Hard Times

Pete Thorsen

Released on Kindle August  2014

 All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except that brief selections may be quoted or copied for non-profit use without permission, provided that full credit is given.

Prologue

Samir  Armand slowly directed his boat up to the northern section of Biscayne Bay.  His was just another boat along with hundreds of others.  He was not very familiar with boats and he thanked Allah that he was now so close to shore.  He certainly did not fear death and the fact that he had been afraid when out on the open ocean confused and upset him.  This part of his assignment was almost over and for that he was thankful.  Soon they would strike a major blow to the infidels and Samir was proud that he could play a part in this.

Samir  had a spot to park the boat at the Sea Isle Marina.  The spot was only a temporary one and had been arranged by others likely at great cost.  He was happy to ease the boat into the assigned slip and tie it up.  Walking away he was again very thankful to be on solid ground once again and have his part of this particular operation done.  Samir was much more comfortable with his next assignment and was looking forward to actively taking a more direct hand in the attack against these infidels.

Chapter One

Ronald Plover worked hard because it was the only thing he had ever done as far back as he could remember.  His father had died when Ron was only five and he could not really even remember him.  So he had grown up in a single parent home because his mom had never remarried.  She worked hard but still Ron grew up very poor and he had started working doing odd jobs for neighbors when he thirteen.  By fifteen he had a steadier job and as soon as he graduated he worked full time and picked up odd jobs on the weekends besides.

Ron had been paying for most things even before he graduated because his mom was always feeling poorly and could seldom work.  She passed away two weeks after Ron turned eighteen.  There were medical bills at the end but there was no money so the hospital was just out.  The county paid to have her buried because there was no one else.

After his mom died Ron moved to a very little single apartment with cheaper rent to save money.  He did have an old small Toyota pickup that was older than him but it did still run good.  Now with the smaller apartment and steady full-time employment Ron was finally able to start saving a little bit of money.

He worked at a small metal fabrication business and his boss liked him because he was never late or came in drunk and always worked hard whether his boss was watching or not.  When the recession hit the little shop did stay open but like many businesses it had a tough time.  But Ron did not lose his job and still worked there yet.  Even after all this time he was still driving that same old compact pickup though he had to have work done on it several times and that had used some of his savings.  The last time he had it repaired he had the guys check over everything and fix it all at once so it would again be very dependable.  It had also been time for new tires and the shop gave him quite a discount for getting everything done at once and paying in cash.

Business at the metal shop was again going pretty good and his boss had given Ron another raise.  Things were actually looking up Ron thought at least for him.

Ron was a big guy and at first glance he did not look like the bulb was burning all that bright in him.  When people saw him driving that old beat up pickup and wearing well used work clothes it just added to that illusion.  But he had surprised many in school when he graduated as an honor student.  The school counselor had tried to get Ron to go on to college and said there was a good chance he could get a scholarship and maybe a grant but Ron said he wasn’t cut out for college and would instead just work.

Spending his whole life being poor was not something Ron wanted and he was doing what he could to get ahead.  He was a very good penny pincher and was very careful with every dollar he spent.  He did buy an older laptop computer but did not spend money for an internet connection.  Instead he used free wifi hotspots near his apartment.  He wanted to use the laptop to teach himself new skills and keep up with the news. 

He thought if he was up on current events and everything that was happening maybe he could see a trend and get in on the ground floor of some kind of new venture. 

Of course so far it had not happened but there was always hope.  Lately he had started to think about buying and selling stocks but working full time at the same time the markets were open was not very conductive to making timely trades.  He now had a little working capital saved up and was thinking about how to best invest it for rapid growth and the stock market seemed to be the logical answer.  But he was cautious with his hard earned money and so far had just continued to do research.

The small investment in the laptop had not yet paid off financially but it was giving him a lot of entertainment and knowledge.  Ron knew the stock market reacted to just about every little thing that happened politically in the world and he watched it all happen using the internet.  There was a lot of unrest in the world and this caused the markets to swing up and down a fair amount on an almost daily basis.  Plus the recession was supposed to be over but the economic situation worldwide was anything but rosy.

  Announcements by countries concerning their economic outlooks or a big bank making a statement could cause big swings in worldwide markets and not just the market of that particular country.  After watching the news and markets for some time Ron was still occasionally baffled when a piece of news that he thought would have one effect on the markets would instead have just the opposite effect.  After more reading he saw that he was not the only one confused by some of these odd turns in the wrong logical direction.

The markets as a whole were definitely going up with many setting record highs only to again beat those new records.  Many thought that the markets were going up unrealistically and Ron agreed with that thought.  He and others were thinking that the markets were getting ready for a reset and possibly a big drastic reset.  

That was another thing holding him back from investing right now.  With the markets going up pretty steady he knew everyday he waited it was costing him money but that thought of a major market reset was holding him back.

All it would take was something to set it off.  Something that was not expected possibly something that some called a ‘black swan’ event.

Chapter Two

I was at work when my boss came into the shop and told everyone to shut down right away and come in to the office.  None of us knew what was going on but we all saw that he was very upset.  When we got in the office the TV was one and the boss told us that there had just been a nuclear explosion in New York City.  He turned up the volume on the TV so we all could watch and listen.

A commentator was speaking when the volume got high enough for us all to hear.

“For those just tuning in a single nuclear explosion just went off in New York City.  There are very few details yet but we have unverified reports that it was detonated in the harbor area near Staten Island.  Again a there has been a nuclear explosion in New York City possibly originating in the harbor area.  We are trying to get more information at this time but it looks like the nuclear explosion is a verified fact.

Just reported the White House and the Capitol building are both in lockdown.  We are at this time trying to verify the whereabouts of the President.  But again both the Capitol building and the White House are in lock down at this time.

It is reported that many F16 fighter jets are now in the air over Washington and a flight is heading over New York City at this time.

Hold on folks we are getting more information at this time please hold on for a minute…………………….

It has now been reported another nuclear explosion has just happened in Miami, Florida we are waiting further details but we have confirmation that there has been a second nuclear explosion in or near Miami, Florida besides the one in New York City.  That is confirmed that there have been two American cities hit with nuclear explosions.”

The boss broke in and told us to make sure all the machines were shut down and we should all go on home.  He told us just to stay home with our families tomorrow and from there we will have to see what happens.

Well I had no family but I was trying to think of all the consequences of these two terrorist acts and whether there would any more.  On the way home I stopped at my bank and withdrew all my money from my savings account and almost all from my checking account.  I also filled the gas tank on my pickup.  Neither one of those actions would hurt anything and made sense to me.  I then swung by the grocery store and just picked up a few things there along with two cases of water.  Again not anything drastic but something that seemed sensible.

My laptop was in the pickup and I tried to get on line at a couple spots but could do nothing.  Maybe the internet had been shut down by the government or maybe it was just being overwhelmed by all the people trying to get on line.  So I continued home and when I got there I turned on my old TV set.  I only had the local broadcast channels but they had the same news on anyway so I just sat and watched it.  They had gotten some more information in the time it took me to get home from work.

The two bombs were indeed nuclear but were estimated to be of a small size though they still caused huge devastation in both locations.  Both were from harbor areas with the Miami one being detonated on the shore of Biscayne Bay and the New York City one being detonated on the shore or near the shore of Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island.

They said the President and the Vice President had been moved to separate undisclosed secure locations.  All US armed forces had been placed on high alert.  I listened the rest of the day and there were no other attacks but I thought the money and expertise needed for those two attacks to me alluded to the very real possibility of additional attacks of some kind were likely immanent.  When it got late I went to bed the same as always.  I thought there would be more attacks but I really doubted any would take place in Roanoke, Virginia over night.

I awoke alive to a bright clear day with no apparent mushroom clouds in sight.  I turned on the TV to get the news that had happened over night and any updates on the two nuke explosions.

There had been attacks on two oil refineries in Texas overnight causing massive damage to both facilities in Port Arthur and in Baytown.  And an attack on another big refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that it was said would have to be totally rebuilt.  In all three cases the refineries still had uncontrolled fires burning.    

A smaller tanker ship full of refined fuels had run at speed into the Port of Tacoma, Washington and had erupted into a huge fire that they did not yet know how long it would take to contain with the fire still spreading.

Then there had been attacks on many electrical sub stations in several states causing wide spread loss of electrical power in many areas. 

Apparently these attacks on sub stations were still continuing with additional ones still being reported.

I was not used to having a day off in the middle of the week and after breakfast I tired of the same repeats on the news so I decided to go to a wifi hot spot and see if access was better this morning.  I left my pickup at home and just walked the few blocks to the nearest hot spot that I knew of and often used.  I just sat on the sidewalk in front of the building where it was out of the sun so I could see the screen better and was able to get on right away.

I surfed the internet for about an hour and walked back home.  My old laptop battery was only good for about an hour so it limited my surfing time.  Which was OK too as the concrete was starting to feel pretty hard on my butt by that time anyway.

The ‘net was full of stuff and mostly conjecture about the attacks.  The two nuke bombs were apparently of small power and crudely made compared to modern US or Russian designs.  This made for a smaller blast radius but there was expected to be radiation scattered over a wide area.  Because they were ground bursts instead of air bursts apparently helped contain the blast radius also.  But much of Miami and a good section of that New York City area were both toast and the number killed was so far not even being estimated but would end up being a very large number.

