by Pete Thorsen
Lee’s boss was happy to hear from Lee and said very soon supplies would be available and that they had a ‘whole city’ to rebuild so work would be steady at worst and very hectic at best (or maybe the reverse). He also said he would call Lee very soon so they could get started.
Lee tilled up the garden so it was ready (they had plenty of seeds) but it was still way too cold to plant anything. A week later, Lee got called back to work. Prices on everything were in flux with no one knowing what to charge and the government kept saying that the ‘new’ currency was just about ready (it was already printed they were working out the exchange rates).
Then they released the new money and all the money people had in the banks was automatically changed over to the new currency. People were urged to turn in their old ‘dollars’ as soon as possible because they had only sixty days and then after that would receive nothing for the old money. There was a lot of discontent at how little new money they got for the old money. This had been expected and there had been much talk about it on all the news stations before the new currency ever came out so it blew over fairly quickly.
Chapter Ten
On what is later to be known as ‘Black Tuesday’, near America’s west coast a nuclear missile was launched from a container ship that was thought to be headed for Los Angeles. The devastation was mostly thwarted by the interdiction of the ship by the US Navy that was boarding and inspecting all ships approaching the United States. This they thought forced the ship to launch early before it was boarded. The Navy guided missile destroyer was still ten miles away from the container ship when the foreign ship launched what turned out to be a medium range nuclear missile.
Our Navy Destroyer saw the launch almost immediately and shortly launched its own missiles to shoot down the nuke. Our missiles never made contact as the nuke exploded while in flight before reaching the United States shores. Our Navy Destroyer also launched a Harpoon Missile at the container ship which did hit the mark. The destroyer also fired continuously with their five inch gun as they closed on the other ship. The container ship sank quickly with our ship only picking up five survivors.
Though the nuclear missile exploded before reaching its intended target the blast caused an EMP which disabled all electronic devices and most gas motors over a wide area which luckily was mostly over the ocean but did include the California cities of Santa Barbara and Santa Maria and everything in between, with more minor damage farther inland and north and south of these cities.
The survivors of the container ship were interrogated thoroughly and evidence collected. Apparently all nuclear blasts can be rather easily traced to their country of origin and this one was found to be from North Korea. Four days after the missile attack a single multiple warhead nuclear missile was launched from a submarine in the China Sea and warheads struck in and around the capital city of Pyongyang, North Korea. It was estimated that well over a million died instantly or in the aftermath of the attack. Before all the other world nations could start spouting rubbish about the USA the White House released a statement.
“The United States of America was viciously and cowardly attacked by the country of North Korea using nuclear weapons. We have retaliated in kind on their country with a single missile. At this point we will let the matter drop even though we have every right to totally annihilate them to protect ourselves. Any more aggressive actions from this country or any other country will bring down the wrath of the total military power of the United States against anyone attacking this country or an ally.”
The world was shocked that the United States used a nuclear weapon on another country. At the United Nations there were constant diatribes against the United States. Finally the new US ambassador to the UN got a chance to speak.
“What a bunch of hypocrites you are. You think just because we are a powerful country we have no right to defend ourselves from a vicious attack. We will no longer sit here and listen to every country talk about how very awful the United States is while at the same time you all gladly take all the aid we send you.
That ends this very day. We are dropping all foreign aid and we are dropping out of the fiasco called the United Nations. You have two months from right this minute to find at new home for this stupid fiasco and to find another dupe to fund it for you.”
With that the Ambassador and all US personnel left the United Nations building never to return.
Naturally this caused another uproar around the world and a couple countries moved some of their military assets around in a show of force but it was all for show. Every country had their own internal problems that they were dealing with and now with the knowledge that no aid would be coming from the USA or the UN (without the money from the USA) many were facing starvation and other serious problems.
The USA announced several times that any US citizens abroad should return home because their protection if on foreign soil could not assured.
Congress had been very busy and passed many laws to try to get things back up and running in the United States. They told companies (and individuals) that any money held overseas could be brought back to the US with no taxes due on it. Any new manufacturing plants that opened were tax free for one year. Many regulations were relaxed.
Tariffs were put on all shipments of products other than raw materials coming into the United States to promote doing all manufacturing in the US. Many Federal departments and agencies were disbanded. When Congress was finally done the Federal government was roughly less than a quarter size of the huge bloated behemoth it once was. They also told all local and state governments to follow suit and slim way down.
