Chapter 36
The Government is Your Friend
In the School's Out cut-scene, soldiers were loading trucks with the small Prepper survivalist community's food and supplies. The prepper's makeshift wooden fence had been destroyed and bodies of preppers who'd fought back lay on the ground nearby. A large forlorn “Don't Tread on Me” flag covered with large footprints, lay on the ground nearby. The surviving preppers were packed together in an angry, unhappy crowd. Frightened children cried, hiding behind surviving adults. In the distance, a huge man in a general's uniform was giving orders.
Leo/Joseph and Jason/Gaven had just come out of the mountainous wilderness, having encountered and fought their way through five scary Infected Bosses and a bunch of Infected inbred mountain men who'd been cannibals even before they'd been taken over by alien parasites.
Leaving the wilderness, the two boys had fallen directly into this cut scene.
What Leo found amusing was that in his previous future, the soldiers always loaded the people (living and dead) onto the trucks first, hauling them off like cattle, before bothering with supplies. Human soldiers serving Afflicted Bosses were very concerned with keeping themselves and their families off the dinner menu. In fact, in the previous future, Leo had gotten his best scavenging hauls from just this sort of situation, sneaking over and running off with supplies before anyone thought to come back for them.
In addition to the supply-stealing soldiers, the government agency, Divine United Management Bureaucracy, or DUMB, was making an appearance as well, in an attempt to restore trust in the government. The uniformed woman sat at a folding table that held pamphlets with titles like, “The Government is Your Friend” and “How to be a Happy Citizen”.
“Last year your agency denied my mother's life-saving medication!” Gavin pounded the table with his fist, snarling at the uniformed DUMB official with a glare that would have killed lesser beings. The woman at the other end of the glare looked back, not even blinking, plastic smile firmly in place. As long as this cut scene went on, Jason was forced to watch his character, unable to take control until it was over.
“As ranking DUMB representative, I'm sorry you had a less than positive experience with our agency. Sadly, it's against DUMB policy to give out free medications. Did your mother have money?”
Gavin put his vape pen with his medication to his lips with a shaking hand and inhaled. “Who's responsible for your agency's policies?”
“If your mother didn't have money, our agency is required to tell your mother to f-- off and die. We regret any inconvenience your mother f--ing off and dying might have caused you. Can I offer you a complimentary happy cake?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The under-18 version of the game bleeped out swear words and digitally blocked anything the producers thought was unsuitable for children. This was annoying at times.
The “happy-cake” looked like an ugly brown Twinky inside packaging covered with smiling, flag-waving children. Leo had encountered happy-cakes previously in the game and as close as he could tell, they had no nutritional value.
Unlike Jason/Gavin, Leo/Joseph was free to look around. Jason had no choice but to watch his character from his VR pod for the duration of the scene.
A nearby soldier was speaking to the surviving preppers. “The general wishes to make it clear that the I Don't Give a F-- amendment of the Constitution specifically states that General Schultzberg has the right to enter your property without permission and take whatever he wants. If you don't like this, you can always complain to General Schultzberg. He's in charge of our complaints department. But I strongly advise against this course of action, because he eats people like you for breakfast, and I mean that in the literal sense, sir.”
Leo looked back to see Gavin pulling a gun on the DUMB woman. “Who the f-- is responsible for your agency's policies!”
The DUMB representative's plastic smile didn't waver. “Just because your mother is dead is no excuse for being anything less than civil. Words are violence, you know. If you like, you may fill out a questionnaire that may help us provide better service in the future.”
Gavin's response was to suck on his vape pen, taking another hit of his own medication, and kick over the woman's table, sending pamphlets and questionnaires flying everywhere. He pointed his pistol at the woman's face. “I asked you a question,” he said in a calm, measured voice. “If you don't mind, I'd appreciate an answer.”
Time stopped. Leo's screen popped up with a list of possible options.
Your companion has gotten himself into a bit of trouble. Do you:
A. Try to deescalate the situation. Just because Gavin's mother was killed by a heartless government bureaucracy is no reason to start pointing guns at the people responsible.
B. Shoot the DUMB representative in the head. She's a bad person. You kill bad people.
C. Shoot the soldiers now pointing guns at your companion. The soldiers are following orders of a high command they know perfectly well is morally challenged.
D. Shoot General Shultzberg in the head. Anyone who's bothered to take a high-school civics class knows an amendment to the American Constitution must be ratified by at least three-fourths of the state legislators, and it's common knowledge over 90% of the state legislators have become Infected or eaten, rendering his personal I Don't Give a F-- amendment invalid and his behavior treasonous.
The answer was obvious. Since deescalation wasn't an option, they had no choice but to shoot it out with the military. When engaged in a shootout, always eliminate the most dangerous opponent first. That was just common sense. The distant general was a huge man, none of it fat. He moved like a hungry lion looking for his next meal, and it was obvious his men were terrified of him.
Leo picked option D.