Personal Expressions & Blog Stories

The whole world is watching what events are occurring within the United States borders at this current time in our lives.  The United Nations and other countries of NATO are all on edge and monitoring the situation very closely.  Other nations in the international community have offered their support of the president and know the position that he takes is a very difficult one.  Since the whole situation started no one ever said about the president or to his face that he was not capable of handling his job.  This is a new major issue that faces the country today and the first major issue facing the country since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor some say.  Some either determine these acts that are being committed on American soil is domestic terrorism at its finest hour.  Whatever the case maybe up to this point it has aged the president years beyond his current time.  According to President Ford his nation is falling apart around him and he knows it is only a matter of time before something major happens.  By December military units stationed in Afghanistan will begin to deploy back home since their rotation is complete.  All other military units that were to be deployed to Afghanistan have been put on hold and cancelled due to the situation on the home front.

With this in place the president of Afghanistan begins to fear that America is abandoning his country for other reasons.  He fears that once there is no U.S. presence within his borders that the terrorists groups will mount an offensive to take back the capital.  Other nations of the Islamic faith begin to question the U.S. motives in leaving the region and don’t understand why U.S. forces must be reduce to nothing.  The tension building between states  is not just affecting the United States and threatening its existence, but other nations around the world begin to up to stakes.  For example, as India and Pakistan monitor the situation in the U.S. they know that they are not being watched as closely anymore.  Tensions between Pakistan and India escalate extremely quickly to the point where each military is crossing the border in order to squash the opposition.  This allows the terrorists groups in the region to feel free in increasing the chaos to the two nations and causing division amongst the people of both cultures.

The world economy has taken a big hit on this subject matter and other nations attempt to keep it up and going.  Which this does help the world economy from collapsing, but this will only do for a while until it completely crumbles.  Still to this day the media is not completely reporting all the horrifying news that is going on around the world.  With the media beginning to be censored on what can be reported people believe in that the situation that was once big story is not news anymore.  Would they know that would become a huge mistake as time goes on.

As the July is coming to a close with only two weeks left in the month the investigation on this case begins to heat up drastically.  The Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. are working together in attempting to find the main source of these attacks.  With the nation’s capital in a blackout and other surrounding areas following the same fate they are in a race against time to solve this case.  They have been following lead after lead, but always kept coming to a dead end on that follow up.  Until one morning in late July as the White House Chief of Staff is in his office preparing for a plan to move the president he gets a call on his cell phone.  He stops doing his work and looks around as he can hear the phone ringing and he finally finds it in his briefcase.  He reaches in and grabs it and looks at who is calling him and he sees it’s the agent in charge of the investigation.

AGENT RUSSELL: Hello sir?! This is Agent Russell with the F.B.I.

EMANUEL (CHIEF OF STAFF): Agent Russell I’m assuming you are calling me because you have good news I hope.

AGENT RUSSELL: Actually I have bad news about the lead we had on George Clover.  It took us some time to find him, but he’s dead sir.  We found his body in a remote field off of highway 86 just outside of Atlanta.

EMANUAL: Wasn’t he the one who was responsible for financing this operation from the beginning?

AGENT RUSSELL: He’s not alone at this although he is one of the main guys involved.  His body is being taken by the medical examiner to determine the cause of death.  This lead has ended here sir, but it isn’t quite over.

EMANUEL: What do you mean it isn’t quite over?

AGENT RUSSELL: We checked his phone records and email records and noticed that his last contact was Governor Wallace a few days ago.

EMANUEL: WHAT?! So Governor Wallace is involved in this conspiracy?

AGENT RUSSELL: It appears that Governor Wallace sir is the main character in this plot to overthrow the government.  According to the email records we have or able to recover that he is willing to go as far as he needs to go.

EMANUEL: You said as much as you could recover.  Did Mr. Clover attempt to erase his files from the hard drive?

AGENT RUSSELL: When we arrived at his house someone set fire to it to cover up the tracks.  The computer was severely burned and we weren’t sure if we were able to get anything off of it.  We got lucky as we attempted to retrieve the files the hard drive shutdown on us.

EMANUEL: What evidence did you receive from the computer?

AGENT RUSSELL: Right now we still have stuff to go through, but it looks like Mr. Clover and Mr. Wallace were both conversating back and forth.  Once we figure out what we have I will let you know ASAP.

Immediately after the conversation with Agent Russell ended Emanuel rushed over to the president’s suite and gave him the news update on the investigation.  The president however was playing with his kids and his wife sitting next to him with her head on his shoulders.  He reassures them that they will be leaving the mountain region of West Virginia and going to another location very soon.  Emanuel reluctantly interrupts the president and gets his attention quickly.  The president turns around and walks over to Emanuel to meet him face to face on what news he has.

EMANUEL: I just got off the phone with Agent Russell and he has given me an update on the investigation.

PRESIDENT FORD: Well, don’t hold it in Emanuel let it out and tell me what he said.

EMANUEL: Governor Wallace maybe completely involved in this conspiracy to overthrown the government.  That makes me believe that if he is the main character in this plot than that means anyone joining him is also part of the conspiracy.

PRESIDENT FORD: Oh my God!  Governor Wallace probably plans on doing whatever he can by gaining support to oust me from office.

EMANUEL: Also to make matters worse Idaho and Montana have joined the sides of the Pacific West, but both states have joined as one.  Sir, we are loosing support here in the west and it continues to spread eastwardly.

PRESIDENT FORD: So force is beginning to be the only way to stop this spread of the secession disease.  I have to be ready to follow through with my promise to protect America from tyranny.

EMANUEL: Sir, we can’t wait for the evidence to show us who is involved in this conspiracy.  Right now Governor Wallace is teaming up against the rest of the country who opposes him.  Obviously, he must have something in his bag of tricks to make him think he can win.  We need to find that out very soon or it will be too late.

PRESIDENT FORD: What do you suppose I do at this point to at least slow down the influence he is beginning to pick up?

EMANUEL: Mobilize the National Guard in Colorado, Wyoming, and all up and down those states borders to the west.

PRESIDENT FORD: You do know if I do that then he will see what we are up to and he may follow suit.  He may even escalate the situation and fire first and then the situation turns completely different.  Are you willing to face that reality that our existence of a free nation and our united front is in jeopardy?

EMANUEL: Sir, this is my country and this is the nation that I choose to live in and love.  I will not sit around and let anyone take that away from me if I can make a difference in that situation.

Later that day as the president and Emanuel begin to draw up a plan for a possible conflict with the western alliance, Tommy and Sandra are in conversation over his decision to join the military.

TOMMY: Sandra, I want you to be in my shoes for once and understand that I need to do what will help us.

SANDRA: Help us?!  Help us?!  I think you did this just for your own personal benefit.  How will this help us by you joining the military and leaving me behind?!

TOMMY: Sandra calm down!  Why are you so upset about this?  I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you before I signed or talked to you before I signed the contract.  I know I should have done that before, but at the same time I can’t just sit here and do nothing.

SANDRA: Do you understand what is going on around us today?  Our home back on the east coast is no longer there and we were forced to come across country to start a new life.  A new life that we were both ill-prepared for and didn’t even speak of before.

TOMMY: Hold up just one minute!  You think this has been easy for me too?!  We have faced adversity out there and seen shit that no one around here thought about ever seeing.  I saw a guy die in front of me a few weeks back during the downtown riots and I didn’t see you there for me!  How can you stand there and say that I am being selfish about doing this and thinking that you are the only one affected by this suddenly change?  Look around you and ask anyone here or in the street for that matter that is this the life you planned for when you was able to read and write?

SANDRA: Tommy, I love you with all of my heart, but this decision is not right.  I don’t want to loose you and be here left by myself (she breaks down and begins to cry).

Tommy goes over to her as she is on the floor at the foot of the bed and gets on his knees in front of her.  He straddles her feet between his knees and leans forward to hug her and she quickly puts her arms around him and cries into his shoulder soaking his black t-shirt.

Meanwhile, Governor Wallace is now starting to feel the pressure from his colleagues to do something so that their position is not threatened.  With the proposition turned down by Governor Winston, Colorado, he rethinks his strategy of what his next chess move will be.  He can see in the near future that the military’s of this nation will square of in a battle to see which side is willing to bend.  A military type conflict is something Governor Wallace does not want, but looking at how things are going he knows that situation is inevitable.  On his desk in his office are letters and offers from other nations around the world to cease his operation and return to the sovereignty of the United States.  The biggest pressure comes from Japan and Russia as those two countries are planning to attack the pacific coastline if he doesn’t give up his plot to divide the nation.  A few axis powers, including North Korea, have reached out and offered him and his colleague’s asylum if they are in need of fleeing the nation.  With all the correspondence he has received from various leaders of other powerful nations he begins to feel the pressure weighing heavily on him.  His hair has turned to a dark gray color matching his eyebrows and small puffs of chest hair underneath his shirt.  He begins to think that there is no way of turning back and that the events that are to happen from this point on will change the course of this country for a very long time if not forever.

