This is what I think Gray Anderson's thoughts might be when he gets back from the constitutional convention and see what's happened to Jericho. Not Beta'd. And I don't own anything, unfortunately.


This is not my Country

Bonnie Richmond is dead.

Robert Hawkins, the towns trusted undercover FBI Agent is, apparently, really one of the terrorists behind the September attacks.

My deputy Mayor, Eric Green is a wanted fugitive along with all the Sheriff's deputies and the rest of the Rangers, including Stanley Richmond for the murder of the man who killed his little sister. I'm told that they're hiding out in a warehouse on the outskirts of town.

The Sheriff, Jake Green, was handcuffed, hooded and dragged off in a military Humvee in front of town hall and half of Jericho and no one seemed to know what had happened to him.

Gracie Leigh's Market and Bailey's Tavern are now condemned establishments, marked as safe havens for insurgent activity.

And my town, Jericho, Kansas, has been marked as an open insurrection.

Insurgent activity in Kansas. I never thought that I'd hear that in a context other than a joke. But then, a lot of things that I though would never happen have in the past six months.

When I left only a few weeks ago, I left behind a small Kansas town that was getting back on its feet. A town that was as close to normal as we had seen since the bombs and now… now it looks like it belongs in Iraq, not Kansas.

Jericho is in ruins. There's rubble in the streets, the Jennings & Rall building has scorch marks all over it and tanks and armed soldiers line the streets. This is not my town. This is not my nation. My nation would never have sent in killers for hire to bring order to a small Kansas town. Would never have defended a man who had killed and 18 year old deaf girl.

There is no law. Not anymore. Those that pretend to be the law are the worst offenders, giving the laws that they enforce no thought as they kill and spread terror in the name of justice.

Justice. As much as I hate to admit it, and as ironic as it seems, given what I know of his life from before the bombs, Jake Green is the person most intone with justice in this town. And this new government is torturing him for it.

Justice. Stanly Richmond can't be held responsible for Goetz death. As horrible as it may sound, I understand perfectly why he did it. Before the bombs I might not have, but now I do. Goetz would never have been punished for what he did. Ravenwood is far too powerful in the Cheyenne government. They answer to no one for their actions.

This military is not the American military. The American military would never hostilely take over a town or defend a bunch of murdering freelance killers.

This is not the United States. Not anymore.

The Greens were right not to trust these people. I've learned that too late. Not that their mistrust had helped them any. Eric and Jake were currently in hiding and, most likely, being tortured, respectively.

This is not my country. Not anymore.

Major Beck told me that Robert Hawkins was a terrorist, but at this point I'm much more inclined to believe Hawkins than Beck. After everything, I'm finally going to listen to Jake like I should have from the beginning.

The Cheyenne Government cannot be trusted.

They say that Iran and North Korea were behind the attacks, but then they turn around and say that Hawkins is one of the terrorists behind the attacks. That makes no sense. He is clearly neither Iranian nor Korean. It doesn't fit. The text books, everything. Lies. I wanted to believe that our country was on the road to recovery so badly that I ignored all the evidence telling me that this new government had a hand in the destruction of the old one. A hand in the destruction of 23 American cities. A hand in the deaths of over 15 million Americans.

We can't just sit around and allow these people to destroy our country. I can only hope that there are other towns out there thinking and doing the same thing. Maybe enough to somehow overthrow this corrupt new government.

It's time that we took back this town.

Lucky for me, I know where to find the perfect group of men and women for such an undertaking. They're hiding on the outskirts of town.