Prologue
The year is 2018, in the not so distant future. James McCade
awakes from his slumber, the morning is cold and the dew has settled. The sun
is rising in the east, for it is about six am in the morning and the morning
twilight is at its coldest. He does not know what the temperature is for
technology went with the EMP’s when the nukes went off. He thinks he is
somewhere near what is northern New Mexico and cannot go any farther then he
dare goes. The Russian and Chinese hit the United States with every nuke they
had in their arsenal. Only for that were they to disable America, of course in
kind the United States hit back; hitting Moscow and Beijing so forth and so on.
World War Three they claimed it before the power went out.
As James did know with the super powers out of the way
little wars broke out through the world. Israel hitting Iran, India went after
Vietnam. That day more nukes flew than plans. The earth survived but the human
race struggled on. In the beginning James found cars made before 1980 were
still able to run after the EMP waves.
The opposing force blew nukes over the United States atmosphere to begin
the attack. James watched on National
Geographic and YouTube about the possibility of EMP attacks on the United
States, which the outcome was neither promising, nor beneficial to us
Americans.
With our economy collapsed and infrastructure destroyed the
riots turned brother again brother, sister against sister, father or mother
against sibling, neighbor against neighbor. The society was already desiccant
with the United States becoming lazy and less God fearing. The spoiled would
turn to communism or socialist ideals. Helping someone was better in the ways
of spreading the wealth redistribution. Gone were the days in the bible if you
give man a fish he would full for a day rather than you teach a man to fish he
would fish for a lifetime and be self-sufficient. Who those were prepared
either moved out of the country or went underground.
James was not so lucky with him working his nine to five jobs
and just struggling to buy ammo. James loved camping and that’s what possibly
could have saved him. All the while the government trying to ban it or just buy
it right out from under the American people. James struggled to hold on his
AR-15 and forty caliber pistol when the National Guard came to do door nocks by
order of the government. Luckily he had got some advice and buried some of his
gear when he had a chance. But that was it a go bag with food, medical
supplies, ammo, a tent, and random things to remind him of what was from his
home. He packed smart and tried to pack lite for not knowing what was left to
come. His home was Albuquerque and it was destroyed by one of the many nukes.
Kirtland Air Force is a strategic local, as well as Los Alamos National Labs so
there was no surprise why those areas were hit.
James was aware from his childhood about places like this
when his parents worked either place. His parents also died from the bombings
and the areas around them were longer reachable with the nuclear fallout.
Luckily James lived more outside of town and the winds kept the fallout long
enough for him to get away from that faithful day. But everything he knew or
had known was dead and gone. For a while James would break into old cars and
just hot wire them and drive from town to town to survey the damage. But after
a while the towns become a distant memory, the vehicles became less and less.
Josh remembered to when he was younger, James wanted nothing more to go into
the military. His parents were Air Force and they would hope for him to follow
in their footsteps, but James had other plans joining the Marine Corps instead.
His parents should have seen the signs with James being on the football team
and Marine ROTC but they had hope they would do the right thing and join the
Air Force. So James was in the middle of nowhere on his own, and he remembered
that his drill instructors always said that your own two feet will be your
transportation and for that moment was living those words to heart.
James assumed that he was near the border of New Mexico and
Colorado, so the decision was made to head north. In his travels he gathered
enough resources to head north when gathering clothes from abandon homes and
cars. Every so often coming across a dead body or two, he would pilfer through
the stench and found whatever was useful. James had to remember that the riots
and the famine then brought a civil war amongst the government and the people.
Either side would eventually loose but the remnants brought warring factions of
Liberty men and the remaining of the government with cohesion barely in tack.
There were more coups that year in Washington that he could care to remember
from TV. The government was so corrupt that either side whether Democrat or
Republican would kill each other on the house floor for power. Now the two
parties have a truce but the remaining politicians have set their goals on the
United States where their intentions were more nefarious than positive.
With James deciding to head north he would visit his brother
in Colorado Springs to find shelter for the winter. His journeys have made him
suffer for over a years’ time of the nuking of Albuquerque. The weather was one
of the biggest foe next to roving marauders and factions who took claim to the
land from the end of times. James had to be careful while on foot for
traps have been set from hunters and cannibals trying to catch animals and
humans alike to eat from. Punji traps and spring traps was the latest traps the
cannibals put out trying to catch him outside of Raton’. For some reason the
cannibals solely focus on him like he was fillet mignon. Granted James as a
child grew up with a Navajo and learned about hunting and gathering from the
land. The teachings of the Navajo has kept him alive this long but hunger can
grow in different ways like; love or to be love, or family, or to be warm in a
warm bed. None of those things exist for James for now, the world he knew he
longed for more and more. Even the touch of a cell phone or a computer with the
internet would be nice right now. But James’s focus was to start walking from
his hive where he camped and gather his strength.
At first with his travel at the age of twenty-nine James
acted like a rebellious child breaking into home and stealing vehicles
uninvaded but all that got boring when reality set in. Supplies got low and hunger for a week does
wake a person up. His loneliness almost drove him home to Albuquerque where the
radiation levels would have killed him. He wanted to see his home, he wanted to
find his parents, and confirm they were dead or do his duty to bury them if
they were. James wanted to see his favorite bar with his friends waiting
inside.
A little voice in his head screamed,
STOP! What are you doing? You still have family and you need to find them. Do
not give up!
No comments:
Post a Comment