The Apocalypse of John

Into the heart of darkness of the Ohio campaign

Michael Young | September 9, 2004

Akron. Shit. I'm still only in Akron. Every time I think I'm going to wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing... I hardly said a word to my first wife until I said yes to a divorce. When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I've been here a week now. Waiting for a mission, getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room I get weaker. And every minute Bush gets stronger. Each time I look around the walls move in a little tighter.

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service.

"Captain Kerry, you in there?"

"Yeah"

"You have orders to report to ComSec intelligence in Cuyahoga Falls."

"Cuyahoga Falls?"

I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles down a river that snaked through the campaign like a main circuit cable and plugged straight into Bush. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of George W. Bush's secret, any more than being back in Akron was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine.

---

"Captain, you ever heard of George W. Bush? Did a stint at the Texas Air National Guard, then disappeared for a time. No one knows where. Went AWOL; papers vaporized. Then we picked this up, from the Republican National Convention."

(Plays a recording)

"We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army. And they call me an assassin. What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin? They lie... they lie and we have to be merciful for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. How I hate them..."

"Bush?"

"No, a crony, a guy called Zell Miller. Pretty pissed, wouldn't you say? But where there's Miller, there's Bush. You know, Bush was one of the most outstanding officers the National Guard ever produced. He could knock back a quart of Jack Daniels, score with Miss El Paso and still spot for a basket toss. But then he took up religion, politics; became president, and, well his ideas, methods have become unsound... Unsound."

"What happened then?"

"Now he's somewhere in Ohio, which may emerge as the key battleground in the November election, and he's seeking the state's 21 electoral votes. He's got an army of supporters who worship the man, like a god, and follow every order, however ridiculous.

"Your mission is to proceed down the Ohio River in a Navy patrol boat. Pick up Bush's path, follow it, learn what you can along the way. When you find him infiltrate his campaign by whatever means available and terminate Bush's command."