Fall, Rise, Repeat

by Matthew Schneider

  “2:55. This is a status report on repeat by the United States Federal Government. The United States fired 153 missiles at the following—”

  Christopher turned off the radio.

  Marx stared forward and clenched his jaw. “That communist motherfucker killed millions of innocent people. And he still goes on! I’d have him assassinated too if I could. But stay democratic, must we…? It seems the majority chose wrong when they chose a crooked man for the president of the free world. This will certainly be something for the history books.”

  “Just a few more days and we’ll be back to living fruitful lives, right? Let’s stay positive. The president himself sounded optimistic,” suggest Ethan.

  “Damnit Ethan, I told you to shut up already,” Zav said.

  “Okay, this is what I used to do with my daughter when she had a temper tantrum. Let’s play the quiet game, you children,” Christopher said, and indeed the car was silent.

  The car continued to drive just as the Earth continued to turn. But hearing how things were in the world, their existence felt strange to everyone.

  There was silence in the car as they traveled around Indianapolis and into Illinois. They sped down the road, and cars driving to and from the city became a familiar sight. They were just fifteen minutes away from Chicago when a fleet of airplanes flew overhead.

  “I wonder if they’re dropping supplies?” asked Christopher.

  But planes kept coming, and then soldiers with parachutes began jumping out from the first plane.

  “Oh, martial law?”

  “No.”

  Zav looked up. The many parachutes were painted with the Russian flag.

  Part 2

  Chapter 10

  “Oh hell no, this is the last thing I wanted to see here,” Zav spoke, watching the paratroopers cover the city like an unkindness of ravens.

  “I don’t see how this changes things. We just came for the water,” responded Ethan, looking out his window.

  “Yeah, water, for us,” Zav shot back. “Anything we do here will not have an impact on the survivors. Our best chance of finding the resources we need is going to be right here in the big city.”

  “Cruel, yet understandable and agreeable,” replied Marx, stroking his chin.

  They drove under a bridge and then were surrounded by cement walls on both sides of the eight-lane road. There was a fair amount of abandoned cars on the sides of the road going to Chicago. Some were burned or crashed but some were recently left behind. A small minority of cars still used gas, and those made up the majority of the trashed cars.

  They rounded a corner up Interstate 94 and came upon a clearing from the walls. “It’s getting congested in here, and we don’t have weapons. We’re fools. Better pray the Russians aren’t hurting civilians once we get into the inner-city,” said Zav, gripping the steering wheel and swerving the car around obstacles in the road.

  There were many cars now, moving around at a normal pace as if people were living normal lives. Zav watched the road.

  “This is a lot different than Shelbyville and Indianapolis. This is organized chaos, quite surprising, actually. I suppose, when you don’t have gangs running the streets things are bound to be a lot better,” commented Christopher, and Ethan nodded his head.

  “I feel like most people realized after the first couple days that we’re going to stay alive longer if we work together.”

  They continued deeper into the city. Soldiers continued raining from the sky, but most seemed to be landing around the Willis Tower. There were buildings around them now, red brick and gray buildings that told tales of a long history.

  “I know it’s surprisingly busy here, so keep your eyes open in case we get jumped. After we go under this building we’re going to be in the heart of the city.”

  They came to an intersection with dysfunctional stoplights where cars were taking turns. A loud whine came from the west and all four heads turned. A black police truck sped through the intersection, smashing into the side of a small blue car. The car crumpled and rolled into the decorated concrete divider on the east side of the intersection.

  The police truck drove towards the Willis Tower, followed by a parade of vehicles that filled all three lanes of the road shamelessly.

  In the front, nine SWAT trucks in a three-by-three grid hustled forward, in perfect sync with each other. Behind them, an army of M809 trucks. Three passed, then six, nine, 12, 18 trucks forming six columns.

  “Sweet Jesus, looks like the president’s in town,” Zav mumbled, watching the vehicles go past.

  Five motorcycles in an arrow formation followed the trucks closely, accompanied by several police squad cars. Then heavily armored black SUV's hovered past, followed by the one and only, The Beast. They floated past at high speeds, followed by more military trucks carrying soldiers.

  “I don’t get it, what are the odds we come to town when the President is driving through? And why here? I don’t understand our government.” Ethan watched the last of the vehicles drive past.

  “Good Lord, look at the sky!” cried out Christopher, rolling down his window and leaning his head out.

  A dozen helicopters flew in overhead, following the motorcade.

  Traffic at the intersection resumed, but no cars headed east after the motorcade.

  “I think you know what we’re doing,” Zav chuckled, pressing down on the pedal and steering left across the intersection then swerving right to hug the curb. The motorcade came into view, only a block ahead.

  The helicopters split up and landed on the Willis Tower, some landing on helipads on top of nearby buildings. The motorcade came to the front of the tower and split up.

  Zav slowed down, watching the soldiers closely. He stopped the car completely, not daring to go closer.

