Extinction Level Event (40 page)

Watson surveys the scene, instructing his men to
bring the newly-handcuffed prisoners to a street corner two blocks
down, where they will wait until the police could figure out where
to keep them. Another square of vandalism suppressed. After
reporting the area cleared to headquarters, Watson readies his
remaining officers to head to the next city block.

A far uglier situation started near Union Station,
where several old warehouses were being used as granaries by the
administration. As Ramirez had suspected, in an uncannily
coordinated effort two large groups of minivans and pick-up trucks
had descended upon the granaries after the riots started in the
southern and western areas of the city. The granary depots, some
warehouses and others department stores and strip malls, were only
several blocks away from the City Hall itself. The National Guard
had promised a group of reinforcements, but they wouldn't arrive
there for another fifteen minutes. That left the LAPD and SWAT to
fend for themselves. Upon seeing the officers, field reports
indicated that they did not even slow down, nor identify
themselves. Opening fire immediately, the gangsters decided to take
out every officer in sight and take what they could. Ramirez had
made sure that there was a sizable and well-equipped force on hand,
and made it clear to keep the gangsters distracted until the Guard
units showed up from the north and encircled them.

A giant firefight erupted when the gangsters poured
out of their trucks and opened up indiscriminate fire in all
directions. Several minivans backed up into the one of the massive
depots near the rail tracks and unleashed loads of masked men. Upon
seeing the doors to the warehouses locked, the gangsters turned to
another plan. A pickup truck behind them came up with two men
carrying RPGs, who promptly blasted a hole straight through the
walls of the storage building. Men in ski masks swarmed inside, and
like a crew of professionals, went to work immediately taking boxes
and crates to the minivans.

Three blocks away, the armed gangsters' escorts were
duking it out with the police, exchanging heavy weapons fire with
the cops, who were using anything they could as cover.

The fire could be heard even through the thick
windows of City Hall, over ten floors above ground level and a half
a kilometer away. McCarthy, who had gone back to his office shortly
after conversing with Ramirez, now once again stood staring out his
window at the cityscape. He spots two police helicopters flying in
directly over City Hall towards the rail depots, their rotors
thunder breaking through the distance chatter of weapons fire.
This is insane
; McCarthy tries to convince himself.
This
city must really be going nuts or something
.

But, he reminds himself that, bad as it is, it could
be worse. Several countries around the world had declared martial
law in response to massive civil unrest, ethnic clashes, violent
protests, and armed uprisings. Two countries in Africa were in the
process of splitting in two, while South Africa had erupted in a
wave of violence that left a weak government barely in control of
the country. Massive street demonstrations in several southern
Chinese cities had been crushed and military law imposed. There
were once again rumors of war in Southern Asia as Pakistan now eyed
the fertile Ganges river basin as a last bastion of agriculture in
the region, a vital resource that was feeding its rival India
instead. Brazil had started a vicious new campaign to tear down its
remaining rainforest, not only searching for new exotic decomposing
species but creating massive tracts of new farmland. For the most
part unaffected and isolated by its location, the Brazilian
government saw an opportunity to become a true agricultural
superpower in a time of global need.

Here in California at least, the situation was being
handled and people were kept away from starvation. Nonetheless the
increase in theft and violent crime had jumped as food became a
much more valuable commodity than it was before.

The battle around the depot raged. Ramirez instructed
his forces to dig in, and make sure the large gang were kept in
place. He knew it was a matter of ten minutes before the National
Guard would be at the scene. The field reports were talking of many
casualties on both sides, military-grade grenades being thrown,
officers even being hit by a sniper. The gangs were becoming better
organized, adapting to the new climate. The control center was
abuzz with reports from all across the city, delivering successes
and retreats of the LAPD. One riot had been put down, and over
three hundred people arrested. Two more were still ongoing, with
police forces scattered by a large mob where backup had not come in
time.

