Metamorphis is good. But the instantaneous, radical changes that had taken place across America were having negative effects on much of the population, particularly those who lost friends or relatives as a result of the multiple explosions.
Hospitals and psychiatrists' offices were beginning to fill with patients who - having retrieved, then buried, their dead - were now just beginning to deal with what had happened. Millions were not dealing with it well, as severe depression. People were unable to pick up the pieces and resume their lives. Many millions feared that more bombings were imminent. Few recognized how the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. attacks had been specifically targeted, particularly those whose friends or relatives were not part of the targeted groups - just innocent individuals who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A consumptive feeling of dread invaded the minds and hearts of millions of Americans as they struggled to comprehend the enormity - and the consequences - of this 'Rebellion of '08'. It were as if a disease had spread through the land, not unlike the great European plague that killed millions centuries before. In fact, disease was still a major concern for municipal health officials since many decaying bodies remained buried under tons of wreckage.

While local governments still dealt with rescue and retrieval operations, local media outlets were feverishly trying to provide accurate and up-to-date reports on everything from body counts to the structure of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization. Some news reports speculated that O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was part of Al Qaeda; other analysts claimed it was a clandestine operation put together by the Chinese government. The Bush administration, after all, had put American taxpayers trillions of dollars in debt to finance unecessary wars, and China was America's largest creditor. In recent years, many thought it was only a matter of time before China revoked America's line of credit and started to 'foreclose' on the country. One famed columnist had predicted that one day China would "just come in [to the U.S.A.] and take whatever they want: money, oil, real estate, assets, America's weapons of mass destruction, coal, natural gas supplies, military hardware, mineral ore, - even our women if there's a demand in the global sex-slave industry. America couldn't resist because America would have no funds with which to finance our military, sort of the position Russia's been in since the 1990's". Other journalists got it right: O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was a domestic operation consisting of tens of thousands of 'common' American citizens who were fed up with the way corrupt politicians, wealthy elitists, irresponsible celebrities and athletes, and leaders of multi-billion-dollar corporations had raped and pillaged their way through America's bounty. As their plunder continued unabated over decades, it also impacted on most of America's core values, its moral compass, and political civility. Greed, arrogance, and sloth had become the national way of life - and the easiest path to personal success.

Now the media had something new on which to speculate: where could the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. 'headquarters' be located? They knew one thing they hadn't known before yesterday: that dull building where O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members assembled every day at 4:55 P.M. EST was located somewhere in the path of severe weather; weather severe enough to take their daily telecast off the air. When today's meeting opened, a spokesman approached the camera to announce that the weather was still causing sporadic transmittal difficulties, and some receiving sites could not pick up any signal at all. "Because of these adverse conditions," he announced, "we will only broadcast generic shots of our activities here for local feeds. No resolution will be introduced today, nor will there be any significant order of business conducted."

His lime-green O.U.T.R.A.G.E. badge reflected into the camera, causing a blind spot for a second. He adjusted it before he continued. "We implore those of you who are follwing these daily telecasts to encourage participation among your friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers. We know this is a difficult time for many across our nation, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to all of those who have suffered personal loss. But this is also a very important time in our nation's history - perhaps the most significant time since 1776 when our founding fathers presented the Declaration of Independence. With your help, we intend to transform the United States of America's process of government, reform its vitiated political system, and rebuild our country into the vibrant, moral, honorable state it once was so that it may re-establish itself as a trusted and productive global leader and serve its own people with reliability, relevance, and veracious virtue. We can only do this with the agreement and cooperation of the all the people...and that is our objective. There will be no cause to serve the wealthiest individuals, the powerful lobbyists, the self-serving special interests, or the greedy corporations. In this new republic which we hope to re-establish, the focus of all government service will be of the people, by the people, and for the people. We firmly believe this was the intent of our founding fathers, and we believe this is what most Americans still want for themselves and their children. With your help - and God's divine providence - we will go about achieving this goal with expeditious valor and popular support."

The cameras continued to depict images of some people busy interacting with each other, while others fervently pounded the keyboards of their laptops. Finally, at 6:55 P.M., the videocast ended. The two-line message appeared announcing tomorrow's meeting; then the screen faded to black - again, as always.