Plus those areas would not be livable again for likely a long time.  The blow to the United States was very substantial.  US stock markets were closed of course and they said they did not know when the markets could be re-opened due to their location so close to the blast site.  Everyone knew what would be the result if they were to open because it was happening in foreign markets today (and during last night).  All world markets were falling in record amounts. 

Some countries had closed their markets “in sympathy of the American citizens who had lost their lives to this horrendous criminal act of cowardice” but really they closed them to stave off the inevitable falling values of their markets and in hopes the fall in markets was only a temporary one.

I was now glad I had not been invested in the stock market.  I might not have lost everything I had invested but I was sure it would have been by far a very large percentage of any money that I had invested.  It was hard to say until the markets here were actually open but you can safely assume the losses will be huge.  This will likely shove the United States and many other countries over the economic cliff that all of them had been just skirting the edge of for some time now.  I was trying to think of things that would be happening now and in the near future here in the United States because of these attacks so I could maybe prepare a little more.

Chapter Three

On my walk home from the computer hot spot I decided on a few things that I should buy now while they were still available.  So I plugged in the laptop at home so it could recharge and I left to go do some shopping.  I went to the Gander Mountain store because I wanted some camping gear just in case things got real bad it made sense to me to have the ability to leave town and camp out.  The store was quite busy but I took a cart and made my way to the camping section. 

I found a small tent, a sleeping bag, a small camp stove with a bunch of fuel, a crank up flashlight, a water filter, a backpack, sleeping pad, small first aid kit, a couple different fire starters (with a mental note to buy a bunch of cigarette lighters), and several other small things that seemed reasonable.  Pushing my now full cart I happened to glance at the gun section of the store and without conscious thought I turned that way and was soon looking at a vast array of guns.

A clerk came over a couple minutes later and asked if he could help me.  I said I wasn’t sure because I knew very little about guns and had never shot one.  He asked if I was interested in a handgun or a long gun and I just shrugged my shoulders.  He said I might have something simple that you might like and went a short distance and returned with a handgun. 

“This is a revolver.  It is called that because this thing called a cylinder turns in a circle.  These are about as simple and durable as guns get.”

He showed me how to open it up to check if it was loaded and how to then load it.  He showed me I could then shoot it by just pulling the trigger through a long stroke or I could cock the hammer back and then the trigger would pull much easier and I could shoot more accurately but much slower.  He explained how to get the empty cartridges out of the gun and then reload it again so it was ready to fire.  He explained while it had no safety that had to be manipulated before firing the gun was inherently a safe design.  He showed me the sights and explained how they worked.  He handed me the gun and had me go through all the same actions that he had just performed.  He had me raise the pistol and see how the sights lined up and said if I could keep then lined up while I squeezed the trigger I would hit my target every time. 

After some questions and answers I said I would take it and he had me fill out some paperwork and then said he had to call in for the background check.  That would take a few minutes and he suggested I go check out my camping gear and load it in my vehicle and by that time I should be able to pick up my new pistol.

I did as he suggested and as promised he was done and the gun was ready to be picked up.  He showed me the two main types of ammunition my new revolver could shoot and suggested I start with several boxes of .38 special ammunition because he said it was way milder to shoot and very accurate.  He then suggested I buy a couple boxes of full power .357 magnum ammunition so I had something more powerful.

I bought everything he suggested including a holster and as an after thought he grabbed a pistol cleaning kit and said it contained directions as did the handgun itself in the box. 

I made my purchases and was now the owner of a Ruger SP101 revolver, my first ever gun of any kind.

When I had went in the store I had no thought of purchasing a gun and in the past had never even considered owning one.  I had nothing against guns or people owning them and had always agreed that it was their right to own them but never thought I would want one myself.

When checking out I asked the girl cashier about where I could go shoot and she gave me directions to an indoor range that was not very far away.  I drove there and leaving the gun in the truck I went in to see what was what.

I found an employee and told him I was new gun owner and wished to shoot it.  He asked what I had purchased and when I told him he said it was an excellent first choice.  They were not very busy in the range and I paid the fee and retrieved my gun from my truck. 

He retrieved a pair of shooting glasses and two ear protection muffs and we went to the range.  The kindly gentleman I had first talked to went with me and walked me through the range rules and some basic firearm safety.  When it was time for me to shoot I loaded the gun (under his watchful eyes) and proceeded to shoot. 

It was actually quite enjoyable.  I could now see some of the appeal to owning and shooting guns.  The gentleman watched me and several times stopped me and gave me more tips.  I made substantial improvement with every cylinder full of ammunition I shot.  After I shot two whole boxes of shells I had enough for the first experience and thanked the man and left the range.  I was way more confident now in my ability to safely handle, load, and shoot my gun.  It was quite expensive but the man who had sold it to me and the man at the range both said that gun would last almost forever. 

I felt good about my purchase even though it was a lot of money.

When I got home I read the gun owner’s manual and then cleaned the gun using the new cleaning kit. 

I went through all my new camping purchases and read all the information that came with everything I had bought so I would have some idea how to use everything.  I made sure I understood how the camp stove worked and how to use it.  I checked out the small water filter I had bought and read everything that was packed inside with it.  Then I washed up and had some lunch.  When done I again turned on the news to see what had been happening while I had been out shopping and shooting.  A lot more stuff had been happening and none of it was good.

Chapter Four

There had been several attacks by shooters in crowded places in widely separated spots across the United States.  The terrorists were keeping up the pressure and were apparently going all out in this series of attacks.  The shooters when confronted by police never gave up and in every case would die while shooting with many yelling the phrase “Allahu Akbar”, meaning God is great or God is the greatest.

The shootings took place in crowded restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, schools, colleges, any place it seemed where there were many people in a confined place.  And it was happening in many states and all across the country.  I was glad now that I had purchased the gun today when I did because I assumed that many people would now be doing that same thing and gun stores would be crowded and short of stock in just a short time.

There were reports of many foiled attacks on some electrical sub stations that police and county sheriff’s departments had taken upon themselves to protect and defend.  The list of attacks was constantly be added to and the list was already quite long with no end in sight.  The terrorists must be in the United States in fairly large numbers though most of the attacks were only involving two to four terrorists at a time. 

These attacks had likely been planned to provide the most attacks in the smallest amount of time and causing the greatest amount of fear throughout the whole United States.

So far none of the terrorists had been captured alive though that would likely have made little difference.  It was unlikely that any one of them was aware of the assignments of any of the others or even if there were others and if so how many there were.  That was the logical way it would have been done, with few knowing anything about any others.  Even those passing out the instructions to others were likely broken up into just commanding small groups of these terrorists.  Once set in motion the terrorists could likely only be stopped by death.  And when your enemy has no fear of death and often actually relishes the thought of giving his life in battle that makes law enforcement’s job much harder and way more dangerous indeed.

Tired of watching the news I took the fully charged laptop down the street and again used the free internet service there.  Things on the ‘net were much the same as on the TV.  The shooting attacks seemed to have stopped with no new reports of any new ones for a couple hours now.  I wondered what the next wave of attacks would be.  I doubted that we were done with them yet.  To me this seemed to be a very well run and wide spread terrorist organization.  They certainly had to be well funded and well respected in the terror business if they had obtained those two nuclear devises.

Even the worst of the bad guys did not just sell nukes to just any yahoo that happened to walk through their door.  At least I wouldn’t think they wouldn’t anyway.  Plus it was very obvious that a lot of planning had gone into this whole series of attacks. 

The terrorists had to find all the manpower and train all those people and then transport all those people into the United States to fulfill their assignments of terror.

Then they had to supply everyone with enough money to buy what they needed and to live here until the time was right and everything was in place for this major series of attacks.  And everything had to be done in absolute secrecy with the CIA or FBI or NSA not getting any hint of what was about to happen.

On top of everything else this looked really bad for the intelligence agencies of the United States, that all this could have been planned and executed right under their noses.  The death toll in the US was certainly mounting.  The shootings in reality did not add that many deaths but did cause a lot of fear.  And destroying those three oil refineries would really hurt us financially and cut our refining capabilities back for quite some time.

The attack on the port in Washington was more symbolic rather than devastating though it had done a lot of damage.   The sub station attacks causing the blackouts would bring the effects of all the attacks right into many thousands of American’s homes and seriously disrupt their lives and instill the fear of even more attacks happening that could directly impact them.  Hearing about people getting killed in a distant city was not the same as trying to live with no electricity at your own home while the power supply was slowly being repaired.

No, I was sure the end of the shooting today was really just a lull in the attacks.  Likely police had spread themselves all over as many places as possible to be ready to stop more of these kinds of attacks.  The terrorists would know that would happen and not want throw away their troops so quickly.  The shootings stopped and the terrorists were just getting in position for the next salvo of attacks I thought.

Just like the sub station attacks that had abruptly ended when the police started guarding them, as soon as that happened the terrorists stopped those attacks and moved to the mass shootings.  Now when police were expecting more mass shootings some new kind of attacks would happen instead.  I was sure of it.

That evening I again watched some news on the TV but there was nothing really new on there.  I went to bed wondering what new attacks would happen over night or if it would wait until during the following day.  Or maybe I was way off base in my thinking there would be any additional attacks.

Chapter Five

At first there was nothing new on the news that morning when I got up.  I called my boss and asked about work but he said the business would just stay closed until Monday morning and we would see what happened then.  He said even though he knew nothing would be happening in our smaller city he did not think it was right to just go on as if nothing was happening while so many Americans were being killed right here on US soil.  Today was Friday anyway and so it would only be a loss of one day. 

