by Josh Hilden
She started going over the messages that had accumulated as she had caught four hours of sleep, it seemed that a lot of cut off military units were hearing the broadcast that they had started putting out over the last week when they had secured the cities power generation capacity. More than five hundred men and woman from various fragmented units had found their way to the Denver Barricades and several thousand more had responded from places as far away as Minnesota stating that they were going to try and make it to the city but they were unsure how long it would take them due to road and weather conditions. She wished them good luck and god speed but there was nothing that the people of Denver could do for them until they got closer.
The intercom buzzed and she pushed the button, “Yes” she said to her assistant a seventy two year old woman that had fought her way out of downtown Denver before it had been cleared and joined up with the then ad hoc militia.
“Governor Franer, there is a message from the communication building.” The all business voice said. The communications building was one of the cities radio stations that a genius kid from the University in Boulder had souped up to levels that that would have given the FCC a coronary before the dead rose. It allowed them to broadcast for a thousand miles and to receive from more than seventy percent of the continent twenty four seven.
“Put them through Adel.” She said. Several seconds later the voice of Jesse Hatcher, the very kid that was constantly working on the equipment, blared through the little box. Jesse and a group of more than a hundred students had maintained control of a section of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Karen had made the decision to rescue them in order to harness their technical and engineering knowledge.
“Hey Boss!” He said in greeting, Karen sometimes thought that the twenty year old might not be playing with a full deck.
“Hello Jesse, what do you need?” She asked.
“Nothing Boss, but I just received a directed transmission that you need to hear. I think it was meant for you.” He sounded a little unsure.
“Well that’s cryptic” she thought, and then said “OK put it through Jesse.”
“Sure thing Boss” He said and then there were several loud pops and clicks and then a woman’s voice slightly distorted by static. It took her a few seconds to realize that she recognized that voice.
“To the survivors within the City of Denver in general and Governor Franer specifically, this is the President of the United States. I and the remaining governmental structure of the United States of America and Canada have spent the duration of the crisis in the relative the safety of the North American Aerospace Defense Command Center at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado.” There was the sound of muffled arguing that seems to deal with her revealing her location and then the loud and firm voice of the President telling the other person to “Shut Up!” and then he continued.
“We have been taking precise observations of the various Metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada via satellite and high altitude fly over’s and I am afraid that I have to inform you that Denver is almost assuredly the only major mainland city left where the living and not the risen dead rule the streets. We have ascertained that the Island of Maui is also still be under the control of the living we have established contact with the people there making Hawaii the only state in the union with a functioning government.” He paused for a second and the sound of him taking a drink is audible.
“We have been conducting experiments on captured specimens of the dead here and at other secure locations and it has been determined that the dead are susceptible to changes in temperature. When placed in environments with temperatures below 18 degree the bodies of the risen dead become inert. Unfortunately this is a temporary state and when the bodies have sufficiently thawed they once again are as dangerous as before.” The sound of shuffling papers fills the speakers and then the President continues.
“It has come to our attention that many military units that have been cut off from their chain of command are heading in the direction of Denver to link up. The decision has been made that the time has come to go on the offensive while we still have the ability to do so. Governor Franer I have designated Denver as the Temporary Capitol of the United States of America and we are coming to join you.”
The Presidents voice is replaced by an electronic voice stating that the message will repeat every ten minutes.
Karen looked down at the speaker in disbelief. They had been fighting and trying for so long thinking that they had been abandoned. She didn’t believe what she had heard and turned to Jesse.
“Play it again Jesse.” She said quietly.
“You got it boss!” He said laughing with a huge shit eating grin on his face.
As she listened to the President again tell her that all was not lost and that there was still an America to fight for she heard something else. In the distance the sounds of helicopters filled the air and the sounds of people yelling and screaming in joy was only slightly less intense. And for the first time since the dead began to rise and Karen had lost everyone she had cared for she felt something beyond the fear, she felt hope.
