Landslide Chapter 1

The president is touring the country making public speaking engagements to gain support for his reelection. He’s hitting all the major cities across the country and today he is in Los Angeles. The presidential motorcade is making it’s way downtown winding it’s way through the crowded city streets. Confetti is being thrown down from the skyscrapers, children lined the streets with the hopes of seeing the president. It was a normal Southern California day, sunny and seventy-five degrees. Upon rounding the corner at fifth and Broadway the presidents car slows and a shot rings out and hits the president. It was all too reminiscent of the Kennedy assassination except the president car is supposed to be bullet-proof. The decoy cars are not and somehow the president was put in one. The very next day, while mourning the president’s death terror cells begin erupting in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Chicago, Orlando, Norfolk, D.C., Philadelphia and Brooklyn..

The country has descended into chaos like clockwork. Congress cannot convene due to roadblocks surrounding the capitol building with armed Middle-eastern men who shoot first and look for I.D. later. The cities are not in contact with each other and no one can see the scope of this coup.The country knows the president has died due to television,  but it was cut-off after that report, along with cell phone service.

But the millions in Los Angeles are not taking this lying down. Neighborhoods are mobilizing into mini militia’s to protect their own. The riots of 1992 were a dry run for this day. Koreans were on the rooftops of their businesses guarding their patrons as they hustled in for supplies. San Francisco was not aware of the battle going on down south nor was Los Angeles aware of the battles going on around the country. This was planned, no doubt, and probably  before September 11, 2001. If the media were still viable, someone on television would definitely speculate that this was revenge for the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

D.C.fell like a deck of cards erected by a child. All the starched white collars in the country couldn’t talk their way out of this mess.  Militia’s in the Midwest were arming entire counties as if they knew what was happening in the big city. They were waiting for this day and it was now here. A man named Armando had family in Los Angeles and communicated with them via shortwave radio and so he was the lifeline to the midwest. Although there was not much life to speak of, but Kansas City as well as all surrounding municipalities, were aware of what was going on in Los Angeles, thanks to him.The hispanics in the country didn’t seem to be as rattled as the Anglo’s or the African Americans. They had lived in police states before in their home countries. And almost all of them were familiar with assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols.

Armando was head of household to a family of five and worked as a roughneck on an oil derrick. It was hard work, one of the most deadly jobs that can be had on land but that didn’t matter to him. He was second generation Latino born from immigrant parents who endured weeks in the desert to get to this country. They instilled in him gratitude for this country’s opportunities and abundant services. He had his first full time job at fourteen years old working under the table at a lumber yard and had been working ever since then. He graduated from High School but had no time for college as he was one of seven children and the family needed the income. But now, Armando’s house was about to become a hub of activity, being that he had a shortwave radio and knew how to use it.

“Yeah, we know the president is dead but everything cut off after that, this radio is all we have left.” Armando says.

“Well, there’s more than that, someone sent paramilitary troopers into the city,this place is a madhouse. How is it there?” his cousin says.

“We don’t have paramilitary troopers falling from the sky but a what-looks-like Chinese army has taken over downtown. We don’t know where they came from, they just seemed to have come out of the ground.” Armando says.

“Do you have any weapons?” his cousin says.

“We’re in the country and aren’t as regulated as you Californians, of course we have weapons.” Armando replies. His cousin chuckles.

“You know that I don’t listen to regulations, I gotta have my AK and so should you, it’s time to arm people” his cousin says and then there’s nothing but static.

Prisoners were released from their cells but they would not find a ride back to their hometowns. Upon release they were inducted the local militia and given a rifle. The prisoner’s knew what was going on, somehow, even better than free citizens did. David took his rifle and got away from the militia the first free moment that he had. He had family in Los Angeles and was determined to get there. He had wanted to run free for years now, being down for trafficking cocaine five years, he had to get 600 miles south and had no car or mode of transportation. He was just running alongside the highway looking for a ride. He knew the police would not be looking for him. All bets were off, at this point, the country was being invaded from the inside.

Soon enough a big rig  rumbled along and stopped with a loud squeal of the air brakes. David climbed up gratefully on the side door and opened it. Climbing inside, he found Jerry, an overweight truck driver hauling a flat bed with concrete pipes that were sealed on both ends. “What’s in the pipes?” David asks as he plops himself down in the passenger seat.

