Civil War II

by Eric Gurr

  Much of the glass at the huge front entrance had been shattered. As they stepped inside the smell became overwhelming. They walked through the grand entrance into the exhibition areas. There were dead bodies everywhere. They were not neatly stacked. It looked as if they had been herded in and executed.

  Some wore police uniforms or security guard uniforms. Most were in work clothes. It was clear that they had been either at a convention or rounded up from local offices.

  There were men and women but no children. The men mostly dressed in casual business attire or suits. Women in dresses or business dress as well.

  Some of Hartwick’s men started to walk forward. They instinctively pulled their shirts up around their faces to soften the stench.

  At the back of the room, they saw a lone man searching the pockets and purses of the dead. He was stuffing money and jewelry into a backpack. One of the armed men pulled his gun and shot him on sight.

  “The old man was right. We should go back to the hotels and kill every one of those animals.” No one was sure who said it, but all nodded in agreement. Then Jake Stahl spoke.

  “We oughta round up every Democrat in this city. Every bum and every fucker on welfare and ship them out to California where they belong.”

  Matt Davis stared at him. “I suppose you want to run out all the blacks to eh?”

  Stahl lowered his head and shook it. “I’m not sayin’ that Matt. But yeah, most of them probably gotta go.”

  Hartwick just stood silently looking at the carnage. He was rubbing his forehead with his fingers and trying to hold himself together.

  “What do you think boss?” Stahl asked.

  Hartwick didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to be the boss. He didn’t want to be in charge of this anymore. He wanted to be as far from this as he could. But he knew he couldn’t. It wouldn’t be right.

  “Jake, the bums and the black people didn’t do this and you know it. They didn’t do it any more than you, Matt, or that old man who told us about this.”

  “Well, we ain’t doing nothing!” Stahl roared.

  “Someone’s got to pay for this!”

  Hartwick nodded. “Alright Jake.” He then turned to Matt. How can we find out who was behind all this? And I mean the whole thing. The leaders, the ones who started all of this craziness.” He said to Matt Davis.

  “Go to the board of elections. Find out the big Democrat donors. Then go to IU. That campus is full of leftist nuts. I’ll go get a few hundred school buses, and we can drive them out. But it can’t be about race Jake. That’s not right.” Davis answered.

  And so the compromise was reached.

  “What about the politicians?” Jake asked.

  “Fuck them.” Hartwick answered. We’ll run the city for a while. Go back to the lot where our own men are waiting. Find out who wants to be an Indianapolis cop.

  Then let’s get each of the groups to elect one person as a leader. No more than twenty-five or so. We’ll get the city back on its feet. I’ll call that captain, Andrews, from a few weeks ago. If we can get their help, we can at least get this city cleaned up. I don’t much care about anything else at this point.”

  Stahl nodded and then reached his hand out to Matt Davis. “Davis, you’re one of the best men I’ve ever met. I’m sorry about what I said. I truly am.”

  Davis shook the big man’s hand. “I know you are Jake. I’m just as disturbed as you are. You did notice that there were black men and women lying on that floor didn’t you?”

  Stahl shook his head. “I know Matt. I know.”

  Later in the day, Hartwick decided to invite the media into the city. He held a short press conference at the front of the convention center, and then led them inside. The cleanup was on-going. Hartwick insisted that they film what had happened.

  A reporter asked Hartwick if the mayor and governor were working with them.

  “No. They all quit. The entire Congress, the mayor, city council and even the police have all left. It looks like most of the offices at the Capital building have been cleaned out as well.

  Jake Stahl has been appointed governor and we are selecting one hundred men who have fought to save this city, to be in the state House. We are also going to contact every elected sheriff in the state. They will also be invited to join the legislature.”

  “So does this mean Indiana is seceding?” Another reporter asked.

  “No. Not at all. We just want to get back to work and get our lives back to normal. We need to have a government. In our states time of need, our elected government officials all left. They’ve been gone for weeks.

  We need a government and this is what we are doing. We have a police force in place, again from fighting men, and all businesses can open up tomorrow. You will be safe.”

  The scene was aired live. It was still early in Portland and Colby Ohlbinger was watching. Indianapolis had been as much as a surprise to him as it had to anyone. He told himself that it had always been a lost cause. Indiana was deep red. They were never going to hold that city.

  But this looked bad and he knew it. If he didn’t do something quick the protests would fizzle. When the protests died out, he would have no army to pull from. He picked up the phone and called his contact, Donovan Jenks, at CNN.

  Donovan answered, “Colby, are you watching this?”

  “I am.” He answered.

  “This doesn’t look good for your resistance movement does it?”

  Now it was “his” resistance movement he thought. The media certainly did turn quickly.

  “You know what this is don’t you?” Colby asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I talked to the Indianapolis leaders just two days ago.” He lied.

  “They were in the convention center. There was nothing like this going on. You are being lied to. The rebels pulled these people out of their hiding places and massacred them to set us up. Surely you know they are capable of this. Did you really think we would do it? What would we have to gain?

