m not so sure about this time, brother.”  Fish said.  “People sound pretty positive that we ain’t gonna get paid on the 15th.  That’s why they wish you were there.  You would know for sure.”

“True, true.  I could log into my systems and find out.  Why doesn’t the guy that replaced me do that?”  Stephen asked, angrily.

“Because he’s not there.  He went on emergency leave to St. Louis.  I guess his mother and father lived in a not-so-good part of town and they had their house burned down during the protests there.  Not just him, too.  A bunch of people are on leave right now.”  Fish said, and looked at his girl.  Connie nodded her head in concurrence.

Tarra shook her head and jokingly called out, “Things are going to shit all around the lower forty-eight!  I should have stayed in Alaska!” 

“This will all pass.  You guys are just paranoid.”  Stephen teased.

Fish shook his head and said, “Yo, check this out though.  The commanding officer sent an email to the whole squadron saying that if
any of us
participate in the protests in Seattle or Tacoma, that we would be punished, big time.  He said it was an executive offer, or something like that.  I didn’t really read the whole thing.”

“Of course you didn’t.”  Tarra laughed.

“Executive
order
, you mean?”  Stephen corrected.  “Executive orders come directly from the President of the United States, yo.  They’re kind of serious, yo.”  He said, mocking Fish.

“Yeah, that.”  Fish said, embarrassed, and Connie bursted out laughing at Stephen doing a perfect impression of her silly man. “Which kinda sucks because me and Connie totally wanted to go down to Seattle and check it out.”

“With the baby?  I don’t think so!”  Tarra scolded.

“No, by ourselves, silly woman!”  Fish said.  “The baby would stay with her neighbor, just like he is right now.  Every time I give the lady twenty bucks she acts like I gave her a thousand!”  Fish said.

Tarra looked concerned, and turned to Connie and said, “As long as you trust her.”

“We do.  Her name is Elsa, she is an older lady and I am not so sure she’s even a citizen, so she wouldn’t do anything to draw attention to herself.  She takes super good care of my baby boy, though.  Gives him warm baths and stuff.  Almost as if she might have done that for a living at some point in her life.  If it wasn’t for Fish I probably would have never starting talking to her.  He’s just naturally good with people.  I’m so lucky to have him!”  Connie replied, smiling up at the magnificent tattooed gentleman beside her.

“Ugh, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.”  Tarra joked.  But what Connie had said made Tarra feel a bit better.  She had been worried about the baby for a moment.

  The four of them continued to talk for another hour or so before Fish and Connie left for the evening.  The entire time they chatted, the movie
Transformers
played silently on the TV beside them against the wall.  Had they been watching the news instead, they would have heard about another ‘executive offer’ that was just issued.  No longer was the military the only persons banned from protesting.  The President just expanded that order to cover the entire country; military or civilian.  Publicly protesting the Occupation of Memphis was now officially against the law, and those that chose to continue would be arrested, effective Sunday morning at ten o’clock AM, Eastern Standard Time, February 10th.