“You never mind what’s in those pipes, whatcha name? Mine’s Jerry. I would shake your hand but these pipes are mighty heavy and I wouldn’t want to lose control and drive us into a ditch.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, my name is David.” David says but that’s it.

“You comin’ from a rough place aren’t you. What, the militia’s didn’t want you?” Jerry says as he pulls back onto the highway, looking into his side mirror.

“No, I didn’t want them, how do you know so much?” David asks.

“CB radio, the world is broadcast through this thing,” Jerry pats his CB on top.“Shit, anyone that tells you that men don’t gossip has never had a CB radio before.” laughs “I guess you’re headed south because you got in my truck but where are you headed?”

“Los Angeles, I have a girlfriend there that just had my baby son.” David says not really knowing whether or not his girlfriend was still there for him, as she said in all her letters.

“Into the belly of the beast, huh?” Jerry says as if David knows nothing of what happened.

“Yeah, I know it’s going to be chaos but I gotta’ go” David reveals the seriousness of his trip without having to go into detail,”How far are you going”

“Well,if you must know, and since you already have that rifle, these pipes are filled with weapons for a newly formed militia down near San Diego.They might be Mexicans, I don’t know, I’m just doing a friend a favor”

“I had a feeling about those pipes because you picked me up even with this AR in my hand, I knew you were armed at least.” David finishes.

“You better believe it.” Jerry.pulls a .45 out from the side of his door and points it skyward.

“That’s a nice piece, I’ve worked with one of those.” David says

“Worked?”Jerry questions.

“No, don’t get me wrong, I never robbed anyone, I sold large amounts of cocaine and used one of those to protect myself, it was my only partner. And still I got popped.” David says with an angry tone.

“Well, those days are over now, right? Look you’re in for a long ride, I have a bed in back, or you can just stretch out in your seat.” Jerry says.

“I appreciate you stopping.” David says.

.They rolled unimpeded down the relatively empty California Highway 99. Jerry didn’t take the tourist-friendly Interstate 5 that nearly runs parallel to the 99 because he knew if there was going to be road-blocks they would likely be on the Interstate. Like Interstate 5, cruising down highway 99, was a tour through Napa in the north to Sequoia National park in the south. It was early morning when David got on board and after they passed Fresno and dropped down into San Joaquin Valley they came across dense fog that made them slow to a crawl, not because they couldn’t see, but so they wouldn’t completely destroy blind drivers in cars. They inched their way along until the fog broke about 100 miles out of Bakersfield, one of the only towns in Southern California with a truck stop. On the outskirts of town they came across their first truck stop and road-block, of big rigs. They couldn’t just plow through the rigs like they were cars, they had to stop. And when they did they got a surprise. It wasn’t whomever was trying to uproot the American government, it was other Americans trying to recruit Militia fighters. Jerry slowed the truck to a crawl as he approached the block. Then a man with a blue bandana wrapped around his face climbed up the passenger side off the truck in a hurry with a semi-automatic pistol in his hand. David was quick on his feet, a survival tool in prison, and had his AR-15 pointed out the window when the man reached his door.

“It’s OK, it’s OK,” the man said in broken English then jumped down from the truck. Then a voice on a loudspeaker came on and said,”Please step down from the vehicle.” this time it was perfect English and David and Jerry talked about what they should do.

“This is my ride, it’s all I got.” Jerry says

“This freedom, it’s all I got. If you want to shoot it out with them, I got your back. I will not serve another man, other than family, for as long as I shall live.” David says with the energy of a man just released from a cage.

“Nah, maybe they’re friendly...alright we’ll get out but I’m carrying this,” he displays his .45,  and he hands David a .38 revolver but doesn’t say a word, only gives him a look that says many things, including ‘not until we need to’. Jerry was the first to open the door. The people at the roadblock were just as apprehensive as they were about them and cocked their guns as David opened his door. David let the AR fall to the ground so as to divert them from the odds that he’d have a pistol in his back David jumps down and puts his hands up.

“Who are you?” the loudspeaker says.

“Concerned citizens” David says as Jerry sits, still in the truck

“You can come down from there.” the loudspeaker says to Jerry. Jerry slides down the outside handle landing hard and with a wince he raises his hands.

“Who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation?”

“What!?” David says as he looks to Jerry who clearly has no idea what’s going on.

“Just answer me” the loudspeaker says.

“Abraham Lincoln” David says.

