emfive posted:

Shortly thereafter, the Race War started.

Most of us didn't really see it clearly, at least not at first. A guy you knew from the gym turned up dead, shot by the people who did his lawn. A fluke. Two teachers at a local high school supervising a debate team practice thrown out a third-story window by the kids in the hip-hop club. Another random incident; who could see a pattern? A small grocery store in the East Side shot up by a bunch of neo-Nazi biker punks; that's what they do, right?

But as the tempo of these incidents increased, we saw more and more clearly what was going on: this was it. This was the Race War, and it was real, and it was in our midst, and there was no escape. There were no longer any "ordinary people". It was just our side, or Them - for everybody.

Me, I had never shot a gun. I don't think I had ever even touched a gun. That changed. Soon, once I was part of Brigade North, my gun was pretty much all I cared about. And I shot the gun. Oh yes, I shot it, and with deadly effect. It was war, after all.