  I’m going to be in Sacramento tomorrow night giving a speech. You’ll get the truth there. Are you going to be there?”

  Jenks hesitated. “I’ll try Colby, but are you sure about this. This is bad.”

  “Trust me Donovan. Just be there. It’s going to be the biggest rally this nation has ever seen.”

  “I haven’t heard anything about it.” Jenks answered.

  “You won’t want to miss it.” Ohlbinger answered.

  When he hung up the phone Colby got to work. He had not planned on going to Sacramento. But now he knew he had to. He called every media contact he could find. He knew the media would want a story and would report on the big rally. It was so easy. By reporting on a big rally, the media could create a big rally.

  CNN was the first to report on the situation in Indianapolis. They also reported their conversation with Ohlbinger. But to Colby’s dismay, they didn’t buy it. They said that he was the only source and they could not prove that the bodies had not been there two days prior.

  But other journalists were more questioning of the Rebel’s story. The false flag narrative burned through social media in a matter of minutes.

  The news media duly reported that a massive rally supporting the resistance was scheduled for Sacramento. Colby was successful. He made calls to Scotch Anderson and requested a meeting after the rally. He didn’t need more money, but it always came in handy.

  What he actually wanted, was Anderson to get him a meeting with the governor and other political leaders. But he would have to set the stage first at the rally.

  Los Angeles was burning. The immigrants, mostly Mexican were sure that the Republican plan to deport them was going to happen. But that hadn’t spread to San Francisco or San Diego. Colby had to change that. Somehow he had to bring them into the fold of the resistance.

  He booked his flight and started working on his speech. He would only be taking a few people with him this time. He would need Katana to once again spread her
peculiar form of violence.

  He had an inner circle, a small group from Portland and the few left from Madison. He wanted to keep them close. Another group of about a thousand people was being paid with the money from Anderson. Not much, but enough to keep them full time. He knew that tens of thousands of others were with him.

  The capital city of Sacramento was oddly isolated from the rest of California. It was close to San Jose and San Francisco, but still surrounded by Republicans. It would be perfect.

  His speech was at the back of the capitol building steps, facing the small state park. Colby never understood how whenever he showed up, the microphones and the stage had already been set. It seemed to happen everywhere. He would just announce an appearance and these things would appear. He always stuffed a megaphone in his bag but lately never needed it.

  In Sacramento, he shook hands with a few local politicians, state representatives and congressional representatives.

  He hadn’t bothered to learn anyone’s name.

  The crowd was listening to a radical feminist speaking. As he walked to the podium he could hear the crowd start to yell his name. He stood near the back of the stage as the woman ranted on. Talking, smiling and playing the part of the movie star. He made it a point to ask someone the name of the person speaking and indicated he would be going on next. No one questioned his decision.

  As he waited he scanned his surroundings. There were police and security everywhere. In Portland, he had walked right in. He knew it would be different here.

  He asked another person what the size of the crowd was. The police had estimated one hundred thousand, but more were coming in by the minute. The governor was a no show. Someone approached the woman speaking and whispered briefly to her and walked away.

  She stopped speaking and turned to look at Colby. He motioned for her to keep speaking, gave her a big smile and a thumbs up and started clapping. The crowd went wild and started yelling his name. He waved at them and then pointed back to the lady speaking.

  The woman knew she couldn’t go on. So she finally relented and Ohlbinger sheepishly made his way to the podium. He kept saying her name over and over as he walked so he wouldn’t forget. When he reached the podium he looked back to watch her walk away.

  “Wendy Reese everyone!” He shouted. The crowd applauded loudly, so he motioned for her to join him.

  “My gosh, Wendy. I’m so glad I got here in time to hear you speak. Friends, without people like Wendy, where would we be? Can we get just one round of applause for this awesome woman?”

  The crowd applauded again. Colby stepped back to give her another moment. She wasn’t even supposed to speak. She was a local leader of a very small LGBT group who had been asked to fill time. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, but she suddenly felt very important. Ohlbinger expertly guided her away from the podium.

  He stood for a second to let the crowd silence itself. He was getting good at this. He knew what to do. He also knew that the crowd would have seen the video from Indianapolis. The first step was to diffuse that situation.

  “Thank you all for coming. Thank you for letting me be here to join your cause. Your cause for something so simple it seems ridiculous that we have to fight for it. Why should we have to fight for justice? But we do.” A loud cheer forced him to pause.

  Drop the voice and make them strain to hear.

  “It’s starting to become clear, isn’t it? The right-wing fascists in this country will stoop to any low. We know that now. I know you’ve seen the awful scenes from Indianapolis.” He let them think for a moment.

  He had worried that the media wouldn’t show. He need not have bothered. They were all there. After Indianapolis, they wanted to hear what he would say. Most were convinced that he wasn’t behind it. The media were convinced that it had been done by the resistance in Indiana. They had seen with their own eyes the execution of five men. They believed those five men were guilty. They did not believe the two hundred and seven bodies in the convention center were guilty. Ohlbinger was about to make them question everything.

  When he thought the moment was perfect, when he knew everyone could hear him, he dropped his verbal bomb.