“Alright Jesse” she said slapping the boy on the shoulder. “Put out the word to all units that the President of the United States is coming for a visit and we have to make him as welcome as possible.”
“Will it end in Fire?”
Diamondback Stadium
Phoenix, Arizona
October 00, 2012 AD
9:30pm EST
It had been a place of joy and sportsmanship in the years before the rising of the dead. Now it was a fortress of stability in the sea of insanity. The addition of walls and barriers had made the giant structure more imposing than the coliseum in ancient Rome, gun and artillery mounts were spiked into the walls and ramparts. But for all of the changes it was still a place that projected a feeling of safety and community. When baseball had been played here it had been an open of expanse of green spread out from the interior walls, now there were row upon row of vegetables that had been planted and were jealously being tended by the people that still called the stadium come fortress home despite the fact that large sections of the city had been made safe enough for people to reinhabit. There was a feeling of optimism that was infectious in the air of Phoenix. The fighting had been intense and the losses had been heavy, the burn pits outside of the city limits would smolder for months after they had been filled beyond capacity.
The man in the crisp suit walked down the steps to the platform that had been erected in front of what had been home plate. Despite everything that had happened he still looked well scrubbed and prosperous. But looks were deceiving and the people of Phoenix knew that he had been there with them fighting the dead and the branch of the Santana Family that had tried to claim Phoenix for what was left of the Mexican Mafia. He was still a Senator, his term had two years left on his term when the dead had risen and as far as he was concerned that made him the only legitimate claimant to the position of President. He stepped up to the microphone and assembled audience of Arizonans cheered a frantic and heartbreakingly authentic cheer of joy.
“My friends Phoenix is free of the dead!” He cried into the microphone. The crowed reacted with such enthusiasm that for ten minutes he was unable to continue. A large grin split his face and he basked in the glory. He had lost everything that he had loved in the fighting, family and friends, but he still had his responsibility and power. He clung to it and subsumed his self in it.
“I am here to tell you that today I am claiming the Presidency of the United States of America!” The cheers swelled again. Camera flashes fluttered across the platform as the few reporters that were left recorded the moment. One lone television camera broadcast the events to the people still living in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
A short Hispanic man in black judge’s robes rose from a seat behind the Senator. The Senator turned and faced the man, the smile was gone now and he looked grave and serious. A hush settled over the
crowd. The judge lifted a worn and well thumbed bible and the Senator placed his hand upon it. The county sheriff, the remaining members of the city and state governments, and the commanders of the states army and air National Guard’s stood around the Senator. A few minutes later it was over and the crowd was cheering again, many of the people were crying.
“We have a long road to walk, we have just begun the journey to rebuilding our nation. But we will do this we will make American one nation again.” The crowd cheered. “We need to be strong and we need to be vigilant but we also need to remember that those people out there in the infested lands are still our countrymen, our family!” and now the new President unelected was crying himself.
Overhead three Arizona air National Guard F-15’s streaked over the city and the people cheered even louder.
“Or will it End in Ice?”
Anchorage Municipal Park
Anchorage, Alaska
October 00, 2012 AD
9:30pm EST
The four men and three women sagged against the ropes that held them to the telephone poles that had been erected in the middle of what had been the parks soccer field. The temperature was somewhere around 30 degrees and the prisoners were dressed in t-shirts and pajama bottoms. A five foot high chain link fence had been erected around the center of the field and the poles had been erected within. A crowd of over five hundred people watched from outside the fence. To a person they were dressed in heavy winter clothing and had various hand to hand weapons on their person, but none of them had any fire arms. Behind the crowd of onlookers were the people with the weapons. Fifty meticulously uniformed and armed soldiers stood at attention with their carbines slung over their shoulders.
The sound of a loudspeaker being turned on made everyone turn to look at the dais that had been erected for the occasion. In the days before the rise of the dead the modest platform and attached podium had been used for presenting awards at public functions. Now it was being put to a far darker purpose. All conversation stopped as she stepped to the microphone and flashed the smile that had seemed to make her everyone’s friend in the years that she was Governor of the state and during her run for the Presidency before the rise of the dead canceled the elections, maybe forever.