“Alright, stand down boys.” the loudspeaker says and the barricaded crew comes out to introduce themselves

“We just needed to know that you were real Americans.” A lumberjack looking man says,”My name’s John, I put together a posse to protect Americans from the invaders.”

“Who are they?” Jerry asks.

“We thought they were Middle-Eastern but there are also some Chinese and some Russians.” John says.

“How do you know they were fighters?” David asks.

“Because we killed them” John looks beyond David and Jerry to the roadblock and yells, “move that damn thing, yeah, clear a path for our new friends.” he looks back at David and Jerry, “And they were all using Chinese or Russian made AK’s. But I’m assuming you have important business and I’ll let you go if you want, just remember a few things. Don’t stop at all unless you absolutely have to, don’t be afraid to use that rifle, and don’t trust anyone. And get on that CB and let everyone know, if they don’t already, that America is under attack.”

Kelly was a world-class snowboarder living in Vail, Colorado and working for the search and rescue team. Her parents were in Boston, She was a tough chick that all the guys were friends with though none had the courage to ask her out. She’s tall and slender and had a face that would make Cindy Crawford cry with jealousy and a body that would turn Tyra Banks’ head. She was in her early twenties and not quite sure what to think of this life, yet. Everyone was fighting not to be miserable all their lives, it seemed. Now, she didn’t know what she wanted, but she knew that, definitely, she didn’t want that So, she decided at a young age to follow her heart and her heart was in snowboarding. Directly after high school she moved to Vail and got her first sponsor. While she was still in Boston travelling for competitions was nothing new. She handled the money properly and is living off of interest but still rides.This morning she had an interesting encounter. While patrolling the back country she came across a man obviously urinating but had his back turned.

“Hey, we have bathrooms for that!” Kelly yelled. The man turned around and he looked Chinese or Korean but the thing was, he didn’t say a thing, just picked up his rifle and ran away. When Kelly got back down the hill of fluffy powder. She dug her edge in twenty feet from the front door to the lodge and people were running around frantically.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Kelly shouts to the whirl of people moving by and nobody answers. Until finally Kelly’s friend Jessica ran by.

“Kelly, come with me there’s big trouble.” Jessica is also part of the rescue team. Jessica took Kelly to a cabin where all the others were.

“There’s an invasion.” Jeff  a senior member of the team.says.

“What do you mean,’an invasion’? Kelly says There’s a group of five, they were all sitting on couches and loveseats except Kelly, she had the chair.

“Like, men with weapons coming down from the sky and shooting people. We have to stay here.” Jeff says.

The American radar saw them coming but they were coming with the power of four Air Force’s. The American fighter pilot’s, while exceptionally talented, were falling from the sky faster than they could take off. The American skies became a tarmac, unloading supplies and people This was George Bush’s Axis of Evil at work.

“This morning I came across a Chinese man with a rifle urinating but he just ran away.” Kelly says.

“That was a soldier, where was he?” Jeff says.

“On Saddle Ridge.” Kelly says.

“Holy shit,they’re going to come down the hill into town.” Jeff says.

“I’ll call the sheriff.”

But that would not matter, within a matter of hours North Korean and Chinese paramilitary trooper will have landed like a tipped over cereal box full of cockroaches, spilled out everywhere. Jeff and Daniel, a sophomore member of the team,  grabbed two carbine rifles that were on the wall and peeked out the windows.

“Don’t shoot unless they’re coming this way.” Sissy, a new member of the team, says..

“We  gotta shoot them on sight!” Daniel says as his attention is drawn outside a window at the front of the cabin. He’s peeking out like a child playing a very deadly game of hide-and-seek..

Kelly and Jessica were huddled in the corner, the only one’s grasping the big picture. If soldiers are hitting Vail, then what must that say for bigger cities? It’s not like Vail was on the coast or something, at the front door of the country. Many cities would have had to have been over-run to get to Vail. And Jessica and Kelly while not college graduates were no dummies and were globally aware. They ascribed to the well-known bumper sticker,”Act locally-think globally” So, they both wanted to call home.

They were similar in age and back story. They both came from loving households and were prodigies that took to snow like a Gazelle to the Serengeti. They left high school and moved to Vail and had been there ever since. They were both romantics but were currently involved with their sport, exclusively. Kelly and Jessica saw themselves  as the only one’s thinking rationally and they felt it was their duty as American citizens to do something. That something did not include weapons.

“I have to go check on someone” Kelly says as an excuse to get away from the trigger happy men.

