Desperate Times (1999)

posted 1999.01.30 at 19:24 by solios

Available technology and style, as well as some hazy memories, put this in early 1999. The amount of stress I was under at that point in time- both from the TheRapist and school- would account for the addled, neo-christist content. The mind uses the reference points on hand as it grasps to get a handle on a situation beyond comprehension. Also only a few paragraphs, fortunately. I can't give this one more than a cursory skim: the content makes me quite happy that I am where I am now- I'd much rather be here than there.

There sucked, really.

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Desperate Times | Sometime in early 1999

The gleam of the early morning sun has a special feeling to it, something anyone can appreciate if they are awake to experience it. The rays of the sun will make you feel anew as they break through the clouds to shine upon the earth below. Sometimes the sun and the weather conspire to make the morning feel almost magical; a spiritual experience for the early morning jogger or the office-bound commuter. Many have know the pleasure of the sun as it peeks through the sky to a slowly waking world.

Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.

That sun is the bane of the college student, and, lately, the GDF. For with each dawn, the Gaia Defense Force is drawn one day closer to the beginning of its real effort- saving the reamins of humanity from itself. As yet, there are no remains, only teaming, ignorant masses. But lately the air has had a feel to it. Something most people would attribute to the freshness of spring, or the cleanness of the air after a long night of rain. But then, most people have no idea of just what is going on, anyway. Humanity plods on, day after day, increasing in size and dragging the earth down with them all the while.

The Green Mother is angry, and with every right.

Planets align. The planetary axis tilts slowly iinto the next season. Winds blow, weather patterns shift. The occaisional earthquake causes a commuter in Los Angeles to spill coffee on his doughnuts. All attributed to "acts of nature". And as of late, the earth has been acting up. Weather patterns change. Disease runs rampant. Gaia readies herself for the coming war, braces for the shot

to be heard around the world. Enough disfiguring mother, the message reads, it is time for a spanking.

Those who read, the actives who venture in the direction of the Earth they walk upon, have heard the message and made their preparations.

The most brutal act can be made to serve nature.

No more waiting. No more raping. No more killing the earth in the name of man. The day dawns red, red for the blood that will be spilled, that has been spilled. Red with the anger of an unheeded mother. As if at the flip of a switch, the tables have turned. Today, Gaia begins to cull the herd, to dispose of her misbegotten children in the only way possible.

Death is too good for them.

-----

...deciet...decieve....decide just what you believe...

Thunder slammed Thad's body from side to side, it's concussion ripping through him like a million chainsaw blades. The air about him had the feel of high noon at mid summer, but where was the sun? The land below was black as night, darker than any day he had seen before in his life. Rain blasted him like flame as he plummeted through the low cloud cover and out into te open lands of te Sfe Area. The fact that he was flying marked the experince as a dream to him, but the angry rip and tug of the wind, the deafening roar of the thunder, and the blinding, strobe-like flashes of lightning indicated otherwise- this was as real to his soul as his bed was to his body, but at this point in time his body didn't matter at all.

Something was happening, that much was obvious. Thad watched the forested sections of the Safe Area hurtle past below at near blinding speeds, the rain impacting on his nightshirt like a sandblaster. Thad took in his environment, wiping his hair out of his face with his hands and drinking in all of it. Emotions pounded at him as he flew- terror, fear, and first and foremost- realization. He was in the middle of a maelstrom the likes of which he had never experienced, not even on television. Had he been standing, he would have sat down hard. He felt goosebumps ripple over his arms and legs as he saw Armageddon laid out before him. He chilled, realization dropping down inside him like ten thousand pounds of roses. This is it, he thought, THIS....IS....IT!!!

....and they all sing the same refrain:it's fun to take a trip. To put acid in your veins.

His destination appeared on the horizon, and when he realized what it was, his sense of elation doubled in intensity- Kendrick was the one dragging him out of sleep to this early morning rendezvous. As he neared the upper floor of the house , the clouds parted briefly and Thad saw a sight he hoped never to see again- the sun and moon, parallell to each other.

Through the clouds, the sun threw forth a light as red as blood. The moon beside it reflected red in the dawn sky, the two together forming eyes that seemed to look directly at him. The glare of the eyes of Gai was overwhelming- Thad's eyes teared up as a voice ripped through his mind, seeming for him alone. A quote, from a source nearly as old as the present day civilization.

Woe to you of earth and sea...

The eyes before him seemed to tear, and then look away. And in the light of that blood red dawn, Thad knew that it was over for the race as a whole. Gaia was on the march.