“My fellow Americans” she said and the feedback caused a whine that made people cringe. Instead of looking around helplessly she smacked the microphone hard and the feedback stopped. She smiled again and if you didn’t pay to closes attention it would reassure you, but if you looked closer you would see that it never traveled past the mouth. Ice seemed to live in her penetrating gaze.
“My fellow Americans” she continued and the crowd cheered, “My fellow Alaskans” she said and the crowd roared. “We have cleared this city of the menace of the dead, and we have cleared this city of the traitors that would have us bow down to a man that ran away from the nation’s capitol and hid under a rock!” She roared this statement back at the assembled multitudes. Their return cry was deafening.
“They would have also had us accept the leadership of a man who couldn’t win the White House through fair means so he resorted to siding with a pack of desert rats and welfare losers!” They booed even louder than they had cheered if that was possible and
She turned and looked at the pathetic creatures strapped to the poles on the field that had once been the care free play area of children. Now it had a darker and more insidious purpose and they all knew it. One of the women lifted her head, there were tears frozen solid on her face and her lips moved but no sound came out.
The former Governor and self proclaimed president turned her head back to the crowd and flashed that cold yet enchanting smile. “We caught these traitors supplying the rebel scum out in the infested lands with food and weapons.” The jeering and yelled boo’s continued but they were a little less enthusiastic. These people on the poles had been their friends and neighbors. They had fought the dead and bandits side by side with the people on the outside of the fence. One was a police officer and one was nurse, both of them had been recognized by this same woman as heroes during the hard initial days of fighting. But now here they were ready to receive the punishment that had been met out to bandits, looters, murders, and rapists in the hundreds since the dead had risen and begun to feed.
“I know it is hard to believe that our own fellow true Alaskan’s would betray us but they were caught and tried in a state court. They were found guilty and their sentence has been pronounced.” The calls were even less this time. Many had heard the rumor that these were actually some of the core opposition party supporters and members in the fragile emergency government. But more than one person in the crowd was afraid that if they spoke out they might be the next ones sentenced to a feeding.
She drew a paper from her pocket and read, “On this day in the 2012th year of our Lord Jesus Christ, these individuals have been found guilty of sedition and treason. They have confessed their crimes and have been sentenced to …” she paused for dramatic effect while a panel truck that was swaying back and forth pulled up to the gate of the pen, “… a feeding.”
The fence gates were opened and the back of the truck was lifted. Unseen individuals in riot armor pushed a dozen of the risen dead out of the rear of the truck and out onto the field. Then the truck quickly pulled away and the gates were secured as the dead rose up and spotted the helpless prey. The moans began and the sounds of people crying in the crowd could be heard, nobody in their right mind wanted to see what would happen next but they were expected to watch it all and remember. The half frozen captives screamed as the dead consumed them.
From her podium the former governor and the self proclaimed president smiled. This time a person looking into her eyes wouldn’t see coldness, they would instead see fire.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When I was born on August 3, 1976 in the great state of Michigan the hills shook and the sky was swept with fire. These were portents of the greatness for my future that was written in the stars ... I'm still waiting for that greatness.
My name is Josh Hilden and I am many things. I am a husband, a father, a son, a friend. These are all important things but at my core I am an artist and the medium that I work in is words. I am a writer of Role Playing Games, short stories, essays, poetry, novellas, and novels.
In the everyday world I can be found spending time with my family and friends. I have been married to my lovely wife Karen since September of 1996. We have six amazing children. We tend to be a family of unabashed geeks and gamers who were geek before geek was chic.
If you are really interested in me I am very active online with a personal and a writing blog along with a plethora of social media outlets. All links are available at my website (www.joshhilden.com). If you have any questions or just want to chat hit me up!