It was about noon when the first reports of the poisonings started to be reported.  Details of course were very sketchy at first but as the day went on and reports came from more and more people in many different cities that were poisoned it was discovered that the water supplies in many cities that used big water reservoirs had been poisoned and it had already caused several deaths. 

The number of deaths continued to rise throughout the rest of the day.  Again though many people died it was just not that big of a number but the terror effect and the fear it instilled was great.  And of course the disruption of water services affected many, many thousands of people.  Plus all our resources put into finding what the poison was and how to get rid of it and testing every water reservoir in the United States to see if any more had been poisoned took a big toll of money and manpower. 

And then we had to allot more man power to now guard all those water reservoirs from being poisoned in the future.  Again the terrorists were a step ahead and had caused great harm and none of these had been caught while instilling more fear in the nation’s population which was one of the terrorist’s goals.

Tomorrow was Saturday and I wondered what new kind of terror attack it would bring.  This time I knew I was not alone in this thinking.  Most people here in the USA were thinking the same thing with many worrying whether they would live through the next attack, whatever form it might take.

Like I guess many people I again turned the TV on as soon as I had got up in the morning.  It was with some relief that there were no new attacks during the night.  I was sure more were coming and it looked like they would maybe happen during daylight hours this time.

I had a leisurely breakfast and then went back to the TV.  About ten or so the first reports started to come in of the shootings.  This time they were all on roadways.  Some of the shooting attacks were on busy Interstate highways and some on just small country roads.  They were like hit and run accidents with one or two cars being shot and then the shooter would leave the area only to reappear in another location to do the same thing again.  This went on for almost all day.  Even a couple state patrol cars were targeted and the policemen killed or wounded.

This again had the desired results of keeping a lot of the population in their home cowering in fear.  Which was exactly what the terrorists wanted of course.  In the afternoon I went to the grocery store and stocked up on some easy to fix, long shelf life, non refrigerated food.  I was not the only one in there getting food either.  The place was packed with people obviously stocking up. 

      I figured buying up a bunch of food would cost me nothing in the long run because I had to eat anyway so why not have it on hand at home.  Plus the way things were going who knows what the situation would look like a few days from now or a few weeks from now. 

On the way home I stopped and got out my laptop which I had brought with for this purpose and surfed the internet for more news.  I stayed on until the battery died and then went on home.  Many people on the ‘net expected prices on just about everything to rise but I did not know about that happening at least in the near future.  I didn’t know what I could do about that anyway.  The only thing I really normally bought was groceries and I was way stocked up on those now.  I bought gas like everyone else but there was no way for me to store any of that anyway because I certainly could not store any gas inside my apartment.

  Like the other attacks the roadway shootings eased up and stopped by evening.  Of course that again left us wondering what new attacks would be happening the next day.  Tomorrow was Sunday which of course was a holy day for Christens but not for the Muslim terrorists and everyone now expected fresh attacks on Sunday only we would again have to wait to see just what those attacks would be.

Sunday morning came with no news of any additional attacks over night.  I think many people watched the TV all day long waiting for the next round of attacks but when evening came there had still been nothing.  Everything was quiet.  There were even very few car accidents but that was likely because there were way less people on the highways.  The news channels showed video of many normally crowded highways and while there was some traffic it was seriously reduced.  Most people it seemed were staying home where they assumed they would be the safest.    

 This was the direct result of all those terror attacks of course and again it showed the world that the terrorists in the United States were winning their war.  In just five days they had cowed the American people and changed their lifestyle from a fun loving free and happy life to a life of hiding in their homes and apartments in fear of going outside those homes.

The whole economy of the United States depended on all the citizens living that free lifestyle.  Just a few days of people in the United States changing and staying home rather than traveling or going to movies, or going out to eat, or even going out to the bars would cut seriously into our economy.  It was a service based economy and for that to work American lifestyles could not change.  We had to go out and spend our money on something.  Whether we spent it at the amusement park or the movie theatre, we had to keep spending that money.  Everyday we missed doing those actions hurt our already fragile economy even more.  And again that was what the terrorists wanted and what they achieved; they were destroying our nation’s already fragile economy from within with just these few terror attacks.

Chapter Six

Monday it was back to work and that actually felt good.  It meant normal and normal was good.  I had watched the news for just a few minutes that morning but there had been nothing really about any more terror attacks.  Of course that meant nothing but we would have to wait and see what happened during the day.  Back at home that evening there was plenty of news.  There had been home invasions in many cities and in most cases the home had been started on fire.  In a few cases the gas lines had been cut inside the homes and in some of those the results were large explosions.  In all cases the home owners had all been killed and decapitated.  It was obviously the work of the terrorists again. 

The home invasions continued with more and more being reported.  In every case those in the homes had all been killed and decapitated.  Every man, woman, and child in the homes got the same treatment.

Tuesday morning before leaving for work on the news I saw there were a host of home invasions reported from all over the United States from overnight.  I worked all day and that night at home more of the home invasions were again found throughout the day.  Now Americans were not even safe in their own homes.

By Wednesday there were many accidental shootings by people that thought they were being attacked by the terrorists.  Sometimes it was family members who were shot or a neighbor coming over to see how they were doing or a delivery man.  People were now doing the jobs for the terrorists.

Thursday several more electric sub stations were hit again.  It seems that police and county deputies were running pretty thin.  Many were answering calls of suspected prowlers and guarding water supplies or patrolling roadways looking for shooters so the sub stations that had not been hit for a few days were again targeted.  The damage to the electric grid was now effecting more and more of the population with the electric companies having a harder time finding ways to bypass all the destroyed sub stations. 

Then the fires started everywhere.  Any area of the country where it was dry wildfires were popping up.  And it was not just in one or two spots.  It looked like there were people driving around throwing articles on fire out of car windows to get the grass and trees in the area to start on fire.  Sometimes they would use lit road flares but more often it would be just plain trash that was lit on fire and tossed into dry areas. 

In the parts of the country where wildfires could not easily be started homes and commercial building were started on fire and often these spread to adjacent buildings.  Fire departments would have to split up there were so many fires burning at the same time and often these firemen could only try to keep the fires from spreading because they lacked enough manpower and equipment to actively fight and control all these fires. 

In rural areas some of the wildfires were really taking off and many homes had already been destroyed.  With hundreds more homes in jeopardy of being burned down.  There were just not enough firemen to fight all these fires at the same time.  It was plain that in many areas where homes were not in the line of the fire that the fires were just allowed to burn themselves out while fire fighters tried to save homes that were threatened by other fires.

To make things even worse in many places both in rural areas and in cities fire fighters were being shot and killed while trying to fight the fires.  Again the terrorists were suspected in all these cases.  Watching the TV news they made it seem like the whole country was on fire.

That weekend the skies in many places the USA were thick with smoke.  And the home invasions did not stop with many more people being found dead in the burning homes and decapitated.  Occasional highway shootings were reported and a couple more electrical sub stations were destroyed over the weekend.

United States citizens were mad as hornets and wanted blood.  The switchboards at the Capital building and at the White House were swamped everyday.  Americans wanted action and they wanted action now.  If the government could not figure out who was attacking us (no group had claimed responsibility) then our government should nuke all the Middle Eastern countries.  By destroying them all they were sure to hit the correct one and most Americans were ready to do just that.

When it was reported that our government could easily tell where the nuclear bombs had been made there was a huge uproar from the citizens demanding the answer of who had made the bombs.  But again Congress and the White House were silent.  Congressmen said they did not know that information because only the White House got information like that.  The President remained silent on the issue.

When TV news interviewed a bunch of experts many of which said this was the obvious results of having the open borders here for so many years where anyone could come and go as pleased across our borders, it inflamed the US citizens even more.  And calls for the borders to be sealed were being shouted everywhere there were people.  Huge crowds gathered outside the Capital and the White House with people demanding to be heard and obeyed by those elected by the people into office.

When actions were not taken fast enough calls went up for a special election to replace all of them in Washington.  And the people did not just protest and call their elected officials, many took action.  Every person that even looked like they might be from the Middle East was hounded and many were killed or severely beaten.  Mosques across this nation were burned to the ground.  Large numbers of the Muslim community self-deported out of our country while they were still alive to do so. 

And it wasn’t just the Muslims that were attacked but most any foreign speaking or foreign looking people were not safe.  Soon Mexicans were pouring across our southern border but going south this time.  Americans had had enough.  Neighborhood watches were set up and in just about every case they were heavily armed.  No one out at night was safe no matter who you were.  If you were a good American you should be at home in your bed at night (or on patrol of your neighborhood).

The terror attacks stopped.  Fires that were burning were gradually put out or they burned themselves out.  Congress repealed the Posse Comitatus Act and some military were placed on our southern border.  For the first time since we became a nation our southern border was closed and sealed except for heavily guarded entrance points.  Anyone was allowed to leave the United States but few were allowed to reenter without a valid US passport.  Even the Navy was ordered to assist the Coast Guard in patrolling our shores.

Things calmed down but a lot of damage had been done.   Physical damage, economic damage, and emotional damage had changed us.  Our nation that was once so free and proud had been changed and not for the better.  Now we were bitter, suspicious of everyone, and tempers were near the surface.