It was an early morning on July 1^st, approaching ten months after the attacks, a morning that would be like no other morning or day anyone has ever lived.  Tensions between the president of the United States along with his cabinet members and the rogue states in the west grew more and more as time went on.  Despite efforts of the president to cease all talks about forming a new central government within its borders, the west decides to go against all principles and morals to finish the job.  The president has imposed strict sanctions against his own constituents in the west, which included cutting off federal funding immediately to all medical researches sanctioned by the federal government.  The leader of the Pacific West Territories is the current governor of California and according to the law passed he will be interim president of the Pacific West Territories until a new leader can be found.  Negotiations with other states in the region, including Colorado and Utah, are still ongoing although the state of Colorado knows the position it holds for both sides.  The state of Utah finally joins the western government and abandons all practices established by the United States government.  This alarms the president and the rest of the country who is following this historic event.  Rumors begin to spread amongst the people that if things continue to go down the path they are going we could see everlasting change to our nation for good.

Shortly after the president imposed sanctions on the western states for their serious violation of everything they stand for, the states felt the punch hard.  Medical services around the region had to close due to lack of money and funding.  Thousands of people in the medical field working out of hospitals and clinics were laid off or the staff was cut back severely.  Many doctors and nurses were told to either work without getting paid or leave and find somewhere else to work.  Many people with medical experience and skills fled the region and west either north to Canada or as far east as Illinois or any state in the surrounding region.  Not only did the sanction affect the medical situation in the western region, but the healthcare benefits for all suffered tremendously as everyone basically had to come out of pocket for health expenses.  This drove families apart and caused much protest against the U.S. government and its allies in the west.  The protest for the new proposal grew less as the healthcare system in the west suffered day by day.  This drew more and more people against the president and on the side of the committee who was establishing a new form of government for the people, as they say.

On July 1^st at approximately 1200hrs, a news press conference was held on the steps of the Phoenix City Hall and the roads adjacent to the building were shutdown and only filled with media and authorized personnel.  The president was alerted to this news conference and watched suddenly as this historic event took place in front of him.

GOV. RICHARD WALLACE: (As he begins to speak news stations all over the country and parts of world tune in on this historic event) Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and my colleagues alike.  As you know our nation was attacked by terrorist some ten months ago.  Evidence has showed us that domestic terrorists groups along with funding from international groups are responsible for the attacks.  The evidence has been shown to our federal government, whose job is to protect the people of this country, but yet nothing has been done.  The governor’s of this nation feel as if we are all alone in protecting our citizens and our interest alike.  The bickering back and forth within the federal government has gotten nothing resolved.  Our elected officials from the president of the United States on down to the elected officials in the house and senate have failed to protect us, have failed to provide security, and have failed as a whole.  As you can see that the president and his colleagues alike think that we here in the west are threatening the way of life here in America.  How do you impose sanctions on your own people, Mr. President?  Our healthcare system in this country is already in a fragile state to begin with, but yet you see our elected leader of the free world going right at the heart of our existence.  We have been accused of tyranny and persecution from our own elected officials in the federal system of government.  We have our National Guard troops from California, Arizona, Nevada, and other states here in the west deployed across the region and around the world.  Yet, our economy has suffered and our ideals have been lost in corruption and everyone out for themselves.

This is the very same ideal that has ridden this country for years and it seems to not be going away anytime soon.  This attitude of us being the stronger nation and the having the best military in the world has rendered us weak.  The Pacific West Territories is a region of promise, growth, and economic stability that the U.S. government has been unable to provide.  Security and safety in this region will be at an all time high and every citizen will be safe and have the same freedom that was given to them under the old U.S. Constitution.  The governor’s of Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and me from the state of California have scheduled a committee meeting to invite all mayors of the major city within our region to form a more perfect union.  This will be the last July 4^th celebration under this so called United States of America, unless our beloved president lifts the sanctions he has imposed on our people.  I understand that change can be frightening to everyone that doesn’t know what to expect.  However, change can be a lifting and revelation sense of pride and dignity to our people in this region today and beyond.  We don’t want to have to resort to extreme measures to provide security to our citizens and to our governmental interests.  The events that have happened less than a year ago still leaves scares on a lot of you patriotic citizens today.  Our president and his chosen few have not gotten that done and as you can see our unemployment rate has sky rocketed.  People in extreme important positions had to be laid off or fired due to lack of federal funds.  Mr. President you have over stepped your boundaries and have caused many American citizens to suffer.  Now you are threatening to cut federal funding to our schools and ultimately to our men and women on the street.  I hope you know what you are doing Mr. President because everyone will know sooner or later your motives.  You have been in hiding for nearly a year after the attacks and we’ve only seen your face less than five times on television.  What kind of leader abandons his people in the time of need?  These people of your country need your help, but instead of offering aid you take it away from us like we are the enemy of the state.  Well, things will only get worse for you if you don’t step up and commit to helping us succeed and strike back at the enemy that has brought terror to our soil.  If you ever want to get re-elected you will do what is right and step out of your hole and show the people of this country that they have a leader they can trust and depend on.

This was the point in the live speech that Emanuel turns off the televised event and stares at the blacked out screen of the television before turning around.  He sees his boss over by a wall facing a portrait of him waving to the crowd behind the still photo of the cameramen.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Mr. President this has gotten out of hand and it appears that something needs to be done immediately.

PRESIDENT FORD: What do you suggest I do now, Emanuel?  Lift up the sanctions I have imposed?  That alone might make me look weak and unable to stick to my guns.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I’m not saying lifting the entire sanction, but maybe you should modify it so they can receive some federal aid, but not all.

PRESIDENT FORD: How much lifting are we talking about here?

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I’m thinking maybe about 5% should be lifted for about a few months and then if that doesn’t make them turn then get drastic.

PRESIDENT FORD: The situation is already drastic enough when I have states in the west attempting to commit treason and split this country apart.  If I lift anything then that might open me up for further negotiations on things that I don’t even want to think about.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: If the healthcare system continues to fail it may spread across the region and further across the country to where things could get a lot worse than they already are.

PRESIDENT FORD: I won’t lift anything right now until I see them returning back under our authority and they release prisoners.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Are you talking about the political prisoners of some of the military upper echelon?

PRESIDENT FORD: Yes, why?

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I’m thinking if you go on the air and expose that side of this new regime they are attempting to form maybe that can at least slow things down.  Most of the men and women being held in prison from military bases around the region are war veterans.

PRESIDENT FORD: So this is like a tit for tat kind of deal?

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Exactly.

PRESIDENT FORD: Okay, let’s say I go on the air and say that in my response to his statement.  People are going to want them released from prison and the people who did it punished for their heresy.  How do we go about dealing with that?

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Since you were going to commit a force of men undercover to infiltrate the government why not set up a rescue mission.

PRESIDENT FORD: Even if I wanted to send in men to rescue them I have no idea where they are being held and the resources that surround them.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, with them taking political prisoners you might be able to convince the public that this will not be tolerated and that you don’t recognize their authority at all.

PRESIDENT FORD: Before I do anything that jeopardizes the men I send in to rescue the prisoners from tyranny I want to know the details of everything over there.  I don’t know how they were able to move so quickly in getting into position as they are now.  As far as I am concerned those states are still under American rule and I will not have him dictate to me what is going to happen.  Have the video feed set up within the hour I will address the public and respond to the governors’ statement.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes, sir I will let you know when it is up and running.

Meanwhile, as Governor Wallace was finishing up his address to the media he was seen walking up the steps of the city hall making a phone call.  He was calling the governor of the state of Colorado to see if he received his proposal and to convince him further to join the west.  Governor Winston secretary answers the phone and then pages her boss on his office phone.  She lets him know who is calling and he gives her permission to patch through the call to his office phone.

GOV. WALLACE: Governor Winston?  How are you doing, sir?

GOV. WINSTON: I’m fine Mr. Wallace.  I was expecting your phone call.

GOV. WALLACE: Oh, really?  Well, then that would answer my question to see if you got my proposal.  So what do you think?

GOV. WINSTON: I just got it about two days ago.  I’ve only had the opportunity to read a few pages, but this is something that I need to bring ahead of the state assembly.

GOV. WALLACE: No rush Mr. Winston, but I do urge you to move on it quickly.  We have a time table to meet and we won’t to make sure that it gets met.

GOV. WINSTON: I understand you may have a time table, but that can’t be used against me.  I have other issues to worry about than just this proposal.  Do I really want to be facing sanctions from my own government?

GOV. WALLACE: The president of the United States is incapable of running this country and protecting its citizens.  We need to do what we need to do to protect them and to solve the issue of peace.  Aside from that you take your time with that proposal, but it would be recommended that you don’t wait to long.  Call me when you are at a decision.  Bye.

