Quaker's Stuff

Hope's Fall
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“Everything is Nothing”

Those were the last words of a dying mentor to his student. Sounds corny, I know, but that’s simply how it went. In a world where violence is the only true answer, he gave me some cryptic saying on his death bed. I wondered, just exactly where he was going with this. I answered him. “Do you not mean Everything or Nothing?”

He simply shook his head, and sighed. His wrinkled face and weathered beard beaming intelligence even as he stood on the brink of oblivion. His eyes, locked so intently on mine, bore right through my skull into the brain. There, he tried to implant his answer.

“Everything is Nothing.”

Nothing, no more would he be able to lead me through the toughest times of my life. The monitor to my right laid an endless siren of death as I stood. His eyes were closed, and the experience that those old features once held disappeared with the monotonous tone. An aide came to my side immediately, her eyes giving as much sympathy as a grave digger. She looked at me, seeking any emotion that may come from my person, and finding none. She carefully pulled up the sheet over his head, and I knew that his knowledge would forever belong with me. I knew how to fight, how to craft, how to talk, how to act. I knew all of what he had taught me, and now it was up to me to put it into action. The aide was too busy unhooking the machines and preparing the body to be carried off. I put a hand on her shoulder as she was bent down over the machinery. She started, but looks at me. He brown hair bobbing in place before it settled into a morose state. “Burn the body” was all I could say. It was what my mentor would have wanted. He had no family, no friends, and only one student.

I exited the morgue. They no longer called the building a hospital. No one that went in there lived anymore. They were either too badly injured, or they were simply taken care of once they reached the white bed with its angelic sheets. The front of the building was covered in blood while skeletons and bodies littered the street. Flaming garbage cans and cars littered the block as far as the eye could see. Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance as gang bangers and desperate men faced off for what was left of their lively hood. This was the future; this was the city of Hope’s Fall in the year 2020.

I stepped off of the curb, my body armor clanking together as I landed the inch-and-a-half. I quickly tightened the straps on my sides, and the noise stopped instantly. My weapon of choice, and M16, was resting on my back. My helmet scanned the surrounding area, and not spying any threats, continued forwards. The reflective view of my visor not allowing for emotion or facial recognition was in place, and the online computer was always actively scanning my surroundings. Few people actually knew my face now. My family was dead, I had no friends, and now the only person I really cared about in this world was being put into a crematorium as we speak. The world was a mess, yet I still couldn’t get past my own selfish feelings.

I walked slowly down the alley. It was too closed in for someone to shoot in from the rooftops, but it would be perfect for a textbook ‘no exit’ ambush tactic. I doubted anyone would really try that on me though. Let’s just say that I have a reputation as being a complete brutal maniac when it comes to people pissing with me. They end up dead on the ground, having their life’s fluid drain out of them like a bottle of water, and I walk away as if nothing happened. People tried still to get to me, foolhardy people, but people none-the-less. Those kinds of people we don’t need in today’s world; however, many kinds of people we could do without.

I turned the corner, and found myself on a street filled with people trying to get by. Houses were boarded up on both sides, stores were filled with hired goons or bodyguards, and the homeless owned the street. How did this happen, you may ask. Well I’ll tell you, as a person on the outside, I’ll tell you what happened to the people of Hope’s Fall.

Greed.

Greed is deadlier than a cobra’s venom, yes sweeter than the best of wines. Simply put, it was the opposite of the stock market crash. Our economy boomed, and suddenly even the poorest of districts were able to get all that they needed. In fact, that was the problem. Soon, people were no longer happy with the ‘bare necessities’, they wanted more. Everyone wanted more, and soon, it turned into a street war. Gangs started popping up everywhere, the large economy making it easy for them to start up and keep going. The police were doing alright at first, but more and more people kept joining them until they completely overwhelmed the law keepers. Yeah, the National Guard came in, but by that time, half of the population was armed with weapons, and it turned into another civil war. Eventually, the National Guard retreated to Washington, where they reside. Many people have renamed our great nation’s capitol as ‘Eden’. Ironic, since it was Adam and Eve’s greed that got them kicked out of Eden in the first place.

The street started sloping upwards now; my feet were used to the effort however, and I barely noticed the steep climb upwards. Off to my left, a couple of thugs were beating down a woman. I looked over, but did nothing. I continued to walk past the woman until I finally heard a double tap from a pistol, and nothing more. Why did I do nothing? Simple, I am no better than any of them. I am here to survive, nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t start this mess, but I wasn’t going to die simply because someone else got me into this problem. I fight to live; I live to see a better life. The area here, filled with urbanization and death, did not hold a single inkling of life in it. Not even a tree dared to grow within the parks anymore; they were all burned down within the first few years of the ‘Big Boom’ as the economy explosion was nicknamed.

I reached the top of the hill, the only place where a single speck of vegetation was stubborn enough to grow. A small bush with a single rose growing from its roots was a testament to me. This bush, this rose, refused to give in to what the world had thrown at it. It refused to simply lie down and give up. I bent down and picked the rose. I carefully placed it within my armor, so it was visible above my right breast. As I turned around, I saw the view of the entire city. Explosions rose and fell like pages from a book. Gunfire, screams, and the occasional screeching of tires filled my ears with hate and violence. This was what we turned ourselves into. We were given all that we could possibly want, and yet we had wanted more. It had driven us into anarchy and chaos, and for what? Now we were right back at square one, because people couldn’t see past their own selfish needs.

Suddenly it hit me. Rome wasn’t built in a single day, and for something to be rebuilt, someone was going to have to be willing to take a stand; someone who was willing to give everything so that the children of yesterday will have a better place to bring up the children of tomorrow. I grabbed my M16 from my back and cradled it in front of my chest. The city was a blister on the face of human history, and the best way to get rid of blisters was to pop them. I realized what my mentor had meant now, as I started striding down the street. A couple of gang bangers came out, dragging a woman and her child into the street. They tossed them up against the wall, and readied their weapons. I raised my weapon, and with a single burst for each one, left them bleeding on the sidewalk. The woman and her child simply stared up at me, my visor giving no feelings toward them as I strode on by. There was something in their eyes that grabbed my attention as I passed; a simple flash of Hope. Maybe there was still a chance for the people of Hope’s Fall. When man is given everything, they gain nothing.

Everything is Nothing.

A parody of the song "Cotten eye'd Joe." By the Rednex. Me and Mel were really bored on the night I am posting this, and Mel thought we should make up the song about me using this very tune...so I came up with this. To be sung in the same way Cotten Eye'd Joe is sung...

Enjoy
(Chorus x 2)
"If it hadn't been for sparkle eye'd Quaker, I wouldn't be meeting the undertaker!"
"Why did you make me see my Maker?"
"Why did you do it Sparkle eye'd Quaker!"

if it hadn't been...
If it hadn't been...

"He came to earth, like a angry faced God."
"He rode through the streets, scaring all of the dogs"
"His eyes were sparkling, his weapons his fists"
"We tried to warn him away, but all we got were 'tsks'"

(Repeat Chorus x 1)
If it hadn't been...
If it hadn't been...

"He brought disaster wherever he went"
"The buildings of orphanages to hell he sent"
"The kids all ran away, we tried to save them"
"And prayed that the glitter would be enough to distract him."

(Repeat Chorus x 2)

If it hadn't been...
if it hadn't been...

If it hadn't been...

If it hadn't been...
If it hadn't been...

(Sooo yeah...I have some serious mental issues...but it was fun when I made it! And it RYHMES!)