“And I’m going with her” Jessica steps up and tags along.

“You can’t go anywhere!” Jeff demands.

“Watch me!” the defiant Kelly says and opens the door and walks out with good friend Jessica in tow. They march through the snow together both having the same feeling of ‘oh my God this is really happening’.

“Thanks for coming with me Jess.” Kelly relays to her friend. “We’re going back to the lodge.”

“The lodge? Why?” Jess says “We don’t have weapons.”

“And neither does anyone in the building, if they’re still there.” Kelly is not thinking about her own safety, which is part of being on the team. They hid behind trees as they approached the lodge, dashing from shadow to shadow. People were no longer running and the last one’s  there were hiding in the shadows, too, everyone knew what Kelly and Jessica’s jackets meant and they were greeted with hugs. Trees cast shadows at high noon and it was morning on an overcast day. The lodge was empty as they were told that nobody wanted to stay there for everyone was confused and lost and running just to be running. No one knew what was going on. Kelly acted like she did just to because she knew that somebody needed to.

Washington D.C. had been taken by Syrians that were in the country legally as students. They found that they could ship supplies through England and as long as the package wasn’t too big, it would fly right through Customs. They were sending rifles and ammunition piece by piece for years prior to this.

The Chinese and North Koreans were coming in through the west coast and the Russians were already here, though citizens have left their country, love for their homeland ran deep. And when it called, they answered.

Jerry and David climbed back into his rig. With a turn of the key the Cummins diesel engine roared to life. They inched passed the roadblock, blew his horn twice as if to say good-bye and good-luck.

“Wow, I knew this shit would happen. The East was only going to be third world for so long. This is the rebellion. The Chinese want their money back, the Middle-East is mad at the Jews, who are our friends, North Korea wants to kick our ass just for bragging rights and the Russians have beef with us that goes all the way back to Stalin.” David finishes.

“You sure know a lot for a...” Jerry starts but then gets tripped up on his own words.

“For a what? A prisoner!” David feigns anger.

“Well, no, of course not,I just never thought of the penitentiary as a university.” Jerry and David laugh. Jerry sounded a little scared but with a loaded .45 in his door pocket, he coudn’t have been too scared,but he was. David was an intimidating man at 6’4” 250 lbs. and with a shaved head, to fit in with the white gangs in prison. It doesn’t matter how big you are, you don’t want to stand out when you’re in prison.

“Ah, I was just messing with you. But seriously, you’d be surprised how many men go to prison completely ignorant and come out with degrees.” David says

“No shit?” Jerry says through his overgrown grey beard

“There’s nothing to do in there but read and write. And the majority of the guys in the pen don’t have any writing ability so, all we do is read. But trust me, if they could write, bookstores would have to open a section dedicated it to inmate authors and their books would me more scary than Stephen King. But back to the point at hand, all great empires collapse sooner or later, and with America it is going to be sooner than later, I’m afraid.”

“Well, look how long Rome lasted or the Egyptians.” Jerry argued.

“Yes, let’s look at Rome and the Egyptians; Rome lasted some six hundred years and contributed to the growth of mankind, Egypt lasted for 3000 years and contributed so much to mankind that we are still discovering things from them, today And let me ask you a question; what has the united states contributed to the world? The assembly line, the combustion engine was not discovered in the U.S., it was exploited in the U.S. Freedom, liberty for all, do I really have to go there? Our founding fathers were hypocrites and no one called ’bull shit’ for a hundred years. Not until Abraham Lincoln was hypocrisy annihilated, before that Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson and many other presidents were having babies with their slaves. No offense if you’re a patriot and I’ll get out of your truck if you wish but the United States of America didn’t even invent Capitalism. This country is using as collateral the ground we walk on. The Chinese just kept loaning us money like giving a child rope, they always hang themselves in the end. And this  is them pulling the noose tight. America is standing on top of other countries bullying them into not moving. It looks like they all decided to move at once”

“Wow, .I would have never expected such a diatribe from a member of our prison system.” Jerry says as he passes another truck and blows his horn.”And don’t worry I do not consider myself a patriot, you should see the amount of tax I pay owning my own truck. They say this is the land of opportunity but sometimes it seems like it’s just opportunity to make someone else money. Because I’m just barely getting by. And this is the American dream? I’m my own boss, I have my own business but I don’t have a large enough house for my family, I don’t have any expendable income. This American dream is more of an American nightmare.