The conversation ended abruptly and Governor Winston was sitting there as he slowly put the phone back on the hook.  He then gets another page from his secretary about the president of the United States calling him.  He agrees to let that call come in as well.

PRESIDENT FORD: Mr. Winston?  This is President Ford.  How are you?

GOV. WINSTON: Well, Mr. President I’m doing pretty well.  Thanks for asking.  What do I owe the pleasure of your call?

PRESIDENT FORD: I see that you have been contacted by Governor Wallace in regards to joining their domestic cause in splitting up our union to form their own territory.

GOV. WINSTON: I assume you got that information by tapping our phone lines?

PRESIDENT FORD: Not necessarily tapping your phone lines, but other ways have been discovered in finding that out.  What I am calling for is to urge you not to follow his lead and to stay with America.

GOV. WINSTON: At this time I have no intentions of seceding from the union.  I do however have the opportunity to stay neutral in this situation.

PRESIDENT FORD: You mean being on neither side and so you don’t have to face sanctions from either party?  I can understand that perfectly.  I also ask you to not join because of our interest of NORAD.  That is a very important aspect of our national defense and if we loose that this would escalate the situation even greater.

GOV. WINSTON: I understand your position Mr. President, but I can’t help but think about what Mr. Wallace spoke about.  How can the federal government protect it’s people from further attacks abroad?

PRESIDENT FORD: That is an issue that you need to let me deal with on my end.  The only things you need to be concern with are helping us keeping this union together and remain strong.

GOV. WINSTON: How do I do that exactly?

PRESIDENT FORD: If you remain on our side I would ask that you allow our military forces to station near your western border alongside with your state guardsmen.

GOV. WINSTON: Mr. President are you going to escalate this militarily?  The citizens of Colorado will be wanting to know why we have committed forces near the Utah state line.

PRESIDENT FORD: It is only a preventive measure and trust me it won’t escalate in that way unless Mr. Wallace promotes that.  You have my word.

GOV. WINSTON: Okay Mr. President.  I will allow you to do what you need to do and I am willing to support your efforts.  Just give me the word on when you want to do this.

PRESIDENT FORD: Thank you Mr. Winston.  I will call you and give you a time table to our plan and then we shall execute it.  I’ll be in touch.

Immediately after the conversation was over with the president Governor Winston picks up the proposal from Governor Wallace and breezes through it.  He grabs a red marker out of his desk drawer to his right and marked a huge “X” on the front of the packet.  He walked out of the office and handed it to his secretary and told her to mail it back to Governor Wallace ASAP.  She looks at it kind of surprised and looks at him and she immediately gets the envelope for it and writes out the address to Governor Wallace’s mansion.  Just so happened that the mail carrier arrived for the outgoing mail and greeted the governor and the secretary.  He grabbed the outgoing mail and left the building as he was being watched by the secretary and the governor to make sure it was going out.  The governor then entered back into his office and closed the door behind him.

LOCATION: West and Midwest

It’s been about one week or so since the conversation about Tommy joining the military came up and Sandra’s disapproval attitude.  Since that day Tommy has not really given much thought of that idea towards Sandra, which kind of makes her think that she was right from the beginning.  Tommy continued to seek employment by going to the career center on the first floor of their building, but waited for someone who is affiliated with the military to come back.  He dared not to tell Sandra about his decision to join the military again, but for some reason that idea became more and more realistic as time went on.  He did his best to hide his emotional attachment to the idea whenever advertisement of the military came on television.  He would either turn the channel or just ignore the ad and focus on other things around the room to do or just go for a walk, which he found out he likes to do.

One morning he woke up and saw that Sandra had left early for work and he turned on the television.  Just before he did that he laid there in the bed under the cool white sheets and just listened to the silence in the room.  Then suddenly that silence was broken due to the air conditioning unit turning on, which was set to auto.  It was close to 100 degrees outside, but inside the room it was in the low 70’s.  Tommy glanced at the unit as if the air conditioning unit was to blame for the silence being broken in the room.  He turns towards the television and turns it on with the remote and the first thing that comes on is the news channel.  Once again he forgot to change the channel before he went to sleep the previous night.  For some reason Sandra does not like watching the news as if she is afraid of what is going on elsewhere in the world and the only world of concern to her is the one she is walking in.  The news came on and he turned the volume up and sat up to get a better look at what he was seeing.

The news, at that current time, was reporting on the situation in other American cities, such as Pittsburgh and Atlantic City.  Chaos remained to be a big issue in the northeast region of the states, while skirmishes in the Midwest continue between the military and militia groups.  He turned to one station and saw that the military was being reported on and how they were dealing with the situation in the Midwest.  He listened for about a few minutes and then went on downstairs after he got dressed to eat breakfast.  As he approached the cafeteria he saw the guy he went to downtown Phoenix with a couple of weeks ago, Jake.  Jake was sitting at a table by himself eating and not really conversating with anyone around.  Tommy looks around as if he was trying to not be seen approaching him and walks up to him and sits down.

TOMMY: Hey, Jake how you been man?

JAKE: I’m fine.  What about you?

TOMMY: I’m okay I guess.  Haven’t seen you around since the other day.  Anything new?

JAKE: Other than the riots and protest in downtown are still going on.  People in other cities such as Dallas and Pittsburgh are dying from either radiation poisoning or some type of chemical contamination.  Nothing has come up to oversee those situations.

TOMMY: I’m sorry about Jerome and what happened down there, but to let you know I was affected by the whole thing too.

JAKE: Oh yeah?  How were you affected by it?  You’ve seen things that most of us here on the west coast haven’t seen and probably won’t see.  You’re used to death and destruction I’m not.

TOMMY: Look man, just because I saw cities in complete ruins and suffered mental depression doesn’t mean I ain’t human and death doesn’t affect me.

JAKE: Oh no?  Well, I didn’t see you when I had to tell his mom and family about what happened.  Needless to say they weren’t at all happy with his decision in going downtown.

TOMMY: Okay so what now, Jake?

JAKE: Mind my own business and just live the life that I have here.

TOMMY: What about going to Sacramento and all that stuff of trying to figure out what happen here?

JAKE: If you like living I suggest you leave that idea alone and pretend it never happened.

TOMMY: I need to know what happened here and so do you.  We all need to know what happened and we can find out.  You said so yourself.

JAKE: What do you think we can do?  We can’t just walk up in the building and be like ‘hey, don’t mind us were here to see your secret files on what caused the terrorist attacks on our country.’  That building is heavily fortified from top to bottom with all the latest technology.

TOMMY: So you’re giving up on your passion to know the truth.

JAKE: It’s called common sense and nothing is worth dying for around here.  Too many people have died today and the days prior from sickness or from the hands of another person.  I’m not trying to be a statistic. He gets up and takes his tray with him and dumps out the food and puts the tray on top of the counter near the trash can.  He leaves the cafeteria and Tommy follows him with his eyes until he is out of sight.

In Washington, D.C. the situation there continues as all government buildings in the city and the surrounding areas are affected by this latest attack.  Military and law enforcement personnel are operating with walkie-talkies, but even then it seems as if the signals are being jammed.  Cell phones are almost useless and the land line phones are just too much to deal with as they are all full of static.  Media can’t report on what is going on so they rely on the city newspaper to get the story out.  As all of this is going on the team that the president sent to Washington has already arrived and is hard at work in trying to figure this out.  The team consists of six personnel and one in charge of the group.  The main person in charge is an ex-FBI agent and now serves on the president’s staff.  The remaining five personnel on the team all work on the president’s staff and have technical experience in the computer and security field.  An even mix of three women and three men are on this team that the president calls the Threat Recovery Team.

The TRC has been on the ground in Washington for nearly a week now and not much progress has been made, but their work doesn’t go unnoticed.  Only one news station is up and running again, but it was determined that it is only temporary as they continue to work the problem.  The leader of the team, Michael Russell, is overseeing everyone’s work as he keeps in close contact with other government officials via satellite phone.  The mayor and governors of the neighboring states are kept in the loop every two hours on the developments that come up.  However, one development came up that the team was not prepared to deal with at all.  One evening as the team is analyzing the systems in certain government buildings that control other buildings as well they get data on their laptops that shock them.  Melissa Pusak, second in command of the team, hears her laptop sounding an alarm while she is walking around the floor with a flashlight.  She is on the fourth floor of the IRS building in the IT department by herself.

She hears the alarm going off on her laptop and she walks back towards it and starts typing on the keyboard.  She silences the alarm and a start surfing through the data to see what was found in the system and once it was found she freaked out.  The laptop discovered that not only was a virus located in the main frame of the computer, but it wasn’t like any other virus that she has seen before.  As she dug further to investigate the laptop froze and none of the keys on the laptop worked for several minutes.  She attempted to abort the laptop and restart it but none of the functions were working.  Then suddenly the screen went blank and the only thing she saw was her reflection.  She put her head down in disappointment then suddenly she saw a bright light coming from the screen shining on her pants.  She looks up at the screen sort of happy like the laptop fixed itself, but think again.  The screen turned red and the message ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ repeated itself several times in filling the screen.  Then a countdown timer popped up and began the countdown from ten down to zero.  Not knowing what is happening she stayed there to see what would happen once the countdown completed.  Once it hit zero she was thinking it was over, but that was only the beginning.

