This Can Happen

I can't remember where I got this from or who wrote it but I thought it was well worth posting.

Yesterday, that FEMA camp down outside of town was only a tree farm. Occasionally there had been some trucks with workers going in and out. People tried to get the workers to chat about it, and all they got was a disinterested stare. They were all illegals anyway. Work was work and the economy is in a recession.

Tonight as you sit at home with your family watching American Idol, the program is interrupted by a news brief from CNN’s Washington desk. A female Army captain in battle uniform is reading a report about some kind of nuclear device that has detonated within the City of Houston. No one has yet claimed responsibility.

12 hours later, with every update, CNN shows the faces of a dozen dark haired men with Middle Eastern sounding names. The FBI had raided their apartments and found large amounts of documents and other evidence, - video tapes, parts, tools, and rolls of lead foil. The scene shifts to a news crew and team FBI investigators at one of the apartments mentioned. He holds up a driver’s license – Ahmed Tehrani. Other documents a reporter holds up to the camera reveal that Ahmed is a graduate physics student at the University of Texas, an Iranian immigrant.

CNN cuts away now to a hurriedly arranged press conference at an air force base, somewhere in North Dakota. He announces that martial law had been put into effect one hour after the nuclear detonation in Houston. He confirms everyone’s worse fears. For all 50 states and US protectorates, all civilian air travel and railroad travel have been shut down.

All police, fire services, public and private telecommunications facilities have been feudalized under Homeland Security. Active duty, national guard units and Blackwater security forces are in control of roads, bridges, fuel, and food warehouses. The President hardly paused when he continues to mention that the November elections will be cancelled due to the present state of emergency.

Because perhaps, you’re a different kind of bear, you become vocal about the arbitrary dissolution of Congress and the mass arrests and detentions, under cover of numerous executive orders issued over the course of the previous eight years. You smelled a rat. You spoke up.

Flash forward a month: You are in line at the local ‘Freedom Camp”, being pushed along, away from your FEMA trailer. The Blackwater guards are harassing some of the more stubborn ones. You see many with bloody noses and bruises, in a line that stretches for three blocks.

“You all stink”, says one. “We’re getting all you maggots over to the showers so you can get decontaminated. It’s for your healthy and safety.”

“I’m hungry, when can we eat?”

“Not until you get decontaminated. Now shut up.”

You realize that the place you are being walked towards is an old meatpacking plant, but there are no animal in stockyards anywhere nearby to butcher. First, they come along and everyone is shaven down. Those doing the menial work are illegals, They walk up to each person in line, taking their valuables away and putting them into crates. A woman follows behind, says she’s from the Red Cross, and asks for anyway interested in donating blood. They’ll be able get their lunch without having to wait for the decontamination. Many agree and are walked away from the line.

You are about to ask the woman why it would be safe to give blood if you hadn’t yet been decontaminated, but suddenly she moves along and someone else is now asking each person in line for their name and social security number. Two old men in the line begin They mumble, unable to remember their numbers. They’re ignored as the line suddenly begins to move again. The line continue to surge every twenty minutes or so, then halts.

You smell smoke, an acrid, awful thick greasy smoke. Just beyond the shower building you, see a plume of black smoke slowly. You hear whispers in the line know. You can’t see, but you can hear someone scream, as he’s being clubbed down by three Blackwater men. The screaming stops.

You look around again and shake your head. How could this have happened? you say to yourself. You feel a rising pitch of vomit climb up into your throat, and then all you can do is double over and retch. You are not the only one doing so. A rotten smell hangs in the air.

There is nobody there to rescue you. You cough and wipe your mouth with your sleeve and look around, angry now. One guy suddenly dashes out of line, heading towards a line of trees a hundred yards to the west. He gets 30 feet and then he’s gunned down by Blackwater men. He could have waited - he could have bought some more time, maybe a minute, maybe more. What did it bring him to be a hero and try and make a run for it? Nobody cared. You’re still here and he is not. You smile.

More Blackwater guards have arrived. They begin joking amongst themselves, pointing at the sullen men queued up in the long march to be decontaminated.

One turns and makes eye contact with many. You all smell like I hope there’s some soap left by the time you reach the shower. Only clean pigs allowed here. The other Blackwater guards begin another loud round of laughter.

The line continues its occasional surges forward. It has been hours. There must have been a thousand ahead of you, but thankfully, you near the building.

You hear muffled sounds within the building, unable to make out the words, the meaning. You hear doors open and close. Then you and others move quickly through a hallway, and told to remove your clothes and put them on the floor. Helpers walk up and down the hallway now. The helpers cheerfully tell everyone that their clothes will be tagged and returned after they’re decontaminated. The mood brightens a bit around you. You can even hear a few joking. Orders are for everyone to remain calm and quiet. You're reminded that there is plenty of warm water for everyone. It becomes silent now, as you all shuffle slowly towards another door. When the door opens, the helpers guide you in and you’re told to not bunch up together, and reminded that it's selfish to waste too much warm water.

You look up and see shower heads above you. You want to ask why the floor is not wet, but are afraid they’ll beat you if you raise your voice.

You notice now that the room smells of urine and death. Before you can say anything, the doors slam shut and the lights go out and a gas slowly rises up from the showerheads towards the ceiling.

You think to yourself - there might still be time that someone may somehow burst in to rescue all of you. You hear sobbing and realize it is coming from you.

And now you take in one long breath and your mind begins to fade to black.