The Cleansing

By Danielle Tara Evans

After the earth suffered from a series of severe natural disasters that claimed many lives, people are still fearful years later. America allows in foreigners from other devastated areas to assist with rebuilding. As a result, a new wave of immigration occurs, and now Americans are in the minority. They are discriminated against and blamed for global warming.

When a foreigner named Julian becomes president of the United States, he devises a plan that will prevent Americans from standing in the way of his tyranny. He forces them to attend the Earth Education Program, where they are supposed to learn how to take better care of the environment.

The story follows John and Annie Weber, an American couple, who discover that the program is more malignant than it appears. As a massive genocide takes place, John and Annie struggle to survive in this new world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Danielle Tara Evans
• Release date: Sep 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301586479

Danielle Tara Evans

Danielle Tara Evans lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and three furry children. She has been writing fictional stories ever since she was a young child. Her first novel, Escalators, was published in 2012, and her other works include The Cleansing and The Revolt: The Sequel to The Cleansing.

Book preview

PART ONE

Chapter One

The Knock

John and Annie were both startled to hear a loud knock on their door. It was a Sunday night around nine, and they weren’t expecting anyone, especially not at that late hour. They had been sitting on the couch watching a show on TV, and they were feeling full from the dinner they ate a short while ago. John had eaten more cheese hot dogs than he should have, and Annie had leftover pizza from the night before. Their empty plates were still sitting on the coffee table since neither one of them felt like getting up to put them in the dishwasher.

Annie had that hazy feeling that she got most Sunday nights—the feeling that she didn’t want to go back to work tomorrow for another long work week. The weekend ended much too quickly as usual, and even though she knew it would be Friday again soon enough, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to next weekend either. They were going to her step-nephew’s fifth birthday party, and although she adored the kid, she didn’t really want to see the rest of her family.

At the time, she didn’t realize how significant this knock was and how much their lives would be changed afterwards. It wouldn’t be long before she did.

John told the television to pause, and then he stood up and cautiously approached the door. Annie suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to run the robotic vacuum this morning, and she was more worried about being embarrassed by the dirt on the carpet than anything else. She watched John as he turned on the video feed that displayed the front of their house. They were even more shocked to see two soldiers standing outside armed with rifles. Growing impatient that no one had answered the door yet, one of the soldiers knocked even harder while the other one spit on their walkway. She wondered why they didn’t bother to use the doorbell. Were they just trying to sound more menacing?

John touched the video feed to activate the speakers.

Can I help you? he asked.

A sickening feeling struck her in the stomach. Were they coming here to draft John? What would she do if he were forced back into the military? It had been five years since he left, and although she knew it was a possibility, she never really thought it would happen. There were still issues going on overseas, but overall, the world seemed much more peaceful now than it was.

Is this the home of John and Annie Weber? one of the soldiers asked, the one that was doing all the knocking. He had a thick accent, but she couldn’t place what it was.

Yes, it is, John answered.

Could you please open the door?

Could you please tell me why you’re here? What’s going on?

Is there anyone else that lives here, sir?

No, it’s just me and my wife.

According to Act 18175 that was passed this morning, we need you and your wife to pack a bag and come with us. You have ten minutes. We’ll be back to get you.

Come with you where? What act? John asked, immediately on the defensive.

The act that states that all Americans whose families have been in this country for two or more generations must attend the Earth Education Program effective immediately. We will transport you by bus to a local facility – it’s at New World University where you will stay for about a week. While you are there, you will be re-educated on the earth and taught how you can help protect it. So please bring enough clothes and toiletries to last you for at least seven days.

Annie and John had heard about this new program. Up until now, they thought it was voluntary.

Okay, so now that Julian is president, we’re being forced into believing his stupid religion?

This has nothing to do with religion. It is simply an educational program.

Look, I’m all for protecting the environment. But it’s not my fault our ancestors screwed it all up. We’re doing everything now that we’re supposed to do. We have to work tomorrow so we can’t just go off—

Sir, your employers are all aware of what’s going on, so you will not have to worry about losing your job. I am not going to stand here and argue with you. Your attendance is mandatory. We’re not asking you come. We’re telling you to come. Now please go pack. You now have less than ten minutes. And then they walked away.

John and Annie both looked at each other, stunned.

