The New Regime

Images of fires filtered across the screen, capturing Amanda's attention for only a moment before she sighed, rolling her eyes. The news stories were always the same lately: fires, riots, robberies, the occasional murder. She had grown accustomed to them over the past week, as used to see large cities nationwide like New York and LA in peril as she was to seeing the images of the war on terror that had been going on since she was fourteen years old.

Changing the channel as she sat alone in her living room for a moment, her boyfriend having left only momentarily to use the bathroom, Amanda couldn't help but think back on the recent news stories. The president had lost all control of the country, and it was rapidly falling apart with no one there to help put the pieces back together. It was all due to the war in Iraq - no one wanted the troops to be there anymore. Most everyone had lost a friend or a relative, and were fed up with the war as it had become pointless after so long. So, citizens in cities across the country had begun to revolt, striking in Washington, D.C. and starting violent riots back in their hometowns, begging for someone to just listen to what they had to say. Even in the sleep town of Greene, New York, things had spun out of control. Storefront windows had been smashed in, some buildings becoming victim to fires. Houses were being pillaged as their owners moved away, looking for somewhere even more isolated where they could have their peace and quiet. If it weren't for the fact that the house Amanda rented was just outside the town, away from all the havoc, she probably would have left too. Except for the one thing that was holding her back.

"So, any new stories today?" she heard the voice of her boyfriend, Devin, ask as he came back into the room. He took a seat on the cushion next to her, noticing she had changed the channel to another program.

Sighing, Amanda leaned into him, feeling his arm wind around her shoulders. He was the reason she couldn't leave. They had been dating for two years - having gotten together right after their high school graduation - and every time she looked into this deep pools of brown, she knew she wouldn't leave, because Devin didn't want to leave.

"No, and I'm sick of the footage they keep showing over and over again. I just wish things would go back to normal. The rioting and the chaos, the war - Hell, maybe all the way back to September eleventh. If none of that had happened, we wouldn't be living in this hell. I'm just really surprised right now," she said, huffing as Devin linked their hands together in front of them.

He pressed a light kiss to her cheek. "Why's that?" he asked quietly, trying to think of ways to make Amanda less tense.

"I never thought Greene could get any worse, that's why," she answered, and neither she nor Devin could contain their quiet laughter at her statement.

"You know what? Maybe we should just get away for a little while, maybe a day or two. Just go out to the middle of nowhere, just me and you," Devin said, his breath tickling Amanda's ear as he whispered, his lips pressed to her neck. She giggled but was then distracted when the phone on the coffee table in front of her began to ring.

Freeing her hand, Amanda grabbed the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Liz," came the reply. Liz was Amanda's cousin, and even though they were two years apart - Amanda being older - they were very close. "Have you watched the news lately?"

Groaning, Amanda laid her head back against the couch. "I don't want to even think about the news. The stories today are just the same ones getting played back every week now."

"Well, there's a new one on. Go to channel five," Liz instructed, and Amanda hesitated before changing the channel yet again. The caption under the picture read 'President Steps Down'. Eyebrows furrowing , she sat up a little straighter and watched.

"Today, the President has announced that he is stepping down from his position in the White House after countless threats against his life arrived this morning," the commentator began to say, but Amanda didn't need to hear anymore.

"What the hell?" she breathed into the phone, glancing at Devin as he continued to watch.

"Yeah. Word on the street is that there was no 'stepping down' involved. That spineless bastard fled, and no one knows where he is," Liz said, grumbling down the other end of the phone. "I'm thinking it's high time we do the same. Either that, or I seriously need to get drunk to just get my mind off all this bullshit."

Overhearing Amanda's cousin through the phone, as the volume was turned up just loud enough, Devin spoke. "Some of the guys back from school are going to some random party, down Oxford way. I'm sure that'll get you good and trashed," he said, causing Liz to ask Amanda to repeat what was said.

"It's settled then. We're going, all three of us, because I know you're probably dying to get some booze. Damn alcoholic," Liz joked.

"Well then pack shit up for the night and get your ass over here to my place, and we'll leave later tonight," Amanda said before hanging up. She tossed the handheld onto the armchair a few feet away and looked back at the television, the story about the President playing in a repeated loop.

Somehow, Amanda knew that things were about to get much, much worse.