Chapter Seven

It had been some time now since the nuke blasts but the US stock markets had not re-opened.  Granted both NASDAQ and the NYSE were too close to the blast site to survive but I assumed they had an alternate site they could operate from but maybe it was just as well that they remained closed.  With the markets closed there could be no losses, right?

World markets were open and that situation was ugly indeed with the huge drop in values.  Banks everywhere were obviously well in the red because all were tied to the market values.  Even with the US markets being closed did not help the big US banks because they had invested heavily in foreign markets also.  I think technically many of the big US banks were now insolvent but were still open for business anyway. 

There had been a rush on the banks but that had pretty much stopped now when people saw that everything was still going along.  It was all a sham I think.  Sure the banks could get money from the Federal Reserve so they would have cash to hand out to their depositors but was that cash worth much?  Prices were on the rise for many things and imports were slowing to almost a stop.  I think there are some very high level talks going on worldwide about world’s banks and all country’s currencies that us mere peons are not privy to.

Gas has really went way up and it has so far been totally blamed on the destruction of those three very large refineries but I wonder if there is more to it than that. 

Then people found out that insurance policies do not cover any nuclear damage or any damage that is a result of terrorism.  The United States federal government has vowed to cover damage from the two nuclear explosions but that money will be very slow in coming like all government functions.  But the insurance companies are refusing to pay homeowner’s for any fire set by the terrorists and that is affecting hundreds and hundreds of regular people across the whole country.  There is talk that again the federal government will pick up the tab but where is the federal government going to get all that money?  They are broke and way in debt remember.  Plus with the slow pace of our federal government even if they did pay for all the terror damage that could takes many. Many months or even years and what would those people do in the mean time when they had nothing?   

Many people are trying to cash in their IRA’s and their 401k’s but all the financial institutions are refusing because the stocks can not be sold due to the stock markets being closed.  They will not even let anyone take out a loan from their 401K’s or let them use either as collateral for a loan.   Those people are just out of luck and it is causing a lot of problems and resentment.

So some people have lost their homes and can not get paid from their insurance company and they can not use any of their retirement funds because they can not access them right now.  People can pull out money from their standard savings accounts and checking accounts but that is about it.

Parts of the United States are still without electric power thanks to the destruction of so many electrical sub-stations and it is being reported that many of these can not be repaired very quickly because they have to wait for special parts to be shipped in from overseas and in some cases these parts have to be specially built before they can then be shipped.

There have been no terrorist attacks now for some time which many are wondering about.  What happened to the remaining terrorists?  Were all of them killed or did they leave the United States?  If they are still here why did the attacks stop?  Many of those questions were answered when many electrical sub-stations were again attacked and destroyed.  Then home invasions, highway shootings, multiple fires, and one more refinery was attacked and destroyed.

They had apparently just been lying in wait for the heat to die down and for people to again get more complacent and then they attacked all over again.  And we got to get an idea of just how many of these terrorists were still in the United States because there were well over one hundred and fifty attacks that had occurred at roughly the same time and many of those had to involve more than just one terrorist.

Gun control laws across the nation were ignored by honest citizens with many now carrying guns where ever they went, legal or not.  And again there were many fatal shootings of people who even looked foreign.  Many hundreds more people left the United States even though many of these were now citizens of this country.  Some of these people had originally left their home countries due to threats of harm and now were leaving the United States for that same reason.

It wasn’t fair to persecute people because of their skin color or accent or whatever but many people thought this was war and it was a well known fact that war was hell and always in wars a large number of innocents were killed or suffered harm.  There were even riots in US prisons where one faction started fighting another faction over what was taking place on the outside of the prison walls.

Of course the police were trying to do their jobs and they arrested many otherwise honest citizens and this did not sit very well with the population either.  Police soon found themselves in bad situations fighting for their lives against not drug dealers or robbers but against regular working men and women and even sometimes their own neighbors.

Now rolling blackouts and brownouts were common place in the USA.  So called ‘experts’ on TV made claims that if any more sub-stations were destroyed everyone would be without power because the whole electric grid would go down.  They also warned that if the grid did all go down it would take a long time to bring it back up.  Right or wrong they spread their own brand of terror in the hearts and minds of people listening to those broadcasts.

The government now deployed regular military units across the United States to protect vital infrastructure.  All power plants (about 7000), all remaining sub-stations (about 55,000), and scattered more troops across all our highway system for added protection.  Of course there just were not enough troops to cover all these potential targets effectively. 

With US combat troops deployed basically everywhere on US soil many people were starting to express concern about whether the USA was still a free country or not.  While these troops were (for the most part) not bothering any US citizens it was scaring many US citizens as much or more than the terrorists did.

Everyone knew and could plainly see that it would now just take just one very small step for our government to become a totally tyrannical and oppressive entity.  This became a very real fear in a large number of American citizens.  The term ‘Martial Law’ was on the lips of a large number of United States citizens.  Everyone was wondering what our government would do next.  They seemed to not be doing anything to the Middle Eastern countries that had spawned these terrorists.

Chapter Eight

Many things were happening in the United States and little of that was good.  The Gross Domestic Product index had went down for the last two quarters.  Technically that meant we were now in a recession but we all knew that anyway.  There were so many things that were just hanging over our heads like the United States stock markets still not being opened.  Granted we all knew if the markets opened they would go into freefall but just leaving them closed solved nothing.

We had to take our beating so we as a country could move on.  If this action then caused some or all of the big banks to close, even the ones that previously were said to be ‘too big to fail’ so be it.  If we had to take one on the chin then let it come but either way we had to move on as a country.  We could not stay in this state of limbo forever.

Many things were happening like so many more people being forced to go on entitlements like the food stamp program.  Many businesses had closed or were burned down by the terrorists that put large numbers out of work.  With no more jobs people had no choice except to apply for government assistance whether they wanted to or not.

The last government numbers came out and said that there were now more than seventy six million people on our food stamp program.  And it was costing the government a lot of money it did not have for this one program alone.  Something had to give.

The government lowered the amount that was given each month on the food stamp cards.  They cut the amount by twenty percent and this at a time when food prices were rapidly rising.  There were riots in many cities almost immediately.  And this included in the state of Virginia.

Where I worked was no exception and business dropped off and some workers had to get laid off.  I was still working but the future did not look very bright. 

Two weeks later my boss called everyone into the office and said he was closing the business.  He had enough money to give all of us an extra two weeks of severance pay but we were all on our own.  He said he was sorry but there was nothing else he could do.  He thanked all of us for being good employees and he wished us all the best.

That night at home when I watched the news and weather they were talking about the hurricane that was growing in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was heading for the eastern coast of the US and they showed several possible paths that were predicted.  All but one of those predicted paths led over much of the eastern shores of the USA.  The hurricane was only a category one so far but all predictions showed it increasing in intensity and becoming at least a category four by the time it made landfall.

I thought about my future and the future of our nation that night as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep.  The rioting from the food stamp recipients was even happening right here in my city to some extent and I knew things would get worse before they got better.  Now we as a nation have a strong hurricane bearing down on us and it would undoubtedly cause millions and likely even billions of dollars worth of damage.  And there was no money for these repairs and it would likely put even more people on government assistance.  At some point during the night I did finally fall asleep.

I had made my decision during those sleepless hours.  It was too crowded here with way too many people in big cities fairly close around here.  Plus why would I stay when I knew for a fact that a major hurricane was heading my way.  I was leaving today and heading west.  I had no destination but I would drive west until someplace felt right.

I did not own much and I was able to take everything I owned that I wanted to take.  I took all my food, clothes, camping gear, and not much else.  I stopped and bought a six gallon gas can and filled the can and my pickup’s gas tank and turned to the west.  On the way out of town I bought some more food and more fuel for my camp stove and some more ammunition for my revolver.  I also closed my checking account at my bank after cashing the two last checks from my job.

I drove west and angled north still with no real destination in mind.  I knew what I wanted would be found on the other side of the Mississippi River but knew nothing else about any destination.  I had some money but knew it would go fast so I decided I would camp out instead of going to motels to save money.  I bought a big thick road atlas at a truck stop and used that to help me pick spots that I could camp out for free on state or national forest land.

I had never traveled anywhere before or camped out before so this was all new to me.  I learned as I went.  My little pickup got pretty good mileage and I did not use the fuel in that new six gallon gas can but saved it case of an emergency.  I learned that at some truck stops they had showers you could use and every couple days I did so.

I did not drive fast and kept under the speed limit all the time and sometimes on the interstates where the speed limit was high I went well under the limit.  I had no where to go and all the time in the world to get there.  

I listened to the radio and often found all news stations to listen to.  The hurricane was now a category five and was moving slowly up the coast staying just barely offshore so it was retaining its strength.  It was hitting all the coastal cities very hard and causing a lot of damage as I expected it would.  When it got to Virginia it turned inland a ways and continued its northerly rampage.  Once all over land the amount of damage it caused increased dramatically.  By the time it turned back out to sea as just a common storm it had caused billions of dollars in damage and several deaths.

It brought me no enjoyment that I had been right about all the damage from the hurricane along the east coast.  Then I found trouble right here in the very center if the United States and it had nothing at all to do with the weather.

Chapter Nine

I had pretty much just got on Interstate 80 having only picked it up about twenty five miles back or so when I saw a rest area coming up so I decided to stop and stretch my legs.  My small pickup is great in many ways but it is not really made for a big guy like me.  The rest area was pretty empty like most of them were because gas was high and few people were doing any kind of traveling. 

