Black Box 86ed

by Kjelland, Andrew

  “Just go on without it.”

  “Hell ya,” Billy cries as he quickly take the other line in one quick motion.

  Ok let’s get started. Landen grabs a bowl and pours the whiskey into it. Placing the needle nose, fishing line, and hook into it we wait in silence as they disinfect.

  CHAPTER...

  It’s done, he finishes sewing me up. I pull up my pants and just lay there, wiping the tears from my eyes.

  “You’re gona be just fine son. Little sore but your ass is gona make it.” He says with a grin.

  “Well I can't thank you enough,” I tell him.

  “It's not a problem son, it's for people like yourself that we are even doing this. I'm just glad I could fight this war with a scalpel instead of a gun tonight. Now why don't you go upstairs and get some food, I’ve got some work that needs attending to.”

  Bill comes up to my side pulling my arms over his shoulder as he helps me up the stairs.

  “You’re in for a treat boy, we got the finest chef in all o Chicago cooking upstairs for yawl.”

  “What’s he making?”

  “Well tonight’s menu is a gourmet cup o instant noodles with a side of hot dogs cooked in a coffee maker. Dam stoves ain’t workin and in the name o conservation we’re only using the small appliances with our generator.”

  “Well it sure beats nothing.”

  “I suppose you can say that if you insist on being optimistic,” he retorts as we make it to the top of the stairs.

  Grace bolts to me as soon as I come into view, wrapping her arms around me.

  “How’s your ass?” She asks with a sly smile.

  “Ha it's never been better.”

  “Here let’s get some food,” she says taking Bills spot at my side. We slowly make our way to the kitchen, the stench of burn hot dogs and cheap noodles fill the air. She sits me down at the table, a shot of pain flows through my lower half as I shift my weight to what can only be referred to as my good cheek. Grace brings two plates sitting next to me as Roger, Over; Billy and Louie each take a seat around the table. Over wearing clothes that are obviously two sizes too big for him.

  “So what’s your guy’s story?” I ask Billy and Louie.

  “Well, we’re parta the Free Man’s Militia, hailin all the way from Montana. Now I know how that sounds, like we’re some hiding out in the woods head cases just waiting for the world to end, but that just ain’t the case.”

  “Well,” Louie interjects.

  “Well, it ain’t the case for all of us.” Another long look from Louie,

  “Well some of us... maybe just me an Louie, and possibly Watchtower are the only ones that ain’t.”

  “Watchtower?” Grace prods.

  “O, that’s right you guys ain’t met him yet, he’s probably upstairs, keepin a lookout. But getting back to ma point. We just some guys practicing livin by our own wits, few weekends a month. And ya, few o us mighta been waitin on the world to end, but hey look at us now, can’t say they’re exactly crazy anymore.”

  “But we must have seen almost a thousand of you guys running around Chicago, how are there so many?” Grace asks.

  “It ain’t just us, you probably didn’t know this but there’s well over three hundred militias throughout the country. And believe me when the news broke about that veteran gettin sent to the hospital by the police you’d of thought the government declare war on us or somethin. Hell we had one guy drive all the way from Mississippi an tell us about how they were gona attack the White House. Said he was representin the south east militas an such.”

  “Ha ya now he was a head case,” Louie interjects. “Drove probly eight hundred miles just cause he ain’t trust the telephones.”

  “Luckily he was open to suggestion as you have probably already seen. Just so happened I went to college with Mr. Landen downstairs and anyone who actually pays attention to what was happening in the country knew his dad ain’t no government shill. There ain’t a name that goes farther in any true conservative house than Ronald Paul. So we got in contact with Mr. Landen here who went an talked to his old man an here we are.”

  “So wait, why Chicago? Why not Oakland or Washington D.C?” I ask.

  “Unification son, we can’t be lettin the coasts have all the fun. What’s a rebellion if we ain’t everywhere at once?” Billy says with a smile. “Plus nobody was expectin it, all the news been talkin about was the coasts, everyone forgot about Chicago. And do you know how long it takes to check and take back just a square block of skyscrapers? We could put just one man in every building in downtown and the city wouldn’t be clear for a month. Right now, I’d say we’re sittin pretty at the moment.” Billy laughs.

  “OOO you just wait, wait till the clouds come in.” Louie interjects.

  “O Jesus Louie, give that stupid shit a rest.”

  “Hey now we may be disagreeing on probabilities here but when you get swept away you’ll be cursing yourself for not listening to me.”

  “What? What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “No don’t listen to him. I love Louie here like a brother but I’d just about have him institutionalized for spreading bullshit like this.”

  “What?”

  “You guys ever hear of the HAARP program?”

  “Harp?”

  “Yes H A A R P,” he says spelling it out

  “Nope.”

  “Well ya see, now for the last thirty years or so, our government has been mastering how to control the weather.”

  “What like making it rain? Like cloud seeding?”

  “Ha, shit I wish it was just cloud seeding. No, we are talking about using the weather as some sort of military weapon.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Believe me, I wish I was, this is serious shit. Now if you ask me.” He says lowering head down and towards us, his voice coming to just above a whisper. “Now pretty soon, if we have enough progress in this war, we’re gona start seeing some eerily shit hitting the fan.”