  “And now, even the media wants the country to believe that we did this?”

  He shook his head and laughed out loud. “How fucking stupid do they think we are?!” He screamed.

  “Of course the rebels did this. We aren’t going to be fooled. The Rebels are even fooling some of our so-called friends who are Democrats. But let me tell you something. We are now finding out that those people weren’t all killed at the same time. So they want you to believe that our resistance movement was running around Indianapolis killing people and dragging them all through town back to the convention center. And yet somehow, when there were thousands of us in there, no one said a word.

  My friends, fellow patriots, real patriots! We know the truth already. If you have any doubt, let it leave your mind. Don’t fall for this absolute crazy nonsense.

  There is no way this wasn’t done by the right. The Rebel army is re-living the glory days of racism in the south. They did this.

  When someone among you suggests that maybe a few of our fellow travelers got out of hand, you will know that you are talking to an FBI agent or a rebel insurgent. Get away from them and get them away from you.

  And let me ask you this California. Where is your governor? The great Democrat, Margaret Wenner. Where is she? Do you remember when she promised healthcare for all of California? Where is it? Do you think she cares?

  My friends, even some of our Democrat politicians are falling to the myth. The myth that socialism is bad. The myth that maybe we need to send some immigrants home.

  I want to thank Wendy Reese again for the great work she does for the LGBT community. But we have to come together now. Millions of our friends in Los Angeles are fighting for their lives. You need to come here and fight with us.

  Many of our African American friends are fighting for justice. You need to come join us. We are one people. One people that want justice for all of us.

  Do not trust these politicians. Do not trust the media. They are corporate owned. Trust only yourself and your own eyes. We must stand together or we will all lose.

  The reason this is all happening is that they know. They know! They understand that we have victory in the palm of our hands. They know we are about to overturn this farce of an election. We have the victory, but it must be our victory. All of us together!”

  The crowd was now moving. He could see it and feel it. It was just like Portland. He just needed to close the deal. He wanted them to trust no one but themselves.

  They would, of course be led by Colby Ohlbinger. He scanned the crowd again. They looked mad. They looked ready to fight.

  It was a huge crowd. He looked around again at all of the police. There were hundreds. But the police weren’t in the crowd. They were on the edges. He had the advantage in numbers. Katana was primed and ready. Now was the time to take California.

  He turned with his back to the crowd to look at the capitol building. He paused for a few seconds and turned back.

  “That’s a nice building. Do you know who that belongs to? Do you know who paid for that? You did! It is yours. The park you are standing in is yours. So why are all these police watching us? What are they protecting? Governor Wenner doesn’t own that building. The politicians don’t own that building. We do.

  Why in the fuck do we keep letting the politicians send out their storm troopers to watch over us like we are some kind of criminals?

  We are simply taking back what has been stolen from us. You see that hotel over there?” He pointed to his left at the hotel across the street. Why are the police guarding that? Would you like to know?

  Because that hotel also belongs to you. You bought it. Every time some politician stays in that hotel who do you think pays for it? You do!

  Why are you out here camping in cheap tents, when your money bought that hot
el? That glorious beautiful luxury hotel is yours. Just a few buildings away look at that! Another hotel that belongs to you. There is no other way to look at it.”

  He looked out towards the police officers standing along the road in front of the hotel.

  “You police officers. Why are you doing this? Why do you fight for these liars and thieves? Look around you. Look at this crowd of nearly a million people. Do you not work for us? Either help us, or get out of our way!”

  With the scream, he jumped into the crowd and walked towards the police.

  That was Katana’s signal. She had already made her way to that side of the park. But the crowd was pushing fast towards the hotel. Barricades were around the perimeter.

  The police stood on the edge of L Street just behind the barrier. The two sides were face to face and the crowd was pushing.

  Ohlbinger was behind them, in the middle of the crowd and cheering them on. Katana was now at the front of the crowd. She had lowered the backpack to her feet. Until the police used tear gas she wasn’t supposed to act. It wouldn’t work. So she waited.

  After a few minutes, when the crowd wouldn’t push any harder, she shoved the people in front of her.

  “Take it!” She screamed. And the crowd rushed the police. It only took a second. Tear gas was fired from guns and shot from handheld canisters. She flipped open the front of the backpack and stomped hard.

  There were three, two liter soda bottles in the bag. One was filled with bleach. Another was filled with cleaning ammonia. In the third was another concoction she had mixed herself which was designed to make the gas even worse. Her foot stomp in the middle caused all three bottles to push off the caps placed at the end, and the chemicals mixed.

  Instantly the police and the crowd were in a panic. Katana could feel the burning in her own lungs and rushed back as quickly as she could. The crowd was stampeding around her. She tried to remain calm as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the smoke bomb she had made.

  The crowd was beginning to get away quickly. She had no choice. She had to finish it now. She pulled the Zippo lighter and lit the fuse. Someone looked down at her. She just smiled and put her finger to her lips. The fuse hit the device and smoke poured out. She could no longer even see the people in front of her.