DISCONTINUED

Chapter 23

"What? Oh, yea... sorry." Garreth hadn't heard the guy next to him the first three times he'd asked Garreth to move so that he could exit the train at the next stop. Now he shuffled out of the way as best he could in the crowded car before once again losing himself in his thoughts.

It was standing room only on the trains these days with private transportation now banned, making his commute to and from work a long, slow, exhausting process. He stood, one arm wrapped around a pole for support, and stared at the floor. He couldn't believe he was going to work. That all these people were going to work. That everyone was just basically continuing on with their lives. It made no sense. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, trying to hold back the headache that always lingered just below the surface these days. What a mess. What a total freaking mess.

The executions that had taken place during the march on city hall had certainly made an impression, and the temporary house confinement and disruption of communication that had followed served to allow the reality of the situation to sink in with most people. There had been some resistance for sure, but those acts had all been abruptly - and terminally - dealt with. Then the first DoD (day of discontinuance) notifications had begun arriving and the early deaths they delivered, along with all the 65+ mandatory discontinuance executions, had taken place. They'd just sort of happened. They hadn't been "glorified" or anything, rather, they'd just sort of matter of fact-ly occurred as promised. As far as instilling a sense of who was in charge and to just what extent, it all proved very effective. By now most of the masses had basically settled in. Did they really have a choice? "It was the way that it was" and "it could be worse" seemed to be the prevailing attitudes.

Garreth stumbled as the train abruptly slowed and then once again resumed speed. It reminded him that just yesterday his commute had been delayed by someone jumping in front of the train, which seemed to be at least a weekly occurrence now.

Suicide was certainly an option considered by many and acted on by some. Yes, one could do their little part to thwart the government's plan for their life - or more correctly, for their death - or "stick it to the man" as they say. Their reasoning was that at least that way they got to choose the how and when of their death. But that act of defiance, while somewhat empowering, came at the cost of exaggerating the very thing they were protesting, by ending their lives even sooner than the state had mandated. And regardless, either way the government won. They either killed you when they wanted to, or you saved them the "trouble" by killing yourself before then. Sure, maybe a mass suicide, something on a large enough scale could perhaps disrupt things for them. But even if you could convince 5 or 10% of the population to take their own lives, and when it came right down to it, there just weren't that many people brave enough or with enough conviction to make that sort of sacrifice, would that even be enough to effect significant change? Probably not.

Garreth felt himself being pushed back from the door as it opened to allow yet more commuters on board. He glanced up at the route sign and sighed deeply when he realized that he was only halfway to work.