Henry. It was like this when I got here. They’ve lost their minds. There was an incident last night with one of the food trucks.

No excuse. Gentlemen, sweep the block.

There is no sound like a dozen automatic rifles unleashing their fury at an unlimited rate. The homes, those that weren’t burning were shredded by the barrage. Those inside faced a similar fate. The men pushed until there was nothing left alive and no surface unscathed.

What do you do about the fires?

Let ‘em burn.

The officer approaches the guard. Water is worth too much these days. Not to mention the work it will take to rebuild will keep a crew busy for weeks.

So we let it burn?

Let it burn.

More trucks arrive. The cleanup crew. The people have these poor fools working overtime. The crew doesn’t look amused. Any residents left alive?

After your men unloaded on them?

The residents should have been secured. That’s the guards job.

This isn’t my block.

There are no excuses in Civil Canyon guard. Someone will take responsibility. I suggest you tell me who that is.

Dennis.

Where is Dennis?

In there, the guard points to the flames.

Part Eleven

The crowd had the old man nearly surrounded. Some had sticks and pipes. They were yelling and pushing forward when the old man let another blast rip into the crowd. So many fell. So many would die. Still, they moved forward. With little time to spare the boy began removing the greatest threats. The old man had fallen back to the porch as he struggled with his pockets for more shells.

The boy continued to shoot. One after another, every color, now red. They were dead and he felt nothing. Urgency and adrenaline as the old man let another blast rip from his shotgun. The steps leading up the porch now clear, the old man made a bound for the door and almost made it.

They were on him now and the boy continued to shoot, trying his best not to hit his pa. The people kept coming. So many dead and still they came. And then the boy saw the fire.

They came with bottles of god knows what they found. Torches aflame that they began tossing against the house. He thought the metal sheeting would protect them. He was wrong as the walls soon took to the heat.

How do I get out of here. They had plotted this many times. So he fell to the second floor and dove down the stairs. In the maintenance room, past the kitchen, he exposes a small hole in the floor. The house is a fire now and he takes one last look at it before he plunges into the hole.

There’s dirt. And mold. And there’s little room, but he makes sure to keep his rifle right there with him. He squirms like a worm to the foundation of the home and begins peeling away sheets of metal. Outside there is smoke and he can hear yelling but the rear of the building looks clear. He begins to exit the building and see’s no one.

Part Ten

Fire, Block 15, Immediate. The call was quick and fierce. The motor wouldn’t turn over fast enough. He raced to the scene. That stupid bitch! This is all her fault. I’m going to get chewed for this. It was so not worth it.

The guards house was on the corner, and as he drew closer he found flames and the carcass of a home instead. People everywhere. Animals. Groups had taken to sacking the homes. Their residents lay in the yards and streets. Some still crying, others not.

He parks just outside the sphere of attention. Pulls his shotgun from the rear and exit his vehicle. On the far side of the crowd he can see another guards vehicle. Probably 14. The cavalry would arrive soon. He better be shooting when they do.

…

Your call for assistance was initiated at 5:47 am and yet you didn’t arrive on the scene until 6:33. Explain.

Some might say that’s a good thing, he thought and quickly pushed the thought aside. Not good enough. I was held up. My wife. She’s ill.

We don’t see any medical issues in her records.

No. Nothing serious. Nothing diagnosed.

I assure you, this is serious. Many residents were lost today, officer. There are those of us that believe you’re the sole reason for this, tragedy.

I’m not surprised.

Protocol requires verification. You know this.

I do.

We found the remains of the guard. It’s the boy we weren’t able to locate.

The boy? He’s alive?

You tell us. His grandson hasn’t established any contact with officials since the incident.

I need to find him.

You will be doing no such thing. From this moment, your position with us is suspended. You’ll have until the end of the month to vacate your home. What’s the first thing you learn in Civil Canyon, civilian?

There are no second chances.

