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The camera slides back to the French bitch. “Over the past century, human beings have become the first species to ever circumvent the law of natural selection. Through advances in technology and lavish government programs, we have been actively prolonging the lives of our weakest, most disabled, and most dependent members of society to the great detriment of our entire species.”
She gestures to President Dickhead standing behind her.
“The American government, for example, spends over one trillion dollars each year housing, feeding, and caring for its disabled, incarcerated, and unemployed citizens—citizens who contribute nothing in return. As a result, the World Health Alliance calculated last January that the number of disabled and nonproductive members of our species outnumbered able-bodied, productive members for the first time in the history of any species. Immediate action had to be taken.”
The camera cuts to the man on her right who looks a little like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. The caption below his name reads, Dr. Hiro Matsuda, World Health Alliance Researcher. “We needed a way to thin the herd, so to speak, while ensuring that the strongest, healthiest, most intelligent members of our species would survive. Engineering a super virus or inciting a world war would have been … counterproductive … due to the loss of healthy, able-bodied citizens that would have resulted. Therefore, my team and I came up with a plan to introduce a global stressor so intense that it would trigger our least resilient citizens to behave in self-destructive ways while simultaneously encouraging our most resilient citizens to become even stronger and more self-reliant.”
The images of the horsemen appear again, eliciting gasps from the audience, but this time, they’re presented as icons at the bottom of the screen.
“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Grim Reaper, Death—these archetypes have appeared in almost every society throughout history. By planting these iconic images in every digital media source worldwide—paired with a single date: April 23—we were able to tap directly into the collective human subconscious and plant the idea of an impending doomsday.”
“Oh my God, Wes,” Rain whispers, looking up at me like a child who just found out that the Easter Bunny wasn’t real. “Those images you found in my phone—you were right.”
“Worldwide subliminal messaging.” I shake my head.
Only it wasn’t at the hands of some evil corporation or a band of sniveling computer hackers on a power trip, like I thought. It was worse.
It was our own fucking government.
“We all owe Dr. Matsuda, his team, and our world leaders a debt of gratitude.” The French bitch grins. “Operation April 23 was a brilliant success. Our researchers estimate that our global population has been decreased by as much as twenty-seven percent with most of the relief coming from our nonproductive subgroups.”
“What does that even mean?” Rain whispers.
“It means that most of the people who died because of the April 23 hoax were either crazy, sick, poor, or old.”
I watch Rain’s face go pale, and I wish I could take it back.
Shit.
I pull her against my chest and press my lips to the top of her head. I don’t even know what to say. All I can do is stand here and hold her while the government tells her they’re happy that her parents are dead.
“In an effort to protect the law of natural selection going forward and to ensure that our population never again faces extinction due to our irresponsible allocation of resources to the weakest, most dependent members of society, all social services and subsidies are to be discontinued. Life support measures are to be discontinued. Government-provided emergency services are to be discontinued, and all incarcerated members of society will be released.”
The entire food court erupts in outraged shouts and hushed murmurs as people try to process what the fuck this lady just said.
“You are encouraged to resume your daily lives. Power, water, and cell service have been restored, and the images you just saw have been removed from all digital media. Go back to work. Provide for your families. Protect yourself and your community. Your government will no longer do these things for you. And should you see evidence of a person or group of persons defying the laws of natural selection, you are required to dial 55555 on any cellular device to report the misconduct. Agents from your area will be dispatched immediately to detain the suspect. The future of our species depends on your cooperation. Good luck, and may the fittest survive.”
The monitors go black as the reality of our situation slowly begins to take hold.
It was all just a fucking hoax.
They invaded our dreams.
They terrorized us from the inside out.
They drove us insane and watched while we self-destructed.
Then they smiled and said it was for our own good.
I wish I could say I was surprised, but after everything I’ve been through, this just feels like a regular Tuesday. Get shit on. Get beat down. Get told it’s your fault. Then, get kicked to the curb with everything you own in a trash bag over your shoulder.
Yep, that sounds about right.
The only family in the room is clinging to one another for support. Offering comfort. Rationalizing that everything is going to be okay. Encouraging each other to trust in our leaders and do as they say.
Meanwhile, the homeless kids in the back of the room are jumping up and down, cheering and waving their guns in the air, while Q stands on a table shouting, “It’s the wild, wild west, muhfuckas! Pew, pew, pew!”
The way Rain is wrapped around me, it’s obvious which group she belongs in.