Only essential services were to be done by government, everything else belonged to the private sector. All government subsidies and grants stopped. Congress decided it was not their job to take money in only to give it to someone else.
Instead Congress urged individuals and businesses to give freely to local and state institutions for the betterment of all. Individual income tax was dropped in favor of a very small federal sales tax that everyone would pay with no exceptions. No sales tax on grocery store food and a very few other items. It was very plain to the citizens that the government was honestly trying to make things better and not repeat past mistakes.
Other than the shock that all Americans felt about the cowardly nuclear attack and our retaliation, the whole thing had little impact on Lee and Meg. Lee was now working steady and getting ‘overtime’ and Meg’s job had started up again. It was in a different building and a different business line but was run by the same people so that part settled down quickly because both Meg and her bosses knew they could depend on each other which is always a help in every situation.
Meg and Lee never talked about the two robbers they had trouble with during the winter and at some point before they had left their place in the spring, the snowmobiles had disappeared along with the bodies. They had put in their normal garden and it was growing fine. Lee and Meg were mostly using the gas they had in their storage tank because Lee wanted to get fresh even though at this point it still seemed to be fine.
Meg still carried a gun all the time at work or at home and they often saw others openly carrying guns now. People had finally learned that the police can not protect you and you have to do that yourself.
The new money was the only thing being used now and prices were settling down. Lee had brought in all the cash that they had at home and got the small amount of new money to replace it.
The military was about gone now from civilian areas. Many military personnel had been mustered out and had soon found jobs because so many things had to be rebuilt. New factories were being built or old buildings were being renovated in just about every state.
After going through all this devastation most people had learned a lot of hard lessons. It had turned many people into ‘preppers’. Many had also learned the things they valued before were not what they valued now. Almost everyone had friends or family that had died from the violence or more nat
ural causes during the dark times.
Churches in the United States saw a huge serge of new members. And many came to realize that the local churches, no matter what faith, were the best place for people to come for help, not the federal government. All the welfare recipients seemed to be the hardest hit during the collapse. They were very often in bad neighborhoods that often burnt down and had a lot of violence and most did not have much food on hand to weather out the lean winter.
In many cases the strong survived and the weak perished. And the strong were now working and all of society was rebuilding. With virtually all the illegals now deported there was plenty of work for all the American workers. Much of the easily broken imported junk was gradually disappearing and being replaced with sturdy American built products.
Labor unions still had a few strong holds but their days were numbered. Pride in ones work and in workmanship was returning. The ‘going green’ campaign that never really got off the ground before was just naturally coming into its own now. People were re-purposing many things and those in the mostly sunny states were avidly getting solar power so they would not be so dependent on the grid.
Many states did away with a lot of their gun laws and finally the US Congress passed a nationwide ‘constitutional carry’ bill so any citizen could legally carry a gun openly or concealed without a permit. People were taking responsibility for themselves and their actions. And it was starting to look like people were being much more polite and helpful with one another.
During the collapse many found out it was good to have a friendly relationship with your neighbors. It was now often found where neighbors were banding together to help each other with their rebuilding efforts. The collapse was a very dark and devastating time for the United States, but now with it over, many pointed out the good things that had come out of it. Of course it wasn’t all rosy all of a sudden. There was still crime and bickering and prejudice but there was no doubt it was much less than it had been before.
Chapter Twelve
For Meg and Lee their lives were totally back to normal. Both were working at their old jobs (though Meg’s was slightly different) and neither had suffered any through the whole ordeal. Meg’s parents were gone and she never heard what happened to them. They had also lost a few of their friends. Because of their foresight to prepare for something that only might happen, they came through the whole event without a scratch. And now that it was over they still had no intentions of making changes to their lifestyle. So if or when it ever happened again they would be prepared.
The End
An
Oklahoma
Retreat
By
Pete Thorsen
Formerly Published under
The Pen Name
Jack Forester
Originally Released
On Kindle December 2013
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. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely accidental
Prologue
The man in the black hoodie cared nothing about the protest. He knew that a protest was a total waste of time. But he could use the protesters to his advantage and would do so tonight. He had a strap under the hoodie and hooked to the strap was a standard eighteen inch crowbar that hung just under one armpit. On the other side under the hoodie was a fairly heavy cloth bag which was empty.
