Escalation

The sound of thunder erupted from the cell phone on the bedside table and startled Tom awake. Groaning, he picked the phone up and tossed it across the room. The hangover haze and fog from the night before made his stomach lurch. That’s the LAST bachelor party I’m ever going to! Thank God his students had a test today, he could use the quiet time for his recovery. He trudged out of bed, the dry mouth and terrible taste in his mouth making his stomach lurch again. Tom brushed his teeth and washed his face, feeling mildly better. He made his way to his dresser and CRACK! Letting out a guttural yell, he looked down at his now bleeding toe. Son of a bitch!

Tom got out of his car, the drive to work with his coffee allowing him to make sense of the world again. He bent over to retrieve his briefcase from the passenger seat and dropped his coffee on the blacktop. With an expression of anguish on his face, he stood with slumped shoulders and stared at the liquid making its way under the car. Tom turned towards the back of the car, took a step, and kicked the tire out of frustration. The pain exploded in his brain like a strike of lightning. Stumbling backwards into the street, Tom failed to see the Audi barreling towards him. But the driver saw him and laid on the horn. However, the proximity was too close, and the driver swerved… right into a student crossing the street.

Emel lay on the macadam, unconscious and bleeding from her head. Tom’s pain fled from his body as the driver rushed from his vehicle. Emel was a student of his, and he hobble-rushed to her side and grabbed her hand. Oh God, NO! She was still breathing when the ambulance arrived, but barely. Tom watched them load her into ambulance, hardly hearing the superintendent of the school tell him to go home, school had been cancelled for the day. Emel was rushed to the hospital where she fell into a deep coma. Her family stuck by her day and night; but, alas, she passed away on the third morning at the age of fourteen.

Ahmet left the hospital in tears. My daughter! My daughter has been taken from me! Alone and in more pain than he had ever felt before, he soon found himself at the bar down the street. The pain was more than he could bear, and he chose to violate the deepest of Islamic traditions. By lunchtime, Ahmet was three sheets to the wind, and angry. He rose from the bar stool and it fell over, Ahmet nearly falling with it. Turning the key in the ignition, he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten behind the wheel of his sedan. Yet, he was there, and he was ready to go home. He never made it… Ahmet turned onto the on ramp of the city beltway, or so he thought. As he accelerated violently and merged onto the highway, the headlights of the car in front of him made him sober for the split second before the crash.

Ahmet awoke, covered in vomit, behind the bars of a county prison cell. He was allowed no visitors, and as he focused on his surroundings, three federal agents approached the cell. Through the exquisite pain his head, he could hear the agents read his Miranda Rights, charging him with four counts of vehicular manslaughter. The car he hit head-on had a family of four in it, heading to the local aquarium. Ahmet wretched again at the news, his tears not just a result of his being sick.

While the Turkish Ambassador languished in a county jail, Janice, Chief of Staff for the United States Secretary of State, did all she could to remain calm. On the other end of the telephone was the Turkish Embassy, and they were very unhappy. Adjusting her glasses and thanking God that she had remembered her antiperspirant this morning, she listened to the loud, forceful words of broken English. Ahmet was to be sent home under diplomatic immunity so that he may face justice in the Islamic tradition. Janice stated, again, that the ambassador had violated US law, and he would face the criminal charges brought against him… An entire American family was dead. Raising her voice over the screams of the Turkish Embassy, Janice warned that the entire US government was behind the president’s decision, and ANY rift between the two nations could have serious repercussions with NATO. As the man on the other end of the phone screamed and hung up, the butterflies in Janice’s belly turned to worms.

Hamza felt weak in the knees. The Turkish president had been a friend of his for many years, his ascendency to the highest office in the land was something Hamza took great pride in. Shortly after, Hamza had become the Chief of Turkish General Staff, he was the top active military leader in the nation. He was the president’s right hand, but he was also the people’s general. Now that he had to choose between them, Hamza felt that a choice he once thought was easy was the most difficult of his life. Hence, the soldiers walking in lock-step behind him, rifles at the ready. The people had spoken, and their confidence in his best friend had ended. As he approached the door, Hamza steeled his expression and made rigid his spine. The time had come… Bang! The door flew open before him, and his soldiers quickly surrounded the Turkish president seated at his desk. No word needed to be spoken. Amid the din of the protests outside, the president held Hamza’s eyes with a level gaze. Damn the Americans! Hamza thought. The president nodded to him and stood silently. Placing his hands behind his back, Hamza ordered the president cuffed. As the president was escorted out, Hamza stood behind the desk that was now his; several minutes later the crowd outside the Presidential Palace cheered.