  “Like what?”

  “Cats and dogs, it’s gona start rainin cats and dogs,” Billy interjects slapping his knee breaking into laughter.

  “Ya real funny country man but when the military starts throwing tornados at us, I’m packing up and heading so far north that north becomes south.”

  “Uuum,” I look to Grace as her eyes roll. “Do you have any proof?”

  “What? O of course we do. Ain’t you seen all these crazy climate changing accusations? It’s all the government. Ain’t nothing to do with no carbon dioxide we just got a government trying to stick its claws into every human being.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “Don’t you see? With the people saying that the world’s gona end if we don’t stop using fossil fuels, the government gets to start taking your money and putting it into places like solar and wind companies. They start owning these places ya see. And when the government finally gets total control over all our energy they will finally have their tentacles so tight around our balls we won’t have a choice but to submit.”

  “O I see.”

  “O Jesus don’t patronize him,” Billy snarls

  “Hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion, just like I think sleepin in some blanket with arm holes ain’t registering a ten on the manly scale.”

  “And you won’t till you try one yourself.” Billy laughs back.

  “Well I’ll tell you what, when those tornados start comin down on us, I might just have to see what that arctic circle is all about.”

  “One day we’re gona be out scouting and when we get fired on you’re gona be strugglin with your blanket, an all Imma have to do is pick up my gun an shoot. It ain’t even for comfort it’s just practical, plus they got camo colors.”

  “Dam, I’s just kidden Billy. You’re lookin all sorts o commando with your open ass cashmere tactical blanket. Curled up with your sleepy dream tea readin murder she wrote.”

  “Fu
ck off,” Billy retorts with a smile.

  “Now I have a question,” Roger interrupts. “You guys know anything about a warehouse full of coffins?”

  “O, that’s right.” Grace exhales.

  “They about nine feet long, an four feet wide?” Billy questions.

  “Bout that, we stumbled upon a warehouse that was full of them.”

  “Ya, ya we hear somethin like that down near the business district. We got people taking pictures and sendin them to all the news networks.”

  “Ha, like that’ll do much good,” Louie interjects.

  “It looks like the government had a little harder time gettin people to them FEMA camps then they were intendin on.”

  “Is that what it was? I can’t believe our own government would do something like that.” I interject.

  “You guys gotta understand this is all parta the plan. I know we’re feel pretty stationary right now but we’re on a conveyer belt as we speak.”

  I look around the group. Nearly every face coated in hesitant interest.

  “When people think about the army an all their plans of action, we seem to always think that there just plannin on fightin China or terrorist. What people don’t know is how thanks to nine eleven our own government passed a law sayin how anyone can be the enemy, even everyday ordinary Americans. They’ve been plannin this for years. What those occupies did was show just how tight the governments noose is around all our necks. They go about talkin how we’re the freeist country since ever, but turns out that’s only true so long as we follow their script. An now we’re startin to see things in a more realistic light.”

  It’s weird I want to just dismiss these guys as crazy but... but all of this is crazy. It’s weird how... well how if just a month ago I had heard someone saying this stuff I would have avoided making eye contact, but what if they are right? What if we really are at total all out war, and the enemy is our government. Or is there even a true enemy here? Is this just a rather aggressive debate with no clear right or wrong answer? I look over to Grace who looks skeptical yet engrossed in Billy’s debatable description of events.

  “An we got a long, long time to till all this settles down. Lots of people are gona die; an everyone’s coming to realize this. That this ain’t just some little protest but a revolution. And the thing is if we lose, we lose America. Plain and simple, there ain’t gona be no, o let’s just pretend this shit ain’t ever happened. It’s gona be, lets never let this happen again. Who knows how far Washington would take it.”

  “I can’t see Obama going along with this though, you would think he would set things back” I retort.

  “Maybe, maybe not times are a lot different since Lincoln was president. But let’s not think about this cause it ain’t gona happen.”

  The room goes quiet. “So uh besides hiding from helicopters anything else happen to you guys?” Billy asks.

  “Umm.”

  “I mean, like you fellas got any war stories?”

  “I think you could say that,” Grace Replies.

  “Well don’t be shy, I think it’s therapeutic when it comes to talking about this stuff anyways.”

  “Saw something that looked like a satellite falling from the sky, you guys know anything about that?” I ask them.

  A broad almost disbelief filled smile crosses Louie’s face as Billy leans in. “What you just say?”

  “We saw something falling from the sky. It looked like it kinda had some; o I don’t know they looked like solar panels things on the sides. Defiantly wasn’t a plane, or at least one that I’ve seen”.

  Billy’s face quickly mimicking Louie’s, “Chicken little.” He almost whispers under his breath.

  “Sorry what was that?”

  “Chicken little, thought it was all bullshit but I guess not, I’m gona have to tell the VP bout this.”

  “Who or what I chicken little?” Grace asks.

  “O you never heard the kid’s story?”

  “No, not that, I know who Chicken Little is but what are you talking about.”

  “Now if what you’re telling us is true, then we got some really smart, really high power people looking after us.”