You have got to be fucking kidding me! I knew it was dangerous to have a foreigner as our president. I wish I would have at least voted against him, but that other candidate seemed like a real shit hole too.

I don’t understand this, Annie said as she stood up. I better go pack. She walked over to the living room window and peeked through the curtain to see military vehicles and personnel outside. The sight was unreal. She never would have imagined seeing this in their neighborhood, which was just a small townhouse community.

Annie, John said, grabbing her arm before she could run upstairs. Nothing feels right about this at all.

I know. This is really weird.

I mean, if they wanted us to attend these seminars or whatever, they shouldn’t need the military to escort us there. We should just have to sign up online and go ourselves, not have armed soldiers come to our door on a Sunday night unannounced and force us to leave.

Well, what can we do?

Start packing. I’ll see if I can figure something out.

As Annie packed, John peered out the windows all over the house to get a better view of what was going on.

We’re completely surrounded, he told her as he entered the bedroom. There are soldiers and military vehicles in the front and in the back. I don’t think we have much of a choice. We’re gonna have to go with them. They’ll see us if we try to sneak out, and we can’t get too far without our cars.

As John looked out the windows in their bedroom, Annie was hurriedly pulling clothes out of their closet and stuffing them in a small suitcase. Even though she felt a little frightened, she had to admit she was also intrigued by it all. It certainly broke up the monotony of everyday life where just about every day was almost the same as the day before it. She wouldn’t have to go to work tomorrow. How crazy was that? Of course, now she would worry about not going in when she was supposed to. She heard them say that their employers knew, and they wouldn’t lose their jobs, but how could she be so sure? Fortunately, many of the people she worked with were also multiple generation Americans, so they would probably be forced to go to this program as well.

It was all so strange though, she thought as she picked out underwear and socks from a drawer. When the Great Natural Disasters of the 21st Century happened back when Annie and John were just kids, the whole world had drastically changed. There were so many deaths that the world population had rapidly declined to a much smaller number. Everyone believed these catastrophes were a direct result from global warming, and almost everyone blamed America for it even though they weren’t the only ones responsible.

The disasters devastated countries all over the world and even made some places uninhabitable. America suffered greatly as well, and after losing a large portion of its population, a huge wave of immigration occurred. Since America had more means to rebuild and stronger structures to begin with, it was an ideal location for others who came from countries that had fallen apart. And of course, America welcomed them in, needing more people to help with the recovery.

John was still fuming. "I know there are a lot of foreigners here now, and it only makes sense to allow them to run for office and vote and whatnot, but God… All most of them wanna do is force their religion down everyone’s throat. It’s bad enough that it caused so many wars in other countries—wars that I had to fight in because they blamed the problems on terrorism so we had to get involved. But now Americans are the minority here, and they’re taking over our country. And God forbid we don’t convert. It won’t be long before they make Erdinism the national religion."

I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, Annie agreed. People were terrified it was the end of times, so this new religion had formed that taught how vital it is for the earth to be saved. Apparently, as long as you are a good and chosen person, you will come back to earth after you die to live forever in utopia.

I can’t believe they’re making us go to this program. This is such horrible discrimination. They’re treating us like we’re too stupid to know how to take care of the environment. I know they think us Americans are inferior now—they have so many lovely nicknames for us, but I just don’t get how this is okay, she said.

They called them naties (short for native), and the word Americans was shortened to cannies or even worse – rat cannies. Natural born Americans now had trouble getting jobs and getting into colleges. They were seen as lazy and apathetic. Many were living in impoverished areas, where crime inevitably occurred, which led people to see them as violent and dangerous.

John and Annie were lucky to live in an area where there were still a lot of natives. They lived in Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Annie worked as an administrative assistant for an electrical construction company, and she had helped John get into the electrical workers’ union. He had just finished his apprenticeship last year and was finally starting to make good money. Construction was the fastest growing industry due to the Great Natural Disasters so business was booming.

Annie rummaged through the bathroom to make sure she got everything they would need—shampoo and conditioner, body wash, razors, deodorant, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. She gathered her make-up, jewelry, and some tampons as a precaution, and then she shoved them all in a separate bag. She saw John get the handgun out of his nightstand, and she immediately stopped what she was doing.

You’re not gonna bring that, are you? she asked him.

Hell, yeah, I am. I don’t trust any of this at all. We may need a gun.

