Volume 4: A Call to Action by Ed Jenkins

A Call to Action by Ed Jenkins
by Steven Ormosi

I see you all here today and I allow myself to be hopeful for the future. Not only our future, but the future of our children, and our childrens' children. We have lived through the greatest tragedy ever visited upon this Earth and yet we survive. But I think it is time to do more than survive. I think it is time to thrive. And once we have unleashed our potential here, we will spread out again and retake what is ours. Manifest Destiny was a term once used to cut a swath clear across what used to be this great country of ours. It is no longer an American idea. Now it is a human one. We are responsible not only for keeping ourselves or our city or even our country alive. We are accountable for the survival of the entire human race.

A large part of that is due to the courage of a man who sacrificed everything to make sure that the wrong people did not take power. I know you have all heard this story by now, but it is one that should never be forgotten throughout the rest of human history. One we will pass on from generation to generation. Jonah Smith made the ultimate sacrifice earlier this week. He gave up his own life to make sure that there was a better and brighter future for us all. Even upon threat of death, he did all that was necessary to make sure that kidnappers and murderers do not take control of this city through deception and lies.

My opponent in this race, Max Donovan, had agents capture Jonah and attempt to force him to lie to all of you about the nature of my campaign. If he had come forward with what they wanted him to tell you, I believe that our cause would have been lost and our city torn asunder. Instead, he was able to relay a message via an intrepid reporter. One who he was only allowed access to if he agreed to tell her lies that would have falsely inflated the validity of Mr. Donovan’s campaign and demeaned all of the tireless and good, hard working people helping with mine. Jonah knew in his heart that he could not do that and was able to slip the reporter a note detailing his capture and subsequent torture. We believe that Jonah’s death in the quarantine cages was no mistake, but the work of Donovan himself. We are now collecting evidence to corroborate that. Those responsible will be punished.

In the meantime though, Donovan is still out there, trying to tear down that which we strive to build. He is battling us at every turn and though he may think that he is doing right, I know that his obstinate meddling, even after he has lost the election, is something that could destroy us in this delicate time. Can we allow that?

No, you are absolutely right. We cannot allow it. Again, I say, we must all band together now or know that we will all be torn apart.

We are few, but we are strong. We will survive this. I am, in fact, assembling a small search party now. It will be their job to go out into the world outside our walls and see what is left. What is usable. To find out if there are any survivors. And to find out how intense the threat on the outside still is. I know stepping beyond the walls still makes some of you apprehensive. Believe me, I share your concerns. But we cannot be controlled by our fear. We cannot let it keep us in. We are prisoners. This world is not ours right now. We must take it back. This excursion is the first small step towards doing that. The members will be announced within the week.

I also want to address some concerns voiced that we will shut down the bazaar. These are perpetuated by Max Donovan’s camp and could not be further from the truth. Our marketplace is the cornerstone of what drives us. Yes, there will be regulations at some point, but I think that will only make the market stronger. For now, you need to know that your stands are safe. As many of you know, I often walk through for dinner or a coffee. Believe me when I say that without the bazaar we would have torn each other to pieces by now and I have no intention of letting that happen.

So we have to keep on growing and creating. We have to do the things that make us human without fear or equivocation. We have to prove that we are better and stronger than those things outside. When they hungrily call for our blood, we will answer with theirs. This is not only a call to arms. This is a call to strength, to humanity. The next coming months will be the new baptism of civilization. One by fire, no doubt. All we can do is make ready our hearts and steel our nerves. It will not be an easy task, but it will be a rewarding one. Our world, back in our hands.

The only obstacle is our own fear. We must together make a stand and if those who used to be part of our race will not understand what is ours, then we will show them! We will be a united front against the horrors. We will no longer cower from that which goes bump in the night. They will not break our walls! They will not enter this sacred city, not today, not tomorrow, not ever! All the hordes of the world will not, by force, drink a drop of our blood, or set a scratch at the nape of a single one of our necks, inside this place. The only enemy we have to fear is that which sows destruction amongst our own ranks. If destruction is our lot, then we must be its author and finisher. As a city, no, as a nation, of free men, we will live forever, or die by suicide.

Heed me. We must rebuild the pillars of our society. We must become the beacon that humanity uses to find its way back from the brink. And we must gain the freedom that our forefathers preached about. Not from tyranny this time, but from ultimate destruction itself. We will join our voices together and shout: The legions of Hell will not prevail against us.

Thank you, and God Bless America.