Chapter 181

"Are you fucking KIDDING ME?!" the Lieutenant screamed.  "HOW THE FUCK DID THE DEATH SQUAD GET BLOWN TO SHIT BY AND RPG ROCKET LAUNCHER?!"

"We suspect it's the same person that hit the prison facility in Denver, where we were holding Matthew Cartwright when he was on trial", the Master Sergeant said.

"Well, you assholes want to know what I think?"

"Yes, sir."

"I think it's the same ghost that killed the President and the Major that was in charge before I was.  Gentlemen, this ghost must be captured and killed.  Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, oh, and by the way, how do we intend to capture Draiman to torture and execute him if we can't keep the fact that we're on our way to kill the rest of the band away from the Resistance?"

"We can't, sir.  There's a leak somewhere, but we can't find it."

"Locate that leak, fellas, or it's your asses on a spit for the incoming president."

"If he doesn't get assassinated first, sir.  We've been hearing rumor that there are assassination orders in place by the Resistance leaders."

"And we have assassination orders in place for that FUCKING BAND!  Why is it, gentlemen, that they can kill our President and the Commander of our military, but WE can't kill four stupid FUCKING ROCK STARS?!"

"Again, sir, we don’t know.  We're trying to find the leak, but everything seems air tight."

"Well, to state the obvious, it's not, Master Sergeant.  Figure it out and get the hell out of my sight before I decide to bust your ass back down to a Corporal."

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"Your corruption is like a cancer growing inside, You owe the world an apology, You've been taught all your life that truth is easy to hide, You face your judgment another day, And suffer eternally", David sang.  They were in the middle of "Innocence" and it felt good to him to sing this song again.  He'd forgotten that this song applied so well to what was going on.  The Utopian government was the definition of corruption.  Whatever happened to free speech?  The inalienable right to be an individual?  It was Nazi Germany all over again.  This thought led him to his speech.  Never one to miss an opportunity to inspire the masses on the fly, David knew what he was going to say.  He just hoped that God would give him the right words to move the people.  "Who is innocent?  Is it relevant in the world today? I shake my head in disbelief.  Presumed innocent, Justice fails again in the masquerade.  Had the whole world become insane?"

The music ended.  David stopped long enough to take a drink of water.  He looked at Dan, who gave him a nod, as he opened his water bottle.  As he took a drink, he glanced at John, who also nodded.  When he put the bottle back on the steps in front of Mike's drum kit, he looked Mike.  Mike nodded him the go ahead.  David took a deep breath and brought the mic back up to his mouth.  "MY BROTHERS, MY SISTERS, MY BLOOD... SPEAK TO ME!!!!"  The crowd roared.  "I have a question for you crazy bastards.  Why is it that I've never felt more at home anywhere than in the fucking state of Texas?  You are some of the craziest fuckers on the face of the god damn PLANET."  There was no silence.  David stood on the stage, the microphone at his side, just looking over the crowd.  God, how he missed Austin.  He missed his house.  He hoped that he could bring his family back to Texas after the war was over, but not permanently.  Brie wanted to go back to the house in Colorado Springs, and he was more than happy to accommodate.

Finally, the crowd died down.  "You know, the guys and I were talking the other day, and we noticed on crucial error in all of our planning for this tour... we'd missed a lot of relevant material to the cause on Asylum.  Don't you all agree?"  

The crowd roared with "Hell YEAH!"

"Well, that was our oversight.  We're not going to make the same mistake.  Now, in all of our talking about what song would fit best with the message, I had a thought.  The Utopians have been trying for damn near the past decade to impose a ridiculous set of standards for how we, as citizens, are supposed to speak and act.  Well, I say FUCK THAT!  It got me to thinking, though, where did this sound familiar from?  Oh yeah, I thought, Nazi Germany.  It's the Holocaust all over again.  Well, my brothers and sisters, I say NEVER AGAIN!  NEVER AGAIN WILL WE BE FORCED INTO PRISONS AND CAMPS BECAUSE WE WON'T CONFORM!  NEVER AGAIN WILL WE LET THE GOVERNMENT COMMIT GENOCIDE ON OUR FAMILIES!  NEVER AGAIN!  LET US NOT FORGET WHAT THIS RALLY AND OUR PROTESTS ARE FOR.  IT IS TIME TO END THIS MODERN HOLOCAUST!  SCREAM IT WITH ME!"

As he screamed "Never Again", so did the crowd.  After the third time, the music came up and David started to sing.  "Never again... Never again... They have a frightening desire for genocide, they wouldn't stop 'til what was left of my family died, Hell bent on taking over the world, You couldn't hide in the shroud of conformity, We can't forget how we were devastated by the beast, And now we pleaded to the captors for release, We were hunted for no reason at all, One of the darkest times in our history, All that I have left inside, Is a soul that's filled with pride, I tell you Never Again, Their depraved society, Didn't end up killing me, Scream with me Never Again, Not again"