# INTERLUDES ## Scouts Reagan, a tenderfoot in Scout Troop 81, out of south Illinois, was on a trip to DC. Getting to DC was rather difficult, as a citizen of Heartland he had to travel across both the Dixie and USA Borders. He awoke one morning to a loud crack and roar in the sky. He tore open his tent to get out. *God, my mom’s gonna kill me for that.* 300 dollars down the drain. Planes filled the sky, large and small, unmarked and flying quite fast from the city. *Isn’t it restricted airspace…* He thought, then saw one marked Air Force One. *Sheesh.* Reagan wished he could check his phone, but the adults of the group had confiscated those on day one in DC. Something about getting away from social media. *Ancient people. Nobody uses that stuff anymore.* “Shit!” Lucas shouted, a short distance away. He amassed a small group of people, all watching something on his phone. *Of course, he took a second. Sneaky son of a bitch.* Reagan joined the group, watching what Lucas saw. He had Chaos open, one of the few remaining pieces of social media left. *They aren’t, walking are they?* First Reagan thought it was an old TV show from before the nation shattered, but thought better of it. New posts filled the chat, Lucas jumping between videos. “The hell is this?” Reagan asked. “Dude remember the rumors of those corpse things?” Lucas said, *God he has to be high.* “Yeah.” Reagan nodded, curious. “The shit is real. More and more videos are filling the web man.” Reagan fetched his phone, an adult finally passing them back out. He checked the few news sources he ever accessed, and they played similar videos. Then all of a sudden, the stations all cut to the USA Emergency broadcasts. ‘RETURN TO YOUR HOMES. EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN. MARTIAL LAW IS NOW IN ACTION.’ “Shit this is really bad,” One of the other guys said, sounding panicked. They were still supposed to have two more days in DC, but the troop leaders rushed to get camp packed up. In short order they were back on the road, carpooling, headed back east. They managed to beat the worst of the traffic. Reagan was in the back of Lucas’s mom’s van as they left. Overhead he saw several more planes, *Flying towards the capital?* Just then, the sky lit up in flame, the explosion rocking the van. *Hospitals now?* Reagan booted up his instance of Chaos he had back at home, and recieved confirmation from the Americans about the bombings. It wasn’t just the capital, it was every major city Reagan could name. The internet was in turmoil, news stations broadcasting the same message, over radio, satellite, cable, and everything else. That is, until the power grid died. --- ## Friend Old Man heard the familiar sound of food hitting his bowl. *Food! Where food. Food!* Crazy hair was the one who had poured it, after devouring all of his bowl, he sat his head on her legs. He forgot to drink, so Old Man ran to the bucket, dunking his head. *No see in bucket. Water.* He snorted some of it back up and into the bowl, then shook his head. Crazy Hair stood from her chair, so Old Man went off to find Friend. Old Man was in a weird place. *Big house, smell good, where friend?* He left the house, then trotted around back, finding Friend under a deck above. Friend smiled, patting her knee. He came over and sat his head on her knee, and she made noises at him. Old Man always enjoyed her noises. *Weird friend. Good friend.* Friend was easy to spot, no matter how Old Man’s vision was acting Black and White hair. His face still dripped from his drink, but Friend didn’t usually mind. Red did, but was still very kind to Old Man. Friend made some more noises, gesturing for old man to follow. He did, often stopping to sniff the bushes and mini dogs. Old Man chased one, driving it up a tree. He found Man at the truck, Dark was there too, so he jumped into the back with Dark and Friend. He didn’t feel sad about leaving Funny Smell House, he hadn’t felt sad since Sad Day. Old man hadn’t seen Red since that day. When Crazy Hair and Man made Ride move, Old Man stuck his head over the edge of the truck, standing rather than sitting. Friend made room, making happy sounds. *Old Man Happy.