Authors: Brian Delaney
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 careful. 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.”
Lea frantically dialed Will’s number for the third time and again for the third time she only heard the ear-piercing tone and message that all circuits are busy and to “please try again later”. She threw her phone down onto the couch next to her in frustration. The too-happy tone of that lady’s voice didn’t help her frustration. She figured there wasn’t any way that many people were on the phone in the middle of the night jamming the network.
It must be shut down on purpose
, she thought. This worried her but also caused her to start running through scenarios in her head about how she could get to Will and his mother. She stood from the couch and began to pace back and forth in her living room as worst-case scenarios were running through her head.
What if riots happen here? What if we can’t get food from the grocery store? What if I can’t find Will? What if something has happened to Will
? She decided that worrying like she was currently doing wasn’t going to solve anything and then sat back on the couch. She grabbed the remote and switched over to local news and began to nervously bite her finger nails.
*****
Will awoke to his phone alarm in the still-dark early morning. He sat leaning forward rubbing his eyes and face and greatly considered setting another alarm and getting a little more sleep. He began fumbling in the dark attempting to find the extra layers of clothing he laid by the side of the couch knowing it would be quite chilly in the early morning hours. After spending a couple of minutes putting on the extra layers of clothing, having to take a shirt off and turn it around and try again, he reluctantly switched on the lamp. He then switched on a small radio that sat next to the lamp and made his way to the fireplace. He moved the spark guard aside and brought his hand an inch over the coals and ash searching for heat. He took the fire iron and began poking at the coals hoping to see some red color to rebuild the fire with. He found a few and moved them together and began placing kindling on top. There was a small metal box filled with wood shavings and a couple of newspapers that sat on the edge of the tile by the fireplace. It flickered to life and Will placed some larger pieces of wood surrounding the flames. Once the fire was to a point that Will considered it self-sufficient, he placed the last remaining larger log that was in the house on top and replaced the spark guard. Bringing in more wood was one of the items on the running list in his head.
Will checked the time on his watch and wondered if Lea was awake this early. He went to his phone and typed out a message to Lea and hit send. He went to the kitchen to make breakfast, setting the phone down on the countertop.
He settled on cereal. It wasn’t like he had many options. They hadn’t kept this house stocked with groceries. Most of the food he and his mother bought were kept at his uncle’s house in town. There had been many mornings when Will was staying at their own house that he had dry cereal. He wasn’t as prompt as his mother at replacing things like milk. Luckily, there was still some milk this morning. Maybe just enough for one more bowl tomorrow morning.
After washing his few dishes in the sink, Will returned to the living room to put his shoes on. He glimpsed his phone out of the corner of his eye as he passed it. He remembered he had texted Lea and stepped back and grabbed the phone to check for a response. A frown formed on his face when he noticed the warning message that his text was never sent in the first place. He attempted to send it again. The same warning message appeared and his face scrunched up further in frustration. As Will glanced up to the status area at the top of his phone’s screen to check for service, the words “martial law” became a fleeting sound from the radio that distracted him from the phone. Still shoeless, Will quickly knelt by the radio and turned the volume up with one hand while slipping on his shoes with the other.
It was a morning talk show. Phrases such as “government corporation”, “contract law enforcement” and “rationing” confused Will. What are they talking about? He had tied his shoes and stood up, beginning to think the two hosts were discussing imagined scenarios. It made Will think of the “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast from the 1930’s and the panic it caused and how some people committed suicide over the fictional story. Will stared into the fire as he continued to listen to the broadcast.
The longer Will listened the more he started to believe they may be talking about real news stories. Will decided to turn the t.v. on to the morning news to see if there was anything similar. He knew the radio talk show hosts could ramble on for hours about the most insignificant news story or their general suspicion of the intentions of most politicians. He tuned into one of the network’s morning news broadcasts. They were covering all the same things he had heard on the radio. He quickly switched to a different network to find the same coverage. He recognized one of the locations in the footage they were showing. It was a few blocks from where he went to college in San Jose. Large generator-powered lights illuminated people burning buildings, overturning cars, and openly fighting what he thought were some oddly dressed SWAT officers. They were wearing the typical black tactical wear, but they also had blue and white patches on their chests. There was also a blue and white striped armband around each bicep area and a long blue and white stripe down the side of each leg. The news camera was not close enough to see what the chest patch had written on it but Will assumed it said ‘SWAT’.
Will suddenly had a slight feeling of worry and fear overcome him. He wondered if there was any of the violence and chaos happening in his town. He immediately decided he wasn’t going to wait to hear about it on the news and started gathering a few things to go get his mother and Lea and her family. With everything happening in the bigger city areas there would be no way they’d cover anything happening in Oakhurst.
Will went to the coat closet and grabbed the 12-gauge that sat on the top shelf along with a box of shells. He then went to the closet in his room and pulled a plastic tote that he used to organize and store all of his camping gear. On top was a gun case that held his Glock .45 caliber pistol. He grabbed it and an open box of bullets and then returned to the living room. He had kept his pistol magazine only loaded with about 6 or 7 bullets to not keep the spring compacted too much so he filled it the rest of the way. He took the guns to his Jeep and laid the shotgun against the front passenger seat with the barrel face down against the floor. He placed the pistol in the center console so both guns would be in easy reach if needed. Will looked around the property. An orange glow was beginning to lighten around him. He got in the Jeep and backed up from the side of the house and the continued reversing until he was in front of the door to the house.
Will stepped back inside the house and looked around to see if there was anything else he could think he might need if things took a turn for the worse in their little town. He knew he already had a first aid kit in the Jeep so he didn’t get the one that was in the house. He filled two bottles of water in the kitchen and then figured he’d be fine with what he had. He hoped it wouldn’t take too long to get to his mother and to Lea’s house. As Will was rushing back out of the house he paused at the closet where he had retrieved the shotgun. He looked up at the .270 hunting rifle and decided to take it as well. He grabbed a box of bullets for it and a baseball bat that leaned against the back corner of the closet. He imagined the craziness he saw on the news and considered how mobs of people could get desperate and irrational when they wanted what you have. He wanted all the protection he could get if that is what he would encounter. The rifle and bat went on the floor of the back seat of the Jeep.