Thursday, February 21, 2008. The meeting opened precisely at 4:55 P.M. EST, as always. For over a month, the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization resisted showing any evidence of the havoc they had wreaked on America. Now, since many local TV stations had been televising such photos and video for weeks, the shock value had worn off. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members wanted to explain how they had managed to selectively control - as much as humanly possible - who was killed and which structures were blown up.

Washington, DC, understandably, was the scene of the most devastation. The White House, the Capitol Building, FBI and CIA headquarters, the Pentagon, and countless lobbyists' offices on K Street were totally demolished. Manhattan, home of 'big business' and numerous corporations' national headquarters, resembled a scene out of the 1970's film, "Escape from New York", where practically nothing was left standing. Mammoth skyscrapers had been reduced to rubble. The Empire State Building had intentionally been saved. Los Angeles saw the ruin of most film studios and movie lots. Bank buildings in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Seattle were destroyed. Even Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal Mart's world headquarters, was in ruins. Many movie stars' homes around the country were obliterated; Las Vegas casinos had been blown to bits. As cameras focused on several till photos, viewers around the country were in awe, and remained silent out of respect for the magnitude of the devastation.

The readerboard sign glared at the TV camera, which in turn broadcast its message to thousands of sites across America. Yesterday's vote had set another record.

ARTICLE XXIII. RESOLUTION: ELECT JOHN McCAIN AS INTERIM VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
TOTAL NUMBER OF VOTES CAST: 2,792,090
NUMBER OF "YEA" VOTES: 2,701,372
NUMBER OF "NAY" VOTES: 90,718

More than 96% of registered voters had agreed with O.U.T.R.A.G.E. - choosing John McCain as Colin Powell's "running mate" made perfect sense to most of the country. No longer were voters casting their ballots for "the lesser of two evils" - they were actually voting for individuals who had demonstrated their allegiance to God and country, and who could not be easily swayed by outside influences. The people had spoken: now all that remained was to formulate appropriate language so that these tow resolutions could be passed into law by a truly democratic process of the popular vote.

Powell and McCain came into this rampage of unspeakable horror as 'outsiders'. They had not been aware of any band of rebel outlaws called O.U.T.R.A.G.E. In fact, it had been one of the best-kept secrets for more than five years, since shortly after the Bush administration assumed power. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over America had come together with the full realization of actually starting a second American Revolution. It was a better organized, better planned operation than any military scheme ever to be devised by the United States government - and it had remained a highly-guarded secret for half a decade. Strategic targets were identified and taken out in such a pinpointed time table, it was impossible for any kind of retaliation from any U.S. military force. As 9-11 had proven, the United States military was less prepared than most citizens would have believed. Since that attack, the Bush administration had poured billions of dollars into a new security force called Homeland Security. It, too, had been proven ineffective against O.U.T.R.A.G.E.

A diminutive man, about 65 years of age, approached the camera. "I'm sorry to report that we will have to stop our broadcast earlier than scheduled today due to severe weather conditions that are creating circumstances that make it difficult for television transmission. We expect to resume our regular daily telecast tomorrow at the usual time. Thank you."

The screen went dark. Not even the two-line message appeared.

Without realizing it - or, perhaps, deliberately - the man had given America a hint as to where the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. "headquarters" might be; there were very few locations in the continental U.S. that were experiencing any kind of unusual or severe weather conditions - certainly not severe enough to stop a television broadcast.