Dystopia: The Beginning of the End (3 page)

“Maybe next weekend?”

She looked at Sam with what Matt was fond of calling ‘the stare’ and said,

“I trust you and know you will ensure all those who attend are…. shall we say…. ok?” 

Sam said, “You know it” with a nod. 

He knew this was exactly what Dez and Matt were wanting. A group that could defend, build and run the 150 acre farm when the time arose and he had carefully chosen these two to meet them.

Sam, a longtime friend of Matt’s; they had grown up together since starting middle school.  Although they lost touch over the six years Sam was in the Marines.  It was only a few years ago; during a visit with Matt’s parents that they had run into each other again.

Sam had shortly after that time decided to move to Kentucky near where Matt and Dez lived, and was part of their prepper group already.   Dez added a comment to the murmurings,

“Did anyone take note that it is September, 11th in four more days?  I think it is strange this Ebola thing comes out now.”

Aaron replied, “Personally, I think this is some kind of false flag to draw attention away from something else possibly.” 

Dez nodded, “Agreed, we should all check supplies and get some kind of coms before then to stay in touch in case phones don’t work or power goes out.”

She said she would get Tawny to work on some stuff for CB communication. 

Asking them, “Do you each have a CB?” 

Everyone nodded in agreement.  They made some preliminary plans for the following weekend to head out to the land and have a look around. 

After another hour of discussions Dez said,

“It’s late, we have a pretty good start on things for this evening.  What do we say we get some rest and consider the things we discussed and chat later in the week?” 

Loel shook both their hands and said, “Guys you are awesome… I was a little unsure as to how you would take my words about George.  I like him and all but he is just too radical for me.”

Dez and Matt agreed with him and told him so.

As Dez was cleaning up the coffee mess, Matt said,

“See! I knew we could hook up with some good guys, I think this is going to be a good thing.” 

Dez agreed, saying, “I trust Sam, he knows we don’t share the location with others… he must think they are ok or he would never have suggested it.” 

They both nodded to one another and headed off to bed.

Chapter 3

“OPEC”

“Beware the greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry

-Thomas Paine

September 11

              The day seemed to be going smoothly, but everyone was a little on edge.  They all continued normally, as reports of Isis threats came in with the news, and the group CB channel was abuzz with chatter of various reports of alert and incidence.

Everyone remained vigilant and aware of things, but also remained calm.  The evening came and eerily there were no reports of attacks or incidence all that day. Offering a sense of relief to Matt, Dez and Tawny.  Later that evening the new group were planning to meet at Dez and Matt’s house again, but this time was to include all those who would be considered. 

Tawny was in attendance this time, although she was not happy to do so after attending one of the Militia group meetings.  Dez assured her this was not the same and apologized for dragging her to that other meeting.

When she came inside the house, she was decidedly against anything going on and was more than a little disagreeable. But as the others began to arrive, she mused to Dez that things were looking up when she caught sight of Sam.

“Now who is that?” Tawny whispered to her as she eyed Sam while he spoke with Matt. 

Dez smiled at Tawny with that knowing smile they shared that said, “I’ll tell you later.” 

Sam caught Tawny staring a few times during the meeting, he leaned over saying to Matt that he thought she was quite lovely and wanted to know about her if they had a chance to talk later on. Matt laughed, telling his friend, he would fill him in later. 

Sam said, “Hook me up man.” They both laughed.

During the meeting they discussed an online group, this group was ONLY for these members, and there would not be additions to the group unless they meet with everyone in person.  This was for sharing and information within the group only. 

Matt knew that secretly, Dez wanted to lurk about their online profiles as a way to ‘background check’ their new friends. While she knew that people don’t always show their true selves online, she hoped she could possibly garner some insight into their new friends.  She assured Matt that it would never be used as a reason for anyone be included or not.  She said that she felt ‘it would give them an idea of the personalities of those in the group.’ 

It was also discussed that they would monitor CB channel seven for group info, at least until Tawny could come up with a good coms plan.  A system where the channels would change by the day.

