Chapter 13

Video cameras, lights, sound equipment, reporters, and White House personnel had flooded the Oval Office in preparation for the president’s speech. Admiral Frizen stood in the corner, his uniform neatly pressed and cleaned, waiting for the proceedings to begin.

It’d been almost a month since the Soil Coalition’s collapse, and the country was still very much in a state of recovery, and the way the president handled tonight’s speech would determine whether the nation would continue toward healing or begin another civil war.

The attendees in the room rose as the president walked in and immediately sat behind the desk while he flipped through a few note cards in his hands. “How much longer until we’re live?” he asked.

“Sixty seconds, Mr. President.”

Frizen knew the risks the president was taking by giving this address, but he believed it was something the country truly needed. It was the act of lies and cover-ups that put them in this position in the first place. It was time for the truth to have its day.

The room went silent as the president set his notes aside and the director counted him down. The camera’s red light turned on, and the president began his address.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans. I come to speak to you this evening in the spirt of truth and forgiveness. Something that I, and many of my colleagues here in Washington, believe is needed in light of recent events. It is no secret that the crimes the Soil Coalition performed under the authority of Gordon Reath were despicable horrors, but many are unaware of how those atrocities came about. The Soil Coalition’s original purpose was to be a driving force in the search for a cure of the plague that GMO-24 set upon us, which ravaged our farmlands and prevented us from providing the food necessary to sustain our country and its people. I’m here to tell you that it was your government, under my order and direction, that allowed the atrocities of the Soil Coalition to go unchecked and unrestricted. However, I want to make it clear that at no time did I ever order for the torture or murder of any American enrolled in the Soil Coalition’s community program. But a lack of knowledge does not forgive me of the horrors committed by Gordon Reath and the men under his command.”

The president’s throat caught, and Frizen watched him grab a glass of water. Frizen knew that what the president was admitting was suicide. He would be tried for treason, crimes against humanity, and sentenced to life in prison, or worse. But despite the president’s negligence of the past events, he was glad to see that the commander in chief was finally leading by example. This would be an historic first that would hopefully purge the rest of the rats out of Washington.

“However, the greatest atrocities committed by this government happened long before the Soil Coalition was even thought into existence. When many of the countries around the world, including our own, had millions of men, women, and children going hungry, this administration took the first bold steps to end famine. The result of those efforts culminated in the creation of GMO-24. While we learned later that some of the test results were tampered with, and some even destroyed, this was the cause of the devastation that brought so much pain to our country and to many of our neighbors in Mexico and Canada. But as this evening’s announcement will no doubt trigger anger and frustration to the American people, let me also tell you that we have found a cure for the disease that plagued our nation. Right now, in the great state of Kansas, the first round of soil treatments is being administered to allow food to once again grow in our country. Every square acreage of land that was affected by GMO-24 will receive its vaccine to return the soil back to its fertile state.”

The president paused, and the teleprompter in front of him stalled, waiting for him to continue. He had reached the end of his speech, and the only words left were “God bless us, and God bless the United States of America.” But he knew it wasn’t enough. There was one final leap to take. “I failed you. Your government failed you. Now, as citizens of this great nation, it’s up to you to decide what happens to us. We have always been a great nation. And if you choose, we can be again. God bless us, and God bless the United States of America.”