When the protest moved until it was next to the right business the hooded man would act while hidden within the large group of protesters. When the upscale store was reached he walked directly to the store front and smashed his way in using his crowbar. It was very loud and many in the group stepped away but not all, some others also entered the store that in turn led to even more to entering the store.
The man in the hoodie did not care what the others were doing, he was moving very rapidly because he figured time was limited. He smashed into several glass display cases and took jewelry and watches and when he thought he had enough he moved rapidly to the front entrance and left the building then turned back into the direction he had originally came from.
The cops were at the head of the group of protesters and not so much at the back. The crowbar and the bag of loot were both hidden from view and his hands were free from holding anything. A quick look and you would think he had nothing and was carrying nothing but instead was just trying to get away from the protest.
He moved at a fast pace but did not run. With every step he knew he was getting into a safer area and the chance of being caught was diminishing. In a half hour he called a buddy to pick him up and soon after that was back home safely with the loot. In a week or less there would be another protest and he could acquire more loot.
Chapter One
To his friends Allen Butler was a paradox. He had a good high paying job as an architect and had worked at his current job since he came to Atlanta about six years ago. He should have plenty of money but he drove an old pickup that certainly looked worse for wear. He lived down town but in a small one bedroom apartment. He walked to work and most everywhere else he went, sometimes even when the destination was two or three miles away.
Unlike most guys he had no interest in sports and though he would have a drink with friends he really had no interest in drinking and no one had ever seen him drunk or even slightly tipsy. He did have a healthy interest in girls and occasionally dated one but had never kept a girlfriend more than a month or so.
Al seemed to have no hobbies or even any real interests. He did go to a martial arts place a couple times a week but he said that was just for exercise because he had no gym membership anywhere and the class was cheaper than joining a gym. Al did occasionally travel around the country for his job but for vacations he always went back to his family ranch in Oklahoma.
Al was a fair sized man at five eleven and about a hundred and seventy pounds of solid lean muscle. His martial arts workouts kept him from bulking up like lifting weights would have done. He kept his blond hair cut quite short both because it was easier to take care of and it kept an opponent from using his hair as a handle if you got in a fight, not that he had any intention of ever getting into a fight.
Al knew his friends did not understand him and he never tried to enlighten them about what motivated him. When his friends rode him about his old truck he just laughed it off and said ‘at least it runs’. He had a cell phone and it was a current smart phone but only because it was provided by his company other wise he would have had a dumb phone.
His laptop computer was an expensive one because he used it extensively in his job. His truck was old but he had it for one main job and that was to take him back home. The truck probably did not need to be a four-wheel drive but Al thought it was better to have that capability and not need it rather than not have it and wished it did at some point. That is also why he had a posi-traction rear-end put into it, just better to have it.
He usually flew home whenever he went back to the ranch but had driven the truck one time as a test. He had picked a good route and drove it to check it out then drove back on an alternate route to also check that. He kept track of how much fuel he used and had a saddle tank added underneath the truck and a fuel transfer tank installed in the bed of the truck. He could then drive all the way home without buying any additional fuel along the way for his diesel pickup even if he had to detour a little.
Al did get paid really well but did not keep much money in his bank account. He had long since paid off the small student loan debt he had. He had gotten a scholarship to college and had worked as much as could while going to school also.
When he had
the school debt paid off he had gotten a small loan to build his own small house at the ranch. By doing much of the work himself (with his brother’s help) the cost was low and Al paid off that little loan quickly. He had worked on the inside of his house whenever he could until it was totally done to his satisfaction only a year ago. He had always used his extra money to purchase several things back at the ranch which he continued to do.
When he was younger Al couldn’t wait to leave the little town and the ranch where he grew up. His family was poor and he had worked hard to have top grades in high school and it had paid off with a scholarship to college. He had been so excited to go off to college. Everything was way different there than in the tiny town he grew up in.
It had taken about a year or so for the ‘new’ to wear off at college. He was appalled at how most of his classmates (and teachers) thought and acted. When he was still in high school he had wanted to be like the kids in the big city but when he got there and saw how they really were he changed his mind. He did not want to be anything like them. He ended up spending most of his time during college either working or studying which led to his high grade scores and ultimately helped him land his current job.
It was similar with his current friends here in Atlanta, Georgia as it had been in college. Most of those his age had a completely different outlook on things and life in general than Al did. They were still friends but were not a very tight knit group. Oh well I guess I’m just old fashioned farm kid Al often thought. So he spent most nights home alone which did not bother him in the least and it saved him money.