Unity

23. Spiraling Out Of Control

CHAPTER 23: SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL

Mighty America was at war with a tiny bug. Things began to spiral out of control when the St. Louis riots erupted the day we returned from Mexico.

Gas prices had spiked to ridiculous levels because of slower production efforts worldwide. We knew – because we had to buy a lot of jet fuel. But we didn't have to worry about the price so much, unlike middle and lower class Americans.

Someone firebombed a gas station on the outskirts of St. Louis that morning in protest of another hike in prices. Then a crowd gathered to watch it burn. Soon a march was organized and the crowd went to city hall, picking up more people every step of the way.

Police hastily barricaded the entrance as the angry crowd encircled the building. Local politicians were essentially held hostage. More citizens showed up, and suddenly there were shifts of people taking turns surrounding city hall. Looters smashed into closed storefronts all over the city. Police could not manage it all. The governor ordered the National Guard to restore order – starting with getting local politicians out of city hall.

A gun battle on the plaza left two guard members dead. Fifty-five protesters were injured – either by bullet wounds or they were trampled when the panicked mob tried to flee gunfire.

It was chaos, and it was contagious.

Riots in Detroit, Cleveland, Phoenix, LA, Philadelphia and a handful of smaller cities had all Americans on edge. Any city could be next.

And The Virus kept killing.

The blame game had begun as the death count rose in America to a staggering half million people by the Third Month in Year One of The Virus. The death counts in other countries were just as dismal – for countries that openly shared such numbers.

China did not.

This caused angry people all over the world to look at China as the cause of The Virus. Trade stopped. Diplomatic channels strained. The world worried things might get worse if a war broke out. German leaders called for a summit to find a way through the crisis.

Generally, the scientific community did not believe The Virus was purposely designed and released. Researchers believed a mutation caused a virus jump from animals to humans, but they lacked proof.

They also believed The Virus likely escaped a research lab, ironically partly funded by Americans. But again, they lacked proof, and the Chinese government would not allow independent investigators from The World Health Committee to visit the lab in question.

Each country issued its own rules for lock downs, business practices, and travel. All borders were shut down, and no one traveled for pleasure, except for maybe the world's most wealthy people, rumored to have fled to private islands to escape viral exposure and societal chaos.

International travel of any type was limited to health care, official business via politics, supply chains, and pre-approved charity efforts.

The rules in America got more strict. Thirty-six states issued lock down orders, statewide, but many people openly refused to obey the orders. The news was a grim assessment of newly confirmed cases, death counts that piled up each day, riots in cities, shortages of necessities to keep everyone calm.

"The death toll isn't high enough yet," Brian said as we watched the news in Studio A back in Trinity's offices. "Americans are more of the 'believe it if I see it' type. When the body piles outside morgues and hospitals stop getting larger, or when bodies are stacked up on streets because there is no more room for them, then they might wake up."

We all agreed. Things were so bad we had a long and serious debate about whether the mobile Unity team should continue in real time travel, or if video meetings were the way forward.

In the end, we all decided to keep going a little longer, with our unanimous decision re-evaluated as developments warranted.

***

Brian, Jack, and Stewart, our two new security guards, Carole and Jim, and me, were the new core group of the mobile Unity team. Carole and Jim would travel with us wherever we went.

We were in Studio A at Trinity's vacant offices. Brian had had steel shutters installed in all the windows just before the LA riots, just in case.

"The latest projections on the spread and the death count are not encouraging," Brian announced. "The risk team sees a strong likelihood of an exponential death count."

"How strong a likelihood, and how big a death count?" Stewart asked.

"Well, five percent of infected is still possible," Brian said, "with four percent likely."

Everyone gasped.

"Wow. That sucks ass," Jack said. I had to agree.

"What about martial law – does the risk team see that happening?" I asked.

"Maybe," Brian said, "but it's still too early to say. People are starting to adjust to the systems for supplies – license plate numbers for gas, shopping days based on last name, et cetera. It seems Americans have finally accepted that The Virus is causing havoc to global shipping and production."

"No new riots last night," Carole said. "I wonder if the threat of martial law was enough to stop that chaos."

"The damage is already done, really, because in a few days, there will be exponential growth in infection," Stewart said. "Half of those people weren't wearing masks, and the crowds were huge."

"Stewart's right – there will be many, many more cases and deaths in the coming days," Brian said. "Hopefully, people will stay home now."

"But see it from their side," Carole said. "Independent small business owners can't stay home forever. Blue collar workers don't have unlimited funds to order groceries indefinitely from Amazon. Something's gotta give."

"Sure, people are gonna suffer," Jack said. "And if they have to go out – they have to go out. But at least they can wear a damn mask." Jack turned up the volume on the TV because a breaking news alert flashed.

"Look at that video!" a news anchor said.

We all looked. "Dolphins in Venice! Incredible! Venice has been without tourists for three months and now it seems wildlife has crept back into the canals. Just fascinating, isn't it Steve?" Jack turned the volume down before Steve could pontificate.

"That's all most Americans can handle right now," Jack half-mumbled. "Cute video of dolphins in an Italian city they'll likely never visit."

"I think this thing has to play out on its own time," Brian said. "We can't control it. We can only steer our ship to help people through what's surely going to be a blacker experience the longer this goes on." He ripped a sheet of paper out of his notebook at threw it at Jack's head – but Jack caught it before it made contact.

"I know you're right, brother," Jack said. "I know people will do what they'll do, and we can't say bip. Doesn't make it easier to watch." He tossed the balled up paper onto the table in front of him.

"Well then, let's do something about it. Let's do some good," Brian said. "Let's give away a ton of money to people who need it, and who deserve it."

"Here, here," said Stewart.

And with that, we got back to the business of giving out a billion dollars. Carole and Jim went to pack for our evening departure. It would be their first trip with the mobile Unity team. The rest of us reviewed nominations.