RACE WARS: Season Seven: Episodes 37-41: MOLON LABE

by D. W. Ulsterman

  RACE WARS

  **SEASON SEVEN**

  (Episodes 37- 41)

  “MOLON LABE”

  D.W. Ulsterman

  Copyright © 2016

  All rights reserved.

  http://ulstermanbooks.com/

  WARNING

  These are stories of a highly controversial nature

  READER REACTION TO THE ONGOING RACE WARS SERIES:

  “Brilliant SHTF fiction that is very close to the reality we are now living in.”

  “A great series that keeps you hanging on every page wondering what is going to happen next.”

  “Read, learn, and prepare.”

  “D.W. Ulsterman now ranks among the very best post-apocalyptic survival fiction authors.”

  “A remarkable series that just keeps getting better and better!”

  “Race Wars is a good author becoming a great one.”

  “Very scary because it feels like it is happening today!”

  “Great character development within an exciting plot. Race Wars delivers.”

  A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR:

  In the short time since the Race Wars series became available the interest and feedback generated has been considerable.

  It is no doubt a controversial subject but one I feel has been handled with an obligation of fair warning to those who share with so many others the concerns over the dangerous abyss America now finds itself staring down into. Hopefully – and I mean this sincerely, we ALL step back from that precipice and do some serious reconsideration regarding the path this nation has been on in recent years and the country we hope to leave future generations.

  RACE WARS is conjecture based upon fact. I take little pleasure in creating a frightening world that so closely mirrors the actual one, but it is done as much out of a sense of duty as it is one of creative enterprise.

  I pray (often) that the world depicted in this ongoing series does not come to pass.

  Hope for the best.

  Prepare for the worst…

  -D.W. Ulsterman

  NOTE: If you have not yet read the RACE WARS: SEASONS 1-5 OMNIBUS, you can do so: HERE

  Also, don’t forget to enjoy your FREE excerpt included at the end of this season from D.W. Ulsterman’s novel, THE IRISH COWBOY.

  EPISODE THIRTY-SEVEN:

  “You take care of your business and I will most certainly take care of mine, Admiral Briggs. The largest metropolitan areas remain secure. You would do well to ensure the same of our borders. It is my understanding the Chinese threat has grown considerably in recent days.”

  If it were somehow physically possible, Admiral Walter Briggs would have at that moment punched the perpetually arrogant Dr. Fenwick Sage in the face. Instead, he was only able to speak back into the satellite phone that enabled their conversation to continue.

  “I am well aware of the threats we face, Doctor. I am also just as aware of how precarious your control over our cities is as well. The food shortages are worsening and predictably, the threat of violence is increasing. I am ordering you to withdraw the majority of your forces from the rural areas for now and focus entirely on maintaining order in the militarized urban zones. We cannot lose control of the cities. They are what allow us to maintain the appearance of normalcy to the world so that we might continue to pretend we still have a fully functioning economy. Is that understood?”

  Dr. Sage shook his head inside the high-rise confines of his sparsely furnished Chicago office from where he directed the actions of his well armed Environmental Protection Agency army.

  “I assure you, Admiral, I am quite capable of doing both. You already indicated I had the authority to engage the population with the napalm stock and in fact, that program has already been initiated and shows great promise. I don’t wish to delay further. I consider it of paramount importance to the future success of the new government. We cannot allow the non-militarized zones the opportunity to form alliances. We must keep them in constant fear and agitation so that they continue to kill themselves. The more of them live, the more those residing in the cities will die. It’s a matter of resource allocation. I thought you understood this, Admiral.”

  The admiral remained silent for several seconds, hoping the silence would reinforce how little regard he had for the doctor’s demands.

  “I gave you a direct order, Dr. Sage. This conversation is over. Maintain the urban areas and leave the rest to sort itself out on its own for now.”

  The encrypted satellite conversation ended.

  Sage put the phone down upon the surface of his blemish-free glass desk and then clenched each of his fists tightly while imagining the entirety of Admiral Briggs’ fortified world underneath the Colorado mountain into which he had fled, crumbling down atop him.

  The admiral had grown bolder since leaving the destruction of Washington D.C. and the Pentagon. That boldness made things increasingly difficult for Dr. Fenwick Sage’s own plans for the country he so loathed and wanted to see brought even further under his personal authority.

  All in due time, I must remain patient. The admiral can believe himself the author of his own story, but soon he will learn the truth. All that I have planned for will come to pass if but just a bit more slowly than I would have hoped.

  Sage looked up at the sound of a light rap on the other side of his fogged glass, office door.

