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Live Stream #272: Born in Blood

The screen is black and it's a few minutes before eight.

There are already lots of people in the comments section, and a few of them stick around even when Elvis is not broadcasting. She has become a sort of nightlight for these people, and a lot of them keep the broadcast window open all night long. In a world where there aren't many creature comforts left, knowing that Elvis will always be there from eight a.m. to eight p.m. is the next best thing to a security blanket.

There's a lot of general chatter in the comments - people who hang around here often have gotten to know each other and call themselves friends. There's also quite a bit of speculation surrounding a bit of drama in the last few minutes of yesterday's broadcast. Just before the camera faded to black, some viewers are sure that they saw Daniel put his hand out, reaching for Sasha in the space between their cots, and that Sasha took it as they fell asleep. The comments section was a battlefield of opposing opinions.

Romanticism, pure and simple.

Not everything has to have a love story - you're reaching.

Yeah, just like Daniel CLEARLY reached for Sasha's hand. If you can't see it, you're blind.

They don't even really know each other.

You don't have to know someone to fall for them.

You're all nuts. It was so dark in that room, you can't say with any certainty that you saw anything.

Are you all forgetting that sometimes people hold hands in a totally platonic way? Maybe they just didn't want to feel alone in a lonely world.

No, they're definitely porking off-screen. It's obvious if you pay attention to their candid moments on The Elimination Game.

Amid this bickering, the screen abruptly switches from black to a bright test pattern, one of those old-fashioned colored bar displays that no one actually sees on TV anymore. This is the cue that Elvis will be in the building in a minute. The clock says 7:59 and she is nothing if not punctual.

People in the comments switch over from the debate about Daniel and Sasha's illicit hand-holding and begin guessing what's on the menu today. It's likely that Elvis will pick up right where they left off yesterday, but then again, she enjoys teasing them.

Sometimes when the content is hot and everyone is clamoring for more, she'll abruptly switch gears, or give them an update on some of the other people she likes to follow. They haven't heard from Elvis's favorite celebrity family, the Bensons, in a while, or their fruitless efforts to buy their way across the border. Elvis is undoubtedly a glutton for documenting other people's punishment.

Finally, though, the test pattern goes away, Elvis appears on the screen, and the viewers get their answer.

"Good morning comrades, it's a beautiful day in the upside down world," she says, "and today I thought it might be a good idea to talk about the Capitol Hill Massacre. It was alluded to by Daniel and Father Gary yesterday, and I know that some of you might be too young to remember the details correctly. It's important in order to understand Daniel, and it's an ugly little bit of our nation's history, so it looks like it's time for another segment of Uncle Elvis's Un-American History."

A cheesy animation flashes across the screen, showing a title card bearing the name of this segment along with a caricature of fat Elvis waving a tattered flag. It fades, and Elvis seems a little more beaten down than she was a moment before. She continues.

"So the quick and dirty details... In the year 2027, a man walked into the Capitol Building while Congress was in session. He carried with him a briefcase full of homemade explosives, several handguns, and a nerve agent that would do more damage than all of his other weapons combined. He walked right onto the House floor, and no one batted an eye because he belonged there.

Now, many of us are unconvinced by the official statement that claims this gunman relied solely on distraction techniques to get this arsenal of weaponry into the building. Many of us believe that there's more to the story, but that's a conversation for another day. Maybe on a slow news day, we'll delve into the many conspiracy theories surrounding the Capitol Hill Massacre. For today, though, we'll stick with the facts.

This man was Rhode Island Representative Mark Brickner, and he calmly took his seat until the moment was right. As soon as the meeting was called to order, he stood up and produced the nerve agent, forcing everyone to the floor as he slipped a gas mask over his face.

He spent the next hour terrorizing and systematically killing almost everyone in the Capitol Building. The final toll was all 435 House representatives, killed almost instantly with the nerve agent he released into the building, 93 Senators, and about a dozen aides who were unfortunate enough to encounter him in the hallways.

What befell our nation that day was simultaneously one of the worst acts of terrorism we've ever seen, and something that would be perverted and celebrated by those who decided Brickner must be on their side. Unfortunately, he did not live to tell the world his motives or he might not have become the folk hero that he is today."

The comments light up again with people from both sides of these opposing factions, rising to defend Mark Brickner or shouting to condemn him.

Elvis takes note and shouts, "We're not here to talk about whether or not what Brickner did amounts to martyrdom!"

The comments die down - the viewers know from past experience that if they get too far out of line, Elvis will send them back to the Lower North Philadelphia Assisted Living Facility for the rest of the day.

"We're talking about this because Daniel Moreland's father is a survivor," Elvis says in a calmer tone. "He's a survivor in every sense of the word, as is his son. I want to show you a small piece of footage I found from the day of the massacre - I've edited it heavily because we're viewing it in the name of history, not in pursuit of the gruesome details. If you want that, I'm sure you know where to find it on the internet."

The broadcast switches from Elvis to old, grainy footage captured from a camera inside the Senate chamber. The room is in shambles from multiple explosions. Brickner can be seen at the front of the room in his gas mask, rendered all the more unsettling because the footage is in black and white. He's walking slowly through the rows of desks, and Elvis's voice narrates over the video.

"If you look in the bottom right corner of the screen, you'll see Senator Moreland laying on the ground. This comes after the attack on the House of Representatives, and the majority of people in the Senate have been killed with explosive blasts. Brickner is now walking slowly through the room, checking for survivors."

Brickner is coming closer to Moreland, stopping once or twice to aim his gun at another victim. Moreland seems to know that he doesn't have much time left, and he can be seen sliding on his stomach over to one of his fallen equals.

"He's checking the guy's pulse," Elvis narrates, "but that guy's long dead. Moreland does the only thing he can think of."

Elvis zooms in on the Senator, the film becoming more grainy, as Moreland dips his hand in a spreading pool of blood on the floor around the dead man. It's thick and black through the eyes of the camera, and he smears it liberally on himself, then puts his head down in the pool just seconds before Brickner rounds the corner of the nearest desk.

He pauses over Moreland, poking him with the toe of his boot, and not a single comment comes through below the broadcast. Everyone is holding their breath even though they already know the outcome.

Brickner moves on, finishes his sweep of the room, and then goes out into the hallway, where gunfire can be heard.

The footage cuts off and Elvis is on the screen again, the parts of her which aren't obscured by the mask looking decidedly clammy and pale. She grabs a soda cup off the desk and takes a long swig, then says, "I showed you that footage because it's important in Daniel's story. I want you to understand the blood in his family history, which continues to haunt them."

Then, with a sigh that says she has no more energy left, Elvis pushes a button and the screen flips back to the great room at the Haven of Salvation.