Blackout: Chapter 11

Previously

From the Journal of Jason Forrester

9 November 2013

I was looking back through my journal and I remember where I recognized Eklund from.  He was the radical eco-nut I ran into outside the security company a couple times.  The guy who said that Gaia would strike us down for our sins against the planet.  Ironically, he might be somewhat correct on that.

It is almost a shame I will have to destroy him, he would have been a useful asset if he wasn't a nut job.

But he is.  And he is using his powers to destroy what little remains of civilization.  I cannot and will not allow him to plunge the world further into sorrow and despair.  I will not allow him to plunge the torch of civilization into the water in order to dowse it for generations at the least.

He has left me no choice, I WILL kill him.  For the sake of our future, I have no choice.

He has brought this on himself.

He has burned schools, and libraries and hospitals.  He has killed people and done his best to destroy any hope we have of having a future, of some measure of civilization surviving in this world.

I no longer have a choice.

I must kill him myself.

I hate that I have taken this upon myself, but I see no other option.

Somebody has to kill him.

I will not force that burden on anyone else.

I will not allow the simplification to occur on my watch.

I will not allow civilization to go quietly into the night.

Not on my watch.

Roeland Park, KS

1 September 2013

Eric Eklund breathed deep, satisfied with the world.  There were no plane in the sky, the distant rumble of locomotives had been absent almost as long, and the cars all lay abandoned where they had been left.  The hum of electricity through the wires was absent as well.

The only sounds were of the wind in the trees and the occasional sound of fire ripping through the old urban core.  He had even set a few of the fires himself out of sheer joy.  Gaia had heard his call and brought death and destruction on the heathens who relied on the electricity and technology for everything.

The world had changed for the better, and he was helping to finish the transformation.  He would return the world to the form it should always have taken.  He would lead mankind back to its proper place, living in harmony with nature and not at odds with it.

Once the old world was finally destroyed, life would be far simpler.  A simplification if you would.  In order to stop the counter-revolution, to prevent science and the inappropriately named "Enlightenment" from reoccuring he had to destroy the Libraries and Hospitals first.  Along with the schools and the tech stores.

Eklund looked in a car stuck in heavy traffic, and was happy to realize that it had a full tank of gasoline.  That meant it would explode and cause a large fire.  Oh joy.

Eklund uncapped the gas tank and stuffed a rag in the tank, letting it seep along the rag as he began to uncap the tanks of other nearby cars as well.  Taking a piece of flint and steel, he struck sparks at the cloth until it caught hold and began to burn.  He watched it for a while before turning to run.

He had time to turn and watch the fire as the gas tank began to burn like a torch.  The gas fumes from the other cars began to catch fire as well, and one of the cars exploded early, sending flaming shards out for several yards.  It was beautiful.

When the hummer with the full tank of gasoline he had targeted exploded, Eklund began to sing a song of joy.  He had just destroyed one of the worst cars on the planet.  The one he blamed more than anything else for the destruction of the old world.

The fire was already spreading to other cars.  Now, if only he could remember where that gas station was.  That would make a fantastic explosion and would burn down several city blocks.  He finally ran into a number of his fellow Children of Gaia.

"My brothers, it is good to see you all in the same place!"

"And you, brother," one of them commented.

"Come, let us bring the true light of the world to these scared and hopeless heathens.  Mayhaps we can bring them into the light of true civilization."

"And if they do not?"

"Then we shall purge them with fire."

As he led his group onwards, he came across a group of people who were obviously sheltering in an old apartment complex.  They had broken out the windows to get inside, the crackling and flickering light of a fire could be seen on the walls of a few of the buildings.  These people had been unable to leave the city, and instead had been trapped inside due to either a love of material posesions or the inability to leave due to a lack of transportation.

Either way, they would join or die.

"Brothers and sisters, come forth into the light of the new dawn!" he called out.

A few of the apartments had shadows shift within as the people inside inched closer to hear what he had to say.

"I know you have hearts full of fear, for this must seem like the twilight of the world, like an age of darkness has fallen, but I tell you that you are wrong.  This is a new dawn, the long night is over!  For too long we have forgotten that we must live in harmony with the world.  For too long we tried to compete with the rest of nature, and in winning doomed our souls."

"But we need your help, we cannot change the world on our own.  Who wishes to join us and baptize the new world in the cleansing purity of fire?"

A man with close-cropped dark brown hair and reddish colored eyes stepped forth, "I will join you, he said."  Eklund took one look in his eyes and knew he had found a warrior.  His shirt indicated he had been Army Special Forces at one point, while the tribal tattoo of a tree on his shoulder indicated he was a member of the Earth Liberation Army.

Eklund knew his grin was feral, but this man was one of the best assets he could have found.  He now had a head of his militant branch, "Welcome my brother.  Let us burn the heathens in the light of the new fires of wisdom."

"Sounds like a plan, sir."

"This is your last chance, I beg of you to come and join me.  Do not condemn yourself to the flames as I burn this building to the ground."

A few people stepped out carrying small bags of food or clothing.  Eklund allowed them to keep it for now.  If necessary, he would check them for contraband later.

"Any others who wish to embrace the light of the true dawn?"