Tom sat at the bar, mouth agape at the news on the television. In fact, the entire establishment was completely hushed, television volumes elevated, as the reporter spoke of world events. What would normally be a happy day, being the last day of school, turned into one of confusion. It had been nearly two months since the tragic death of Emel, and Tom thought of her every day. The last 36 hours have seen some unprecedented events, Jim, as Russian aggression to this level has not been seen in forty years. The military coup in Turkey has led to the nation’s ouster from NATO, and the Russian president quickly swooped in take advantage. One Russian battalion has been sent to Turkey to help the military quell pro-presidential rebellions popping up throughout the nation. Additionally, Russia has sent five battalions into Ukraine and currently sit less than 100 miles from Kiev. The US Navy has been dispatched to the Aegean Sea to try to temper the situation, and the British Navy has dispatched warships to the Baltic as pro-Russian groups have rebelled in the former Soviet Republic of Estonia. The White House did not comment to us on the rising tensions in Europe. This is Camilla Bell for NBC Nightly News. Jim, back to you.

Janice was sweating profusely, not very professional for the West Wing, Janice! She had just exited the Oval Office, her boss remained behind following the briefing. This wasn’t supposed to happen in the first six months of an administration, but here it was, the world was falling apart. Janice put a hand to her forehead, the stress of the situation had given her the worst headache! One nation kicked out of NATO and a second pulling out of it by choice within a month! She had never heard the president so furious, and she felt that she might throw up in the Oval Office hearing the defeat in his voice. Fucking Russians! They had manipulated the whole damn situation and held their energy exports over Europe, and Germany crumbled. Mass protests broke out in Berlin, and it was said that the German Chancellor was receiving death threats for being a coward. Suddenly, Janice broke into a trot towards the bathroom… she was about puke.

Allah be merciful! thought Ahmet. He sat in the open area of the jailing area watching the television. He watched as the Russian tanks cruised along the desert of the Middle East, reminiscent of the American tanks through Iraq when he was a boy. Syria and Iran had joined in takeover of the Saudi peninsula. Israel had been broken. Ahmet had known fighting between Islamic sects, but this was new… this was barbaric. There was no quarter, no prisoners, only death. Western Africa was falling like leaves in autumn. Egypt was able to somehow invade Brazil, and India was facing extreme danger from Afghanistan and Pakistan. War had been declared the world over. Ahmet put his fingers to his cheek and felt the wetness. He was crying for the world, he was crying for his people, and he was crying for his daughter, Emel. Ahmet screamed through his tears, his fellow prisoners stopping in their tracks.

Tom had never liked American politics, but he couldn’t help maintaining a healthy interest in it. He had holed up in his apartment after the news of the Middle Eastern oil fields falling into Russian hands. Like clockwork, the riots began in the United States. Shaking his head, Tom let out a little chuckle as he watched the news. The American people fell apart; while the military was getting its ass handed to it in Europe, the spike in prices due to the loss of oil supply from OPEC had produced mass riots in the nation’s major cities. The television was showing him the destruction of Seoul, South Korea as the ribbon at the bottom scrolled through the names of the soldiers killed in action. He brought the beer bottle to his lips and drank heavily, his feet propped up on his packed suitcases. The television suddenly went silent, and his apartment went dark. Time to leave!

The parking garage was near empty, and Janice sat in the driver’s seat of her coupe crying unstoppably. She never imagined that the United States would end this way. The Chinese cyberattack had crippled the nation’s infrastructure irreparably, and in the two weeks since, what was left of the American government had worked tirelessly to repair what they could. And for all of their boasting since the turn of the century, when it came down to it, the American people were too weak! Tears streaming freely down her cheeks, Janice started the car and pulled out slowly. The president had tried everything to avoid the World War III cliché, but, she thought, the nukes were already on their way. A sob escaped her throat knowing that the president would stay behind and wait for the retaliation. The captain goes down with the ship… Her only hope now was that she could make to her family in Idaho unscathed.

Tom drove his car down the nearly empty highway outside of the city, his toe aching from breaking it those few months ago. The last four months had been a blur for him and the nation. He missed the days of teaching and happiness. Now, the world was war and chaos. He looked to the speedometer… 85 miles per hour. He could only hope that it was fast enough. News of the American nuclear launches spread quickly, and Tom had no desire to be anywhere near a city when the retaliation came. He reached over to the box beside him and pulled out a CD. He didn’t care which one, he just needed some music. The bright flash behind him lit up the entire interior of his Volkswagen, and he shielded his eyes against the light in his rearview mirror. Tom hit the gas and quickly passed 100 miles per hour, his heart pounding as the sky caught on fire behind him.

“Another one bites the dust-ah… ow… Another one bites the dust-ah… Hey hey… Another one bites the dust-ah… Hey-ey-ey-ey…”