  “So you’re saying it was a satellite?

  “Now, I don’t know that but for the last few days we’ve been taking in a lot and I mean a lot of ex military. People that when they got the order for live ammo on their neighbors just didn’t sit well with em, an decided to do something about it. Now there’s been whispers about people, not your average military people eithers. People, who’ve stayed in the military beast. Trying to take it down from the inside.”

  “Imma go tell the VP, and for God sakes Lou would you get to the point already,” Billy says smacking him on the back as he leaves the room.

  “Fine, fine dam… Well we’ve been hearing about this NASA guy, goes by the name chicken little. Least that’s what people’ve taken to callin him. Word is he’s gona make the sky fall down. Now we don’t know who this guy is or even if he exists, but if what you just said is true. Sounds like something a guy by the name of Chicken Little would be behind. Someone so high up, he can literally pluck the Governments satellites out of the sky. And if what you’re telling us is true, then we just might have a pretty dam good shot at taking back this country.”

  “How would that change things so much?”

  “Because the war you’re baring witness to ain’t the type that can be won just by having the most warm bodies holding guns. Not when they got the ability to watch us like some mad 24 hour a day marathon o neighborhood watch. We need to be able to move about more. It’s one thing to take a city where they’s cover everywhere, but after the cities, we’re gona need to be able to move out an about in the open ya know, get supplies and people to places. No way in hell when the government’s got it’s all seeing eye out of sniper range.”

  “So this Chicken Little guy, he’s knocking out satellites making the government blind?” I ask.

  “Wouldn’t say blind but their gona have to work a hella lot harder to see us coming. Makes you pretty damn patriotic don’t it?” He smiles with almost a tear in his eye.

  Heavy almost rushed footsteps climb the stairs for the basement. I watch as Landen and Billy who’s obviously trying to suppress his glee, like a kid finally finding where his parents hid his Christmas presents, walk into the room.

  Landen takes Billie’s seat. Clearing his throat, hands folded on the table. “Billy tells me you guys saw a strange sight on your way to us.” We all nod. “Now do you remember where exactly you saw this thing falling?”

  “It was down Chastic Street. Flew over us about four blocks south from the super market.”

  Louie’s eyes widen to almost near dinner plate size as he shouts out in a spray of hot dog bits and ramen juice, “Chastic Street?”

  “What, what’s so surprising about that street,” I ask.

  “You guys obviously where walking on the sidewalk right, cause you’d be in about a million pieces if you had been driving.” He replies.

  “Well, we took a car about ten blocks north of the target, heading straight north on the road.”

  “You cheeky fucker you’re lying.”

  “What?”

  “You know how lucky you guys are to be alive?”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because fucking Chastic Street is one long land mine field with a bit of actual road here and there.”

  “What!?” Roger and Over both exclaim.

  “Ya, we’ve been mining a few o the roads to the north. Making our little invasion a bit easier on us ya know.”

  “That explains a lot.”

  “See I told you I’m a good driver,” Roger shouts.

  “We probably nearly dies a million times, God dam it I knew you should have listened to me, we shoulda just kept walking,” Over scolds.

  “Jesus I feel, invincible!” Roger glees. “I feel… I feel… well I suppose I feel
like Jesus!”

  Landen clears his throat immediately sucking up all the attention in the room. “Now, where would you say it would have landed?” He pulls out a computer with the greater Chicago area on it. Roger and Over crouch over us.

  “What do you think guys, it looked like it was still a good ways into the sky.”

  “Ya maybe somewhere around here?” Over says pointing to the southern part of downtown near lake Michigan. We nod in agreement. “Ya right about here,” he says putting the mouse cursor under his finger.

  Landen sits for just a second. “Would you excuse me,” he says pushing out his chair heading straight for the basement again.

  Billy sits back down on the chair. “So you guys drove down the highway to hell.” He smiles at us. “How the hell you guys do it without your asses getting more than what God intended.”

  “We didn’t make it far,” Over snarks.

  “O so we did get you!” He smiles instantly retracting it, “we uhh… there wasn’t more of you guys before that was there?”

  “No, no one died but totaled our ride out of the city.”

  “O I’m sorry about that,” He sympathizes.

  Another prolonged silence enters the room.

  “So what about you guys, any war stories?” I ask him.

  They seem to mull this question over. Louie’s head flings up suddenly, “operation breakfast!” He almost yells at Billy.

  He responds with a large grin and head nod.

  “Breakfast?” I ask.

  “Ya, you know, the most important meal of the day!” He laughs to us.

  “I don’t follow.”

  “Well the top-secret operation known as breakfast was introduced to me an Louie here in the great battle for the north side of Chicago. Happened just a day an a half ago. Now me an Louie here was trying to flush out some stragglers in this littler suburb. We had thought there be only three guys. I guess you could say we were getting a little cocky, might have been just a little too careless. But before we knew it me, Louie and bout five of my men were ambushed. Bout half a platoon of traitors were hiding out in a strip club as we were walking past. They started firing tore up three of the guys before we even knew what hit us. We took shelter in this piece of shit house preparing to meet the good lord himself ya see.”