Eklund could hear people scurrying out of the building, most likely using back exits as he saw no one exiting from the front where he stood.  So be it.

"My brother, what is your name?" he asked he former Green Beret turned Eco-Terrorist.

"Cooper O'Seighin, sir."

"Cooper, I would be honored if you would light this cleaning flame."

"My pleasure, sir," Cooper responded, taking hold of the torch he was offered with a look of glee on his face.  He walked calmly from room to room along the lower level, touching the torch to the drapes when exposed, smashing in windows when necessary.

Soon, the building's entire lower level was engulfed in flame and the wailing of people trapped upstairs could be heard.

No matter, Eklund thought.  They had their chance to escape the flames.  At least they would be purified for the next life.

Metcalf and Shawnee Mission Parkway

2 September 2013

A burning radio station was a beautiful thing in Eklund's eyes.  Radio communication was his third most hated form of technology, behind television and the internet.  It allowed mankind to advance so much faster and to destroy so much more.

Before the invention of radio, mankind could only communicate with a few people at a time, and he had limited himself to living beside the rivers or moving continuously as nomads.  Before the ability to communicate with your neighbors without leaving your house, it was almost impossible to spread "knowledge" throughout the world.

Eklund hated it almost as much as he hated the printing press.  So as he watched the massive radio station burn, he couldn't help but smile in joy at what he was watching.  One of the keystone technologies of the old world was burning before his very eyes.  Oh, this was delicious.

There was a half-price books down the road.  That kind of evil had to be purged from the world right now.  Who knows what kind of evil was in there to lead the world astray once more?

As they walked down Meltcalf away from the burning radio station, they encountered a group of people who were staring up at the smoke with fear and curiosity.  Eklund stopped his group and began to preach of the new light he was bringing, the true light of harmony with nature.  A world free from the evils of electricity and the burning of coal or oil.  A world in which the true sun of co-habitation with nature and harmony with your fellow man was allowed to shine bright.

It swayed a few to come with them, while the rest shied away with the clear intention to move out on their own.

No matter, they had the right to deny the light of the true sun or not, so long as they did not get in his way or take shelter in an artificial shelter after an eviction notice had been given.  If they chose to do so, they would forfeit their lives.  They did not have to join them in order to live, only not oppose the Children of the New Dawn.

Much to Eklund's shock, one of the people had chosen to join him had a strange image emblazoned upon his chest.  It had letters and lines connecting them.  It looked like a molecule of some kind.  It made Eklund angry to look upon it.

"What is this?  What is this symbol upon your chest?"

The man looked down in surprise, as if he had forgotten what was emblazoned upon his chest.  "Oh, this, it’s the caffeine molecule.  I used to be a computer programmer.  I had an addiction to caffeine before the blackout.  Now though, it’s the only clean shirt I have.  I was in KC on a business trip."

"Then I ask you to strip off the shirt and burn it.  Think of it as a final renunciation of the old world and your acceptance of the new dawn.  Your baptism into the new light of a new, more harmonious day."

"Of course, anything for a man who can help me survive."

"You have a way with logic do you not?"

"I do, and with rhetoric and speech as well."

"Hmm, a speaker eh.  Perhaps I should name you to be my herald, to spread the word of the new, simpler way of life which we bring to the world.  To tell the people about the true light of the new dawn which is even now breaking across the horizon."

"I would be honored, Elder Eklund."

"Good, then burn the shirt and take our mark.  That you may better show the world the true shape of our future."

"With pleasure, good Elder."

95th and Metcalf

3 September 2013

Cooper stood at the forefront of a small group of warriors.  All of them were painted with paints and dyes stolen from the Michael's down the street or from berries they had crushed themselves.  After stumbling upon a lab making LSD, Cooper had incorporated the chemical into his paint.  He wasn't sure at the time if it would have any effect, but it seemed to be having one now.

He was wrong of course, the effect was psychosomatic, but it was a strong enough belief that he had actually begun to hallucinate.  He could almost see the demons crouching in the store begging for their life's blood of electrons.  It only served to enrage him.

He shrieked with rage and ran forward with torch in hand to burn the building to the ground once and for all.  His berserkers followed behind, shrieking at the top of their lungs with a rage of hatred and fear in their voices.

The sound of gunshots tore through the sky.  Muzzle flashes illuminated the dark interior of the building as the people within tried desperately to defend themselves.  Cooper didn't know why the people within were shooting at him and nor did he care.  At this point the only thing he cared about was the knowledge that these heathens were trying to protect a source of evil.  A symptom of the evils of the old world.

Cooper could hear the screams in the background, but he didn't care in the least.  All he cared about was the store and the demon machines sitting within, waiting for someone to turn the power back on.  Better to destroy them now before anyone could stop the coming of the new dawn.

Once he was within, Cooper threw his torch into the service center and pulled out the battle-axe he had fashioned from an old car.  He leapt at a man with a shotgun, and buried his axe in the man's throat.  It was lodged within, so he grabbed an iron bar he could use as a club and attacked yet another man as his berserkers went about torching the building.

Within forty-five minutes the store was in flames and Cooper and his berserkers where cheering as the screams of burning women and children filled their ears like sweet music.  It was as nectar to their ears.

Chapter 12