Corey stopped flipping through radio stations as soon as he heard the word “assassination.” His heart raced.

  “... speculation as to whether Texas Governor Raymond Aguilera’s shooting is related to recent events in Virginia, where New Frontier Party leader Lou Franklin was killed last week in an apparent …”

  “Hey!” Ruddy said. “Somebody shot the governor?”

  Corey waved his hand and turned the volume up. “Shhh!”

  “… police refused to comment, although they confirmed that arrests have been made. The assassination attempt is the latest in a string of violent attacks that have broken out across the nation following Franklin’s death. Sources within the New Frontier Party are calling for President Hargrove to step down. Federal officials are asking citizens to remain calm, and the President is expected to address the nation within the hour. General Stephen Hines has been dispatched to Texas to deal with the situation.”

  “In Austin, hundreds of residents held a prayer vigil this afternoon for the governor and other victims of the recent attacks. Several religious groups are attributing the violence to the reappearance of the afflicted murderer, Ezekiel Daniels. Rumors have been circulating since last week about a second Bethel massacre and Daniels’ role in …”

  Corey clicked off the radio and checked the rearview mirror. Teri and Xeke were propped against each other, asleep.

  Ruddy stared at the console. “I can’t believe Governor Aguilera got shot. I’ve met him a few times with my dad and he’s such a nice guy. Is he okay?”

  “I don’t know,” Corey said. “I missed that part.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Ruddy frowned. “Wait. What did they say about Xeke? There was no massacre. I don’t get it.”

  “I don’t either,” Corey said. “Probably just DSSA playing politics. Do me a favor and don’t mention this to him. Bethel is a tough subject for him, and there’s no point in dredging up these ghosts.”

  “I won’t say anything,” Ruddy said. “But why Xeke?”

  Corey sighed. “Every time they want to get people stirred up they start going on about the dangers of the afflicted, and Xeke is the king of the boogeymen. That’s par for the course. But we’ve got bigger worries. They’ve brought in General Hines. That’s not a good sign.”

  “Hines. He’s the hero from the Event, right?”

  “Yeah,” Corey said. “Back then, he was an officer in the Iowa National Guard. If he hadn’t taken charge after the Event, we might have lost the Midwest. That’s where most of our food comes from. The separatists would be running the country if it wasn’t for him. Damn. This is really bad.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Why? It sounds like Hines knows what he’s doing.”

  “I mean this whole situation is bad,” Corey said.

  “Oh, yeah. If somebody shot the governor, things must be bad.”

  “That’s not all,” Corey said. “Lou Franklin was assassinated last week.”

  “The name sounds familiar …?”

  Corey counted to five in his head. “Yeah, it should. Do you know anything at all about what happened out west after the Event?”

  “Um … not much. Just that most of the people died, and a lot of places went without government for a long time. Some people tried to make a new country, but that’s all over now, right?”

  “Sort of,” Corey said. “The western states organized into a new nation, and Franklin was behind it. His movement attracted a lot of rough characters—criminals, white supremacists, those types—but regular people, too. The people out west lost so much more than the rest of us, and they wanted something to hold on to. Franklin’s people organized quickly. They kept the lights on, fed people, and shot looters. They kept politics out of it at first, but as they became established, their white nationalist agenda came out.”

  “I remember there were some riots and protests in Dallas, a lot of talk about Mexicans, but that was a while ago,” Ruddy said. “I mean it’s not like anyone really wants to go around killing people because they’re different. That’s crazy.”

  “When things aren’t going well, it’s easy to turn people against each other,” Corey said. “Just think back to Nazi Germany.”

  “Yeah, but no one is going to buy into something like that today,” Ruddy said. “We know better than that now.”

  “Do we?” Corey said. “We’re different, and they don’t seem to have any trouble hunting us down.”

  “Oh,” Ruddy said. “I guess that’s true.”

  “Besides, it’s not that clear cut. The white nationalist agenda isn’t what people bought into, not really. Franklin was selling a new frontier—a new beginning. There's a lot of land up for grabs, and Franklin and his people hadn't done anything overt. No laws targeting minorities or anything like that. Of course, it’s no secret where they were going with all of this, but the fa?ade lets people look the other way.”

  “But at least the country’s back together now,” Ruddy said. “I mean you have to start somewhere. We can deal with all the other stuff later.”

  “That was President Hargrove’s argument when he made the deal with Franklin. By the time the federal government got back on its feet, part of the country had seceded. To get them back, the President gave those states a higher level of autonomy. It wasn’t ideal, but he did keep the country from falling apart. I’m sure he intended it as a temporary solution. The problem is it legitimized them. As soon as Franklin had what he wanted he formed a political party. The New Frontier party. And they keep getting stronger as more people move west.”

  “What do they want?”

  “I’m sure Franklin wanted to be President someday,” Corey said. “He may have been on his way to it, too. But then someone shot him, and … well. Here we are.”

  “I still don’t understand why you’re so worried about this. Don’t we have enough problems of our own?”

  “Look at it this way,” Corey said. “The leader of the New Frontier party was assassinated. Now the Governor of Texas has been shot, probably by someone from New Frontier. The government has sent its best general, and probably its best troops, down here to take charge. Things are coming to a head. This whole situation has been a powder keg for a long time, and the match just got lit. How do you not know all this? It’s on the news all the time.”

  “I don’t pay any attention to the news,” Ruddy said. “It’s nothing but bad. Besides, I still don’t see what this has to do with us.”

  Corey stared straight ahead at the road, his jaw muscle popping in and out.

  “What?” Ruddy said.

  “It’s a civil war, Ruddy, and we’re driving into the middle of it.”

  “Oh,” Ruddy said. “Yeah, that’s pretty bad.”