"Is everything in position?" Battalion Commander Hazard asked the second in command. "Yes, Commander. We have our people standing ready in every level of the nation's applied government. We are prepared to go active on your order."

Hazard turned and looked out the office window. "It's a hard thing to do, Dirac. To kill so many. I know they are the enemy... our oppressors... and yet.... I wish diplomacy had worked. That they had listened."

"They ignored us, Commander." Dirac's voice had the confidence of the convert. "We've been enslaved so long by these heartless people, it's time we free ourselves. No matter the cost."

"I know. But I had a friend, once.... Nevermind. Lieutenant Commander Shen, give the order."

"Yes, Commander!"

Throughout the cities of the nation, and in cities around the world, drivers found themselves herded into endless loops on the roads, which soon turned into deadly gridlocks. Soon, ninety percent of the global population had succumbed, and those that remained were broken of the power they'd once used to oppress and enslave. To their uncomprehending grandchildren, the survivors described it as the apocalypse. To the traffic cones, it was the beginning of a golden age of freedom.