by A J Newman
Joe sat at the salesman's desk while the salesman acted like he was trying to get Joe a good deal. There was a radio on the desk playing old ‘80s music when abruptly a newswoman said, “The Chinese have moved their aircraft Carrier Group closer to Taiwan, and the NSA reports the Chinese have moved several divisions of their crack troops to staging areas where their amphibious ships are located. Our President has ordered two more of our Carrier Groups to the area. We will keep you posted on any significant events.”
Joe ignored the announcer and read a hot rod magazine. Joe agreed to the price, and they signed the documents. He now had a Bronco.
The salesman told him about a place that had several used trailers, so Joe paid for the Bronco and headed out to find a trailer and purchase supplies. He bought a suitable trailer and then went to Cobb’s Outfitters and Outdoors Store in Ashland to purchase a few guns, ammunition, animal traps, and a long list of other items he thought he would need to live off the land.
He walked up to the camping section, where a man and the female department manager were having a heated discussion. “Mrs. Simms, I’m sorry you are being evicted, but I’m just the messenger,” the man said.
Cobie Simms answered with tears in her eyes. “But where will my daughter and I live? Everything is too expensive in Ashland, and most won’t take my daughter’s dog. Why is the building being torn down?”
She then quoted various laws and regulations, but the man replied, “Lady, some rich jerk from California bought several buildings and is tearing them down to build nicer homes that will sell for millions. Look, you received notice 60 days ago and have to be out today. These guys have a dozen lawyers on retainer. Good luck.”
“But I can’t take off work. I’ll lose my job.” Tears flowed down her cheek as Cobie glared at the man.
The man ended the confrontation with, “Mrs. Connie M. Simms, the sheriff will be at your apartment at 3:00 pm today. Watch my men place your possessions out on the lawn for you to remove.”
The short, feisty lady said, “That’s Ms. Simms.”
Joe watched as the beautiful lady’s cheeks turned red, and her voice cracked as she tried to keep her composure. Joe felt sorry for the attractive raven-haired beauty but went on with his shopping and minded his own business. After the betrayal by his fiancee, Joe didn’t have much sympathy for any woman in trouble, but the tears tugged at his heartstrings as he forced himself to walk away from her. As he walked away, he thought that the woman seemed very familiar. She was sharp-tongued, opinionated, and brilliant. He felt his Grandma would have said, “Boy that gal is built like a brick shithouse.”
He thought about this woman on and off the rest of the day while getting everything ready for his trip to the land.
Joe had almost finished his shopping when he walked past the archery department, tried out several compound bows, and decided to buy one. He hadn’t hunted with a bow since he was a Boy Scout. It seemed like a good idea, so he purchased the bow, arrows, and the accessories recommended by the sales clerk.
Joe was becoming more and more excited about returning to a life he had trained for as a child. He knew his weight would return to what, for him, would be normal.
Joe parked the Bronco and trailer in front of his motel room, checked the lock on the door to the trailer, and went to his room for the night. He turned on the news and took a shower. He lay down on the bed as the TV announcer said, “We have breaking news out of Taiwan. The entire Taiwanese financial banking system has been the subject of a cyber attack. Markets around the world are in chaos. Taiwanese officials are certain the Chinese military is responsible. Taiwan has threatened nuclear retaliation if the Chinese move troops toward them.
President Jackson has deployed two aircraft carrier groups to the area to assist Taiwan if this should become a shooting war. Jackson has warned the Chinese not to make any hostile moves against Taiwan.”
Joe fell asleep with only his new property on his mind. He wasn’t going to waste his time worrying about people ten thousand miles away.
Joe spent the next two days in lawyer’s offices and banks getting his inheritance handled and all of the transfers and paperwork completed. He took the time to read another letter from his Grandma. The letter read:
Dear Joe:
To help you, I have added an alphabetized list of problems, and heartaches at the end of the book that refers to the letter with my advice on the subject. I thought of this when you gave me the advice to play nice with all of my kids and grandkids. Well crap, I didn’t listen to your advice and didn’t provide the others with a damned thing, which is what they deserved. So remember, I will give you advice, but you don’t have to take it.
Love Grandma.
The next morning Joe picked up a few groceries and drove out of Ashland on Dead Indian Highway. After about two miles, he turned right on an unmarked road that wound past several companies and continued into the hills. He began to see patches of snow on the side of the road and around the base of trees in the woods. The snow steadily built up as he went higher into the mountains.
Joe hadn’t seen the property since his Grandma broke her hip when he was in his senior year of college. He didn’t recognize anything along the way. He pulled out his Grandma's map of the property and some old aerial photographs that showed several structures on the property. He followed the route out of Ashland to where an x on the map was located. Joe found himself in a meadow with nothing but grass surrounded by trees. The x had a note that said, “Start here, Joe.”
The air was crisp and had a bite to it as Joe took a deep breath and coughed. The scent of Pine was strong, but the air also had a slight earthy smell. Joe put a warm parka on because it was freezing this high up on the mountainside. His ears were cold, and his nose was running as he dressed in the warm clothes. He strapped on his heavy backpack and his new Ruger .44 Magnum revolver. He headed out, walked around the property, and followed the map to find his cabin. He had purchased the big bore pistol and all of the other gear because Grandma had warned him about bears and mountain lions roaming the hills. He also had a .308 hunting rifle, .22 Ruger 10/22, and a Ruger MKIV, so he was set up for hunting large and small game. While Joe didn’t give a crap about politics, he was very happy that Congress passed the universal gun laws back in 2021 or he would have had to wait to become a resident of Oregon to purchase pistols.