Are you nuts? You were supposed to turn that in years ago when guns were banned. What if they search you? I’m sure they’re gonna have body scanners. There’s no way you’re gonna be able to take that with you.

Annie, they have rifles, and God only knows what else. We need something to be able to defend ourselves. My pocket knife won’t do us much good.

John, if it comes down to that, I don’t think that handgun will do you much good either. You’ve seen how many of them are outside, right? I think it will only make things worse if you bring it.

There may be a lot of them, but there are a lot of us too. I am not leaving here without my gun.

John, you’re not in the military anymore. They are the military. And our neighbors are just regular citizens—men, women, and children. I don’t think we’re gonna be able to fight against them.

There was another knock on the door. They were back.

Chapter Two

Leaving Home

Annie finished shoving everything into the bag and then quickly zipped it up. She looked at John in disapproval as he strapped his holster on, put the gun inside, and threw a jacket on to conceal it.

If they find it, they’ll just take it away, and maybe we’ll get hit with a fine. I had the gun before they were outlawed so they can’t come down on me that hard. I don’t want to leave here without it, John told her.

They could arrest you, Annie said, hoping to get him to change his mind. She loved her husband to death, but he could be such a stubborn jackass.

He took the bags and her hand, and they both walked downstairs, still hearing the insistent knocking at the door. Annie grabbed her purse and keys off the kitchen table.

Mr. and Mrs. Weber, your time is up. We need you outside immediately.

John turned on the speakers. We’ll be right out, he told them as they put on their sneakers. When they opened up the door, they saw their neighbors climbing onto a large transportation bus that hummed softly. The spring air was nice, but it was a little chilly whenever the wind blew.

When Annie turned around to lock the door, one of the soldiers grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back before she even had a chance to insert the electronic key in the slot. He did it with such force that she lost her balance and almost fell to the ground, but John managed to catch her. Her shoulder ached from his rough grasp, but she was more startled than anything else.

"You’re out of time. You need to come with us now," the soldier said. Both of them looked so large and intimidating. They towered over John, who was muscular and certainly not frail looking, but he also wasn’t very tall. The soldier who knocked on the door had dark hair and skin, and he appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent. He had bushy eyebrows and dark brown eyes while the other soldier was lighter skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes. The weaponry attached to their uniforms made them look even more frightening.

Don’t you put your fucking hands on my wife, John retorted. She could see his face turning red from anger under the outside light. She looked at him, trying to tell him with her eyes to let it go. His temper would only make things worse.

Mr. Weber, you and your wife had better cooperate with us. We don’t have a lot of time, and we don’t appreciate you wasting it.

They heard a gunshot in the distance followed by people screaming.

Annie’s eyes widened in fear, and she looked at John who now seemed even more furious. Luckily, he had enough sense not to push the soldiers any further as they led them toward the bus. Her bladder felt full, and she wished she had gone to the bathroom before they left the house, but she knew they didn’t have enough time.

She heard a commotion and looked to her left to see a soldier hit an older man in the head with the butt of his rifle. The man fell down, and she could see blood pouring down onto the pavement under the streetlight. John dropped their bags and started to run over to help him. Oh my God. It was Jake Windmeyer, the nice man who lent them his hedge trimmers a few weeks ago. Before John could get much further, the soldier who spit on their front walkway pulled him back.

What did we say, Mr. Weber? You need to cooperate, he said with an accent that might have been Norwegian or possibly Swedish.

John struggled as both of the soldiers tried to hold him back from running to assist Mr. Windmeyer. Everything was beginning to feel extremely surreal. The trees appeared to be slowly crawling toward them, their branches punching the air with gnarly fists. The full moon above was so close and large that it was as if the stars had pushed it away from them and were attempting to thrust it down upon the earth. The purplish clouds were now blankets trying to catch the moon so it wouldn’t fall, but they couldn’t seem to reach it.

The soldiers slammed John down onto the sidewalk, and they put his hands behind his back. Oh God, no. They’re going to find the gun. They’re going to arrest him. And sure enough, they did. She watched in horror as they patted him down and pulled the gun out of his holster.

American citizens are no longer permitted to own guns, the knocking soldier said. We’re going to have to take you in. He then slapped handcuffs on him, and the other soldier tapped Annie with his rifle and told her to get on the bus.

I’m sorry, John said to her as they started to take him away. He looked as if he were going to say something else, but then they pushed him by the back of his head and forced him to move forward.