I walked up and used the rest room and then just read the maps and wandered around a little.  I was looking at a map when I saw a very pretty gal come out of the ladies room and head for the parking lot.  A guy came up and stopped her and they started to talk.  I could not really hear them and it was none of my business anyway.  I saw the woman shake her head and turn to walk away when the man reached out and grabbed her. 

The pretty woman proved that she was not just a pretty face when she turned when he grabbed her and she swung her hand and slapped him.  And I mean she slapped him hard and it hit with a heck of a noise.  Made me rub my own face just thinking how bad that must have hurt the guy.  Without realizing it I had at some point started walking in their direction and when the guy swung back with a clinched fist to hit the woman I was close enough to reach him.

Granted I was a big guy and I was strong but I also did not know the first thing about fighting.  But I knew that man was not going to slug that pretty girl while I was around.   I reached out and grabbed the man’s arm to stop him from hitting the girl.  I just grabbed his arm and pulled on it very hard.  I heard and felt something give and the man let out a scream like a girl.  When I let go of his arm it just flopped down by his side. 

Only now did I see he had a gun on his hip and he was trying to grab it from his right side using his left hand.  I had read a book once and the author said that if you ever decide to hit someone with your bare hand remember that your hand contains many small bones and you should hit them someplace that is way softer than your hand is so you don’t end up hurting yourself.  I made what I thought was a good fist and swung and punched the guy in the stomach with everything I had in me.

I think I actually felt that man’s backbone because my fist went in his stomach so far.  He let out quite a wheezing sound and then just crumpled up and fell to the ground.  I reached down and removed his pistol that he had been after.

“Are you OK ma’am?”

“Yes I am.  Thank you for your assistance.”

“You’re most welcome ma’am.  Here why don’t you take this pistol.  I’m quite sure this man would want you to have it for your protection.”

“Thank you again.  It was stupid of me to travel without a couple of my guns.”

“Then I will leave you to continue your journey.  Please be careful.  I think we are entering into some dark days ahead I think.”

“I will be careful and I already feel better now that I have this pistol.”

With that I walked toward my truck but I kept one eye on the girl and made sure she got in her car and left OK before I did the same to continue my own trip.

I was in Iowa and as far as I could tell it was one big farm.  That night I took an exit and setup my tent on the edge of a field with nothing else around anywhere.   It all still looked the same when I got up in the morning, had breakfast and left.  It was a very boring drive through Iowa and that just gets you ready for the boring drive through Nebraska.  I stayed a night in the great state of Nebraska and then kept heading west.

Not too far from the Wyoming border in Sidney, Nebraska there is apparently a large Cabela’s store.   I had never been in one of their stores but the signs on the highway sure made it look interesting.  Of course once you drive through Iowa and through most of Nebraska even a scrap yard would look interesting.  So I decided to stop just to relieve some boredom.

OK I freely admit that I was amazed at that store.  They had mounted animals everywhere in that store and they even had huge aquariums full of regular fish like pike and trout.  I just wandered around in that store looking at everything.  I guess I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings and I heard a woman say…..

“I said hello again.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying atten…”

I started to say while I turned to make sure the woman was talking to me.  I expected to see a sales clerk but it was that pretty gal that had slapped that guy in Iowa.  I stopped talking and stared for a minute before I started again.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.  Hi.  I certainly did not expect to see you again.”

“Nor I you.”

“Isn’t this store incredible?  I have never been in a place like this.”

“I like this store too.  I stopped to buy my dad a present on the way home.  You left me in such a hurry that I never even got your name the other day.  But I did notice that you watched to make sure I got to my car and left OK.  My name is Lily.”

“My name is Ron.  I’m glad I could help you.  I see that you are carrying that pistol now.  Good idea.”

“Yes it is a good idea.  I have no idea why I left home without a gun except I knew I was going to New Jersey where they are still very anti gun and will throw you in jail if you even have one locked in your trunk.  Why don’t you let me buy you a cup of coffee for saving me?”

“That would be great.  But I don’t think I really saved you.  I heard that slap when you hit that guy and it even hurt me just hearing it.  You must be very strong.”

“I work on our ranch and there is plenty of hard work to do.  It helps keep me in shape.  Let’s get that coffee.”

They had a coffee shop right in the store and we sat and had coffee and a snack.  Then we wandered around the store together while she picked out a present for her dad.  We talked for a couple hours at least.  I asked her why she had went to New Jersey and she said a very close girl friend was getting married there so she had went to be a bride’s maid in the wedding.  She asked where I was going of course and I said just west but I had no destination or job or anything.  I had just woke up one day and something in me said to head west so here I am.  Plus there was that major hurricane heading towards my place so it was best to leave anyway.

We talked some more and she asked if I would be interested in working on a ranch.  She said the work was hard and pay was poor but they needed a hand on the ranch and her dad found something wrong with everyone that tried to work for them.  I told her that I knew nothing about a ranch and she said I could be taught what I needed to know.  So I agreed to at least see if her dad would consider me for a worker.

Lily’s ranch she said was about another two hundred miles and if we left now we could get there by supper time.  So we each paid for the couple things each of us had purchased and with her leading we got back on the interstate to continue our westward journey.  At Cheyenne we ate lunch then it was back on the road again.  When we got to Laramie we each filled our gas tanks and left the highway.  It was only about thirty or forty miles from Laramie to their ranch but it was certainly off the beaten path.  I never could have found it just by following directions so it was good thing I could follow Lily. 

Chapter Ten

We finally came to a valley or meadow or whatever they called it out here.  It looked like a picture postcard with big trees all around a valley with a creek flowing through the center of it.  I could see scattered cows and horses in the valley.  There was the house and a barn and a few out buildings.  She pulled up next to the house and stopped a short distance away.  She tooted her horn when she stopped her car and shortly I saw a man come walking up from the barn or one of the sheds.

Lily was taking a few bags from the trunk of her car and when she turned around the man was quite close.  She set the bags down and ran to him and enveloped him in a big hug.

“It’s so great to see you and be home again.  Dad this is Ron, our new hired hand.  Ron this is my dad, Ben.  You two can get to know each other and I’ll go in and make us all some supper.”

I shook hands with Ben while Lily started to pick up her bags but she set them down and gave me the pistol back.

“Here is the pistol back that you loaned me, thank you.  Oh dad, by the way Ron saved my life.  I’ll get that supper.”

She then picked up her bags and almost ran into the house before me or her dad could get a word in.

“You saved her life?”

“Sir you have a mighty strong girl there and truth be told I think it is just as likely that I saved the guy’s life that was bothering her.”

“I think you should tell me what happened.  Did she get hurt?”

“It was in a rest area in Iowa.  I had stopped to stretch my legs and was just walking around a bit when I noticed Lily come out of the ladies room and walk past me back towards her car.  Before she got to her car a man stopped her and they talked but I could not hear what was said and it was none of my business anyway. 

I saw her shake her head no and she turned to walk away and the man grabbed her by the arm.  Well she turned around and slapped him so hard I think it made the ground shake.  Without thinking I had walked closer and after she hit him he made a fist and cocked his arm back to strike her.  I wasn’t going to let that happen so I grabbed his arm and I guess I damaged it some because next he tried to pull this pistol out of his holster with his other hand.  So I did punch him once and then gave his pistol to your daughter so she could feel a little safer on her journey.  That was it.  She said she was fine, we said good bye and each went our separate ways.”

“So how did you end up together here?”

“I was so bored driving across Nebraska that I stopped at the big Cabela’s store there and we met again.  We ended up having a cup of coffee together and she asked if I wanted a job so I ended up here.”

“Well that is quite a tale and you are right she is very strong.  I think she could out work most men.  Her mom passed away when Lil was fourteen and I was no good at raising a kid and especially a girl.  I guess she was raised more like a boy than a girl and when times got bad and I had to let the hired hands go she just started doing more and more of the work around here.

I don’t know what she told you but yes we do need some help with all the work here but we can not afford to pay even minimum wages.  I’m sorry if you drove way out here under false pretenses because we just can’t afford hired hands and that’s why we don’t have one now.  We could offer room and board and maybe just a small amount of spending money but that’s it.”

“She told me about the same thing.  I have no where to go but I do have some savings so I am not destitute.  I think things are going to get real bad here in the United States soon and if I could stay in the middle of no where like this until things get better that would suit me just fine.  But I have to tell you I know nothing about ranching but I am a hard worker if you want to teach me what to do.”

“I agree with you about things getting bad.  I don’t think we will see any of that way out here so I see what you mean about in the middle of no where.  Why don’t you stay here a couple days and we can kinda see how things shape up?”

“That sounds like a very good idea.”

“Come on we can take a walk and I’ll show you around a bit.  I got some chores that need to be done anyway and by the time I’m done with them I bet she will have supper on the table.  Obviously Lily trusts you and that is good enough for me.  She has a proven knack for picking friends and I totally trust her judgment in that area.”

So I followed him around and he showed me around while he did his chores.  I helped as much as could and I think it did make things go a little faster even though he had to explain everything to me.  It must have been a couple hours later that we headed up to the big house and got washed up and sure enough Lily had quite a spread laid out for supper.

We didn’t talk much during the meal instead we all paid tribute to the cook by eating as much as we could of the very good supper.  We lingered at the table over coffee and conversation started in earnest.

“So Ron here tells me that he did not save your life but that he instead saved the life of a hapless man that you attacked.”