Over two hundred officers were hunkered down by trash
cans, cars, and low lying walls near the depots, exchanging fire
with the raiding party. One gangster had tried to use a pickup
truck to run over the officers, but the glass of the vehicle
strained after a bullet barrage, shattering and killing the driver.
The vehicle continued pilotless, as officers dodged out of the way.
It slammed into a building and a fire started in its engine.

One of the officers radioed in a large UHaul Truck
moving southwards along N Main Street. Southwards? The officers in
the control room immediately suspect the destination: Twin Towers
Correctional Facility, the world's largest jail, and only several
blocks south from the current war zone. The facility, composed of
two large gray blocks of concrete over eight stories high above
ground, houses over four hundred inmates. The large truck increases
its velocity, plowing down the avenue. Officers at the gate to the
Twin Towers unholster their guns, the gates security cameras giving
the officers in the control room a clear coverage of the mayhem to
about to happen. Soon the truck appears on screen.

The guards open fire, plastering the truck with
hundreds of rounds. The driver, probably hiding or killed by the
fire, is not seen through the windshield. The black and white image
blurs a bit, a shakes as the truck crashes through the gate with a
loud bang.

The LA County Sheriff's office, located across
Bauchet street a hundred meters from the Correctional facility,
sends out all of its reserves officers. Two of the officers
immediately realize that the truck could be full of armed
assailants, and take cover with a view towards the truck's rear
door. As if on cue, the rear door wooshes skywards, revealing over
a dozen armed men inside. The officers fire several shots in
succession at the crowded truck, taking down four mobsters before
the remainder jump out and return fire. Another deadly gun battle
begins, as the assailants attempt to fight their way into the
prison. The Sheriff's office proves to be a obstacle to be reckoned
with, as they take down two more armed gangsters while the rest
escape around the truck and through the mangled and torn gate. The
security cameras capture the masked men as they break glass doors
leading into the prison with the butts of their rifles, pushing
into the complex. Shouts of "Kill the pigs!" and "free the
prisoners!" are heard over the voice receiver. Inside the facility,
the prison guards open fire with grenades and shotguns from
entrenched positions behind corners and low walls. CCTV images show
the firefight break out between the prison staff and assaulting
gangsters, before the lights are hit and the corridors are plunged
into darkness.

Outside the prison, the officer's from the Sheriff's
office move in cautiously towards the prison, cuffing one injured
but still alive mobster on the ground while looking for any others.
A kilometer to the north, a column of armored Humvees makes its way
southward, sealing off the gang's escape routes to the north and
west.
C'mon, c'mon.
Ramirez prays for the National Guard to
hurry. His men, fighting for their lives to the east, have used an
Elementary school as a base from which they pushed back the
mobsters' defense to a row of three warehouses by a small
estuary.

Moving at a quick pace along N Main street, the Guard
convoy slows down near the Golden Gate Freeway overpass. Arriving
at the huge supply depot, the Humvees are quickly noticed by the
mob, who open fire. The Guard vehicles disperse, forming a large
semi-circle to prevent movement by the mob. The TOW missiles
mounted on top of the guard Humvees soon explode into action,
hitting two of the mob escape vans. Mobsters flee from the burning
vehicles. An RPG rips through the darkness, arcing towards a
Humvee. The vehicle swerves but is hit in the rear, lurching it
into a spin. The man holding the rocket launcher collapses after
quick return fire. His buddies yell, firing back wildly. Two
Guardsmen go down, clutching at their body armor. More heavy fire
is exchanged.

Another three minutes into the fight, it becomes
obvious to the gangsters that they are outmatched. Several drop
their guns and run towards a small stream, hoping to escape. Other
runs towards the fences. The last, most desperate keep fighting,
realizing that their backs are now to a wall and that there is no
escape. Two helicopters arrive, showering the gangsters' refuge in
a rain of iron and steel. Over a dozen suddenly throw aside their
arms and raise their hands in the air, losing all hope. However,
two who don't merely change their aim from the National Guard units
to their former comrades, releasing them from this mortal coil.
Snipers take out the two assassins. Soon, it is over as the
remaining gang members either drop their weapons to the ground or
flee. Those fleeing are soon pursued by quick-footed cops with
handcuffs and K9 units. A low cheer erupts throughout the LAPD
control room as the battle's end becomes apparent. Ramirez breathes
a quiet sign of relief.

