SC: Liberty's Safeguard

SHATTERED CITADEL: LIBERTY'S SAFEGUARD

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country. - Anais Nin 

SHATTERED CITADEL: LIBERTY'S SAFEGUARD 

Chicago, United States of America, Earth [Sol], 1542, 21062029 

All around him the crowd began to surge towards him. He looked to his sides as his fellow officers braced for the coming wave of humanity. He steadied himself and nervously gripped his police baton. He gripped it so hard that he could feel his hand going numb from the pressure. The first glass bottle smashed against his riot helmet and temporarily blinded him. His nervousness was now gone. Anger replace it. These might be his brothers, but it was clear they wanted to kill him. 

The first rioter within arms reach came upon him with a broken broom handle which he smashed in two with one swift motion of his baton. He grabbed the young hood rat and pushed him into two more charging rioters. He lifted his shield and smashed it hard into the faces of the two as they fell over the young man. He spun around and broke the brick another rioter was holding in her hand with his baton breaking every bone in her hand in the process. All around him his fellow officers were struggling to beat back the massive crowd of desperate people. A thick smoke filled the air and made it difficult to see. The rioters begun to cry and spit uncontrollably as the smoke swirled all around them. Some doubled over and clawed at their burning eyes as the pain became unbearable for them.

This day had begun like any other. He went to work and was deployed to provide security at the local breadline. He watched as the unemployed lined up early and anxiously waited for their food and water rations for the day. Four hours before the doors even opened to the food distribution center the line was already ten thousand long. Times were tough. Tough for everyone ever since the global economy collapsed. Hit worst of all was America, due to its massive national debt, which had finally caught up with it after decades of endless spending and careless borrowing. As the global economy began to fail the Chinese demanded that the U.S. repay its loans. The U.S. was forced to pay them before anything else, including vital services for its own citizens. Food distribution, the military, healthcare and other essential programs were drastically cut or ended to make the payments to the Chinese. It pissed everyone off, but nothing could be done. No one cared that some hapless president twenty years ago promised China that America would guarantee their loans to the U.S., it might have well been written in stone. America signed on the dotted line and had to pay no matter what. People didn't want to believe that they had to pay for the decadence of those who lived before they were even born, or still infants. 

Today, the food had finally ran out. The center didn't open and its federal workers got the hell out of dodge. Leaving the people of Chicago to starve, oddly enough they waited patiently until late afternoon. When it had become clear no food was coming, the radicals in the group incited the others to riot. Then all hell broke loose. Every store still open in Chicago, the few that survived the economic collapse was smashed, looted, and gutted. Anyone looking like they worked for the government was attacked. That day alone, forty-six postal carriers were beaten to death in Chicago. The entire police force were forced to retreat and regroup, those who hadn't made it out of the city center were most likely dead. In the relative safety of the Chicago suburbs they armed themselves with heavier weapons and linked up with the National Guard. A curfew was imposed and the population was given one hour to return to their homes or risk being shot.

The gloves were off, ever since the economic collapse the government had resorted to using the military to maintain order wherever the situation got to big for the local police force. The police lined up and marched down into the heart of Chicago, the military following not too far behind. The idea was for the rioters to take the hint and disperse before the trigger happy soldiers arrived. Normally that's how it went down in the hundreds of other police actions he had taken part in, but this time was different. Even when the citizens of the United States watched in horror as the U.S. dollar became worthless, as their savings were wiped out, services dried up, and jobs evaporated overnight, they didn't outright revolt. Never like this. Not with this level of anger and violence. Now the food had stopped coming and people were desperate. Society in downtown Chicago reverted into anarchy and the people cared little for their lives. With empty stomachs and no food from the government they all figured they were dead anyway.