Suddenly, the laptop shut off and did not come back on again.  She then heard an explosion that sounded like in the distance that shook the building a little.  She found a window looking outside and saw nothing, but felt another one and then another one.  She realizes it was under her feet and as she ran over towards the steps and opened the door a ball of fire came rushing upward and she closed the door and dove for cover.  The pressure building in the stairway blew the door off the hinges and went across the room damaging several computers.  She tries to grab the laptop before exiting, but the chaos of things catching fire and exploding was too great that she left everything there to burn.  She finally was able to make it to the first floor down another set of stairs to the outside.  The next thing she knows that the entire building is in flames and that the fire department is responding.  Once she was able to get herself together she got on her satellite phone and called the other member of her team, Precious Williams, who is working on the power grid.

MELISSA PUSAK: Precious?  Are you still working on the power grid?

PRECIOUS WILLIAMS: Yeah I am.  This grid is royally fucked up.  I hear sirens in the background.  Is everything okay?

MELISSA PUSAK: The IRS building caught fire as I was working on the systems.  I just made it out.

PRECIOUS WILLIAMS: OMG! You okay Melissa?!

MELISSA PUSAK: I’m fine.  I’ll be okay.  I don’t know what happened.

PRECIOUS WILLIAMS: Umm..hold on. She looks at her screen and instead of the screen turning red a countdown pops up beginning from ten on down.  Melissa, uh, I have a problem here.

MELISSA PUSAK: What is it?

PRECIOUS WILLIAMS: Some clock just popped up and counting down to whatever.  What does this mean?

MELISSA PUSAK: OH MY GOD!! LEAVE THE LAPTOP AND GET OUT OF THERE!! NOW!!

PRECIOUS WILLIAMS: Hears the loud screams of Melissa and attempts to run away from the grid.  Other workers of the power company are there with her and she alerts them to the emergency.  They all begin to run and suddenly an explosion occurs and some are killed instantly.

Melissa had the phone to her ear and when the explosion occurred she heard nothing.  She could hear Precious yelling to the workers to make a run for it and then silence on the other end.  Melissa drops to her knees thinking did she make it as a couple of members from the ambulance attend to her.  The next morning the president is alerted of the updates going on in Washington as he requested.  The word that he received from his chief of staff is that the situation has not gotten better and that someone was expecting them to attempt to regain system power.  The power grid is 90% down and a lot of the buildings working on generators or auxiliary power has either shut down or was affected by the explosion.  The bad news coming in to the president makes him feel that he is loosing control of this once great nation of adversity.  He doesn’t question his sanity for the job or his drive to protect the American people, but he begins to think that maybe intervening into situations is not ideal.  However, he needs to keep the country together at least the parts that are together and still living normally.  The president then makes a decision that he attempted to avoid months prior and that was declaring Martial Law throughout the entire land.  In opposition of that are the states to the west making up the new territory, which they are continuing to push for.

Meanwhile, in the Midwest the JTTF team has arrived in Kansas City and met up with other members of the JTTF from the Kansas City office and some members of the FBI.  The briefing is being held at the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department at about 0700hrs and the room is packed.  The agent in charge of the JTTF from Washington steps up and begins to brief the entire room on what intelligence they have and who they are going after.

AGENT IN CHARGE: I like to thank you all for being here this early morning and want to make sure that we have a safe and successful mission today.  To get right into it we are looking for a man named Donald Truman, as the photograph of the man goes around the room slowly.  Mr. Truman is the leader and founder of the New White Order movement.  This movement is the largest of its kind in the country and many other militia and extremists groups work along side with them in a common goal.  We all heard about the assassination of the leader of the Environmentalists Party in the hospital several weeks ago.  It is suspected that these people had something to do with it to shut him up.  They look up to him as if he is God and they will do whatever he says or commands them to do.  He has promised them luxury beyond measure in the afterlife so people who are looking for something to stand for and get behind usually fall in his organization.  The compound that we are going to covers two square miles and has eight towers around the perimeter.  Each tower is manned and serves as a lookout for the compound.  Inside the compound are several buildings and the one in the middle, as the photograph of an aerial view is passed around, we believe is the one that houses the leader of the group.  The men are heavily armed and will protect the compound and their leader from the foreign government, which are us.  They believe they are citizens of another nation and that the rest of the country outside of their two square mile territory is foreign land.  Yet, they continue to travel among this foreign land to do their business and to meet with other groups in discussing their plot to overthrow the U.S. government.

Now for those of you that don’t know we have been tracking this group for months now and our first major encounter with them was in Baltimore, Maryland shortly before the attacks happened.  The Baltimore field office forwarded the information to our Washington field office before the attacks happened.  The information we have pertaining to the group gives us belief that they know who is responsible and how the funding of the attacks is happening.  I need not to tell you that we are dealing with a very serious threat to our national security ladies and gentlemen.  Go out there and be safe and lets all get home in time for cornflakes.

As the room of officers begin to file out the agent in charge gets a phone call from the white house chief of staff.  He receives the news that Washington, D.C. has just been attacked and that the problem persists.  This alerts the agent and he passes it on to one of his fellow officers who spreads it down the line to other members of the task force.  As they all pile into several vehicles and traveling down the road to the compound just outside of the city, nearly complete silence and no one is talking.  Every member dressed in full gear and automatic weapons think to themselves that this is going to be a task at hand that could mimic the situation in Waco, Texas several years prior.  Many agents in this current task force remembers that incident and begin to think back at the mistakes that were made.  As they arrive at the staging area on the side of the road near some tall weeds they all exit out of the vehicles.  One last word is spoken from the agent in charge as they stand on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere just outside of Kansas City, Missouri.  Once the final word was spoken about a team of five men proceed through the weeds and thick brush towards the south end of the compound.  Three more teams of five men also proceed through the brush and weeds to the east, west, and north ends of the compound.

The remaining men left were reserves in case extra help was needed.  Their staging area was approximately two miles away and the vans were parked next to a set of trees and thick brush that would hide their vehicles.  One man at the staging area is placed on top of the lead van parked and looking through his sniper scope at the men in the towers.  He gives the teams on the ground update information on their movement and what they are doing on a minute by minute basis.  The teams move into position and start to slowly low crawl towards the fence line, but there is an open space of approximately twenty-five yards from the fence line to the end of the grassy area.  One agent who low crawled at the end of the grassy area reports that the open space surrounds the compound and only one dirt road goes in and out of the compound.  The teams of other agents look around to see if there is any sensors or trip wires to alert to there presence.  Nothing was seen so as the teams move closer the only team that has more cover is the team to the north, with trees and very high grass, but the movement of the grass can give them away to the enemy.  One of the things that the task force didn’t know about is that the NWO positioned a counter-sniper near the dirt road where the agents staged at.  The agents on the ground near the van heard something of a glass breaking above them and thump.  One agent climbed on top to see what happened and saw that the agent was shot through the scope.  The agent jumped down and yelled SNIPER FIRE as they all drew their weapons taking cover.  More rounds began to penetrate the area hitting the vans and blowing out there tires.  One agent was hit with a ricochet from a round hitting the ground and striking him in the ankle.

The agents near the compound could hear gunshots being fired in the distance and radios back to the staging area.  One of the agents there yell out on the radio that one man is down and that they have been made.  The men in the towers begin to scramble around and that is when the first agents of each team fires tear gas.  As the tear gas canisters penetrate the compound and the gas fills the air the NWO soldiers yell out gas, gas, gas and put on their gas mask.  All the other agents put on their gas masks as well and then the first shots are fired.  One agent was seen putting on his gas mask and got shot in the head by one of the soldiers in the tower.  Other agents from all positions returned fire up at the towers as the soldiers in the towers returned fire on the ground.  As bullets come from above whipping by the agent’s heads and hitting the tall weeds around them, they all run for cover behind trees, boulders, or whatever they can find.  All the agents are wearing green camouflage and the soldiers are all wearing green camouflage as well, but of a different design.  The agents at the staging area are still under fire and are attempting to figure out where is the sniper shooting from.