Between the Isis threats, economic woes, threats of war, solar flares and Yellowstone.  Also not to forget to mention whatever else may lie ahead, the group was very much on edge.  Add to that the increased threat of Ebola; things seemed more urgent these days.  Loel spoke up saying,

“I don’t know what might happen, but it is definitely a good thing to have a well-organized group of friends if we should find ourselves in a bad spot.”

He then raised his glass, to which everyone responded in kind. 

All in all it was a good meeting.  Matt, however, went to bed that night with an uneasy feeling, he’d had it for days, but thought it was simply September 11th that was bothering him.  He could now see this was not it, there was something else that was making him feel anxious and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

He knew that something was bothering him, he just couldn’t figure out what made him so uptight.  He had been trying to put all the pieces of things together.  It really bugged him that the news had not revealed any details about this Ebola thing, and could not help but wonder what it could be a smoke screen for.

Sleep eluded him for a long time, as he could not make his thoughts go calm, he kept running scenarios over and over until he finally succumbed and fell asleep.

September 14

              Matt woke up and headed to the kitchen for some coffee to find Dez fussing over his cup already.  The past few days were sort of a blur, and all seemed calm.  He thought he was all worked up about nothing and was just grateful for the coffee.

They never seemed to be tired of hanging out together, Dez was a Writer and Matt worked on computers so they could both work from home some days.  They sat having their coffee on the porch swing, enjoying the crisp morning air when Tawny came hurriedly up.  Dez raised her cup to her and said,

“Day off?  Grab a cup.” 

Tawny headed for the door and said, “Yea, but let’s have it inside, you need to look at the news.” 

Matt instantly felt dread, he’d known for weeks something was wrong.  Something more than just September 11
th
, Ebola or run of the mill terrorist stuff. 

They sat in front of the TV, reading the ticker along the bottom, today’s real news wasn’t even spoken by the anchor, and how they could not think this was important enough to speak on was beyond them.  The ticker read
“financial markets are experiencing drop today in the wake of OPEC announcement. The standard for oil sales will no longer be backed in U.S. currency, all oil will now be transferred in Gold.” 

              They all knew what this meant, although most Americans have no clue what the petro-dollar is.  Matt, Dez and Tawny knew exactly what this meant…. Hyperinflation was on the horizon. That, was something they were sure of and felt a desperate need to get things in order. 

Thank goodness it was Friday and payday they all decided to pull nearly all their cash out of the bank go out to pick up a few things and felt they should do it today. 

Dez texted her kids, they too know what the end of the petro-dollar means.  Charleigh, texted back immediately saying she was going to the bank for money, going to get some things ready and they would come down for the weekend at least. 

Matt phoned Sam to get his opinion and see if they could get a few of them together later in the day.  Sam agreed to phone the others and get it set up. 

Matt looked up from his texts saying,

“We didn’t even have time to get out and make one campout, this is going to get rough.” 

Dez and Tawny got ready and headed to the store, while Matt and Dylan got Charleigh and Conner’s room set up. 

Dylan excitedly looking at him said,

“Is Jeremy coming too?” 

Dylan liked Jeremy and hoped he would be coming back soon.

Matt smiled and said, “I expect we will be seeing him and Toni soon as well.” 

Dylan was excited and ran off to Jeremy’s room exclaiming, “I’ll get the stuff for his room too!”

Matt remembered they had not heard from Jeremy yet and decided to call him and see if he heard the news.  After a couple of rings Jeremy answered,

“Hey Matt.” 

Matt thought, guess there is nothing like caller id to spoil a surprise and replied in his best Boston accent,

“Hey there guy how you doin on this wicked good day.”

He and Jeremy was always doing that, they would have entire conversations this way and it would keep everyone laughing.  Dez always said they watched too many Adam Sandler movies. 

Jeremy quipped back, “I’m wicked busy, what’s up there guy?”

Matt asked him if they had heard about the Petro-dollar.

