Dystopia: The Long Road (3 page)

While the teller was taking care of his transaction they continued to discuss the woman, the teller never asked him about his large withdrawal.

On his way home he wanted to buy some extra ammo from a few different stores and pick up a few odds and ends along with some groceries.  He knew deep down the banks would not be re-opening, but didn’t want to go crazy spending the money just in case.  The rest of the way home his mind was racing through all the possibilities.  He was sure this was no false flag and that there was something more to it, but what he didn’t know was how OPEC and now the banking issues were tied together.  He knew this was no coincidence and that he needed to be ready for almost anything.

Over the next few days John was busying himself with various activities and quietly squirreling away things in other places on his farm.  He had an old tree stump he had hollowed out a few years back to hide his goody snacks from Amy, he decided to put some extra camping gear into it.  Under the stairs, he had made a compartment and kept his.38 special with extra ammo hidden in it.  To that he added a bunch of MREs and multiple Lifestraws.  John knew all along that his place would not be sustainable long term and had already talked with Matt a few times about what they called bugging out.  They had already made maps with directions to his location if the need ever arose.  Knowing this, he made sure that what he was stashing were things that were more portable and lightweight.

He visited Mark and Renee a few times over the weekend and was glad to see they had done the shopping and taken the money from the bank like he asked them to.  He worried because Renee was not in the best health and that she would struggle on a long journey.  He was glad he had asked them in the spring when a late storm had knocked out power for a week to make sure they had extra prescriptions on hand just in case. 

Renee had managed to get them into a plan that would give them 3 month prescriptions.  John already had found a way for them to have two months in reserve.  After the power went he had her tell the doctors that the pipes froze and when the heat came back on the bathroom faucet exploded, ruining their medications.  After being scolded by the doctor for leaving the caps off she was given a two month supply.  John knew a journey like the one he was sure they were going to have to take would be very difficult for them both.  He had promised Matt that if anything happened to make him go, he would make sure Matt’s parents came with him.

The one thing he dreaded and was trying to figure out was Matty.  Matty was Matt’s son and he would be taking him along.  Thinking about this made him cringe.  Matty’s mom was not what one would call an easy to get along with person.  When Matt married her, no one could figure out why, no one liked her and she was horrible to Matt and even worse now about things with Matty.  He laughed to himself thinking, ‘well, if things are bad enough to go to Matt’s place, I could just shoot her.’ 

Shaking his head, he said to himself out loud, “While I might enjoy that and Matt could rest easy, I guess I couldn’t do it to Matty.  Sure was fun thinking about it though.” 

He decided he would wait to see what happened with things before contacting her.  Thinking of it, he knew his timing on that would have to be just right.  She was what he would call a “sheeple”, someone who would follow along with whatever the government or others would say, having no real opinion of their own, simply following the crowd like sheep.  If something caused a breakdown she would be the first in line waiting for a government handout.  He didn’t relish the thought of trying to get Matty out of an internment camp or something.

September 18
th

John sat in front of the stove building a raging fire before Amy would get up.  It was cold this morning, he hadn’t checked the news yet, but he was sure it was well below freezing.  It had been a hard frost during the night, he was sure much of the garden was toast.  It was only six, but he still had not been able to check his bank accounts online. 

The banks were to reopen this morning and he thought it strange he was unable to even log in.  He decided to wait until nine before trying to check at the bank.  Turning on the news, he sat watching to see if there was any news on the banking situation.  To his chagrin, there was nothing, just more fluff and fiction.  The news held little more than the weather forecast and some story about the President and family on vacation again.  John was instantly irritated because it seemed like they were always on vacation and usually smack dab in the middle of some crisis.

John headed out to the bank promptly at nine, he arrived to see armed guards outside the bank and a mob of people waiting for it to open.  He was going to just leave, but decided to go ask if the guards knew what time the bank would be opening. 

As he walked up he overheard people talking in the crowd, an elderly gentleman was speaking to what appeared to be his wife saying,

“If the bank doesn’t open soon we should go, there are some very angry people here and I think we would be safer at home.” 

A very angry man was shouting that it was time for the bank to open and to let them in, along with another man who seemed to be getting the crowd all agitated. 

John walked up to the guards to ask when they would be opening, when the guard turned his weapon in a threatening manner, telling him, “Hold it right there buddy!” 

John was stunned saying, “Relax man, I just wanted to ask if you knew what time they would be opening?” 

The guard looked to ease up a little, but still maintained his stance and said, “We do not have that information, we are here to keep the crowd under control.” 

John thanked them and turned to leave when the other guard asked him, “Did the news or anyone say anything about this?  We have been here all night and no one has come to relieve us or give us any information.”

The other guard grumbled at him, saying, “Shut up!” 

John just shook his head, “No” and continued to his car.  Once in the car he tried to call Matt, but all it kept telling him was, “
We’re sorry, all circuits are busy.  Please try your call later.”

Leaving the bank he went over to Mark and Renee’s to see how things were going.  Mark was there when he got there, which was much earlier than his usual time to be home.

When he asked why, Mark just shook his head and said, “The world has gone mad, there is no work for me today.  Everyone is in a panic over the banks and wants to hold off on their projects.” 

John said, “I’m not surprised, you should have seen the mob at the bank.  You would think people could go at least a weekend before needing to get things.” 

Renee was making them brunch and asked John, “Do you think there is anything to this banking issue?  I’m glad you made us take the money out on Friday, but when I went to the store this morning gas jumped up another seventy-five cents since yesterday.” 