  Suddenly, an alarm sounded and the American soldiers evacuated their vehicles and hundreds of troops flooded to the tower. They hid, guns aimed around the building.

  Russian soldiers marched from across the street and surrounded the vehicles, using them as cover. Both armies aimed at each other, growing in size as more soldiers armed themselves.

  “They’re not doing anything? The damn president is inside that building. I’m not going to find out what happens next. We’re going to park the car and play dead.”

  Zav pulled out the key and the car hummed itself to the ground. They sat in silence, watching the soon-to-be-battlefield...or maybe not?

  “It’s been six minutes and they’re still standing there, maybe they’re waiting on an order?” questioned Ethan, leaning over the front seat. The four men watched the scene closely.

  “I’m thinking the president is meeting with someone. And Russian troops? I think the two most powerful men in the world are sitting in this building. Explains all the security.” Christopher leaned back and closed his eyes. “We’ll just have to wait it out.”

  “Yes.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence. At anytime, a war could begin in the heart of Chicago. The soldiers stood dead-still, each one holding their weapon carefully, eyes on an opponent. Upon any sudden movement, a hundred could be dead in a second.

  A man in a black suit, a white collared shirt, and a red tie walked out from the tower. He had no hair, wore black sunglasses, and had a wired earpiece in his left ear. He stood, surrounded by the soldiers, and watched the Russians. His head turned to the left and stared at the car.

  “Oh no, I think they’re onto us. He’s definitely spotted us,” Zav whispered, ducking his head and peering at the man through the opening in his steering wheel.

  The light skin man walked onto the street and towards the vehicle.

  “Back up,” ordered Marx.

  Zav fumbled for the key.

  “No, don’t move the car, don’t look any more suspicious than we already are,” Ethan responded, reaching his hand out.

  The bald man walked to the front of the car, then to the driver’s door. He bent over and pressed his face against the window.
Zav pressed at the buttons on the door to roll down the window.

  “You are not safe here. Please leave the grounds immediately—”

  “A blau flare? What is this?” Marx yelled, pointing at the blue stream of light that spiraled from the building.

  “Damnit, not good!” echoed the bald man, running to the back of the car. “Keep your heads down!”

  Zav ducked as soldiers started firing. The first line of Russians fell, some of them dead, others avoiding direct fire. A line of Russians moved up from the back and tossed grenades over the plaza. American soldiers fired back but were soon blown to smithereens by a barrage of explosions.

  The Russians moved up in precise formation, firing and walking, firing and walking...entering the building, leaving a road full of bodies behind them.

  The bald man ran to the driver’s seat and swung open the door, punching Zav in the face and pushing him out of the seat. “Get in the back, we only have seconds.” Zav jumped in the back, laying on Ethan and Christopher’s laps.

  The car awoke and spun around, driving away from the Willis Tower. They passed a fancy, yellow, stone building, and pulled into the alley next to it. They drove to the back and took a left, driving behind the building.

  “Take a moment—” Jimenez spat. “Jesus Christ! You’re all fools. You followed soldiers into a warzone. You’re lucky I saw you, but it spared my own life, too. I know you guys are confused.”

  “Yeah, okay, egghead, explain,” choked Zav. “Tell us or you’re going to suffer the consequence of abandoning your post.”

  “After the attacks, the President phoned the Russian president. Arrange a meeting! they said. And the agreement was that if a consensus could be reached, a flare would be fired. Either red, noting that the soldiers should stand down, or blue, that there was conflict that could not be solved diplomatically.

  “It’s the most awful idea anyone could ever come up with. But the Russians want to take over the States, and the president already lost his iron grasp on the country. We made up this whole flare idea just minutes before we arrived, since we were already planning on coming to Chicago.”

  “So what does this mean for the people already here? Are you telling me Russia just annexed the United States?” Christopher asked.

  “The Russians are flooding the city, no doubt, now that the president is no problem. He might just be their pawn, he might be dead. But there will be Russian soldiers all over the city now, until they relax their martial law and reinstate laws. A minor setback, assuming the country was inches from getting back on its feet, but compensation for their losses is what they want and war is what they’ll get. It’s a plot out of a novel, unbelievable. Right here on our American doorstep! That’s what we get for electing too many weak presidents, they always fall for our enemies.”

  “So, what? We sit around and wait for the Russians to take over? Or is this a call to arms?” Christopher grunted, staring the bald man in the eyes.

  “I am not catching y’or drift...you brought the American president to dis building knowing he would die?” Marx asked, his eyes staring at the reflection of the bald man’s head.

  “So maybe we brought him here knowing he would die! But now that he’s gone, maybe, we have an opportunity to recollect ourselves. Something made Russia outlive the United States, and if it’s that effective what harm is it that we follow those footsteps?”

  “What the hell? Are you telling me, even though he was a dumbass president, you allowed him to strike Russia and invade us at the expense of crippling our own American infrastructure?” Zav persisted.

