From Within

by Brian Delaney

  “Too kind. Thank you. Always a pleasure to be here,” Marek said with a smile.

  “Before we go,” Marcus said as he pointed to Marek, “any hot stock tips for our viewers?”

  Marek peered off beyond Marcus for a moment and then answered with a shrug of his shoulders, “buy low, sell high.”

  Chapter Six

  February 2037

  Will sat on the aging couch in the living room with his legs propped up on the ottoman. Frayed fibers lined the edges of the pillows. They had given under pressure as many bodies over the years had plopped their weight down on the couch. His legs were draped with a thick blanket quilted by his mother. Another one of his mother’s quilted masterpieces was wrapped around his shoulders. Heavy curtains completely covered the large picture-window that viewed out the front yard and beyond to the beautiful mountain views. Had the curtains been hung aside, a view of the distant moonlit high mountain peaks could be seen through the clear night sky. Even with the curtains being drawn shut, the icy winter air still pierced through the large picture window as if it were a fog bank slowly creeping into a mountain valley. A fire flickered from the room’s side fighting back the cold while providing some warmth and low light. A wooden lamp sat upon a matching wooden end table beside the couch providing sufficient light to the half of the room opposite of the glowing fireplace. The other half of the room where the fireplace was located still housed dark corners only briefly lit by the flickering flames.

  Will stared down at an outdoor survival book in his lap. It was well-worn as this was not his first time reading it. When he wasn’t reading the book it was stored in his rusty Jeep for his mountain excursions and it always traveled with him up the mountains in his pack, which contributed to the rough edges and rounded-off corners. Along with the book, he religiously followed the author online. He would watch all his videos he posted about survival and Will would practice different survival techniques on his trips out in the woods. He quickly shut the book and glanced up at the clock. He had to hold his gaze and narrow his eyes for a moment before his eyes readjusted to the distance so he could tell the time. He guessed that he had been reading for a couple of hours. He decided he should start his ritual of readying himself for bed. He wanted to get an early start on the next days tasks.

  Will’s mother had decided to spend most of the winter at her brother’s house in town. Will and his mother’s home was just outside of the city gas lines and their heat was from a large propane tank. With fuel costs at an all-time high, the two had decided this arrangement would work best. Beth’s brother, David, was away from his home most of the year with his job sending him all over the country and all over Europe as well. He liked the idea of his sister watching after things for him. Beth had been allowed to stay on at the gift shop. The owner, Mr. Jacobs, knew she and her son depended on the income and was fine keeping her and a couple of others in his employ as long as customers still came through. It was also to their advantage that Will had used his skills to fix things at the small store and at the owner’s home from time to time. From her brother’s centrally located home, Beth only had a short walk to work and didn’t have to drive at all to get anywhere around town.

  Will was comfortable with chopping firewood for most of his heat and only running the central heating system to keep it warm enough to prevent the water pipes from freezing and cracking. He split his time in between his own home and his relatives. Many of his jobs were in town and staying at his uncle’s was quite convenient. He also enjoyed taking charge of his own house. There was always plenty to do on their large property and at the house. Will always had a running to-do list in his head.

  Will thought of Lea as he readied himself for bed. He had finally worked in a time to be frank with her about his intentions. At the beginning of winter, they had decided they would be together. This made him smile as he thought about that long evening conversation. In the midst of the collapsing civilization around them, she had the power to free him from his gloomy moods.

  Will unrolled his sleeping bag onto the couch and unzipped it open. He moved his hands back and forth over the length of the bag smoothing it down flat. He switched off the lamp and picked up his pillow from the side of the couch. With one single movement, he placed it down while he swung his legs up to the couch and fell down into place on the sleeping bag. He zipped himself in. The remnants of the fire was a slowly pulsating glow. There were no more flames to be seen. Will watched the glow slowly fade as his eyes grew heavy. Each blink grew longer and longer as the minutes passed. He finally gave in and fell fast asleep, not realizing how much his life would soon be quickly changing.

  *****

  The next morning Lea woke early. She had spent the previous afternoon and evening with her parents reorganizing their store of home-canned fruits and vegetables and then turned their latest purchase from the local butcher into home-made beef jerky. Lea’s mother, Juana, had come up with the recipe on her own and it was an instant family hit.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Juana would blow off compliments. “I’m sure the recipe is stuck in my brain from something my mother taught me.”

  “Mom! You told me you never made beef jerky with your mother!” Lea always challenged back.

  It was a fruitless argument that happened anytime a compliment came on the popular recipe. She wanted her mother to get credit for something so pride-worthy and for her mother to stop being so modest about it.

  With the previous day’s activities keeping her at home rather than hanging out with Will, Lea had turned in early which was why she awake now during the dark of the early morning preparing her breakfast. Lea carefully picked up her freshly toasted bagel from the toaster with the tips of her thumb and finger and dropped it on her plate. She quickly put the tips of her fingers in her mouth to cool the sting from the hot bagel. She took the knife and meticulously spread cream cheese on one half of the bagel and then spread peanut butter on the other half. It was a morning favorite of hers. She started doing the combination of cream cheese and peanut butter because when she had only one of the two, she would always crave the other once done.