Many other smaller riots still are in full force,
causing chaos throughout other districts. The main two disruptions
that erupted in Garden Grove and Pico Rivera were quieting down.
But the gangsters' planned assault and raid on the city's food
stores had been foiled for the most part. Helicopter images show
dozens of gangsters being handcuffed and led away to arriving
police trucks in the depot's wide open parking lot. Ramirez gives a
quick word of congratulations to his men as he instructs his
officers to hold the gangsters at the location until the Twin
Towers Correctional Facility is secured once again. Shortly
thereafter in an ironic twist of fate, half an hour later the very
same gangsters who attacked the facility to free the prisoners and
criminals inside now found themselves prisoners in the very same
prison they were attempting the liberate. Three hours later into
the night the first rays of dawn broke out onto the city coming
back to life.

09 EPIPHANIES

New York City

Perhaps it was due to seeing the desperate violence
and wantonness caused by wretched lives that finally made
Governments around the world reconsider the United Nations
Resolution 1555. Perhaps it was Hartaagnaan's ability to speak
clearly and willfully, or perhaps it was Zihgneg Nahk's ability to
persuade quietly, that drove consensus. Perhaps it was a newfound
trust in the organs of the multinational body, lead by leaders like
Trevor Manjak and Bao Feng.

Whatever the reasons, another special session was
called to reevaluate the status of Resolution 1555. Perhaps it was
the politicians around the world who saw that, if nothing was done,
they too would be included in the global extinction event along
with the masses of supporters who voted them into office, in the
cases where they were voted in at all. Resolution 1555 passed
143-26 and was adopted by all members of the United Nations, with
all participatory nations pledging to begin following the plan in
order to upholster the world's agricultural infrastructure, and
start working towards less soil-independent means of growing
food.

Wars cold and hot between neighboring countries began
to die down after the passage of Resolution 1555. Brushfires in
Africa were cut short, India and Pakistan began slowly lowering
their national alert levels, and martial law was lifted in Russia
and China. A new sense of hope crept into people's lives, a breath
of fresh air that replaced old pungent scents with nascent new
ones. It would take a large effort on the part of nations and
peoples to put aside their distrust and individualistic tendencies
and begin working together on the projects outlined under
Resolution 1555.

The first materials for the conversion of several
skyscrapers in New York were visible to passing pedestrians on the
streets of the city. Workers are seen carrying large tanks to be
fitted into floors of previously abandoned buildings in areas of
the Brooklyn and Harlem. Construction material for several
design-specific vertical farming skyscrapers are piling up at
several sites all along the West Side, as the first girders are
placed and the steel beams take shape. Each one of the new planned
“Farmscrapers” is expected to feed over 50,000 Manhattanites. The
number of urban gardens multiplied threefold in the last month, as
small landowners start pitching in neighbors and friends to build
small close knit plots of fruits and vegetables, all without the
use of soil. The world famous rooftop garden atop the Rockefeller
Center has begun hosting tomato plants, with plans to add lettuce
and apples in the near future. In the new twist of events, the new
greenery of the Big Apple had started to turn the city that never
sleeps into an unlikely producer of big apples.

Trevor “Trip” Manjak had returned to the City, as
events and conferences were wrapping up. Hobbling on one leg, he
still managed to get himself through from LA to NY in one piece,
even managing to wade through the sea of diplomats that tended to
crowd at the UN headquarters. The doctors had finally allowed him
to leave, without crutches, leaving Manjak with a limp and pain in
his left chest. Other than that, he felt as back in fighting shape
as he had ever been. There was one last meeting with Haartaagnan
himself before returning to Rome, where FAO was hosting a
conference for hundreds of biologists and engineers, going over
plans for the development of the new farmscraper cities in Africa,
Latin America, and Asia. Manjak walked under the hundred sixty-six
fluttering flags feeling as if a new man.