Before Rebecca knew it, dinner was over and done with. They had chatted amicably about various topics, mostly about Spencer as Rebecca was content to let him talk for the time being. She already talked about herself enough at therapy and was not in the mood to do it again. Besides that, there was more time for her to enjoy her dinner, which had filled her up and made her quite sleepy.
Spencer took up the tab and they went out into the night. The air felt even heavier than it had earlier and Spencer looked suspiciously at the sky. “What is it?” Rebecca asked, concerned.
“Nothing like what happened in May, don’t worry. But you know how muggy it’s been lately?” Spencer asked.
Rebecca nodded. “Well, it’s getting late in the year and there’s colder and drier air building up north,” Spencer explained. “That air is trying to move south and displace this warm, moist air. And it won’t do it quietly either.”
“What does that mean for us?” Rebecca asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
“A lot of rain, maybe some wind,” Spencer said dismissively.
Rebecca tried to calm herself down, but was having trouble banishing the flutter of panic trying to build inside her. “Where are we going next?” she asked him to distract herself.
“Have you ever been to a trampoline house?” Spencer asked.
“A what?” Rebecca replied.
Rebecca was exhausted. It was not that late, but the trampoline house had worn her out. It turned out to be a glorified bouncy house and Rebecca, who had had very little opportunity to be a child, had run amok in the building for a couple of hours, bouncing off of everything in sight. Her worries had melted away while she was there and she had taken advantage of the release of her fears.
Spencer had barely been able to keep up with her and had contented himself to watch her run around having the time of her life. When she had tired herself out, he called out to her and said, “Are you ready to go?”
Rebecca, breathing heavily, nodded and followed Spencer out of the gym. They got back into the car and headed back towards her house, as it was drawing close to her curfew. They got back to her house without incident, though Rebecca noticed that there was lightning in the distance. The calm that she had felt running her energy out in the bouncy house suddenly faded and was replaced by a sense of panic.
Spencer noticed her tensing up and said, “What’s the matter, Rebecca?”
“It’s nothing,” Rebecca said.
Spencer looked at her worriedly as he continued to drive. It took some time to get to her house, allowing the storms to draw closer and ratcheting up Rebecca’s sense of panic. Spencer sensed the change in her and began to drive a little faster so he could get her home before the storm started. They barely made it before they started hearing thunder rumble nearby.
Rebecca got out of the car quickly and bolted for the door. Spencer followed her up and said, “Are you going to be okay, Rebecca?”
“I’ll be fine,” Rebecca said, opening the door. She paused suddenly and asked, “Could you stay for a while?”
Spencer looked surprised, but nodded and followed her into the house. No one was in the living room as they entered. Rebecca quickly sat down on the couch and buried her hands in her face.
“Bec, what’s happening?” Spencer asked, worried.
“I think I’m having a panic attack,” Rebecca said.
Spencer sat down next to her and put his arms around her. His presence calmed Rebecca slightly, but not enough to prevent an outright panic attack. She began to breath heavily and felt light-headed. Spencer rubbed her back, trying his best to calm her down, but it was to no avail. The panic attack lasted several minutes and each time Rebecca felt that she was about to calm down, a fresh thunderclap sent a new wave of panic through her, prolonging the event.
After what seemed like an eternity, the panic attack finally ceased. Rebecca gulped heavily, sitting back in the couch. Spencer did not say anything and Rebecca suddenly began to start crying.
Spencer looked concerned as Rebecca continued to sob. “I’m sorry,” she managed to say. “I’ve never had a panic attack that bad before and I’ve ruined tonight because of it.”
“Hey, hey,” Spencer said consolingly. “You didn’t ruin anything, Rebecca. I had a really nice time and I want to go out with you again.”
Rebecca sniffed and said, “You do?”
Spencer looked her straight in the eye and said, “I do, Rebecca. I really care about you and I hate to see you in pain like this. I want to be able to help.”
Rebecca gulped and said, “It was the storm. They’ve made me nervous before, but I hadn’t had a panic attack that bad until now. They’ve just been bothering me a lot since Anne died.”
“I completely understand, Bec,” Spencer said gently. “I want to be here for you though.”
Rebecca looked up at him. He was very close to her face now and he could see his blue eyes were full of worry. “I want to be there for you too,” Rebecca said.
Spencer smiled and said, “I’ll be glad to have you.”
He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. Whatever remaining sense of panic that was still within her relaxed at the moment and Rebecca felt completely at peace again. She let the kiss go on for a moment before setting her head down on his chest and let herself doze. After a while, Spencer got her up and walked her up to her bedroom, where she collapsed on the bed and slept more soundly than she had in months.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Home Stretch
September arrived abruptly for the United States. With it came an absolute avalanche of political ads, rallies, and personal attacks on a level rarely seen. Election fatigue was beginning to set in and people were beginning to get annoyed at the endless parade of candidates vying for their attention.