  Lea sat in the kitchen with the t.v. across in the living on with the volume low. She could hear a door open from down the hall and wondered if she had the volume too high. Her father, Alejandro, stepped around the corner with his morning eyes mostly closed.

  “Uhhhgh,” He moaned. “Lea? Why are you up so early?” He slightly stumbled over his words as his body was not quite awake yet.

  “I went to bed too early so now I’m up for the day. Am I being too loud?” Lea answered.

  “No, I couldn’t hear you. I woke up and was getting a drink of water and noticed the light coming from under our bedroom door and thought we accidentally left it on. I’m going back to sleep...” His sentence trailed off and he turned around and dragged his feet as he went back down into the dark hall.

  “G’night,” Lea whispered loudly as he had turned to go back to bed.

  Lea only heard a grunt in return. She turned to look at the clock on the microwave and figured Will was probably not even up yet at this hour. She knew he was up early many days but was not sure of his plans for this day since they did not spend the evening together as was becoming their custom. Lea kept looking down at her fingers. They were worn rough from the packaging and vacuum sealing work from the previous day. She guessed they packaged around six dozen bags of the jerky. It was the most they had ever done but they all knew it still would not last them until their next jerky making day.

  Lea finished her breakfast, placed her plate by the sink, and then switched off the kitchen light. She maneuvered her way across the room to the couch in the living room by the dim light of the TV. She turned the volume down still further since she was now closer but still kept it up enough so she could still hear. She was sitting on the edge of the couch leaning forward towards the screen with her legs crossed. The leg still on the ground was anxiously bouncing up and down. Lea was watching the ultra-early
morning news broadcast which was re-runs from the late evening news from the night before. Her mind would wander occasionally to chores or Will. Her attention was jolted back to the broadcast when she realized it was live and the familiar voice of Marcus Braden, the normal evening news broadcaster, was speaking quite emotionally on riots.

  Marcus on in the morning? Riots?

  Lea would hear news of riots on a regular basis these days, however, it would still always concern her since her small hometown was situated on a well-traveled road.

  “The state of unrest in our country can no longer be downplayed or ignored,” Marcus’s voice rattled the speakers. Lea pushed the ‘volume down’ button down a couple of times and moved off the couch and knelt in front of the TV so she could still hear and not wake her parents.

  Chapter Seven

  WWNL Breaking News

  February 2037

  Marcus quickly shot up in bed. The ringing phone in his dreams eventually roused him enough to make him realize the ring wasn’t only in his head.

  “Hello?” Marcus’s hoarse voice cracked as he answered with a question. He took a few sips of water from the glass that sat on his nightstand to help his voice return to normal. He recognized the voice on the other end as a member of his news crew but couldn’t remember his name. It must be this man’s turn on the midnight shift to monitor for any breaking stories.

  “Marcus, I know it’s late or early...whatever, but the VP’s want you in. A lot happened in the night and they want you on first thing in the morning to report it.”

  “What’s happened?” Marcus’s mind was racing through the possibilities. He hadn’t worked the day before and turned in somewhat earlier than his usual the evening before and wondered what he had missed. As he thought about it, he realized he didn’t watch the news at all the previous day.

  “What didn’t happen last night? Everything you’ve been talking about is happening. It’s all gonna change. Just get in as soon as you can and I’ll bring you up to date.”

  “Be there within the hour,” Marcus quickly answered and hung up, not listening for anymore. Everything you’ve been talking about is happening. He understood the meaning and what was about to unfold.

  *****

  Marcus tipped his coffee mug all the way up above his face to finish the last few remaining drops. He held out the mug and let James fill it up again from the freshly made pot from the studio office break room. Marcus noticed the name badge hanging from his neck right as he walked into the offices. He remembered after seeing ‘James’ that he hated to be called ‘Jim’.

  “I’m sure you saw how much the markets dropped,” James said.

  Marcus hadn’t but he didn’t say anything.

  “The House and the Senate held emergency sessions last night. Unanimous votes. Even the President has already signed it,” James rattled off as he held out the press briefs sent over from the WWNL reporter in Washington D.C. James continued to speak as Marcus began to read the reports.

  “They put a stop to trading just before market close. No after hours trades could go through. The government is taking over everything they can. Food companies, farms, distribution, oil companies, utilities, a slew of other major companies that have lots of employees...even banks!” James exclaimed and his eyes widened at Marcus.

  “It has media outlets listed in here,” Marcus glanced up at James with his eyes as he spoke. His eyes returned to the pages and James answered.

  “I saw that. Wait ‘til you get to the part about the private company they are contracting to run all this. It’s some new corporation that apparently has all the means to implement this and they are already prepped to begin. This plan had to have been in the works for a while if they are ready to go with this. This is what you’ve been saying, Marcus!”