John shook his head saying, “And so now it begins.” 

Renee looked at him quizzically and asked, “What begins?” 

John said, “Don’t you worry there Mama, you’re going to be ok.”

Gaining a more serious tone John looked to Mark and said, “I need you guys to be prepared to leave here if you have to.  Did you keep the tanks full like I asked you to?” They both nodded and John said, “Good, here is what I need you to do; first I need each of you to pack a bag of clothes. Be sensible, nothing like a vacation, more like what you would take for camping.  Don’t forget extra socks, gloves, hats and scarves also add your tennis shoes to it.  Then I need you to put out an outfit like you might wear for hiking, everything down to the socks and boots.  Have this in a spot in your room so you could quickly change if you needed to.” 

Renee began to get upset, asking him, “Why do we need to do this.”

John said, “Don’t worry about anything there girlie, it is all just in case.” 

Once John felt confident they had their bags together, he began helping Mark look at tools and such that might be helpful.  Renee was working on what John had instructed her to do with other things inside the house, she had all their important papers inside her purse along with a freezer bag of only the most precious of family pictures. 

The goal was to organize things so they could easily and quickly pack up the vehicles and go to John’s house.  John and Mark made a mini cache for them in a small graveyard down the road, in case all they could take was their bags.

John waved as he pulled out of the driveway saying, “I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you.  If you hear from Matt tell him I said Sierra Echo Tango.  He will know what that means.”

John and Matt already had a few phrases that meant different things, this meant all is SET to bug out. Thinking about Matt he knew he had to go check on Matty.  This would likely be an unpleasant encounter, but he decided today was a good day to see. 

When he got to Rita’s apartment, her usual rude attitude was blatantly obvious.   She was a heavier girl, but not in a proportionate way, she insisted on wearing tight clothes that would accentuate the worst areas of her body and fail to cover others.  She stood at the door, glaring at him, her hair a strange shade of orange and her lips pursed in annoyance. 

John said, “Hey Rita, with all the trouble at the banks I just wanted to stop by and see if you and Matty needed anything.” 

She instantly became accusatory saying, “What? Did Matt want you to come spy on me?”

John replied, “No, he just wanted me to make sure Matty was ok if any trouble happened.” 

She sneered, “I’m not incompetent you know.” 

John sighed, “No one said you were, but with the banks failing to reopen I just wanted you to know if you needed anything to stop over, you are BOTH welcome and I can loan you some money if you can’t get any from the bank today.” 

She said, “Fine, but I’m sure we will be ok.” 

John nodded and said, “One last thing, if any trouble starts because of this, you and Matty come over.” 

She glared at him sneering saying, “I said we can take care of ourselves.” 

John sneered back slightly and with a warning in his voice said, “Matty is who matters here and let me give you one word of advice.  You will not have to fear bad guys if anything happens to him because of your pride and attitude.  Because I will be far worse than any bad guy you can imagine.  Matt wanted him taken care of in the event of issues and I will take care of him one way or another.”

Rita stepped back a little and stammered, “I’m sorry John, I know you mean well, I’m just trying to keep Matty safe too.” She knew better than to make John really angry.

She asked if he could take them to the store for some groceries, telling him she had tried this morning but everyone had gone crazy buying everything in the store. 

She began to cry, saying, “They were pushing and shoving and grabbing things out of my hands.  One guy pushed Matty into the counter and kicked him.”

John was angry now and shouting through the apartment for Matty.  Matty came from the back room with a large knot on his forehead, running to Uncle John, as he called him, and whimpering into his belly. 

John glared at Rita, “Why didn’t you just tell me, why were you being so bitchy?”  Rita just stood there with her head low.

John told Matty, “Go pack a backpack for campouts, while I talk to your mom.” 

He turned to Rita with what he felt was sheer hatred in his eyes and said, “Matty is coming with me.”

She began to object when John put his hand up to silence her and saying, “I’m not done, you may come too, but he is not leaving my side until this is all over.  Do you understand?” 

She nodded and said, “Ok.” 

He said, “Go, now! Pack a bag, oh… and forget the nail polish.”

Rita did as she was told but did not look happy about it, she complained as they were getting into John’s truck that he didn’t have to be such an asshole.  John just glared at her, he was not going to argue with her in front of Matty.

As they started to leave, he remembered Kimmie and Jenny, they were Matt’s cousins.  They were only eighteen and twenty but had gotten an apartment on the other side of the same community that Rita and Matty lived in.  John drove across the parking lot, he felt he needed to check on the girls.  He didn’t know to what end, but they were not what one would call financially savvy and would not have seen the banking issues and saved some money.

As he pulled into the lot where parking was designated for their building, he saw Kimmie trying to fight off two teenagers who were taking her groceries out of her trunk.  John stepped out of the truck Glock in hand and yelled out,

”Hey! You, drop the bags!”

The teen that was closest to him could see the gun in his hand and immediately dropped the bags, but the other one flipped him off as he rounded the corner of the building with his plunder.  John smacked the one that stopped in the back of the head and told him to go home.

Kimmie was crying when John approached her and had a long scratch running down her forearm that was bleeding.  He motioned for Rita to come help him, but she sat crossing her arms in defiance, she hated Kimmie and would have no part in helping her.  He walked up to the truck and told Matty to come with him that he needed him to help.  He sneered at Rita telling her to make sure to keep the truck safe.

She looked horrified and said, “You aren’t leaving me here alone, are you?”