Liam, for his part, was still managing to find people that were willing to pack his rallies at any rate. The race was beginning to tighten for him again; after the disruption at the Conservative convention backfired, Liam had worked hard to win those voters back and paint Felicia Hall’s plan as ineffective for the country’s ills. It was working to some effect, but Liam knew the race might not change in a huge way until the single debate in mid-October. Until then, he had to keep hammering his message and avoid any mistakes.
Fortunately for Liam, he did not have to worry about minor gaffes with Center party candidate Tom Green rapidly becoming the punching bag for late night comedians for his constant mistakes. He had made a particularly egregious mistake in saying that it was the woman at fault when a rape was committed and the other four candidates were content to let him suffer for it. They had long since given up attacking him directly as Green was driving away voters just fine on his own.
The Evangelical candidate Roger Ward was still storming through the South, trying to gain enough support to get him on the debate stage the next month. He only needed to get ten percent in an average of reputable national polls. He was easily making that in the South and parts of the Midwest, but nonexistent support in the more populated areas of the coasts was keeping his totals low.
A good portion of the coastal support was instead going to Progressive candidate Javier Sanchez. His platform called for a massive redistribution of wealth, which distinguished him from Liam’s campaign. Though they were both calling for massive government control, Liam was not going to take money away from people, but instead restructure how the current money was used. It would not do him any good to bankrupt the private businesses that he wanted the Fed to take a heavier involvement in.
Green, Sanchez, and Ward were all polling a combined thirty percent. Green and Sanchez had enough to get to the debate stage, so even though it was more than a month away, Liam was beginning to study their styles and policy ideas so as to attack them in the debate. Those two, however, were not the biggest problem for Liam, more of a distraction from what he saw as his real opponent in Felicia Hall.
That was not to say that the other candidates, especially Sanche
z, were not a worrisome opponent for him. Liam was competing with the Progressive candidate for states such as Illinois, New York, Connecticut, and Minnesota. While not tied to a specific region of the country, Green still had a presence in some of the traditionally purple states like Ohio. Ward was running amok in the South, which threatened Liam’s plans to win Georgia and Florida.
In a race where one only needed a plurality to win a state, Liam found himself down in low 30s in many areas compared to the upper 30s for Felicia Hall. The states he was fighting her for included Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and Iowa. These states had gone back and forth in recent elections, with nearly all of them going for the Center in the 2036 election that put Alfred Hoch in the Oval Office. With Green losing support fast, however, these states were coming down to Liam and Felicia.
The first weekend of September saw Liam making trips to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire. The message in these areas were largely the same: help for the people who worked with their hands. These people had largely been ignored as a voting bloc for decades, with the exception of the 2016 and 2020 elections, and were clamoring for attention once again as their plight worsened. Liam had been visiting them as often as money and time would allow and had drawn huge crowds each time. These people were ready to vote for him and with it came a huge chunk of electoral votes.
On the bus between a speech in Western Pennsylvania and one in Northeastern Ohio, Liam was sitting and reading a book on previous campaign that Ryan had gotten him for tips. Liam had known prior to receiving the book how campaigns had gone in general; after all he knew had been President and who had lost, but now he was learning about why certain candidates won or lost.
There was little information on how races with multiple candidates went. The only elections he had to go off of were from the early republic, the 1960s, and the last two elections. The elections from the early republic were not helpful in that the campaigning style was completely different, but they did contain important lessons about relying on the strength of a region. For Liam, those regions were the Northeast, parts of the South and Midwest, and some mountain states.
“I didn’t realize how nasty some of these elections got,” Liam called to Ryan.
“Yeah, if they had had more modern technology, I think it would have been cool to see how that 1824 election would have gone,” Ryan said, not looking up from his laptop. “We like to pretend that we have some nasty campaigns these days and everything was prim and proper back then, but 1824 and 1828 were vicious.”
Liam was not impressed. “How could they trade insults? Wouldn’t it take weeks?”
“A few days, depending on what part of the country it was. The United States has always had a good communication system going back to the colonial days and the Committees of Correspondence,” Ryan explained.
“Well, anyway, I think I’ll just use the tape from 2036 for the debate prep,” Liam said, closing the book. “How long until we get to Youngstown?”
“About an hour. Are you just going to make the same speech?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know, are we going to make the same speech Abby?” Liam called out.
“Yes!” she called back from the other end of the bus.
“Yes, I’m making the same speech,” he told Ryan.
Ryan rolled his eyes, then said, “Have you heard from Jared since he called you?”
“No,” Liam said, looking visibly relieved about it. “He just wanted to know if we had any leads about some Conspiracy bastards and I gave him one. Hopefully he takes it from there.”
Ryan’s brow furrowed. “Are they going to be a threat to us? After we win and everything?”
“First, we have to win,” Liam said. “That isn’t a sure thing right now. Second, if they continue to be a thorn in our side, then they will be the first target of the reeducation program. If Jared leaves any left alive of course.”
