G Hopf - The End

“I need you to get off at the next exit and go back,” he said, pointing back toward the mob of people.

“Sir, we are not to get off the highway for any reason. We must go directly to the base,” the young Air Force tech sergeant said.

“I’m the President of the United States, get off now!” Conner yelled at the young man.

“Yes, sir,” the tech sergeant replied, looking startled.

He veered quickly off the highway and away from convoy. It was mere seconds before the radio inside Conner’s vehicle came alive.

“Sooner 1, Sooner 1, this is Sooner Command over.”

“What should I say, sir?” the tech sergeant asked.

“Turn right, then straight,” Conner said, ignoring his driver and giving directions as best he could.

“Sooner 1, this is Sooner Command vehicle, come in over,” the voice over the radio repeated.

“Sir?”

“Hand me the radio,” Conner ordered.

Conner took the handset, “This is Conner. I ordered our vehicle off the highway. There are civilians that need our assistance.”

“What is your location, Sooner 1?”

“We are on Cody and Bradley heading south.”

“Roger that, we are en route to provide support. Sooner Command out.”

Conner tossed the handset down and went back to directing the tech sergeant, “Somewhere over there!”

Too busy looking to see where they needed to go, he hadn’t seen the corpse hung from a telephone pole at the entrance of the community. Before the attacks, this neighborhood was a haven for middle-class families, now it looked like a war zone.

“Turn there!” Conner yelled.

The tech sergeant turned to the right abruptly, the tires on his Hummer squealed under the stress of the turn. After making the turn, Conner could see the mob of people ahead. They were ripping and tearing at the two women on the ground.

“Do you have another gun, sergeant?” Conner asked.

“Yes sir,” the tech sergeant said, handing Conner a, M-9 Berretta 9MM pistol.

“Stop here,” Conner ordered.

They stopped a comfortable 30 feet away from the crazed mob. Jumping out, Conner wasted no time; he held the pistol above his head and pulled the trigger. Seeing the mob rip and tear at the two was one thing, but when they stepped out of the Hummer the added dimension of hearing the women scream created a macabre scene.

The sound of the shot made everyone stop and turn around. The mob had been so focused on attacking and brutalizing the women they hadn’t heard them pull up. With the mob silent and their attention now on Conner, the only sound was the moaning of the two women.

“Back away from them now!” Conner commanded, pointing the pistol at the mob.

No one moved, they just stared at Conner.

He shot again in the air and yelled, “Move away from them, now!”

Finally obeying his command, they slowly moved away from the women. Conner cautiously moved toward the two victims as the mob moved further away. At first all he could see were two lifeless bodies on the ground. He could hear them moaning, but saw no movement. With each step the reality of the women’s fate came into focus. They were lying in a large pool of blood with their clothes stripped from them. A few more steps closer he could see that the bloodthirsty mob hadn’t just beaten them; they had literally ripped them apart. One woman’s arm was severed from her body. The other had her abdomen torn open and parts of her intestines were strewn over the both of them. Seeing this shocked Conner to the point he had to turn his gaze away. It took every ounce of control for him not to throw up.

Conner knew there was nothing he could do for these women. He reclaimed his composure and without hesitation walked over and mercifully shot each woman in the head. He took a moment to look at them. He wondered who they were. Just 5 weeks ago their lives were so different.

He turned his attention to the mob and yelled, “What is wrong with you?” No response came from them, they just stared at him. “Why would you do this?” he asked.

“They stole food,” someone from the back of the group finally responded.

“They stole food? That was it, so you brutally beat them and tore them apart?” Conner screamed at them.

A shot cracked loudly behind him. Conner turned and saw the tech sergeant fall to the ground. Conner’s initial shock was soon replaced with fear as he began to feel that he had made a big mistake by deviating from the plan to go play hero.

“Who are you to come here and so righteously condemn our laws!” a man said from a distance holding a hunting rifle. Working the bolt, he cleared an old casing and loaded a new bullet.

Conner squinted so he could see better. As the man came into focus, he saw what he was up against. The man was large in stature, bald and there was something ominous about him. The man took long strides down the street toward him. Others armed with guns, bats, machetes and other various weapons came out of the other homes. Conner saw movement in the corner of his eye and turned to look. The mob he had subdued now started to move toward him. Conner was in an impossible position and ran to his vehicle. His running prompted the mob to do the same as they rushed the vehicle. Making it just in time he was able to close and lock the door. He looked down to start the Hummer then realized he didn’t know how to. The mob began to climb all over the vehicle. Fumbling at the controls, he was turning knobs and pushing buttons. Hummers were not like normal cars. There was no key or ignition switch on the steering column or anywhere on the console. Seeing a lever that said “On” to the left of the steering wheel, he turned it till a light appeared. The mob started to hit the vehicle with sticks, bats and metal rods. Suddenly, in the chaos, he heard gunfire; the mob quickly leapt off the vehicle and ran. More automatic gunfire came as he saw many in the mob fall to the ground. The heaviness of the situation started to lift as he heard his convoy come to his rescue. He could not see what was happening, as the vehicle faced the wrong way. The battle outside sounded fierce, like things he’d only heard on television. Hundreds of bullets were being fired but as the seconds ticked away the gunfire lessened till there was only silence. He sat there waiting and listening.

“You’re an idiot, Brad, what were you thinking?” he said to himself.

Closing his eyes and lowering his head, he prayed that everything was going to be okay. Never again would he go on a fool’s errand, he promised himself. It had only taken him 30 minutes to break the promise he had made to Julia. A knock on the window startled him.

Feeling relieved that he’d be on his way out of this sad situation, he started to speak as he looked up, “I really need to learn how to start one of—” He stopped talking as soon as his eyes gazed upon who was standing there. Covered in blood and sweat, the large bald man with the rifle stood towering over the window. Conner’s reaction was of absolute fear; he jumped out of the driver’s seat and crawled over to the passenger side door. A blast from the man’s rifle blew off the driver’s side door handle. The man threw open the door and stopped Conner’s attempt to escape. The man grabbed his ankle and with brute force pulled him from the vehicle.

“I am the President of the United States, I am the president!” Conner yelled as he was dragged out of the vehicle and onto the ground. Dozens gathered around him like locusts. He knew his fate would be that of the two women. “Wait, I am the President of the United States!”

“Do you think that means anything here?” replied the bald man with a deep and raspy voice as he leveled his rifle at Conner’s face and pulled the trigger.

San Diego, CA