Jeremy replied, “yeah guy, we were just heading to Walmaht for some hookahs and some beeahs to toast the end of Americah.” 

Matt laughed, while Jeremy continued in a more serious tone and explained they had cashed his check and were planning to take at least the next week off and come there tonight, just in case. 

Jeremy was already homesick and not happy that this job had lasted a month longer than expected and told Matt he would be glad to be coming home.  He hated Pittsburgh; he hated all big cities for that matter and longed for some of the fresh air and the space of home.

              Matt checked the time and it was nearly o’clock already, and the question that had been plaguing him would be answered soon.  He was half keeping an eye on the news, half organizing and checking their supplies, when a knock at the door startled him. 

He went to the door to find Sam standing outside with his pack and gun slung across his back.  His truck in the drive loaded with four large shipping crates of various ammo and supplies. 

Matt cocked his head to the side to pretend he was checking it out and said, “Going hunting?” 

Sam using his best John Wayne impersonation said, “Nope, reporting for security detail.”

They both laughed as Matt motioned Sam to come inside, explaining that ten minutes earlier he himself was impersonating Adam Sandler.

Matt knew Sam lived alone and in the opposite direction from everyone else in the group.  They had already planned for him to be issued the spare bedroom when things went bad. 

Matt asked Sam, “So… you think this is it?” 

“Either that or a practice run for us.  No matter which way I figured I had better come help before everyone comes over.” Nodding as he headed down the hall to stow his gear in the spare room. 

Tawny and Dez came home with what they called their bounty.  Matt and Sam, followed by an enthusiastic Dylan, who dutifully went out to bring in the ‘goods’ as Dez had called it.  They said they had just picked up some basics, but when Matt approached the truck he exclaimed,

“Did you leave anything for anyone else?” 

To which Tawny replied, “Nope” with a sly grin.

              They got the basics all stowed away and organized. It consisted mostly of canned and dry goods, along with fuel for the generator and toilet paper and even liquor of all kinds.  Everyone knew it was all to be expected in one of their trips for long term and emergency items.   What Sam questioned was the meat, they had purchased at least twenty five pounds of steak and another twenty pounds of chicken, pork and turkey.  He asked why, if they expected to lose power or anything how would they preserve it? 

Matt just shook his head, rolled his eyes and left Sam to fend for himself, as the girls began to explain in great detail that they were going to can it, or dry it into jerky.  Asking him, how did he think they did it back before electricity?  After the food preservation lesson was over. 

Sam whispered to Matt, “Thanks for warning me buddy.”

Matt just laughed and said, “Some things you just gotta learn on your own.”

              Tawny made some coffee, while everyone sat to watch the news.  Nothing was really being reported which made them all think something was very wrong.  With the things that had come up over the past week it was strange that nothing was being reported.  Near the end of the newscast that Matt referred to as, “Fluff and fiction”, what they had expected to hear came through like an alarm bell. 
“A cyber-attack against the banking industry today has caused some computer glitches in the system.  At the close of business today all systems will be offline until Tuesday morning, this bank holiday will allow programmers to correct the problems with the computers over the weekend.”
 

Dez just laughed and said, “Cyber-attack, yeah right.  They know what is coming with the fall of the U.S. dollar and they are still trying to save the banks over the American public?” 

Continuing she emphasized in her rant into how the government always looked out for the corporations instead of the people.

They were discussing all of it and the implications of what the bank holiday would mean when there was a knock at the door. Tawny got up to answer the door and as she was walking over said,

“At least we got to the store before the rush.” 

Loel and Frank came in and immediately said, “Did you hear?”

Sam nodded, saying, “Did you get in touch with everyone to pull some money out and get to the store this morning?” 

Loel nodding said, “Sure did.”   

The small group perceived this as the beginning of the fall of the U.S. dollar.  They asked that all of their new friends, meet up this evening to go over some contingency plans and talk about preparations for the possibility of Hyperinflation or maybe even civil unrest.