“All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces; bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere…”

From Mad World by Tears For Fears, remade by Gary Jules

Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide, Everywhere to Fight

Dan dashed past the charred bodies of the soldiers. He saw so many familiar faces. He ran as fast as he could, his feet flying across the ground, gliding, carrying him to the place of his will. Behind him, men followed, holding their swords and their guns. One of them attempted a shot at him, but he missed.

He stopped at the end of the filthy road and looked to his left. When he saw the legion of vermin running down the alleyway, he turned right and started towards a seemingly abandoned building. As soon as his body was inside the two story town home, soldiers clad in black armor appeared from behind the windowsills and the doorways and unloaded their weapons onto the surprised hunters. They fell in a matter of seconds, falling in a manner that seemed choreographed.

“Hey Dan, what took you so long?” one of the soldiers said. Dan turned and looked at him.

“Up yours, Foxley,” he replied. The soldier named Foxley sniggered and joined the group of soldiers in a corner who were playing cards. Dan walked up the stairs and greeted the commander.

“Hello Corporal,” the commander said. He dropped the map and book he held and saluted the corporal. Dan saluted back and fell at ease. “Any survivors?”

“Actually sir, I found a small squad of three soldiers and four civilians holed up in the police building. They claimed that they’ve been receiving messages from a contingent of eight or so soldiers in the city outskirts.” Dan looked at the map. There was a bright red circle with an X over it.

“Good work Corporal. I’ll send a squad to retrieve them. They’ll take APC One. In the meantime, I have discovered something great.” The commander lifted the map from the table. “I have discovered the location of a military base that still operates. It is a hundred miles northeast of the city. We’ll take APCs Two through Four and pick up the surviving soldiers. APC One will rendezvous with us just two miles out.”

“That’s excellent sir!” Dan yelled. “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow morning. We’ll dispatch APC One an hour before we leave.”

“Understood. Permission to retreat to quarters.”

“Permission granted.” Dan saluted the commander and left for his quarters.

The Long Road to Nothing

Francis Johnson woke up at the light of early morning. He woke up the others and moved to the COM station. He sent a message to the soldiers in the outskirts that help was on the way.

“Whatcha doin?” a little boy asked. Francis looked at him and patted his head.

“Telling our friends that help is on the way,” Francis replied. The boy looked at the COM.

“Are we leaving?” He asked.

“Yes,” Francis said, “Yes we are.”

Francis stood up and looked out the barricaded window. All he saw were run down buildings, rusting cars, and rotting corpses.

“Finally,” he whispered. He looked out again to see an APC drive towards the barricaded building. “Finally.”

Sergeant Kane Wilson was cleaning his weapon when he heard the rumbling and hissing of the three APCs sent to retrieve them. He and the seven other men in the contingent removed the barricades off the door as quickly as possible. They grabbed their weapons and food and exited the building to find sixteen armed soldiers looking at them.

The men helped the contingent pack their things onto the APCs. They began boarding and all seemed well.

“What the hell!” a soldier screamed as PFC Sammie Williams was shot in the head by a sniper. The men scrammed for the APCs and closed the hatches as Private Carlson had his chest blow by sniper fire.

The three APCs began driving, calling the other APC to rendezvous. When they were out of range, they eased up on the gas.

“Finally,” Wilson whispered.

The End of the Road…and the World

After APC One rendezvoused with rest of the company, they started for the base. They never stopped and they drove along the main highway.

Wilson had moved to APC One before they started. He looked out the window of the APC to see the desert of New Mexico. As he looked out, a child walked up to him.

“Whatcha doin?” the kid asked. Wilson turned his head and looked down at the kid, slightly smiling.

“I am doing absolutely nothing,” Wilson replied, ruffling the kid’s hair with his hand. The child smiled at him. “What’s your name kid? I mean, you do have a name, right?”

“My name’s Tony,” the kid said.

“Ooh, I think we got ourselves a Tony Montana. You gonna blow up some cock-a-roaches?”

“What’s a cock-a-roach?”

“Never mind,” Wilson said. “We’ll just—“

Wilson was cut off as APC Two exploded into a ball of fire.

Dan grabbed his weapon and aimed out the back window of APC Four. He saw two vehicles. The first was a Dodge RAM 2500. This one carried two drivers and four men in the back. Most notably was one with an RPG launcher. The second was a KIA Spectra with the top ripped off. Two men in the front, and two standing up in the back.

“Aim for the RPG guy first,” Dan said to the two other soldiers next to him. They acknowledged and fired at the RPG man. When they hit him, he fired a blind shot which nearly hit APC One but exploded near enough to rip open the side. Three people flew out. One adult civilian, one soldier, and one child. The Spectra drove towards them and the men in the back grabbed axes from the seats.

The soldier took his side arm and shot himself in the head. The civilian attempted to reach the gun but had his legs crushed by the RAM. One of the men in the Spectra threw his axes at the civilian’s back. Seeing this, Dan aimed for the child. To spare him from torture, his mind said. He pulled the trigger and killed the child with a well placed shot to the head.

APC Three was hit in the tire by the men in the RAM, causing it to go off-road. It crashed into a rock and flipped over, crushing the top and everyone inside. Dan managed to destroy the KIA with a shot to the gas tank.

Two soldiers in APC One climbed onto the roof and shot the man in the passenger seat of the RAM but were killed by the men in the back of the truck. A bullet hit one of the men in APC Four.

The list of 34 people in the four APCs was now at 5: Dan, Wilson, the commander, Foxley, and PFC Gerard. The last two were the drivers. Dan hit the two front wheels of the truck, causing it to stop. The APCs reached a roadblock and the men had to exit. They took cover behind the APCs and some rocks.

The driver and three men from the back charged the soldiers. Foxley and the commander were killed by the three from the back who were killed by a grenade thrown by Dan. PFC Gerard was shot in the head by driver before the driver was shot and killed by Wilson.

“Now what?” Dan said. Wilson grabbed the keys for the APC from Foxley.

“Now we drive.”

The Reality of Reality is Deception

The APC continued on the road towards the base. The two men were quiet for the entire journey, and it seemed the APC was a grave instead of a vehicle.

After three hours of driving and the reaching of a hundred miles northeast of the city, the men had reached it. They had reached…nothing. Nothing was there. There was no base. There was no building in sight.

“Once again: now what?” Dan asked. He looked around. Wilson went inside to check the gas.

“Well, we are screwed. We have enough gas for two more miles, and it would take about two weeks to return to the city.” Wilson said. Dan turned around to face him.

“Could we make it?”

“Doubt it,” Wilson replied, “There is no water for five or six days. We’d be dead by then.”

“What do we do?” Dan asked. Wilson drew his pistol.

“I see only one way. It’s not the best, but it’s better than starving to death,” Wilson explained. He aimed the pistol at Dan.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dan yelled. Wilson cocked the gun.

“I’m making it quick. Painless.”

“But you can’t—“ Dan was cut short as Wilson shot him in the head.

“I have to,” Wilson said. He put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Wilson missed and blew out his left cheek and section of jaw. He fell to the ground, his pistol falling feet from him. He slowly bled out.

Then there was rumbling. He watched as three APCs came in from the northeast and drove towards the lone APC. He died before they could reach him…

“When people run in circles it’s a very, very Mad World. Mad World…”

- From Mad World by Tears For Fears, remade by Gary Jules