Monsters of the Apocalypse (31 page)

"My predecessor left me this
book, as he left me so many things, to finish. It is not high on my list of
priorities and so I gave the responsibility of finishing it to my Vice
President. She insists though, that I write at least a little something and she
can be quite persistent. So, here it is, here are my thoughts on
"The Art of Ruling":

"I always believed that the only
way to be free was to be in charge. It seemed to me that when it came to
being a ruler, the other option was being ruled, to live at the whims of
others, to be a victim. I now know that this is something we will all do
regardless of our position in the world; we are all a victim at one point or
another. I still believe it should never be accepted, chosen or
tolerated, that one should always fight and resist it. One should always
fight to be free.

"Now that I am the one in charge
though, I see that being in charge isn't freedom. Just as the people
live, for lack of a better word, trapped under my rule, I live trapped under my
responsibility to them. I now think freedom is something a person can
fight for, something they should fight for, perhaps even something they can
achieve while fighting, but is not something they can actually win and keep.

"Every day I wake up lying down,
gravity holding me in my bed. I fight gravity to stand up and though I
succeed, I don't break free of gravity and I know that one day I won't get
up. One day gravity will win. That's life. Human kind isn't
meant to be free. Helium balloons are free. Balloons can just float
away, high above the problems of the world, free of gravity's hold, humans
can't. But, then again, humans don't pop."

- President Walker,
"Thoughts on The Art of Ruling"

Thank you for reading Monsters of the Apocalypse!

With any comments, questions, or if you'd like a free PDF of any of the
art, please feel free to email the author, Jordan Rawlins, at:
[email protected]

Or, to contact the artist, Tia Stark, email: [email protected]