* --- ## Chatroom ***Shattered Union Chaos GC*** **# General Chat** Notavictim97: “You guys seen the news? Shit’s getting bad” Justfuckingcallmepandaman: “Saw one of those fucking things last night” “Dont go outside” 3burgersandfries: “WTF IS GOING ON” Notavictim97: “Think of the old zombie stories.” “It’s like that.” Justfuckingcallmepandaman: “It’s exactly like the stories my grands used to talk about.” “Don’t go outside.” 64738292747583920182: “Yall gotta be lyin.” “@Reggie_the_zombie guy What’s your take?” Reggie_the-zombie_guy: “Nah, when have I lied to you.” LiAr69: “All the time.” Justfuckingcallmepandaman: “Dumbass.” Notavictim97: “What he said.” “Seriously dont go outside. I can see some roaming as I type this shit.” 3burgersandfries: “Shit you guys are right.” 64738292747583920182: “There’s absolutely no fucking way.” Steak: “Steak.” END OF TRANSCRIPT ___ ## US NEWS “Welcome back to Union news at 4. I’m Chuck, as you already know, and I’m joined today by an anonymous reporter in the south. J, how is it down there?” CHUCKLE WARMLY. “It’s a sweaty hell.” LAUGH. “I’m sure it is. J, are the reports from the government true? Are there reanimated dead down there?” SOUND INTRIGUED. “There are indeed, Chuck. The Dixie government denies creating them, but we all know them.” CHUCKLE AGAIN. “We have seen dozens around laboratories down here, and Chuck, it is getting scary.” “Don’t i know it. I saw one just near the border yesterday, those damn southerners are vile.” SOUND ANGRY. “They are, Chuck. How are things in the north?” “Nice and cool, windy. Beautiful weather, J. Thank you for joining us.” “Always a pleasure, Chuck.” “Next up, another story from spies in Dixie, ‘How the south are controlling the minds of their people’” CUT TO IMAGE OF HOODED FIGURE IN SHADOWS. THEN SPIRALS. ---- ## Pause Victor breathed the fresh air of South Tennessee. *Halfway there.* “Callum, take a group and raid that town to the west.” Victor gestured to Logan Bray, his third in command. “Logan, we are taking the neighborhood to the east.” Both men nodded and took separate groups. “Good.” Wisdom sighed in Victor’s head. “We need time to regroup.” Victor had begun to agree with Wisdom more than the others. Wisdom tended to be thoughtful, if paranoid, whereas Humor took nothing seriously, and Wrath was brash. Void just rumbled in the distance. They’d been traveling southward for a month now, having decided the time was right to end the others in Camp Ironsoul. They dwelled in Georgia, so Victor had to take his group southward, through Kentucky and Tennessee, before going east once he hit Alabama. *So fucking close.* In this world Victor had no need to slow down, or take anyone else into account. He could do anything he wanted. He followed the settling half of his group east, to a large neighborhood. It would be a good base of operations for a time, equipped with solar panels and dozens of electric vehicles. Most of the homes were clearly gun money, large but standard homes, equipped to house several generations. Those homes tended to be less gaudy than blood money or old money. He kicked down a door to one of the more gaudy homes, that being blood money. People who were members of the military, who had plundered their wealth and belongings. They’d grown less common in the years since the secession, but still just as gaudy. He shot an old Maw in its head. Its clothes were in tatters, so Victor assumed it had been a survivor early on. He shot three more in the skulls as they tumbled down the stairs to his left. His men flared out behind him, maybe ten clearing each home. There were two large staircases, both curving to meet, looking out over the entry foyer. Victor took he left, with four other men, while the others went to the other side. The home was three levels in total, and Wisdom found it best to clear top-down, insuring they did not get trapped in the basement. After clearing the top two floors, Victor found a horribly bloody sight in the basement. Corpses laid scattered about, floor painting the walls. From what they could tell, the original owners had been having a party when the world fell. Each were decked in gunshot wounds, blood pooled everywhere, and not one corpse had returned. Victor shook off his shock, regaining his composure. Void had shot forward in his mind, almost seizing control, Sorrow also grew larger, but Victor had to remain strong, in control. He sent the others ahead, hanging back before joining another house clearing group. [[22 Embers]]