Chapter 85

The Commandant called right on schedule. It was refreshing to David to have someone at the Agency that kept their word. "Hello, Commandant. How are you, today?"

"Not bad, David. How is the family?"

"All of us as a whole or just mine?"

"Either or."

"We're all doing well. My six month old is trying to crawl, is rolling and sitting up on her own."

"That's good. I'm not interrupting you and the wife again, am I?"

David laughed. "No, Commandant. I'm just giving the baby a bottle at the moment."

"Can you free up a hand to take notes?"

"Already taken care of it." He glanced to his left and saw that the bottle had fallen out of Maddie's mouth and that she was out. He adjusted the pillows so she would fall off the couch and set the bottle down on the coffee table. "Ok, Commandant. I'm ready when you are."

The Commandant told David of the progress he'd made in the past couple of weeks in the War on the Utopians. Fifteen strongholds destroyed, thirty leaders in custody to be tried as War criminals, hundreds of new recruits in the Army being trained to fight the War. "We've taken to teaching guerilla tactics to our boys in the past few months. Turns out they've come in handy."

"Nice, Guerilla Warfare. I can't wait to tell the guys about that."

"Your music is the inspiration our boys and girls use to get amped up for the fight. I've walked through camps and heard, "Indestructible, determination that is incorruptible', more times than I can count. I've heard the boys screaming at the other side, 'Liberate your mind, mother fucker!!!!', or 'This is the way I pray, BITCH!', or my personal favorite, 'I'm indestructible, you son of a bitch! I'll never be overcome!'"

David couldn't help but laugh. He loved the spin that troops had put on his words from Prayer, Liberate, Indestructible, and The Curse. "Have they been saying anything about 'the Sickness'?" David asked.

"Yeah, one squad has taken 'Down With the Sickness' as they're anthem. They're slogan is, 'We're not Down WITH the Sickness, we ARE the Sickness.'"

That made David proud. He smiled from ear to ear. "That is cool. I have no other word to describe that. It sounds really 1980's but, that's just really cool."

"I thought you'd like that. We'll, David, I have troops to oversee. I'll try to make a house visit soon. You guys stay strong."

"Not a problem, Commandant, you've met our wives." He laughed.

"That I have, David, that I have."