Two more agents are killed in the fierce fight, but not before two soldiers are knocked out of the towers.  Donald Truman is alerted of the situation and some members of his group attempt to flee him out of the compound.  The towers on the north side of the compound are cleared by counter-snipers of the task force.  That allows the north team to move in by cutting the fence line and raiding the interior of the compound.  Once inside they are met with fierce resistance from the surrounding buildings.  The agent in charge calls for air support and is told that it will be a few minutes due to the helicopter going through mechanical issues.  One agent at the staging area makes a guess that it is coming from up the road about 100 yards away.  He comes up with the idea that he would take the lead van and drive it towards the sniper as the other agents stay behind it for cover.  They all agree with the plan and begin to put it in motion.  As the agent pulls off the dead sniper from the top of the van he gets in and starts driving towards the sniper in the trees down the street.  With fellow agents behind him returning fire from around the van into the woods.  The sniper continuously returns fire attempting to strike the driver of the van, but the van keeps on coming.  Once down the street the agents return fierce fire into the woods flushing out the sniper.  The sniper runs out of the woods covered in shrubs and sticks towards the compound, but is cut down by the agents.

Once that situation was resolved by killing the enemy sniper the reserves all piled in the van and headed towards the compound down the dirt road.  The driver of the van was traveling at a high rate of speed and yelled back at his comrades to hold on and that he will crash through the gate.  They begin to take on heavy fire and the agents on the ground return fire at the soldiers in attempt to cover their buddies from getting hit.  The agent driving the van crashes through the gate running over two soldiers of the NWO, but not before they shot him through the already damaged windshield.  He was able to stop the van before dying of his wounds a short time later.  All the agents bailed out of the van and ran in all separate directions taking out the enemy left and right.  At this time the remainder of the teams outside of the compound also raids the grounds and engages.  An armored vehicle, of the FBI, arrives and then the helicopter arrives having SWAT members hanging off the side returning fire down below at the enemy soldiers.  By this time every tower was cleared of any enemy fire and that is what made the raiding of the compound possible.  The task force begins to raid building by building making their way to the one that supposedly houses Donald Truman.  With some agents surrounding the building looking for Donald Truman, other agents in the compound are still engaged in heaving fighting with both sides taking loses.

The agents surround the middle building busts out the windows and throw in tear gas before raiding through the front and rear doors.  They are met with enemy fire and the first three on each entrance are killed.  The remaining agents engage by returning fire and take out the enemy soldiers.  As they attempt to clear the building, which is two stories tall, they are met with resistance here and there around every corner.  The agents inside the building can hear the firefights going on outside and their helicopter flying around.  They get to one room that has the door closed and they figure that Donald Trump might be in that room.  So as two agents approach and attempt to break it down they hear noises coming from the room.  Two agents bring up the battering ram and force the door open and that would cost them dearly.  The building exploded killing every man inside instantly and anyone outside the building within twenty feet were thrown away several feet.  The explosion could be heard miles away and it echoes through the hilly and wooded plains of the land.  The intense heat was felt within a 100 foot radius of the building and that silenced the firefight for a brief moment.  The sound was deafening and it took everyone by surprise even the enemy soldiers didn’t expect that.

As the building is blazing the FBI helicopter lands inside the compound and the agents aboard dismantle.  Other members of the NWO surrendered by putting their weapons down and hands over their heads.  No one knows if Donald Trump was in the building at the time of the explosion, but only time would tell that story.  As the JTTF task force begins to pick up the pieces and count the dead, including their own, they start to sweep the compound for clues and evidence.  There was one building in the back of everything in a corner of the compound.  Many agents surrounded it thinking that maybe more people wait inside.  The building is only two times the size of a porter john, but yet they caution themselves not to rush in.  One agent walks up with his weapon pointed at the window and opens the door with his body going with it.  One agent points his weapon inside and rushes in with two other behind him.  It is cleared within a few seconds of entering, but clues are seen on the table and a map of the United States is seen on the wall.  Every city that was attacked is marked with a red thumb tack and every city that is a potential target is in yellow, but no one knew what blue stood for.  As the agents inside begin to rumish through the papers on the table one comes across what the blue thumb tack might actually mean.  It was relayed to the agent in charge of the findings and he rushed over to the location where the map was found.

The agent meets him outside of the small structure and shows him that they found a map of the United States inside and explained what each thumb tack on the map means.  When they attempted to figure out what the blue thumb tack meant it was discovered that it meant a nuclear attack.  The cities that were marked with the blue thumb tack was Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C.  As soon as that finding was confirmed and the knowledge of two cities out of that short list was indeed hit by such attack the phone call was made to the president.  The white house chief of staff relayed the message to his boss of the findings and gave the president a brief account of what took place at the compound.  The president responds immediately and orders the evacuation of all essential government personnel and to locate the nuclear bomb immediately.  Since communications are very limited it is done by satellite phone, which most of the satellites were rendered inoperable after the attacks.  The word to evacuate was spread slowly throughout the region, but kept from the public to avoid mass panic.  Some power throughout the city was restored, but it remained weak and blackouts kept occurring almost on a nightly basis.

Once the word was given by the white house chief of staff he sent the order to the military commanders in the city to work along with the police in locating a nuclear bomb that might be planted there.  They were also told to keep the public out of the loop and don’t let the media know what is going on.  Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, phones the JTTF agent in charge to get further update on the situation there at the compound.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Agent Russell? I’m calling to see if you have any more updates on the situation there.

AGENT IN CHARGE (RUSSELL): Nothing more at the moment then what was already told to you.  Wait hold on I might have something here. Silence fills the phone call for a brief moment.  I do have something here that might be of interest.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, what is it Agent Russell?

AGENT RUSSELL: The document I have here in my hand has a signature of the governors of the states on the west coast.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: What kind of document is it?

AGENT RUSSELL: Well, in a nutshell is explains how once the states of the west become independent they shall have territory marked out to them tax free for the next 10 years.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: What?!  What is the date of that?

AGENT RUSSELL: Exactly six months before the attacks happened, sir.

LOCATION: Phoenix, Arizona (downtown)

Tommy wakes up around 6am from his long restful night and reaches over to his right with his right arm and feels nothing but sheets.  He moves his arm up and down to feel for Sandra, but nothing but cool sheets brushes along his palms.  He opens his eyes and turns his head towards her last location in the bed and doesn’t see her there.  He gets up and has one leg hanging out of the bed and starts to wonder where she could be.  He reaches over to his dresser next to his bed and grabs the remote control for the television and turns it on.  The channel and time shows up on the screen for a few seconds and then they both disappear.  He suddenly gets a cold chill running through his body and rushes over to the air conditioning unit to turn it off.  Then he sees the bathroom door closed and the light on and figures she might be in there, but she has been in there for a while.  The light turns off and the door opens and they meet at the door with Sandra in uniform ready for work.

Tommy looks at her and glances her up and down and begins to form his mouth to ask a question, but she seem to realize what was going to be said so she cuts him off at the verbal path.

SANDRA: I know what you are going to say Tommy.  Why am I working on a Saturday?  Well, if you must know I am being looked at as a new team leader so I need to go in today to be up to date on policy and other important things for the job.

TOMMY: Well, okay, but its been a long time since I’ve seen you in uniform or in anyone’s uniform for that matter.

SANDRA: She glances down and sees a tent forming through his boxers and has the quick idea of teasing him before she exits.  She walks up closer and rubs his bare chest and stomach down to his waist.  I remember that you like seeing me in a cheerleading outfit.  Just before you walked up to me in the cafeteria I saw you rearranging yourself.  It was quite cute I must say.

TOMMY: Don’t start anything that you can’t finish right now.  We’ve both been under enormous amount of stress and it has been a while since we both have, ummm….done that.

SANDRA: Oh Tommy are you getting a little frustrated? She smiles up at him in his brown eyes.  It has been a while hasn’t it, but when the world changes in front of your eyes that is the last thing on your mind.

TOMMY: Well, then I may have to take you up on that later when you get back from work.  I have other things to keep me occupied here until I see you later.

SANDRA: Okay I will remember you said that to me later on.  See you later Tommy.  Have a good day sweetie.

Tommy watches her as she walks away in her white Nike sneakers, with pink and black outlining the stitches, black stockings showing the athletic form of her legs, a black skirt that goes down to her knees, and a white and red stripe blouse that has ‘Gross-Out’ embroidered on the right upper chest, and her name on the left side.  Poor Tommy watches her all the way to the door until she leaves and is out of sight.  He walks over to the bed and sits down and leans back on the pillows stacked behind him.  Pulls the covers up to his waist and begins to watch television, which is the first time he has been able to see television in many months.  Then he starts to think about the people he once knew at the military base back in Maryland and how they are coping with a new society and new life.  His thoughts go on them for a few minutes and then he brings himself back to reality of the current times.  The sun is beginning to rise in the sky and the suns rays are beaming through the blinds that are closed, but they are closed in such a fashion that the rays beam down directly on the bed.  Tommy watches the beams of sunlight radiate down on to the sheets and he can feel the warm of the sunlight going through the sheets.  He smiles at first as the warmth of the sunlight brings him joy and calmness, but that was distracted quickly.

When he turned the television on just moments earlier he didn’t realize that the news was on.  He turns his attention towards the news and turns up the volume so he can hear the news anchor.

NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning Phoenix and welcome to Channel 11 news.  I’m Dean Mitchell, Andrea Newman is off today.  Today our top story is about the constant protest that continues in downtown Phoenix this morning over the debate of establishing a new territory in the west.  Brian Wilson has the details.

Tommy sits up and begins to pay more attention to the news and what they are reporting on.  He wants to see if he can find out why this is going on and if he wants to be involved in it.

BRIAN WILSON: Dean, I’ve been out here in downtown Phoenix since about four this morning and I did have the opportunity to speak to a few individuals on why they are here.

FEMALE INTERVIEWEE #1: This is insane of what they are proposing to do here.  That goes against the United States Constitution and I don’t think the president would go for that.

MALE INTERVIEWEE #1: The president of the United States needs to step in and stop this madness!  I know the states are independent, but this just goes too far.  Where are you Mr. President Ford?

FEMALE INTERVIEWEE #2: We are living in the times where wrong is right and right is wrong.  This is definitely wrong, but they are trying to make it right.  God help us.

MALE INTERVIEWEE #2: I’m a non-commissioned officer in the military and if this succeeds then this will open up a door that we all don’t want to walk through.  Trial and tribulations will be the death of us all.

BRIAN WILSON: As you can see, Dean, that many more than just those four people that I spoke to are very much against this proposal and would like to see the federal government step in and stop it completely.  However, I did speak to some that were for this proposal and they elected not to be shown on camera.  I spoke to a John Noble and he has been living here in the Phoenix area for about 10 years and he basically said that the federal government has betrayed its people and that they lack the ability to protect them.  He also goes on and says that the state governments that are proposing this change have seen the light finally and those against it must be dealt with accordingly.

DEAN MITCHELL: Brian, how many people are they expecting to be down there today in front of city hall?

BRIAN WILSON: The authorities are expecting anywhere between five to ten thousand people here in the streets and all over the city protesting this change.

DEAN MITCHELL: Okay, thanks Brian and you stay safe out there.

Tommy turns off the television and sits there staring at a blank screen looking at his reflection.  He gets up a few seconds later and goes into the bathroom to take a shower and has the idea of going downtown to see what the big fuss is all about.  Once he showered and got dressed he went downstairs and saw the new friend he met in the lobby as he was walking out the door.  Tommy walks up to him and taps him on the shoulder to gain his attention.

TOMMY: Hey, Jake how you doing?

JAKE: Tommy, what’s up, man?

TOMMY: Nothing much just finished watching the news.

JAKE: You heard about the protest going on downtown and the mass arrests that’s occurring?  It’s insane bro.

TOMMY: Yeah, about that incident going on downtown I was thinking about going down there and see what’s going on.

JAKE: You sure that’s a good idea, man?  It’s heavily policed and anyone caught down there can be arrested.

TOMMY: I’m aware of that, but I feel like I need to stand for something.  My dad was preparing himself to run for mayor in our town just before the attacks.  So I would like to make him proud knowing that I am fighting with a side.

JAKE: What side are you speaking about joining?  There’s only two.

TOMMY: I don’t know that’s why I wanted to go down and maybe speak to a few people and get the story that way.

JAKE: Listen, I may know someone who can give us a ride downtown, but he doesn’t give many people rides if he doesn’t know you.  Get with me in five minutes outside.

TOMMY: Okay, bet.

Tommy goes to the bathroom to wash his hands and prepare himself for going out even though he will be with two other dudes.  He walks out of the bathroom and into the career center near the lobby and sees a military policeman in the center.  He walks in and starts staring at him and looking at him in uniform and sees his Military Police brassard on his left shoulder.  The Pacific West Territories flag above the letters “MP” and the rest of his uniform in the grey and black camouflage type design.  The military policeman is at the end of the center next to a computer speaking to another guy, which looks like he is helping him navigate through the screen.  Tommy is then distracted from his stare by some noise in the hallway behind him and he rushes to go figure it out.  By the time he gets outside the center in the lobby it is a dozen or so people breaking up a fight between two middle aged looking males.  The one on his right hand side being held by most of the people looked stronger and had blood on his shirt.  He looked at the guy on his left and the man was bleeding from his nose, mouth, and one of his eyes.

Jake walks into the building and yells to Tommy across the lobby to gain his attention.  Tommy looks and waves his hand and starts walking towards the front door.  Once he exits the building he asks Jake does he knows what happen.  Jake responded in a way to say that is none of your business and if you want to stay alive and out of people’s way you won’t start getting into other people’s business.  Tommy took that to heart for a few seconds and wonders if that man who is all bloody was being nosy then he will remain the same and just pay attention to his surroundings.  He follows Jake around the corner slightly down the hill from the front door and he sees a black mustang convertible with dual exhaust with chrome tips.  The engine was running so he could hear the horsepower just purring through the exhaust system.  Jake walks up to the guy who is standing at the passenger side of the car with his arms crossed.  Tommy can’t hear what is being said, but the guy looks at him and Tommy knows that they are obviously talking about him.  The guy kind of rolls his eyes and unfolds his arms and takes a deep breath and sighs.  A few more words are exchanged and the guy finally agrees to speak to Tommy.  Tommy is just standing adjacent to them about ten feet away and sees the conversation coming to an end.

The guy looks at Tommy and Jake stands off to the side with his hands in his pockets.  The guy is wearing a tight blue short-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers and starts approaching Tommy.  Tommy stands there wanting to show that he is not scared, but he takes a deep gulp of saliva with him a few steps away.  Then the guy walks up on him and stops just inches away practically violating Tommy’s personal space.

JEROME BUTLER: I’m Jerome and I am a black man.

TOMMY: Hello, I’m Tommy and I’m a white man. Not knowing what to say he is hoping that type of comment doesn’t get his ass beat.

JEROME BUTLER: Where are you from, Tommy?

TOMMY: I’m from New Jersey.

JEROME BUTLER: What part of New Jersey?

TOMMY: Wellington, New Jersey, which is north about 30 minutes from New York.

JEROME BUTLER: How in the hell get out here to Phoenix?  You wouldn’t have made it through the Midwest states.  The way people are dying out there.

TOMMY: My girlfriend and I were detained at a military base in Maryland after the attacks.  Once our time was up we were shipped out here by the military for whatever reason.

JAKE: I’ve heard of people being held in military camps just being shipped out to random parts of the country for no rhyme or reason.  They just so happened to be here in Phoenix.

JEROME BUTLER: I guess that’s good enough for me.  Just remember, Tommy, that I don’t know you and if you want stay alive and don’t get fucked up, you won’t piss me off.  Understood there white man?

TOMMY: I understand complete, Jerome. He dared not to say black man since he didn’t want to piss this guy off who looks like a linebacker and wearing his little brother’s t-shirt.

He gets in the car with Jake and Jerome and the top goes down on a cool 70 degrees day.  It is about eight in the morning and now they are off to downtown Phoenix to see what is going on.  Before they even get close to the site of the protest they hit roadblock after roadblock.  Police directing them in different directions away from the protest, but pedestrians carrying signs and chanting are being let through.  So after a few minutes of being diverted constantly they decided to find a parking space and walk.  Jerome finds a parking garage about 10 blocks away from city hall and drove around for a good ten minutes before seeing someone backing out.  They find themselves on the top floor of the garage and he puts on his turn signal then another vehicle opposite of the driving lane stops and puts on their turn signal as well.  The car backing out doesn’t pay attention to the stand off that is occurring for her parking space.  Once the car backs out and leaves both Jerome and the other car continues to stare at each other for a few more seconds.  Then Jerome steps on the gas and so does the other vehicle and they both go for the parking space.  Jerome’s quick surge of the gas pedal gets him a slight advantage and he was able to pull into the parking space, but his back tires were not in the space.  His Mustang got hit by the vehicle that was attempting to get into the space as well.

Jerome immediately jumps out once the collision occurred and Tommy had to pick himself up from the back floor.  The collision was hard enough to throw him to the floor and causing Jerome’s car to hit another vehicle on his left.  So now the mustang has damages on both rear fenders due to the collision of the other vehicle.  When Jerome exited the vehicle he was extremely mad and had to climb over the driver and rear seats and then had to step on his trunk before making contact with the pavement with his feet.  Jake was moaning in the passenger seat and holding his neck as if he was shot, but only slightly had pain.  Tommy was able to pick himself up off the floor and leaned forward to check on Jake.  Jake advised Tommy that he was okay and pointed behind them at Jerome as he was engaged in a verbal altercation with the driver through the window.  Tommy turned around and saw Jerome reach in and grab the driver and attempted to pull him through the driver side window.  Tommy got himself together real quick and attempted to help Jerome or maybe even pull him back away from the vehicle, but it was too late.