“No I’m pretty sure he saved my life, me being a poor damsel in distress.  I was just about ready faint from all the excitement.”

“I will just have to guess that the real truth lies somewhere in the middle of that.  No matter what I never thanked you Ron for saving my daughter.  She means everything to me.”

“You are certainly welcome for the little bit of help that I provided.  So I take it you have lived here a long time?”

“Yes I got the place from my folks.  We own a full half section of pretty prime land.   We used to have grazing rights for a lot of the surrounding federal land but the last time the lease came up the feds refused to continue the lease.  They said they would no longer allow grazing on any of the federal land around here.  So we had to cut way back on the animals we had.  Now we just raise a few head of beef instead of the herds that we used to.  We make enough now to get by but that’s about it.  I get a small amount of social security but I never paid in much so it doesn’t amount to much.”

“I think you are very blessed to have this place here.  It looks like paradise to me.”

Over the next several days we got to know each other and I learned about working on a ranch.  By the time a week went past we all got along fine and I decided I definitely wanted to stay here and Ben and Lily were agreeable to that also.  I was learning more and more and they both saw that I was not afraid to do a hard days work.  The three of us treated each other with the respect that we each deserved and we got along just fine indeed. 

Over the next few weeks I got to do many things that I had never done or even seen done before.  The second cutting of hay was ready and I got to learn all about cutting hay and baling hay.  Then loading, hauling, and stacking hay.  Yes I learned all I wanted to know about hay and one of the first things that Ben told me about putting up hay was that it would make you sweat and then all the little pieces of the hay would stick to you all over and make you itch and the more you tried to brush it off the more it would stick to you.  Only the shower at the end of the day would offer real relief.  It was all a lot of work but I would occasionally stop and just look around at the incredible beauty of the place and just appreciate the fact that I was here.

Chapter Eleven

Often in the evening we would listen to the radio and then discuss the evening news.  Ben and Lily had no television service here on the ranch.  They could not get reception of the free broadcast channels here and they had not the extra money to spend on satellite service and nor did they want it.  The old simple radio provided enough of a link to the outside world and gave them all the news they wanted to hear. 

The country continued to deteriorate and there were still terrorist attacks happening almost daily.  The nation’s stock markets still had not been opened and things were certainly getting worse, not just here but world wide.  I said we should make a trip to town and really stock up on food and any other supplies the ranch would need.

“Do you really think things will get that bad so we might not be able to buy the things we need in town?”

“Yes I do think that.  I think things will really get bad, worse than the Great Depression.  We should stock up now while things are still available to us.  If we only buy the things we need then how can it hurt?  We would need the stuff sooner or later anyway.  At least then we would be in better shape if things really did get bad.”

“Will that is a point.  And I have to admit that things are getting worse just about every day.  OK we will make a list and go into Laramie tomorrow.  How long should we buy for do you think?”

“At least enough for over winter at the minimum.”

“That is certainly going to drain the checking account.  But I agree if something is worth doing it is worth doing right.  We will have to take two pickups in to haul everything back.  And I will order a propane delivery to fill our tank and a tractor fuel delivery also.”

“I’ll certainly chip in on buying the food and if possible I would like to buy a rifle so I have something other than just my revolver.”

So we left in the morning just after morning chores with me in my little pickup following them in the larger ranch truck.  Ben wanted to get some feed and other ranch supplies first and we had decided to stick together.  Those supplies when purchased and loaded did just about fill the ranch truck and it was a pretty heavy load.  We all picked up a little winter gear and at one store they had a public bulletin board where people listed things they had for sale or offered services.  I saw an ad for a rifle for sale that seemed cheap and showed it to Ben.  It was for a Savage 30/06 with a scope for $250.  He said that was certainly a fair price so I called the guy from the ad and we met in the store parking lot we were at. 

The gun looked OK to me but I had Ben look it over and he said it appeared fine.  The man seemed anxious to sell and said he really needed the money and to complete the deal he would throw in several boxes of ammunition.  I then bought it without any more hesitation.  I now had a revolver and a deer rifle.

From there we went to three grocery stores (buying many sale items and staple foods) and by the time we left town my little pickup was also fully loaded down.  I had suggested that maybe we should buy some chickens but Ben said one of his neighbors raised chickens and we could get eggs from them (which was what Ben and Lily had been doing for several years).

While in town Ben had asked about shipping some beef cows out and was told prices were down but it could still be done and he made arrangements for transport and the three of us rounded up some cows that we had ready several days later when the trucker showed up to load and haul the beef cows.

By the time we got back to the ranch and got everything unloaded and then finished the daily chores the day was done.  We listened to the evening news on the radio and there had been another terrorist attack with the police again having to kill the terrorists involved.  There was also good news that the FBI had found twenty two additional suspected terrorists and had taken them into custody with only one being killed during the arrests.  They hoped to gain additional intelligence from the interrogations of these that they had just taken into custody and thought more arrests might soon be forthcoming.

The news stations now seldom mentioned any kind of economic news at all.  I assumed that this was a bad sign and that the federal government had strongly suggested that economic news not be reported.  But it did not take a rocket scientist to see that many people were out of work and really hurting for money.  In the city today we had noticed that a large number of businesses were now closed and some others had ‘going out of business’ sales.  I was not familiar with the local grocery stores we visited today but the shelves appeared to be stocked quite thin I thought.  When I mentioned this to Lily she said that had not noticed but now that she thought about it she said there was for sure a big reduction in the stock they had on hand.  We also noticed that they had no one refilling shelves while we were there either.

That evening we talked about everything we had heard and had seen today and none of us thought there were any good signs at all.  Both Ben and Lily thanked me for getting them to buy the added supplies because from what they had seen today they now agreed that it sure looked like worse times were coming and it felt much better to have those supplies on hand.

The following week went by with me learning more and more about the ranch and I think I was becoming more of an asset than just someone taking up space there.  One afternoon we even took a little time off from work and spent some time shooting.  My ‘new’ rifle certainly had some recoil and seemed very powerful to me.  It was easy to hit targets using the scope that was on the gun.  I learned about bullet drop and that I had to aim higher if my target was farther away.  Plus that the farther away the target was many things had a greater effect on the bullet causing it to deviate from its intended flight path so it was harder to hit exactly where you wanted.

I was learning so many different things and it seemed the more I learned the more I found out that I knew very little and had considerable more yet to learn.  Many times Ben and Lily would laugh at some of my questions or the way I tried to do things.  But it was always in fun and they were quick to correct me and did not mind all the questions I constantly asked.  Ben was very impressed when he had me do some welding on a piece of equipment though and I told him that was my area of expertise.

The fact that I liked to work hard and end each day tired let me fit right in with the other two.  And Lily was sure no shrinking violet and she could easily out work most men I think.  Though we worked hard the three of us found enjoyment in the work and just being outside and enjoying the natural world around us.  I was surprised at all the different wild critters we would see on just about a daily basis.

I told them that I could not get enough of taking in the beauty of the surrounding country.  I did realized that both of them even after living all their lives on this ranch still appreciated the fact that they actually lived in such a wonderland.

Chapter Twelve

Finally bowing to pressure the federal government decided to re-open the US stock markets.  It was announced on a Thursday that the markets (at a new location) would open on the following Monday and would remain open and follow all the existing market times and rules.  When the markets opened on that Monday stocks fell at a rapid pace and this was expected and caused no undue alarm.  The market-wide circuit breakers kicked in causing a coordinated cross-market trading halt and then resumed after the standard ‘cooling off’ period.  This happened twice and then the level three trigger was reached and the markets closed for the day. 

All this had been expected and there was no panic or anything.  The markets had been expected to drop and the early close would likely happen at least on Tuesday also.  World markets had fallen a large amount and the US markets were bound to follow suit at least to some point.  So falling enough causing two or three short trading days was what had been predicted and expected.  Tuesday the markets opened and had the same results as Monday with the two breaks and then the early closing for the day.  Wednesday followed the same pattern.  When it happened the exact same way on Thursday some were beginning to be troubled.  Then Friday came with the same result of the two breaks and then promptly closing for the day.  The result was the worst week the US markets had ever experienced and many looked to possibly see more of the same on the following Monday’s open.

When the following week resulted in five short trading days due to reaching the level three circuit breaker thresholds causing the coordinated cross-market trading halts everyday many got alarmed.  Talk and predictions were running the gambit and many thought the government would keep the markets closed the next week but many also said that would do little good for anyone.   Many people did give the government some credit when they did not keep the markets closed and let ‘nature run its course’ with the values of stocks the following week.

And the stocks continued to fall well below what even most of the more pessimistic economists had predicted.  Finally the market mostly settled down at least for now.  The loss of market value was listed in the trillions of dollars.

With the stock market now at its new low everyone with investments could finally see how much value (if any) they still had left in those accounts.  It was 1929 all over again but only much worse.  Yes people were jumping out of windows again though most found other ways to end their lives.  With stocks worth so little and with the real estate market also hitting bottom the loss of value was devastating to many.  At the same time many people were so poor that the huge number of people that had been on anti-depression drugs found many unable to afford that medication at a time when they really needed it.  This also led to many suicides. 

Of course the banks now had nothing to hide behind with the stocks down to their actual value.  Basically just about every home loan (and business loan) was under water and/or no payments were even being made on them and with the bank’s foreign investments all bad also they now had no recourse except to close.  There were no buy-outs or bailouts.

