Chapter 130

A mass of uniforms surrounded a table at the War Headquarters, formerly known as the Pentagon. The satellite images on the table were NOT pretty. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE PICTURE?" screamed the highest ranking uniform at the table. The picture in question was taken on the same day, at the EXACT time that the President was murdered.

"Major, we're trying to find..." a Butter bar Lieutenant began.

"I don't give a damn, Lieutenant. I want to know what's wrong with this picture. Why is it that we can catch the demo team going in but NOT THE FUCKING SNIPER?!"

"The man is a ghost, Major. He made sure that he was out of range of our satellite so that he wouldn't be seen, but the bullet work looks like that of Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Cartwright."

"He's dead, Lieutenant and has been for a year and a half now. Try again."

"Like I said before, sir, he's a ghost."

"THEN FIND THIS GHOST AND FRY HIS ASS!!!"

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"Good morning, David", The Commandant said when David answered the door one morning. He was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when he opened the door. His response was nothing but a grunt.

"You'll have to forgive him, Commandant, he hasn't had his coffee yet", Brie said from the couch. She was holding one of the new babies, though the baby wasn't really new anymore. The child had to be about a year old by that point. It looked like a little girl with curly brown hair and green eyes.

"It's not a problem, Mrs. Draiman. I've had those days."

She set the child down in the floor and picked up another one. This one was a little boy, but the features were the same. Brown curls but with brown eyes. "Admiring my children, Commandant Henchly?"

"I can't help but notice that all of your children have brown curls."

"That's because David and I both have brown curls naturally."

"But, David is bald."

"He keeps he head shaved. I straighten my hair."

The Commandant nodded. "I understand. But, I'm not here to look at your kids, though they are all very beautiful children. I'm actually here on business."

"You'll have to wait until David wakes up some more to talk business with him."

"How many cups of coffee does that usually take?"

"Depends on his mood when he wakes up. Today, I'd said about three or four."

All the Commandant could do was shake his head and laugh.

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"We've received Intel that the Utopian are scrambling even worse than they were before Gentry died", the Commandant said.

"What do you mean by scrambling?" David asked.

"They're too busy chasing a ghost to pay attention to the fact that we're pummeling them from every side. The Major in Charge is yelling at his underlings to find the ghost sniper that took out my former friend and OCS classmate."

"And they'll never find him."

"Never. I've got to give it to Cartwright, he's very careful."

"That's my big brother", Brie said as she walked through the kitchen, grabbing a couple jars of baby food and spoons.

David grabbed his wife's hand as she left the room. "Could you top off my coffee before you walk out to feed the kids?" She grabbed his coffee cup, refilled it, then set it on the bar in front of him. He kissed her on the cheek, whispering thank you in her ear, then turned his attention back to the Commandant. "Ok, so, what does all this shit have to do with me or the band?" he asked then sipped his coffee.

"Well, you guys are getting ready to put on a concert/ rally, right?"

"What about it, Commandant? Please stop beating around the bush. I'm not awake enough for this."

"Use your music as a weapon. Choose songs that will strike fear into the hearts of the Utopians."

"We always use our music as a weapon. Hell, we started the Music as a Weapon Tour back in 2000. As for the set list, it's not finalized. We're finding that there are some songs better suited for the rally than the ones we originally chose."

"Like what?"

"Not telling. Trade secret."

"Fair enough. I'll be attending this rally, so impress me."

"We're not trying to impress you, Commandant. We're trying to impress our families and our fans."

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"I've spent a lifetime planning out your destruction, you're never gonna win this another day, a lonely lifetime planning out your destruction with no other function, you really don't know how long I've waited for your destruction, I'm telling you, you just can't get away, a whole lifetime planning out your destruction, with no other function, you really don't know,

Welcome to the end,

Run and hide again, I wanna wait this time, don't wonder why you can't clear this final sin, you know the story was over before it fucking began."

Going into rehearsal that day, David wasn't happy. He tried to use the music to vent his anger, but it just wasn't helping. He actually threw the mic stand because he was so angry. "David, what's going on, brother?" John asked.

"I don't want to talk about it", he said.

"Well, why don't you go for a walk real fast?", Dan suggested.

David took a deep breath. "You know what, I think we need to call a day, or take a couple of hours, or something.”

"That's fine, brother", Mike said. "While we're taking a break why don't you hit the punching bag so that you're not ruining our already shitty equipment."

David didn't let Mike get the whole sentence out before he was up the stairs and heading for his bedroom to do one of two things: change his clothes to hit the weight room, or convince his wife to help him vent.