  “Enter.”

  Agent Rydel made his way into Sage’s office and then closed the door behind him. Rydel had proven himself a valuable resource to the cause, and Dr. Sage considered him his primary field operative in the ongoing Race Wars operation.

  “What is it, Agent Rydel?”

  Rydel cleared his throat while folding his hands in front of him as he stood with his feet shoulder-length apart directly in front of Sage, who remained seated behind his desk.

  “I wanted to update you personally on the biker gang, Doctor. They are exceeding our expectations and their influence is growing exponentially. Your use of the Beast to instill fear in the rural population is proving…quite effective.”

  Sage’s thin-lipped mouth cracked an equally thin smile.

  “As I knew he would. I’ve always had a knack for sensing a person’s true potential. I assume, Agent Rydel that you didn’t make the journey to my office to simply share the good news of our progress. How about you tell me why you’re really here?”

  Rydel’s eyes fell to the dark Berber carpeting at his feet. Without knowing why, he found he was always nervous in the presence of the diminutive Dr. Sage.

  “Yes, well, there is something, sir.”

  Sage leaned back in his chair and waited.

  “It seems a legitimate rebellion is forming in my region. Groups are gathering, arming themselves, and it would appear, uh…attempting to fight back. I was hoping we could expedite the expansion of the napalm operation to quash the rebellion.”

  Dr. Sage’s eyes widened as his head fell back against the backrest of his dark-leathered chair and he chuckled.

  “Rebellion! I hardly think such a term is applicable to the mish-mash of discontents presently hunkered down hoping their world somehow returns to the way it was, Agent Rydel. No, you are giving these people far too much credit.”

  Rydel looked up and held the doctor’s gaze before giving his response.

  “You might very well be right Dr. Sage, but I have seen with my own eyes many small communities of people working together to form defenses, and other cooperative strategies. If this trend continues, we could find ourselves facing an all out rebellion led by an army of tens of thousands, perhaps more. I think it best we do everything in our power to prevent
that possibility from becoming reality.”

  Sage smiled with only his mouth while his eyes remained devoid of any emotion beyond that of a snake sizing up the possibility of future prey.

  “And on that, we both agree, Agent Rydel.”

  The doctor suddenly stood up and faced the floor to ceiling window of his office that overlooked the Chicago skyline.

  “Tell me, what do you see out there?”

  Rydel glanced at the cityscape and then shrugged.

  “I’m not sure what you mean, Doctor.”

  Sage pointed at the window.

  “Look! A complete absence of smoke, no gunfire, no sirens, what you are looking at is a population of nearly three million people brought to heel and made to follow the letter of the law – MY LAW.”

  Rydel gave a quick nod.

  “Yeah, it appears you have things under control here.”

  Dr. Sage noted the agent’s subtle challenge to the concept of his more widespread authority.

  “Not just here, Agent Rydel, but in nearly every one of the major urban centers of America! New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, Miami – all of them have accepted absolute subjugation to my authority. We took their guns, we took their choice, their food, their water, and made them wholly dependent upon us for safety and services. We tell them where they are to live, where they to are to go, and when they are to return. They don’t dare challenge that now and I assure you, the same will eventually be done to those who remain in the rural regions – those wastelands outside our reformed cities.”

  “I appreciate your optimism, Doctor, even if I don’t entirely share it.”

  Sage lowered himself slowly back into his chair and then motioned toward the wall to Rydel’s right. A panel lifted upward to reveal a large screen hidden behind it.

  “I wish to show you something. Perhaps this will alleviate some of your concerns.”

  Rydel watched as the screen revealed high definition video footage of a group of some thirty or so people lined up on their knees in a long row. Behind each kneeling person was an armed man pointing a handgun at the back of their heads.

  “This event took place not more than forty-eight hours ago a few miles outside the border city of Douglas, Arizona. Watch closely, Agent Rydel.”

  Each of the thirty men, women, and at least three children were abruptly gunned down, their lifeless bodies dropping forward face-first into the dirt. Rydel stood watching the bloodshed, his face impassive and unimpressed. He had witnessed such things many times before and had himself ordered similar killings in recent weeks.

  “Keep watching.”

  Rydel did as he was told as the images of the killings were replaced by surveillance footage of what appeared to be an abandoned city in the desert.

  “That is the city of Douglas twelve hours after those shootings. It’s now a lifeless husk.”

  The video of Douglas was then replaced with a city Agent Rydel knew to be Tucson. A mass of people was gathered outside the fortified entrance to the city.