The city governments, the county governments, the state governments, and the federal government were all broke.  Businesses and individuals were not paying taxes because they had no money and no jobs.  The states with sales tax were getting almost no income from that source.  Gas tax income was almost non-existent.   All the non-federal government services were ending, first the non-essential services then more and more of the essential services.  The federal government could keep printing more money but it had been doing that for so long and no individuals or other countries were interested in buying our bonds or even would take our dollars.

Everything ground to just about a stop.

But not quite everything there were still stores open and trucks on the highways delivering goods but the numbers of both were way down.  Some people were still working at their jobs and still had to drive to and from work every day.  Farmers and ranchers still had to work their fields, tend their livestock, and carry on with their regular chores.  Winter was fast approaching and in the northern areas many people who found themselves out of work were cutting, splitting, and delivering firewood both for income and wood for themselves.

Flea markets, farmer’s markets, yard sales, and places like Craigslist were full of common people trying to sell or trade what they had for what they needed.  Beggars were a very common sight just about everywhere.  Many people would work for food but there were just too many looking for any kind work and there were almost no jobs of any kind to be had.      

Very few restaurants of any kind were still open.  The ‘fast food’ ones were among the first to close but most including everything from diners to five star restaurants were closed because most people just did not have the money to eat out anymore. 

Schools were starting across the nation but most were going to a four day a week plan to save on costs and some were talking about dropping back to only three days a week.  There were no extra-curricular activities scheduled at any school but often teachers would stay after school and play football or basket ball with the students and then have impromptu games.

Large urban areas were a mess.  The federal government deployed all the National Guard to the cities to keep the peace and to provide ‘soup kitchens’ because welfare plans and food stamps were stopped.  To receive food at these places you had to show identification and any illegal aliens were arrested on the spot and then deported.  There were riots and looting but looters were shot on sight by the National Guard and rioters were stopped with non-lethal weapons and tear gas and in rare cases when that was not enough lethal weapons were used to end the riots.  Every city now had curfews in place and those were enforced by the troops.  It soon became apparent that the National Guard troops were not enough and Congress repealed the Posse Comitatus Act and regular military troops were then used for added manpower in mostly just the cities.

Many people lost their lives.  Suicides were very common.  Along with death from natural causes when prescription medications ran out and there was just no money to purchase more.  And there were a lot of deaths due to violence.  Gangs and the National Guard had many shootouts with the gangs taking the greatest amount of casualties.  No one knew just how many looters were shot but some thought that number was very high.  And it was also likely that some of the ‘looters’ were totally innocent but there was very little oversight on the National Guard troops or the regular military troops.

FEMA worked hand in hand with the military units to provide the ‘soup kitchens’.  With winter coming on in the northern areas, government transportation was provided to bring the now homeless ( or hopeless) people from the northern areas of the nation south to more temperate climates where they were allowed to stay at mostly temporary ‘camps’ where food and lodging were provided.  These camps were often located near farm areas where those in these camps could be then used as ‘farm labor’ to help earn their keep.  This had the double benefit of assuring that farm labor was readily available, that work was done only by US citizens, and no one got a ‘free ride’ with benefits.  It also kept the food ‘train’ up and running so the nation would not run low on food.

Word did get out that anyone receiving any benefits from our government were all getting ‘chipped’ with biometric  identification chips.  These chips were ‘injected’ into the backs of people after their regular identification was verified and from then on their ID could be very easily scanned with hand held scanners or even at some distance with larger scanners.  Many objected to these chips but were told that they were voluntary and if they did not want to get chipped they could just leave.  But no food or lodging was provided without those receiving such being chipped.  All those in any military branch had also been chipped along with all prisoners in federal prisons.  Illegals were all chipped before being deported and told if they showed up here again they would be shot.

None of this happened over night as the federal government has always moved very slowly.  There were many reports of deaths by starvation long before the soup kitchens had been set up despite the best efforts of many church groups.  There were certainly a limit to the number of these soup kitchens and while large urban areas had several and smaller cities would have one or two smaller towns had none.  And of course those living in rural areas were on their own to find food.  Some of these rural folks that could find transportation to a military detachment; they could then be provided government transportation to the nearest camp.  At least there they would not starve.

Chapter Thirteen

Life on the ranch was idyllic with hard work shared among the three friends.  Ben taught me some about hunting and I was with him when he shot a ‘spike’ bull elk.  I was obviously still learning much but more and more we would split up during the days now with each of us doing our own tasks for the day.

In the evenings we continued to listen to the news reports on the radio daily.  Sometimes the news was so bad that Lily would openly weep for the many people who had lost their lives or loved ones.

There was never any kind of good news and some of the reports were so bad that we all found it hard to believe, especially given our own peaceful and happy surroundings.  Things just were getting worse and worse and we wondered if and when it would hit the bottom.  Violence was widespread throughout the whole nation and though mostly centered in and around big cities it was bad in rural areas also.  Some of the reports of home invasions and robberies were very gruesome and were somewhat reminiscent of the Indian war party attacks of one or two hundred years ago.   

I told Ben and Lily that we should all start carrying handguns on us all the time and after some more of the awful gruesome reports there were no objections to this practice.  Ben even put loaded rifles in handy spots in the house and the barn.  We were very secluded here with our closest neighbor over two miles away and the odds of any evil doers showing up way out here was slim indeed.  But it was still a possibility and Ben told our neighbor that it would be a good idea for them to be armed all the time also.  They also made a pact to lend any assistance they could to the other in these very trying times.

When we heard about the biometric identification chips the government was basically forcing on the citizens we were not all that surprised.  It was something that had been talked about for many years with most scientists and news commentators saying it was just a matter of time before these chips were common place and now they were actually here.

There was always plenty of work to be done at the ranch and we were always busy every day and all day long.  The changing season with winter coming led us to be doing different things to prepare for the coming months.  The one day it took for Ben to go out and shoot that small bull elk was like a vacation day for us.  Of course we all got involved with the aftermath of hanging, skinning, quartering, de-boning, cutting and grinding, wrapping, and finally freezing all the meat.

Ben even worked on the elk hide and tanned it for later use.  His dad had tanned all the deer and elk hides from the animals he had shot but it had been many years since Ben had done so.  He thought it was time to get back into the practice again.  Nothing could go to waste anymore during these hard times.

We got a couple of light snowfalls that melted off and we all knew soon the snow would stay.  I asked how much snow they usually got here and Ben said it varied a lot from year to year but around four feet was common.  It was obvious that we would be snowed in over winter because we were all sure the roads would not be plowed.  It was before we got any real snow that we had the problem.

It was a typical day on the ranch.  Ben was out on horseback and was going to start moving a few head cattle to another pasture.  Ben and I had cut wood all day the day before and I was going out with the small tractor and a wagon and load the wood and bring it in.  Lily was working on a couple projects up around the house.  Ben and I had not packed lunches because we would be close by and would just eat lunch back at the house (though maybe not at the same time).

Late morning found me heading back to the ranch with a good load in the wagon.  When I got closer I saw what looked like a pickup parked up by the house.  A very rare event.  The barn was in the way and I could not see the house hardly at all from where I was coming from.  I was not alarmed but did leave the tractor and wagon behind the barn and on a whim when I walked past the barn I picked up the rifle stored there.  I had shot all the guns on the ranch and was now pretty familiar with all of them, something I was soon to be thankful for.

Walking towards the house I did not see anyone but when I got closer I heard angry sounding voices from the other side of the house.  When I walked around the corner of the house I immediately threw the little saddle carbine to my shoulder at the sight before me.

There were two men and Lily with one man holding tightly to Lily’s arms behind her back and I could see blood on the corner of her mouth.  The other man had blood pouring from his nose and was very obviously mad and was just raising a pistol which he was going to use to strike Lily when I yelled.

“Let her go and you might live another day.  I’ll not tell you again.”

“You drop that rifle or I’ll shoot this hell cat.”

I already had the gun to my shoulder and only shifted the sights slightly and pulled the trigger.  The man with the pistol and the bloody nose flew backwards from the force of the bullet striking his head.  I worked the action fast while I swung the rifle towards the other man.  About that time Lily brought the heel of her cowboy boot down very hard on the instep of the right foot of man holding her.  He screamed and let go of her and when she was just clear I put a bullet into his chest.

It was over in just a few seconds with two very dead looking men on the ground and then the realization that I had just killed these two men hit me and I started to  feel my knees get all wobbly and thought I would fall down when Lily stepped up and hugged me.

That’s the scene that Ben saw when he came up with his horse on a dead run and his pistol in one hand and the reins in the other.

Chapter Fourteen

Lily was fine but had a bad bruise and a swollen lip.  She had punched the one guy in the nose almost knocking him out but he had struck her a hard blow also.  She was dazed from the blow when the other man had grabbed her from behind.  Both Lily and Ben could hardly thank me enough for saving her life.  After hearing the story Ben said he did not think either of the two deserved to be buried so he used a horse and a rope to drag them well away from the place for the critters to feast on.

The back of their pickup was plumb full of ‘loot’ which we unloaded and put away in the house and sheds.  There were several guns (Ben had taken the pistols and holsters off the dead men along with a considerable amount of money before dragging them off).   We parked their empty pickup along side one of the sheds and would worry about what to do with it later.