“Would he not?” Ryan asked.
“Did you not hear what he did to Staten Island?” Liam asked, confused.
Ryan nodded in sudden understanding and said, “Oh, right. You know, it’ll help keep people in line knowing someone like Jared is loose. Given his penchant for complete destruction of rivals.”
Liam frowned. “How will people take the news that the Black Hand works for our administration?”
“It depends on when the news gets out,” Ryan said thoughtfully. “If it came out now then we’d be fucked. But say, a year or two into the administration I think we can pretend that the Black Hand were reeducated or some shit and they are our enforcers now.”
“Is there any way people could find out before November 6th?” Liam asked worriedly.
“If Jared hasn’t blown it yet, then I think we’ll be fine,” Ryan said. “I was worried that he would blow it, but it’s been three months since we got him into the loop and there haven’t been any issues so far. He hasn’t even done anything really aggressive either.”
“I’m sure he’s saving that for when he identifies the Conspiracy,” Liam said.
“Well if we’re lucky he won’t do anything too big until after the election,” Ryan said. “Thanks to that crap in Philadelphia I don’t know if we will benefit much from it.”
“Unless we discredit Hall’s policies first,” Liam said. “That probably won’t come until the debate though.”
Ryan looked thoughtful before saying, “You know if Jared raised some hell in traditionally Conservative states, it might show that their policies are ineffective.”
Liam sat forward quickly. “We would need to get that going immediately though. I want to be able to use that against her in the debate.”
“I’ll pass the word along,” Ryan said.
Later that afternoon, Liam was in front of a crowd at Youngstown State. He had tried courting some college students while on his tour through the Northeast and had had some mixed results. The problem was while his program would pay for college after he became the President, it did not say anything about the current debt held by students. Liam was not about to share his plans for those who held debts to the federal government, not at least until after January 20th.
“Under my plan, federal monies would be redistributed from dead end projects or agencies, meaning that your education would be paid for without an extra dime of taxpayer money being needed. Additionally, tuition would be fixed at the university level so as to prevent price gouging, which has plagued colleges for decades now.”
The crowd cheered. Liam was pleased at their cheers, but they did not thrill him as they had earlier in the year. There was too much on the line and worry ate away at him too much. “Under my administration, it won’t be a sin to not go to college anymore either. Even those with no college or only some college credits will find room in society under my administration. Everyone will be at work, everyone will be educated, everyone will have a home, everyone will fit in.”
The crowd cheered again. Liam let them die down before continuing. “There’s two months until the election. This may very well be the most important election in all of American history. We are at a crossroads of history. It is time that we came together as a nation and say that we choose a kinder and a safer nation. This is your moment to change the course of history. With your support, we will make that change on starting on November 6th. Thank you for your time.”
Liam walked off the stage where Ryan was waiting. “That was an interesting bit at the end there.”
“It’s just been something I’ve been thinking about lately,” Liam said. “One way or the other, the nation will never be the same again after this election.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
The Battle of Carmel
Jared was in good spirits at the beginning of September. His Black Hand had been growing at a steady clip still, which continued to make him a richer man. The Continentals had not made a peep in nearly three months now and he was beginning to wonder whether it would be worth it to continue pursuing the issu
e anymore. It seemed that they would fall apart just fine on their own in the wake of insurmountable odds placed by the growth of the Black Hand.
Labor Day morning dawned bright and clear over the city, waking Jared. After lying in bed for a few moments, he decided to get up and go about his day. He was still mostly on lockdown in his room, thought it seemed that the heat was falling off somewhat. Jared had reasoned that the Globalists in the government had something to do with this, though his pride would not allow him to mention it.
After some breakfast and a coffee, Jared decided to watch some TV idly. There were always some movies on given that it was Labor Day. He did not have any work with the Black Hand at the moment as the local leaders were doing fine on their own and he could not take more of an active hand until after the election, regardless of who won.
Jared was midway through one movie when his phone rang. He saw that it was Stan Finch and answered it quickly. “What do you have?” he asked.
“I don’t have Bob Pates, but I do have a location on Zach Gates,” he said quickly.
“What? From where?” Jared said suddenly, sitting straight up.
“From within the Black Hand itself. I could not pinpoint an exact person, but apparently the Continentals are training all of their forces into one cohesive militia with Gates at the head of the army. They’re in Carmel, which is a town north of here.”
Jared was momentarily horrified, before regaining his composure and becoming furious again. “I’ll be DAMNED if I let them make an army under my nose. Thanks Finch. I’ve got work to do.”
“As do I,” Stan replied, hanging up.
Jared called Vincent quickly. When he picked up, Jared said, “Mobilize the hit squad and move them north at once. Zach Gates is training all of the Continentals into an army in Carmel. I want to wipe them all out while they’re in one place.”
Vincent did not hesitate. “I’ll get the squad on alert. Do you want to leave as soon as possible?”
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