  “What you have there is nearly ten thousand who fled Douglas. They are pleading to be allowed in so as to benefit from the protection this government promises to provide. They wish to be slaves, Agent Rydel and do so with but just a little murder and mayhem to motivate them. See how easy this is? See how quickly they capitulate when faced with the fear of imminent death? There is nothing complicated about what we do. We simply must remember the need to continue doing it.”

  Rydel straightened his shoulders and dared to again look into the doctor’s eyes.

  “They shot one of our choppers down last week.”

  Dr. Sage’s head tilted to the right as he removed his glasses to clean them with a white cloth he withdrew from an interior pocket of his light brown tweed jacket.

  “Who?”

  The EPA agent pointed to the blank screen on the wall.

  “The people you refuse to call rebels, the ones not yet willing to get onto their knees. They are not only surviving out there, they’re shooting back. There are more of them than you realize, Doctor, and I am doing my best here now to emphasize the potential threat they represent. To you, to me, and to everything we are trying to accomplish. These people don’t fear death, and more important, they appear increasingly willing to prove it to us.”

  Sage folded his hands in front of him and then took a long, slow breath.

  “Do you know the location of those responsible for shooting down our chopper?”

  Rydel nodded.

  “Yes, it’s a small group hidden deep in the hills north of Helena, Montana. We had been monitoring them for nearly two weeks prior to the shooting incident, at least two flyovers per day until the helicopter was brought down by small arms fire.”

  Sage’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he wore an expression of near total indifference.

  “And?”

  Agent Rydel’s mouth turned downward, betraying his annoyance.

  “And I would like to send a ground unit into that area and deal with these rebels. When news of what they did spreads, and it will spread, all of our agents will be put in much greater danger.”

  Dr. Sage shook his head.

  “No-no-no…we cannot have direct involvement in a rural citizens uprising at this time. The situation has momentarily changed. We are to appear to be entirely focused only on maintaining order within the militarized urban zones.”

  Rydel’s eyes narrowed.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Sage stood up and offered a smile that spoke of his absolute certainty regarding his belief in his own intellectual superiority over those he found himself forced to work with.

  “I don’t need you to understand. Rather I require you to do what you are told.”

  Rydel began to object and then stopped himself, knowing Sage was too thin-skinned and unpredictable to risk making an enemy of.

  “So are we not going to respond to what happened to our chopper, to our agents who perished in the crash?”

  The left corner of the doctor’s mouth twitched as his annoyance multiplied.

  “Of course we respond! When have you known me not to severely punish those who would even think of doing such a thing? The answer is right in front of you, Agent Rydel. You said yourself how our friends Ripper and Beast are attracting more to their cause and as you know, their cause is little more than what we tell them it to be. So, you have a meeting with our Mr. Ripper and tell him he and his gang of malcontents are to make their way into those hills of Montana and exterminate the pathetic rats you call rebels. You give them what they need, be it fuel, weapons, transportation, whatever they want and then promise them there is more to come should they complete this next task. Use their inherent greed to manipulate them. It’s so simple!”

  Rydel had his doubts and he didn’t care to hide them from Sage.

  “Is it? Do you think it’s a good idea to be so heavily arming these people? They have no loyalty to us, to the new government. They’re animals and like all animals, they have the potential to one day bite the hand that feeds them.”

  ‘That won’t happen.”

  Rydel pressed the EPA director further.

  “How do you know?”

  Sage’s lids lowered to half mast as he stared back at his suddenly too bold operative.

  “The reason I know is the very same reason I am sitting here giving orders and you are standing there taking them.”

  Rydel knew he had ventured too close to the edge of outright insubordination.

  “I meant no disrespect, sir. I only desire to do the best job I can for our people…for you.”

  Sage nodded.

  “Good, then get to it, Agent Rydel. I expect an update of your progress within twenty-four hours. Is that understood?”

  It was Rydel’s turn to nod.

  “Yes, sir – understood.”

  Fenwick Sage watched the EPA agent exit his office with equal parts annoyance and amusement.

  Such wretched simplicity!
One day though, I will no longer have to waste my time with any of them. That day cannot come soon enough, and the entire world will be the better for it.

  The doctor stood up from his chair and once again turned to look upon the face of the city below him. He swelled with pride at the efficiency he had personally returned to Chicago. Gone were the protests, the riots, the unsanctioned mayhem. People did as they were told. They went to work, they returned home, and repeated the process without complaint or challenge. In return for their obedience, they were granted a highly restricted version of the Internet, television, movies, all of the distractions that only made them that much easier to control.