Two other occupants of the other vehicle exited from the backseat on both sides and the one behind the driver charged Jerome.  It was like hitting a brick wall and Jerome turned around and struck the guy with a left hook and knocked him out on the ground.  Tommy was shocked by the punch like he was hit with the massive force and power of that punch.  The other guy from the other side grabbed a baseball bat that was in the backseat and ran around the rear of the vehicle towards Jerome.  After Jerome knocked out the other guy his attention went back towards the driver and he had him pulled out halfway through the window.  Tommy saw the other guy charging with the baseball bat and yelled at Jerome as he was charging himself to cut off the guy.  The guy had the baseball bat cocked back over his head and for a split second Tommy saw the sun glistening off of the tip of the bat and made the assumption that it was an aluminum bat.  Jerome turned around while he had the driver in his grip and saw the bat, but was in a position that made it difficult to counter act the attacker.  Tommy dipped his shoulder and tackled the guy into the vehicle and the bat came out of the hands of the attacker.

Jerome saw that Tommy had his back and dragged the driver out of the vehicle completely.  Once the attacker was on the ground from the tackle Tommy got back up and kicked the bat away and proceeded to continuously kick the guy in the stomach over and over.  The guy was attempting to get up, but each kick knocked him back down and finally incapacitated him.  Fortunately, for the incident no witnesses drove by to see any of this going down.  Once Jerome got the driver out he picked him up off the ground by the throat and slammed him down on the hood of his own car.  Tommy yelled at Jerome and attempted to release Jerome’s grip from the guy’s neck, but struggled tremendously.  Jake finally was able to come and help and assisted Tommy in releasing Jerome’s grip from the guy’s neck.  Once they did the guy began to cough and gasp for air and slid off of the hood and on the ground at the feet of Jerome.  They guy got up holding his neck and Jerome got in his face, which struck fear in him.

Soon enough the police came by and was just on routine patrol and saw the vehicles in an abnormal position.  By that time the other two guys on the ground got up and the bat was kicked underneath other vehicle.  Once police arrived on scene the story given was exactly what happened, but the physical contents of the statements were left out by both parties.  Fear of going to jail and facing charges was not an option for either party.  Once insurance information was exchanged and the other vehicle left the scene the police also left the scene and continued on routine patrol.  Jerome repositioned his vehicle in the proper spot and put the top up and they proceeded to walk down to the street below.  Once on ground level they exited the garage and began walking towards the direction of city hall.  They began talking to each other as they walked towards the protesting zone.

JEROME: Hey, Tommy I want to thank you for your help back there.

TOMMY: No problem.  I saw that you had it at first, but that guy with the bat had the advantage for a moment.  So I did what was best to keep you from getting fucked up.

JEROME: Word.  Where were you Jake?

TOMMY: He was in the car holding his neck from the accident.

JAKE: I’m sorry Jerome, but that hit made my neck go in an unusual position.  I had to make sure my neck wasn’t sprained or anything.

JEROME: You okay now?  My man here, Tommy, had my back.

JAKE: Yeah I’m good thanks for asking.

They continued to walk down the street and found themselves about five blocks away from city hall by seeing the police presence increasing.  They stopped at one intersection waiting to cross as traffic was being redirected away from the location when they saw an altercation in front of them on the other side of the street.  Two groups, one that was against the proposal and one that was for the proposal who out numbered the group against it, began to get loud at each other.  The police officers in the area were being drawn towards the noise of the yelling and screaming.  Both were shaking their home made signs at each other and some were reciting Bible scriptures as others were beginning to shove each other.  One sign from the other side was grabbed and thrown to the ground and stomped on, which escalated the situation.  Police officers rushed the area and had their batons drawn from their belts ready for use.  A few people were struck by the batons and some were taken to the ground because of them fighting the police and the other protesters.  A few were told to leave the scene once the situation was diffused.  The three guys were still waiting to cross the street, but saw this middle age white guy stumbling across the street away from the situation holding a sign in his hand.  He passes Tommy and continues on and stops in front of a coffee shop assessing himself and talking to himself about the situation.

Tommy approaches as curiosity got the better of him, but Jake turns around and tries to get Tommy to come across the street.  Tommy tells Jake to hold on and he approaches the white guy and starts talking to him.

TOMMY: You okay, sir?

WHITE GUY: I’m okay kid.  What are you doing down here?

TOMMY: My friends and I are down here to see what’s going on.

WHITE GUY: You see what’s going on down here.  Mayhem that’s what’s going on down here.  You shouldn’t be down here you might get hurt.

TOMMY: What side are you on?

WHITE GUY: I’m on the side that is against the proposal of making the Pacific West Territories a reality.  Lot of us are against the proposal for many reasons.

JEROME: The other guys you got in the fight with I assume are for this?

WHITE GUY: Most of them are white supremacist and you also have a few black and Hispanic groups for this as well.  The community is tearing apart and the politicians don’t seem to take notice.

JAKE: Maybe they do, but have other agenda’s in mind.  I can’t believe this is going down.

WHITE GUY: Better believe it son, this reality you are in might change forever. The guy walks over and doesn’t turn around to look at them at all.  He left his sign on the ground and Tommy picks it up and reads it. The sign reads ‘UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!’  Jake and Jerome gets Tommy’s attention to continue on he drops the sign back on the ground.  Once they crossed the street they start making their way through crowds of people and find an opening to stand in.  The scene is overwhelming to them and they start looking around as people around them are chanting and yelling.  They can see another group across the street to their right that is separated by police in riot gear from the group of people they are standing in the midst of.  Tommy looks around and sees nothing but people everywhere protesting the proposal and can’t make out what people are saying since it is an ocean of them.

Tommy hears a commotion behind him and sees that a few protesters have charged the police line to get to the other side.  The police officers in riot gear along with some military personnel in riot gear as well stop the protesters in their tracks and detain them.  Tommy also wonders with numerous people around how can the police be sure no one has a weapon strapped to them.  Well, soon enough his answer to his question will satisfy that curiosity of his.  Jerome and Jake tap Tommy on his chest and they continue through the crowd passing city hall and as they approach in front the building shots ring out from their right.  Suddenly people begin to yell and screams fill the air as people run and duck for cover.  Tommy heard a few bullets whiz pass his head as he ducked down and in that instant second it reminded him of his encounter with the New White Order militia several months ago.  He wondered for a brief second if they had caught up to him for killing their elected leader for his escape.  Then he figured in the crowd of people they would not have known his location unless someone on this inside made them aware.

After a few seconds of shots being fired Tommy turned around while on the ground next to Jake and saw the police subduing the gunman.  All he could see was a see of black and green as they surrounded him and took him into custody.  The gunman was yelling something as he was being taken away and some protesters were wounded in the few seconds of the incident.  Tommy turns to Jake to see if he was okay and he was, but when they looked at Jerome he didn’t get up.  Jake rolls over Jerome and could see a bullet in his chest and blood around his mouth.  Jerome laid there on his back lifeless with his eyes open as they both look at him as if this couldn’t have happened.  People were still yelling and screaming, but mostly for the medical attention that was needed.  Medics eventually got to Jerome a few minutes later and took him away on a stretcher, but they knew he was dead.  Tommy gets up and so does Jake and they look at each other wondering what to do now.  Tommy begins to walk back in the direction they came from through the crowd of wounded people and police personnel pushing people out of the area.  Jake runs up behind Tommy and grabs his arm.

JAKE: Where are you going now?

TOMMY: I’ve seen what I needed to see Jake.  This is crazy.  I’m heading back home.

JAKE: This is your opportunity to join the revolution against the opposition.  Isn’t this why you came down here?

TOMMY: Is that what you think, Jake?  I came down here because I wanted to see what the big issue was about.  Now I have seen enough and must decide for myself what is best.

JAKE: Tommy, your decision has been made already.  You just don’t know it yet.

TOMMY: The only thing I know is that my life is completely different from years before.  Now, I’m ready to make a change and make a difference.  I think I know what I need to do for myself now.

JAKE: What’s that?

TOMMY: He looks at the military personnel unloading the truck in front of them.

JAKE: You can’t be serious, Tommy? That’s a whole different world in it’s self.  Think about Sandra and the life you two can half together.

TOMMY: Jake, I have to think about myself also.  The life we are trying to live has not been all roses and we’ve seen things that no one here has probably seen.

JAKE: So you want to be selfish and only consider what’s best for you?

TOMMY: It’s not being selfish Jake.  For months after the attacks I wanted to do something with my life to make it feel like I can make a change.  I want to serve a purpose that can make me proud and others proud of me.

JAKE: What about Sandra?  Do you think she will be proud of you for the decision you’re making?

TOMMY: Right now her opinion is not my concern.  I need to follow my heart and I think this is the decision that needs to be made. He walks away from Jake as he hears police sirens and ambulances arriving and leaving the scene.  Jake watches Tommy walk away from him for a block and a half and the proceeds to follow him.  Life has been altered and now things must change for the better.

LOCATION: President’s Hideout

Just a few days after the President of the United States had his meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other members of the cabinet he gets another surprise coming his way.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Mr. President, I have a phone call for you from Washington.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Who’s calling me from Washington?

