DISCONTINUED

Chapter 19

Garreth walked out of the garage and stood in the driveway. Looking up and down the street he saw people everywhere coming out of their homes to join ever-growing groups gathered here and there on front lawns. As he stood and watched, the low hum of conversation steadily grew in volume and intensity. Some started shouting, which prompted others to do the same. Garreth slowly made his way next door, where one such group had formed.

"Hey Bob, what's up?"

Bob stared at Garreth for a moment in disbelief. "What do you mean 'what's up'? You heard the big announcement, didn't you?" He didn't wait for Garreth to answer before continuing. "I mean, Martial Law and all that other stuff, just like that, for no reason? They've got a lot of explaining to do."

Garreth gave him a nervous half smile. "Come on, I mean the phones and the cars thing... yea, that's weird. But I'm sure it's just temporary. And I'm sure they don't really mean 'Martial Law'. I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding. You know, typical political hyperbole sort of thing."

More of the group began to direct their attention towards Garreth and Bob's conversation. One of them, a neighbor from across the road whose name Garreth couldn't remember pointed an angry finger at Garreth as he spoke.

"Seriously? C'mon man. You're pretty stupid for a smart guy. This is total BS. Wake up man." He paused. "Or maybe you're with them? I mean, you're pretty high up over there at the Institute... you must know what's going on."

By now most of the group was focused on Garreth. It had started to rain but no one seemed to notice.

"What? No, I don't know what's going on. But I do think we should be careful not to overreact."

Man, why was everyone so paranoid and skeptical. It was like talking to a bunch of Kenzie's. Kenzie, who died in a car accident - something that never happened - just days after his own wife had died in a car accident. Nope, he thought to himself. Crazy loves company. He wasn't going down that road. Not again. He gathered himself before continuing.

"Look. It's all pretty weird and unexpected I know. But they can't just do whatever they want. You know that. There has to be a rational explanation for all of this. You heard what they said... 'more details will be released shortly'. I think we should all just go back inside and wait. I'm sure this will all make a lot more sense soon."

The little group that had gathered around him was silent, but it wasn't the contemplative, 'hmmm, I guess he's right' kind of silence. It was more like the 'look, now he's just made us even angrier and also, we're trying to understand how he could be such an idiot' silence.

Someone behind him spoke up. "It'll all make sense, eh? Right. So tell me... how's your dog Garreth?"

Garreth turned to see a man walking slowly towards him, the small crowd parting to make way. It was Garreth's neighbor on the other side. He was carrying something but Garreth couldn't yet tell what it was.

Garreth swallowed hard. "What do you mean 'how's my dog'? Mack is... our dog, Mack, he uh... he died actually. Just a little while ago."

"At 5 o'clock, right?"

"Um, yea... I guess. Around then. How do you know that?"

By now the man had made his way to the front. Garreth could see tears in his eyes. "Here's our dog Garreth. Yea, she's dead too. Guess when she died? At 5 o'clock. Just like yours."

What? No way. Garreth looked from the man's face down to the still form he held in his arms that he now recognized as the friendly dog from next door. He didn't have a chance to say anything before several others that had now joined the group spoke of their pets suffering the same fate. Garreth stood in stunned silence as Bob began to speak again and the group turned their attention back to him.

"Are we just going to sit back and let them do this to us? HELL NO!" said Bob, raising his fist in defiance.

"HELL NO!" the crowd echoed back in unison. There were really getting amped up now.

"I don't know about you, but there's no way I'm going to stand for this. They shut down our phones, our internet and our cars..."

Garreth looked around at the crowd that had swelled to contain a pretty large number of people, the many smaller groups having now all come together as one.

"...and they killed our pets. They freaking killed our pets! I for one am not prepared to just sit around and wait. I'm going downtown to city hall to demand some answers RIGHT NOW! Who's with me?"

Bob turned and startedwalking in the direction of downtown, his fist still raised, and the angrycrowd followed. They were all with him. Garreth included.