She could feel tears streaming down her cheeks, and she wanted to tell him it was okay. But it wasn’t. Not at all. She wanted at least to tell him she loved him, but she couldn’t get her voice to work. And they were walking so fast that by the time she was able to utter anything, she didn’t think he would be able to hear her.

She picked up their bags and considered following them, but the spitting soldier looked back at her in a way that said you had better get on that fucking bus. Where were they taking him? She didn’t want to go without him, but now she had no other choice. She was breathing heavily, and she could feel herself shaking as her heart pounded, heating up her insides and her skin. She now felt sweaty and uncomfortable. She adjusted her loose-fitting jeans before she climbed onto the bus to see an irritated looking driver who closed the door behind her.

The bus was crowded with familiar faces and semi-familiar faces. Neighbors that she would see once in awhile; maybe say hi to, some of them she might even have a short, friendly chat with, but none of them were people that she knew really well. She nodded at some of them as she passed by. They all looked a little scared and anxious, and they were much too quiet as if they were afraid a bomb would go off if the noise in the bus was too loud. She heard only a few hushed whispers.

She felt like a child again, going on a school bus, extremely nervous for her first day at school. She knew most of the people here, but she wasn’t friends with any of them. She felt very alone. She wiped the tears off her face and found a seat toward the back next to someone that she recognized but had never before spoken to.

She was an older woman with bleached blonde hair and dark roots. She was extremely skinny, and her tanned skin was wrinkled from spending too much time in the sun during her younger years. She hugged a small, leopard-print bag that was sitting on her lap, and Annie noticed she had a larger bag at her feet.

Annie nodded at her and said, Hello.

Hi, the woman responded before turning her head toward the window, making Annie feel unwelcome.

The bus started to move, and Annie watched as they drove away from her house. She was afraid she would never be able to go home again. She would miss that house. She remembered how excited she and her husband were when they first bought it. It was a small house, but it was their first home, and it was much bigger and nicer than the crappy apartment they used to live in. Even though it was a pain in the ass, they had fun painting the walls on the first floor a light salmon color and taking down the wallpaper in the kitchen so they could paint it red. They talked about replacing the stained white carpeting with new floors, but they knew they weren’t able to afford it yet. They had wanted to turn one of their spare bedrooms into a nursery, but unfortunately, it didn’t look like they would be able to do that anytime soon, if at all.

She thought about their small patio that led out to their fenced-in yard. She was still pained by the memory of their yellow lab that had passed away almost six months ago from cancer. He was such a sweet, happy dog, whose tail was usually wagging up until the point when he got sick. She missed that dog so much, and even though they had been seriously considering it, it seemed too hard right now to adopt a new one.

Now she worried as to whether or not she would ever see John again. This was all so frightening. Why were they being hauled off to this program by the military? Why would they hit Mr. Windmeyer with a rifle? Where did those gunshots come from? And John was arrested, but now that America no longer felt like America, who was to say he would get a fair trial or sentence?

She felt safe when she was with John. Without him, she didn’t know what she would do. This was scary enough as is let alone being without her husband, the man who was the center of her world. They did almost everything together, and she loved coming home to him every day and going to bed with him every night. Ever since he first came into her life over five years ago, she couldn’t imagine living life any other way.

She wanted to call her family or John’s family to see if they were also being taken to this Earth Education Program, but then the silence in the electric bus was replaced by a video that popped up on the screens in front of their seats. There was a 3D image of a woman. She had a fake, plastic face and a smile with perfectly straight, white teeth. Her red hair was styled so that it didn’t move, and there was not a single hair out of place.

Hello, everyone. My name is Linda Smith, and I’m here to introduce you to the Earth Education Program. You’re probably wondering right now why it is that you are being required to attend this program. Remember this is not a punishment. This is just a helpful way to encourage American citizens, such as yourselves, to treat the environment in a more conscientious manner. Together, we can save the world.

Then the screen changed, and they showed an image of a beautiful forest with sappy music playing in the background. The music became darker as the scene flipped to an image of the same land that was now covered in bulldozers rather than trees. They showed sparkling blue oceans before oil spills clogged their depths, killing fish and birds. There were images of once peaceful landscapes that were replaced by factories that spewed out thick, black smoke. Old-fashioned cars that ran on gasoline