I got over the trauma of killing the two men in time and put the episode behind me.  After the first few days the event was not talked about between us any longer.  What was done had to be done and it was all over and done with and there was no sense on dwelling over it.  There were several jokes at Lilly’s expense about her bruise and swollen lip but soon that was gone and things were back to normal.  It was shortly after that when Mother Nature did her part and put a fresh clean blanket of snow over everything to totally change the view.

Within a month we got enough snow so the road was impassable to regular pickups and such.  Horses or a snowmobile (if you had one with fuel) was the only way you could travel other than skis or snow shoes.  We no longer had to worry about bad guys showing up here anyway.

Work at the ranch dropped with the heavy snow and cold weather.  Oh there were always some chores that needed doing but we now had a lot of free time which was something new (at least since I had been here).

We all listened to the radio more now and we noticed a gradual change from the constant bad news.  Things actually appeared to be maybe on the up swing a little or at least not getting any worse.  As the winter wore on the changes were more and more on a positive note. 

The federal government was taking a very strong roll in keeping essential services going.  First priority was the electric grid and for the coal fired generating plants this had many facets, including mining the coal and keeping the trains running to haul the coal to power stations.

From there the oil refineries were kept going using our own oil that we produced here in the United States.  With the drastically reduced travel on the highways we now produced plenty of oil for what we currently needed.  After it was refined we even had some excess that could be shipped out to other countries.  No one trusted any country’s currency anymore but they used more of a barter system to begin with.  We had some refined petroleum products and some food products mostly for export.  And there were plenty of items we wanted to import so deals were reached and the trades happened.  Fuel was made available to the nation’s fishing fleet so they could provide our citizens with plenty of protein from fish.

As spring approached the government saw to it that deals were arranged with farmers for what they needed to produce a hopefully excess amount of food so we had some to use for export. 

The nation’s oil companies were allowed to drill added wells so we could produce more oil domestically.  At first the excess refined products produced could be used for export and as the nation got back on its feet we would still have ample oil production here to cover our (hopefully) expanding needs though most agreed that we would not likely get back to the amount we had used before the collapse happened.

The federal government worked with a couple banks and eventually those bank’s branches were opened in all major cities and most larger towns.  Per the FDIC promise bank deposits were guaranteed and no matter what bank you had previously, your deposited money was still there in the newly opened banks up to the guaranteed amounts. 

By spring most of the illegal aliens had been rounded up and deported along with a very large number that had self-deported.  Apparently the FBI and local police had rid the country of the terrorists as there had been no more terror attacks for quite some time.  And now with our borders actually sealed pretty well for the first time ever there was much less chance that more terrorists could get in to do us harm.

But it was not roses on the news either.  During the long winter many, many people had perished, mostly in the northern states and most were weather related.  In most areas snow plowing (on other than main highways) either did not happen or was done slowly.  This did cause many problems. 

There were still storms that took down electric power lines and crews had to often wait for roads to be plowed so they could access the downed lines to repair them.  This sometimes long delay caused some people to freeze in their homes without power for electric heat or to power gas furnaces.  Propane could not be delivered when roads were not plowed.  Ambulances could not reach people in need when roads were not plowed.  Lack of money or lack of ability to refill prescriptions led to many more deaths.  And there were also starvation deaths and still more suicides.

Even with the cold and snow there were still criminals that preyed on others weaker than them.  This was felt more in the southern states where many criminals had fled to with the onset of the colder weather farther north.  The National Guard and regular military troops along with the limited police forces did what they could to protect the citizens but the simple fact was that most people had to protect themselves (a fact they often mentioned on the radio).  Neighborhood watch programs were up and running in many neighborhoods all across the nation.  Even in rural areas people would call a neighbor instead of calling the police for help.    

As spring approached people were urged to take up gardening on their properties to supplement their food supply and many free gardening classes were available in just about in every city or town.  Plus at this point most people were used to neighbor helping neighbor and often would help each other with gardening needs or at least shared knowledge.

By the time the spring came and all the snow was gone it was very plain for everyone to see that the worst was behind us.  Yes a large chunk of the population had died but those left were strong and determined to survive.  America would survive and be a stronger nation because of what we had been through. 

Chapter Fifteen

With the coming of spring there was plenty of work to do at the ranch.  The relatively lazy days we had in the winter were gone and now each night the three of us all were plenty tired when we got to go to bed.  We still listened to the radio news in the evenings after supper and we all found hope and pride in our country in these news reports now.  I was working as hard or harder than I had ever worked before in my life and felt good but often I would find myself just staring at the mountains or the tree line in the distance. 

Something was happening with me that I did not fully understand.  By the time we had the first hay cutting all done I knew I had to leave.  Something was calling me and I knew not what that was but still I felt the need to heed that call.  But there was something I had to do first and one evening I asked Lily to take a walk with me.

We walked a ways without a word being spoken until she started the conversation.

“You’re leaving aren’t you?”

“You do have a knack for knowing things about people don’t you.”

“So why did you ask me to go for a walk with you?”

“It is obvious that we are not just friends or co-workers and I’m not very sure what you feel but I do know that I in no way want to hurt you.”

“From that first time we met and I did not even know your name there was something between us that I could feel.  All this time we have spent together has certainly strengthened that bond.  You are like the brother I never had and I feel at peace or maybe I feel protected when you are near me.”

“The first time I saw you I first noticed just how beautiful you were and after getting to know you I could then see that you are even more beautiful on the inside.  I have little knowledge of these things and at first thought I was falling in love with you but later I realized while that was indeed true it was not romantically but more like a sister.  I am so relieved that you feel that same way toward me.”

“So do you know where you are going or what you want to do?”

“No I have no plans but just feel something inside that tells me it is time to move.  The pull is to west so that is where I will head when I leave.”

“Let’s go back and tell dad.  He thinks the world of you but I think even he could see the change in you.”

When we got back to the house Ben could see right away something was up.

“It is blatantly obvious that you have something to say so spit it out.”

“I am going to pack up and leave in a day or two.”

Ben looked at me and then looked at Lily.  Despite what Lily thought I think what I just said was the last thing he expected.  Finally he did speak.

“I have noticed a change about you but I admit I did not expect that you would be leaving.  There was nothing I did that made you make this decision was there?”

“No you have shown me nothing but kindness and have taught me so much that I could never repay you for it.  You took me into your house without knowing anything about me and I certainly thank you for it.  It is just something that has come over me and I feel that I have to move on.”

“You know that you will always have a place here if you ever want to come back.  You saved the life of my only daughter not once but twice and for that I will always be in your debt.  What do you feel about him leaving Lily?”

“One less mouth to feed around here will make things easier for me and that’s a fact.”

Ben looked at Lily and then looked at me and about that time both me and her burst out laughing.

“You two are two strangest kids I have ever met.  And that is a fact too.”

We talked for the rest of the evening about my plans and their plans for the future before we all went to bed because tomorrow the sun would come up early and find all three of us waiting on it.

Two days later I was all packed and ready to go.  Ben had saved the cash money from the two guys I had shot and gave that to me before I could leave.  It was sizable wad of cash.  He also had me take one of the pistols and holsters from them also along with plenty of ammunition for it.  Even though the nation was not as dangerous as it had been you still had to watch your back.

When it was time to go Lily and I shared a long hug and Ben and I shook hands warmly.

“Always remember that you have family here and this house will always be your home.  Mail service is up and running again and we expect a steady supply of letters from you.”

Not wanting any kind of tear filled lengthy goodbyes I got in my old truck and drove out of the driveway.  Back in my pickup and driving away I could feel the force pulling me on stronger than ever.  I would miss these two and I too saw them as family and hoped I would be able to come back again someday to spend more time with them.  I did not know where my next stop would be and what the future would hold for me but I was anxious to see.

The End

Thank you for reading this short story of mine and I hope you found it enjoyable.  If it was something you liked please watch for more of my stories to follow.  Below are some of my stories that you might also enjoy.

Pete Thorsen

An Economic

Firestorm

      This story is about the economic collapse of the US Dollar and the economy of the USA as seen and lived through by a family in rural Arizona. Naturally in the troubled times they face some hardships but having suspected something like this would happen and then being prepared saved them from the unimagined horrors and hardships that many Americans had to suffer through. 

Three Strikes

And You’re Out

America

When three nuclear EMP missiles explode high above the United States it causes extreme devastation by taking out the whole electric grid and all electronics.  People are left wondering what to do while society totally breaks down.  One lone man has his own plan to survive and refuses to let anyone stand in his way to achieve his goal of personal survival.

Finding Hope

When an awful pandemic sweeps across the world killing the bulk of the human population one man who has no one and does not care whether he lives through the pandemic or not, does survive.  Alone he wonders why he of all people survives when so many with loving families did not.  Then he finds a purpose to his life when finds and befriends a little girl.

What?

The sun did all this!

In this story the sun sends out a massively strong CME that strikes the earth.  Similar to the one that struck in 1859 that is now known as the Carrington Event it did some damage back then but we did not have electricity back at that time.  With all the electric wires running everywhere and our total dependency on electronics this time the human population took a catastrophic hit.  Follow the new life of a single man who tries to unite with his family who unfortunately live in different states and the hardships he faces on his journey.

Surviving in Trying Times

When the recession hits an older man loses his job and can not find another.  His wife and him try to cope by starting a simple home-based business but the economy continues to deteriorate.  Able to read the signs of the road ahead the couple does what they can to prepare for what they think will be similar to the Great Depression.  When the economy totally falls apart their preparations provide them with much greater comfort than the unprepared souls living around them.