  “We need to be pushing this information all day before they stop us. Where’s Ken?”

  “He should be in soon. I called him after talking to you. Do you really think they’ll try to stop us?”

  Marcus looked at James and nodded his head. Regardless of their political opinions, Marcus knew the bosses and Ken couldn’t let the biggest news story pass by the network because it didn’t support their views. However, if the government would soon be running things he thought that they might be inclined to let their unpopular actions go unannounced. Marcus considered that he would have to convince Ken to get on board with operating how they wanted regardless of what the government dictated to them. He would convince Ken and then Ken would have to convince the V.P.’s. Marcus ran the scenario through his head.

  I hope it goes that easily.

  *****

  Marcus sat at his desk in the nearly empty office. It was much quieter than during the day. All that could be heard was the continuous hum of fluorescent light bulbs and cooling fans on computers. He flipped through the pages of the report and scribbled down notes on another page. He was startled as James slammed down more papers next to him on the desk.

  “As if that wasn’t enough,” James said as he pointed to the pages Marcus was flipping through. “Increased rioting is happening pretty much everywhere. There’s bits and pieces of these documents already on the internet and it’s causing panic.”

  “Sounds like the beginnings of a revolution,” Marcus returned.

  “A revolution,” James spoke the word as if it were an epiphany he was having and nodded his head slowly. After a brief pause as he stared off towards the big clock on the wall he spoke again, “Well, you are all set to be on the six-thirty broadcast. Whatever we get on there we’ll loop throughout the morning so people will get it as they wake up across the West. We’ll cut in with you if there’s anything else that breaks on this. It’s Ken’s plan. Just got off the phone with him again. He should be in any minute now.”

  “I’m pretty much ready. I’ll review what you just gave me to get some specifics.” Marcus glanced at his watch and saw he had thirty minutes.

  *****

  “The state of unrest in our country can no longer be downplayed or ignored.” The urgency was clear on Marcus’s face and in his voice as he spoke. “If you are just joining us, the news of the government taking over the majority of the private sector has brought the country to a violent revolt. A couple of months ago the House and the Senate made the decision to increase their powers by taking over key management decisions in businesses they considered to be vital to the country’s infrastructure. It now appears that was not enough for them. Farms, all food companies, all distribution, oil companies, all utilities, transportation, media outlets, many financial institutions, many other major employers...these are now all owned and controlled by the government and now all these citizens no longer own their businesses and can no longer make any decisions for them. The legislation also creates a private corporation that will run and manage everything under government guidance. It also states that the company will have military and police units to aid in the transition. There are reports from our WWNL teams across the country that some of these military units are already in place in large cities and have been working through the night to stop rioting and even stop protests before they begin. To clarify for everyone, this decision went through the House and the Senate late last evening and was passed unanimously and signed just hours ago by the President. These private soldiers were already in place and are reportedly stopping anyone protesting in opposition to the legislation, including peaceful protests. I’m being told we already have the text of the legislation posted on the main page of our website, which is listed on your screen. We’ll bring you any information on this company that the government has contracted, including the name, as soon as we learn. Oh...and I’m just learning that the name of this company is Central Management Authority, Incorporated. They must have tucked the name in one of the final paragraphs of the legislation. Well, there you have it folks, Central Management Authority. That is the private company that appears to be the new governing authority of the United States. Please, everyone, be safe and be car
eful. There is widespread violence all over the country. Stay tuned to WWNL.”

  *****

  Marcus left the studio to return to his desk. They had finished the live broadcast and he stayed to review it as a recording was edited and re-aired. Any other major news that morning from around the world would be sent out live and then the recording of Marcus would be broadcast again. Kenneth considered this news ‘too big’ to let any other network get higher ratings. Marcus kept his head buried in a stack of papers as he slowly walked back towards his desk. He sat down and continued reading the legislation. Just about every paragraph he read caused him to either shake his head or sigh in disappointment or do both. Someone clearing their throat with the intention of getting Marcus’s attention startled him. He looked up and was surprised to see a well-dressed man sitting on the edge of his desk not even a foot from him. The man appeared to be younger than Marcus but still had graying hair on the sides of his head with dark black hair covering the rest. The man was shorter than Marcus, but most were against Marcus’s height. He noticed he had the rough hands of a working man which didn’t match the custom tailored suit which was typically worn by a lawyer or executive in this town.

  Marcus opened his mouth and was just about to speak when the man began before he could.

  “Puts a bad taste in your mouth?” The man pointed to the stack of papers Marcus was holding and then extended his hand to Marcus. They shook hands but Marcus had still not spoken. His mind had been so focused on the news and the coffee was losing its effectiveness and exhaustion was beginning to set in. The well-dressed man broke the silence again. “Hello, Mr. Braden. I’ve been paying close attention to your work for quite a while and I think you and I should have a talk. I’m Thomas Allen.”