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Takes a deep swallow and then answers the question.  According to the person calling from Washington the United Nations Security Council is calling for you.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Have the phone call forwarded to my office. He gets up from the location he was at with his wife and kids outside and sets off to his office down the hall.  The chief of staff goes back to the phone and has the call forwarded to the president.

The president gets to his office and as soon as he sits down the phone rings and it blinks on the secured line, which he knows it is official.  He watches it blink for a few seconds before he picks up the phone and answers it.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: This is President Ford, how may I help you?

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL: Mr. President, good afternoon you know this is Chairman Lee, Head of the U.N. Security Council.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Mr. Lee, what do I owe the pleasure of your call?

CHAIRMAN LEE: We have been monitoring the situation there in the United States and the effects all around the world.  We haven’t contacted you in months after the attacks simply because we wanted your government to focus on the task at hand.  How are things going there so far?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Things here are slowly getting back to normal.  We still have a few things to tie up and a few things to take care before we are fully operational.  This has in no way weakened the United States to the world.

CHAIRMAN LEE: Well, I’m curious to know about this situation we are hearing about in the western region.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Western region?

CHAIRMAN LEE: The Pacific West Territories have applied to our office for assistance and to be recognized as a separate union.  Well, this was given to us in a several page correspondence and to narrow the explanation down that is what they are saying to the council.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Well, to make things clear for you and the council is that the Pacific West Territories is not a separate nation and that we are not recognizing it as such.  That violates our constitution and whoever is responsible to establishing a nation within our borders will be charged with treason.

CHAIRMAN LEE: I understand the position you and your government stands on this.  However, I wouldn’t be so very concerned if I didn’t know about their situation and how they plan on going about it.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: What information do you have on that?

CHAIRMAN LEE: Well, you are aware of the senators and congressman who represent the states that make up that region are pushing for this, right?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Yes, I am aware of that and that they are also trying to explain that it is still part of the United States.  Their reasoning for this is that the state governments are extremely unhappy of our response to assist them.  They want to be a separate territory of the U.S., but still part of this country.

CHAIRMAN LEE: So they want to be independent like Puerto Rico and Guam and other territories of the U.S.?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: That’s my understanding of it.  We are fighting that along with other members of Congress who represent the states in the south.  That situation is well more handled and far less along than the situation in the west.

CHAIRMAN LEE: You might want to focus more on the western region than the southern states.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: We have intelligence people on the ground reporting to us periodically on the situation at hand.  So for the most part we have everything under control.

CHAIRMAN LEE: Well, if you have intelligence in place than you should know that other states are being secretly contacted to join their cause.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: What the hell are you talking about Mr. Lee?

CHAIRMAN LEE: The Phoenix government is in negotiations with Colorado, Utah, Alaska, and Montana.  Several other states remain neutral and under the order of your authority.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Oh my god! I’m assuming you have people here monitoring the situation as well?

CHAIRMAN LEE: We’ve had people there almost immediately after the attacks happened.  The word is that someone or the information you need to know about the attacks is in Sacramento, California.  Nothing has confirmed that, but so far our team is investigating this and reporting to us.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: It would have been nice for you and U.N. to let us know what was going on.  How do you think I feel to know I have foreign operatives operating in my country without my knowledge?

CHAIRMAN LEE: I’m sorry Mr. President, but it was a necessary action and we felt as the situation was being investigated we would let you know of the issues brewing.  Right now, I am asking that you allow us to operate and we will coordinate with your people to help solve this massive confusion.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I will allow your organization to operate on U.S. soil, but everything from this point on needs to come through me first.

CHAIRMAN LEE: I completely understand and I apologize for our inconsiderate behavior.  We also need to solve this quickly because the world’s economy has seriously taken a hit.  So with that in mind you surely understand why we acted the way we did?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I understand Mr. Lee.  We shall work together and bring this situation to a halt immediately. They hang up and continue on with their respective business with their members of their organization.

Almost immediately after his meeting with the chairman of the U.N. Security Council President Ford meets with his chief of staff in his office.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Emanuel I need to speak to you for a brief moment.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Sure, Mr. President.  What do you need?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: I just finished my meeting with Chairman Lee and apparently he has intelligence people in our country monitoring our handling of this crisis.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: What? Do you want me to file a motion to have them cease operation immediately and turn over all information gathered to us?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: That won’t be necessary Emanuel.  What I do need you to do is contact the Joint Chiefs and alert them of the situation.  Then have them gather a joint intelligence team to go in and figure out the weakness of this whole mess.  I want information on who is responsible, what the west intend to do once they complete their task, and what are our options to stop this from happening.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well one way to cease this from happening is to order sanctions and state that anyone going along with this plan will be charged with treason.

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: Ordering sanctions on our own people will just exacerbate the situation and cause more people to just join their cause.  Whatever that cause maybe.  We need to succeed in this issue and failure is not an option.

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes, sir I will get on that immediately.  How soon do you want this team to be on the ground?

PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: As soon as possible.  Also I was thinking that no cities on the west were hit to our knowledge.  So why would they want to cause division within our unification?  The 64 million dollar question needs to be answered and time is running out.

The White House Chief of Staff gets his orders from the president and calls up the Joint Chiefs for an emergency meeting.  They meet Emanuel in the room where the last meeting was held.

EMANUEL: Thank you gentlemen for meeting me for this emergency action that the president is calling for.

ARMY GENERAL: What’s going on Emanuel?

EMANUEL: The president wants all of you to form a joint intelligence team to have on the ground within the next couple of days.

MARINE GENERAL: That needs to be cleared through the Department of Homeland Security Secretary.  Besides we can’t use federal troops on the ground because it violates the Posse Comitatus Act.

EMANUEL: You can’t use them for any reason that enforces the federal and state laws of the country.  However, you can use them for gathering intelligence on the enemy. The Joint Chiefs look at each other with somewhat of a perplexed look on their faces.  The United Nations has foreign operatives operating in this country monitoring our handling of this crisis.  They are gathering intelligence on the ground and they would like to coordinate with us in doing so.

AIR FORCE GENERAL: That’s insane!  How long have they been here?

EMANUEL: Almost immediately after the attacks happened.  I offered to file a motion with the U.N. heads, but the president told me not too.

NAVY ADMIRAL: You telling me we have foreign operatives in this country without permission from the president?

EMANUEL: That’s exactly what I’m saying to you Admiral.

ARMY GENERAL: These bastards want our cooperation on the ground after they practically invaded us?!  I can’t believe this!  I can’t believe that the president is willing to work with them side by side.

EMANUEL: I understand your concern and your opinion on this, but this is the order of the president and he needs to know immediately.

MARINE GENERAL: What does the president need from us?

EMANUEL: A number of individuals that will be involved in the joint intelligence operation.

AIR FORCE GENERAL: You mean a counter-intelligence operation on the Pacific West Territories.

EMANUEL: Call it what you want to call it, but the fact remains that this is what the president wants.  He’s still waiting for the information from the troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.

MARINE GENERAL: I have it on my computer and I will forward it to you.

ARMY GENERAL: I have it on my computer as well and will send it to you.

EMANUEL: Good.  When you figure out how to set up your operation let me know ASAP.  Also since we have military bases there in the western region what is happening to them?

MARINE GENERAL: Most of the base commanders were arrested and many of the authorities there were involved in a fierce fire fight.

EMANUEL: So what are you telling me general?

ARMY GENERAL: Most of the base commanders of all military bases were either arrested or forced to change over.  Anyone resisting would face swift action.

EMANUEL: So this is looked at an attack on the United States?

NAVY ADMIRAL: I’ve got some ships that were hijacked and now under operation of this so called territory.  This is unacceptable and our swift action is needed.

EMANUEL: What you are asking for is a military strike on our own people?

MARINE GENERAL: They sure didn’t think about that before they started committing treason on our troops and all federal buildings.

EMANUEL: The president is not going to go for it.  Besides the information we need to know about all of this is supposedly located in Sacramento.  I overheard the president’s conversation with the United Nations Security Council.

ARMY GENERAL: Sacramento, California?  Oh my god.

EMANUEL: What general?

ARMY GENERAL: There is an abandon warehouse about 10-15 minutes outside of the city heading north on the Pacific Coast Highway.  That warehouse is secured by locks, codes, and constantly secured by armed guards.

EMANUEL: Okay, well what’s in it?

ARMY GENERAL: I didn’t think about this before, but that warehouse contains chemicals such as mustard gas, anthrax, and other biological and chemical agents.

EMANUEL: Oh no, are you telling me that is where the terrorists got the stuff from to raise an attack on the cities?

ARMY GENERAL: No, I know that location was not hit because if it was we would have known and action would have been coordinated immediately.

EMANUEL: Okay, then what is the big issue?

MARINE GENERAL: There is a tunnel inside the warehouse that leads to a silo that controls at least half a dozen ICBM’s in California, Nevada, and Oregon.

EMANUEL: This just gets worse by the day.