  “It is simple logic, men. Millions have died for a war that will be remembered for centuries. The dawn of World War III, to say the least, except the United States ordered that no countries involve themselves. Which is weird, right? But the whole world realizes how dire this situation is and sending their own troops would be a mistake. Casualties are massive.”

  “Unbelievable. So our government was so fucking CORRUPT that they sacrificed millions of Americans and Russians at the chance of combining forces into the world’s largest superpower? And that didn’t even happen, since they’re fighting. No. No. I understand you know some things we don’t, but in no way does this benefit either country. Our infrastructure and economy will be crippled for a hundred years after this.”

  “It has always been a globalist goal to cripple the West. And now, with Russia weakened and both countries fighting tooth and claw, the rest of the world dominates. That is what we soon realized. He was a communist scumbag. Weaken the capitalist country! Throw it into anarchy! Maybe there’s something I don’t even know here. Bottomline: Russia is going to try its hardest to take over and we are going to accept that. Not like they’re bad people?”

  Zav sat up between Ethan and Christopher. He climbed over Ethan and stepped out of the car, then bent over and swung open the driver’s door. The bald man looked up as Zav’s fist hit his nose, then tumbled forward as he was thrown out of the car.

  “Kid, listen, I don’t understand what your problem is! Get your dirty mitts off me. You drove right into our setup and I saved you all. We’re in an age where nationalism and patriotism are nonexistent. Russia will annex us whether you like it or not.”

  Zav cracked his knuckles and wound up his arm, throwing a haymaker punch. The bald man raised his elbow and ducked, swinging behind Zav and wrapping his arms around his waist. He stuck out his foot and threw Zav to the ground.

  “Twenty-year-old male versus a trained government agent. Get your head out of the clouds. The world is not what you think. The world sleeps, and you need to wake up now – it’s time.”

  Zav lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. “You’re going to help us survive. And if these Russians are so nice, we won’t bother them. But I will stand and fight the moment they terrorize my American friends.”

  “It is only a matter of time until we will be forced to conform. There is a greater force controlling us all, just as the Middle East always believed they were fighting terrorism, or religious extremists. But once the United States had no more desire for oil, that terrorism magically stopped. People rejoiced; but they never realised they were all part of a big plan,” the bald man spit.

  “That doesn’t change anything I said. We were part of some bargain, or whatever went down between an increasingly communist and increasingly capitalist country, but I will stand and defend my homeland nonetheless. If, that is, the Russians are not the ‘nice guys’.” Zav raised his fingers and made air quotations.

  “Maturity is making peace with the establishment. We are all little chess pieces, we will make no change in the end.”

  Zav rolled to his stomach and stood up. He shrugged his shoulders and stretched out his arms. His eyes locked with the bald man. He lifted his right hand forward and extended his arm, his fingers open.

  The bald man shook Zav’s hand firmly and stepped closer. “Pleasure doing business with you…”

  “Xavier. Xavier Starr.”

  “Refer to me as Agent Jimenez. Or Jim, since you unclassy white folk can never figure out how to pronounce Mexican last names,” Agent Jimenez said, looking at the three in the car.

  “Jim Jimenez?” Zav asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “No, you fool, my first name's not Jim. But that’s a substitute for Jimenez if your white tongue can’t soften the J.”

  Zav squinted and rolled his eyes. He let go of Jimenez’s hand and shuffled into the backseat of the car, sitting between the two men.

  Jimenez climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. It hummed into the air and performed a stationary 180-degree turn, heading out of the alley.

  “We can stay at a local hotel. I will ensure we have access to weapons in case anything goes wrong. We’re essentially in state-controlled anarchy. Nobody is enforcing laws, but with the Russians around, nobody can step out of line either,” Jimenez talked as he drove.

  The roads were still busy, but everything leading to the Willis Tow
er had been evacuated. There were still occasional gunshots, forcing people to stick close to buildings.

  “I’m going to drop you off at the hotel. See if you can find a room. Use my badge to scare people into giving it to you, if you have to. I’m going to head back to the tower and see what I can grab.”

  Jimenez drove into a white-painted concrete parking structure across from the sparkling hotel. Zav, Ethan, Christopher, and Marx climbed out of the car and stood next to each other, watching Jimenez back out and drive away.

  “Trump Hotel, huh,” said Zav, eyeing the building.

  Jimenez watched Trump Hotel disappear in his mirror as he drove down the road towards the Willis Tower. He made several turns before he reached the spot where he found the four confused and mistaken men.

  He drove forward, approaching the motorcade carefully. Just before the first body, he stopped the car and jumped out. He fiddled for the pistol at his side and pushed the safety off, then raised it to his waist. He maneuvered over the closest dead body and kneeled next to the Russian soldier.

  He picked up the standard-issue Russian AK-15 rifle from the soldier’s side and carried it back to the car, placing it in the trunk. He collected three more guns, then magazines from the bodies.

  He pulled four combat vests off of dead soldiers, and the helmets that were in good condition. He placed everything in the trunk and slammed it shut.