Guards. Remove Henry from my office and see him off the base. I’m sure he can find his own way home.

Part Nine

They tell the scientist something he will never be able to forget. And then leave.

The scientist does not return to work. He remains in his seat. Removes his phone from his pocket and presses “stop” on the recorder.

The next day, he was on the base. Studied by doctors. Held for hours before they took him into a room and showed him, himself.

What is this?

For all intensive purposes, you.

I have a brother?

No.

Ha, a clone?

No.

What am I looking at?

Your future.

Part Eight

Hello, My name is Matthew.

Hello Matthew, came a voice from a speaker, somewhere in the room.

Do you know why I am here?

Yes.

Why am I here?

You want to know about Civil Canyon.

What is Civil Canyon?

…

Part Seven

Good morning.

Answer the question.

Early in. I told you what happened last night. Need to pass by Dennis’ block and help keep the locals in line.

Locals. I hate it when you call them that.

Pisses you off more when I call them people.

Animals.

Love you too, babe. I’ll give you a call around lunch. Keep the doors locked. Don’t hesitate to call.

You’re leaving me.

He couldn’t do that and so he took her in his arms and returned to bed. Dennis would have to handle things on his own for a while.

…

This is Dennis. District 7V. Block 15. Yeah, last nights report. I’ll have it too you this afternoon. I have a request. Yep. How many can I get? One will have to do.

What did they say?

They’re sending the guard from the next block over. Should be here soon. Won’t be able to do much unless we want to waste all of our ammo and kill a few hundred more of our own. A second report from another guard will bring a proper response.

Big guns?

Big guns.

What do we do until then?

Hit the roof. Don’t let them see you. Don’t let them see you! I need to be outside when the guard arrives.

Part Six

The first round grabs everyone’s attention.

Go home. There will be no rounds today. I’m sure you know why.

None of them move. And that’s why it requires two the old man chuckled to himself. He let the second blast ring into the air and that shook them. They’d leave soon enough. Except they didn’t. The old man watched as the streets began to fill with more and more of them. These lost souls.

No one likes being kept alive, came the thought and he shook it from his mind. He produced two more shells from his pocket and began to reload. The street was full now, from end to end. They weren’t interested in him yet, or his home, but in time they would be. In time, they’d burn this whole block down. If something wasn’t done.

The neighbors from the adjacent buildings had begun exiting their homes. Nowhere to be seen last night, they all wanted a look at the morning’s show. It was safer now. No food trucks meant no guns. No guns, except the old mans and it was him they looked to as the source of their entertainment.

Fuckers, he whispers under his breath. Two shots is all you get, he yells and returns to his home, locking the door behind him.

He wanted to let them fend for themselves. His neighbors. Just like all those starving excuses in the road. He wanted to let them burn it all down and with it, maybe even himself. The boy would be fine. He’d learned well. Another dust up turned to fire wasn’t news these days.

And still he had the job. Made the promise. Knew his purpose. Civil Canyon, where real men go to die.

Part Five

He steps onto the porch. Takes note of the damage. The men are reckless when all hell breaks loose, for sure. He’d be pulling bullets for hours. A day if he’s expected to maintain the block. Plenty of work for the boy, he thought. He tries to step inside and finds the door locked.

Open the door, boy.

No response.

I don’t plan to have to kick this door down boy unless i have to.

No response.

Your ass will soon follow if I didn’t have to do this.

The old man rears back. He’s kicked in many a door but his felt personal. He didn’t want to hurt his door. He just needed her to open. And as he finished that thought, the door opened. The boy. Wearing one of those shit eating grins only the young are afforded.

You didn’t take no shots?

Didn’t need to.

Any damage inside?

The walls held. If one made it through, I haven’t seen it.

Good.

The trucks got here quick. The boy runs to the end of the porch to take a look at them. The crew with the worst job of all. What do they do with them?

No idea.

Shouldn’t you?

What?

know?

Above my pay grade, boy. Yours too.

Maybe we eat them?

I’ve heard worse things.

I can’t imagine.

That’s a good thing. Now inside. Breakfast is going to be a nightmare after this.

Part Four

Anyone?

Those boys in that truck know what they’re doing, now scram.

The first thing there was to do was to get down. First sign of trouble, as soon as that truck stops all forward momentum, those boys aim to kill. They try to run, but by the time they realize what’s happening it’s too late. Bite the hand that feeds you and all that jazz. Each window projects a barrel from each side. The rounds don’t stop until everyone hits the earth.

There were screams. So many screams. And after, when the guns had slowed to a steady pop he couldn’t could help but think of those microwavable bags and that butter flavor. Never as good as the movies and he wondered if he’d ever see a theater again and promised on that day to make it so.

He stood up and left his porch. Sweeping was his job and those that were left ran if they could. The rest were put down. He listened for gunfire from the roof and heard none. He thought to turn back, take a look, but the number of breathing were too high to risk.

He heard the men from the truck make their exit. The number of bodies in the dozens around them.

One hundred?

Doubt it. More like 70.

Damn. Lost again.

The men spread out around the truck. One calls in the event. It won’t be long before the big trucks arrive on the scene. By the time the old man reaches them, they’ve already clocked him.

You the guard on this block?

I am.

Want to tell me what happened?

A surge from over here. That alley, pushed them into the street.

That alley?

Yes.

The man gives a look as the rest of his men take position across from the alley. The unload a barrage of gunfire down the alley leaving no corner unscathed.

The trucks will be here soon. You going to help with the bodies?

Afraid I don’t do that.

Neither do we.

Civil Canyon #3

It’s almost five-thirty, says the man, to no response. The boy just stares. A few stragglers have made their way onto the block. They keep their distance at first. Stick to the alleyways, out of site. The truly hopeless ones that is. Pretty soon they’ll line up along the street as other join them. Await the only food they’re going to see today.

They call it grazing, says the boy.

What was that?

When they gather like that. The dust it kicks up. Boys at school call it a grazing.

Well they’re wrong. Grazing is too good a word for what this is.

Another ten minutes go by and the streets are now filling with people. They begin to push and pull negotiation position as around the corner the first signs of life are seen. They try to run ahead, catch up, sometime for seconds, sometimes because they weren’t able to secure a first. Don’t care get caught in front. If that truck stops, well you don’t want to know what happens.

The truck comes around the corner at an average speed. Slow enough to deposit the rations without having to risk stopping should they try to pile on in front. On each side there are windows carved into sheets of steel where bag after bag are dispensed into the street. None of them dare steal from each other now. That will come later. To cause a disturbance now. You don’t want to know what happens.

The crowd in front steps out of the road, making room for the trucks approach. Some bags hit the dirt in the space between the haves and have not’s, grabbed by children as quick as rats that scurry away before they’re noticed.

The first instinct of anything going wrong came next. A massive surge in the far corner. Many of the early birds had been pushed into the street. Some on their hands and knees. The approaching truck does not stop, this the old man knows. And when the first of the soon to be many fell victim under it’s tire. The man grabbed the boy and locked him inside.

Civil Canyon #2

fuck this

suck this

an all around ruckus

the world tries to fuck us

and we stand still

afraid to kill

be killed

or ill

always still

a stutter

in the mind

all mind all the time

and talk

and listen

no one does

so tell me when

tell me why

tell me something

or fucking read

maybe me?

for a change

Buy a shirt

Buy a book

Donate

where once was

so much

begs so little

of even less

dare we cry

less we spill

a drop

salty

bittersweet

human

getting by

on what they tell us

is good

what’s wrong

everything

nothing

all that was 
wrapped around my throat 
squeezing the life out of all that could be

they want to see

eyes closed 
afraid to witness
the consequence of ours 

must be theirs

the fault

someone else 
who doesn’t love us
like none do

they know everything 
and share nothing