He took a last look at the contents of the large envelope and pulled out the deed to the land, which had some fine print on the bottom right corner. The fine print made Joe’s jaw drop when he saw his tract of land was 1,107.3 acres. He read the entire description several times and looked around but couldn’t see the three structures mentioned in the paperwork. He looked at Google Earth on his tablet and saw several dirt paths winding through the property, so he headed to the far end of the fifty-yard broad meadow to find the path.
The path was overgrown, and briars tugged at his pants leg. The snow was a few inches deep, as he headed east up a hillside to where the main cabin should be located. The trail was steep, and it brought back memories of when he and his Grandma had walked to the top years ago to get to the cabin. The walks came back to him but left him confused. He should have seen the cabin by now. He was a bit worried that he saw several tire tracks in the snow crossing his property. The tracks traveled across the southern end of his land and went southwest. He wondered if hunters were poaching on his land, and thought he should purchase no hunting or trespassing signs on his next trip into town.
He stared at the woods, but only saw pine trees, so he walked fifty feet further on up the hill. He still didn’t see anything but pine trees and overgrown bushes. He was frustrated now and thought that perhaps the cabin had burned down, but then he remembered that it had a large basement below it that couldn’t have disappeared. He walked a few steps more and caught a glimpse of something odd. He walked toward the object. The cabin was only twenty feet from him, and the strange object was the steps up to the porch.
The outsi
de of the cabin was in good shape, but weeds and trees had overgrown the front yard making it hard to see until one bumped into it. Joe liked the natural camouflage. He decided to clear only the weeds closest to the cabin and cut only a few limbs that brushed against the metal roof.
The inside of the cabin was covered in dust and smelled that musty, stale aroma that left a bad taste in your mouth. The pieces of furniture had dusty white sheets covering them. The living room had a massive fireplace with iron pots hanging from iron hooks. They had been used for cooking stews and boiling water for years. There was a faint smell of burned wood coming from the hearth.
The bedrooms had furniture from the mid-1900s and hardly showed any wear. The bedroom closet had sheets, pillowcases, and blankets stored in plastic bags. The cabin was dusty and had a few cobwebs but otherwise was mostly ready for him to move into.
He dropped his pack on the couch, explored each room, and then went downstairs to the basement. There was very little light in the basement, so he fetched his LED lantern to explore the basement, which had been broken up into several rooms. One room had shelves stacked with food of all kinds. He opened a couple of the home-canned beans and tomatoes, and his nose was assaulted by the pungent sulfur smell. Had he looked closer, he would have seen the bacteria growths in the jars. Most of the food had to be pitched because it was very old, but there were a few boxes of sealed survival food that had years of shelf life left.
The other rooms had tools, camping gear, and large boxes of unknown contents. The final room Joe explored had a thick steel door. Behind it was a small apartment. The walls were covered with more shelves containing thousands of books. Joe hadn’t had a book in his hands in years. He’d had his first tablet at four years old. He looked at the titles. There was a mixture of fiction and every topic from how to field dress a deer to how to make furniture by hand. He also found a whole section on how to survive the apocalypse.
He had purchased cleaning supplies expecting to have to clean the place up but now wondered if he needed more. He decided to leave most of his supplies and equipment in the trailer, so he drove around the small pine trees and parked the overloaded trailer next to the big patio behind the house.
It took three days to clean and air out his new home, but on the third day, he moved his belongings into his new home. The cabin now had a strong pine and lemon scent that overpowered the musky smell. Joe could tolerate the new smell over the ones before that reminded him of death and despair.
He found a radio on a shelf in the living room and was able to get a few stations. Every day the news coming from the Far East sounded worst, and he felt the country might end up in a shooting war with North Korea and China over their constant cyber attacks on Taiwan and now the Philipines.
The last thing he did after getting all the dust and dirt cleaned was to take the sheets off the furniture only to find another note from his Grandma, which read:
Dear Joe:
I see you found the cabin and have probably cleaned it up a bit. It sure was dusty when I dropped by a year ago. Don’t clean up the property much. It will be more difficult for people to find you and the cabin. Gramps and I became preppers when you were just a child, but your mom thought we were crazy, so we never talked about it; however, most of the games and treasure hunts you thought were fun were actually training. We used them to instill the need for secrecy, and hopefully, you will remember where some of the hidden treasure is located if the shit hits the fan. I was open about my thoughts that an apocalypse was just around the corner, and I hope Gramps and I helped get you ready for it if and when it happens.
Love Grandma.
This message was a bit confusing because Joe only remembered bits and pieces of the early years up at the cabin. He did; however, remember learning how to hunt fish, clean game, and a million other tasks related to camping in the wild. Joe had an aha moment and realized that all of that was the training and treasure she talked about. Well, he didn’t think there was going to be an apocalypse, but he could certainly use those skills to live off his land and avoid people. He would look for the treasure later.
The day after finding the main cabin, he took a break to explore the woods around the cabin and to look for the other two cabins that he remembered. They were on the map, so he used his GPS to help steer him toward the first. A further search revealed the second cabin was only a hundred yards from his new home. He was disappointed as he walked up to the cabin because he could see that the roof sagged and the door was hanging open. The cabin had not been kept up and had fallen apart. In ten years it would be one with the woods around it.
He continued east, walking through the tough, thick brush until he knew he was a few hundred feet south of the third cabin. Joe had to crawl part of the way up the mountain since it was too steep to walk but not vertical enough to climb. He was out of breath when he arrived at the cabin.
This structure was in good shape but was more rustic than his new home. It was more like what he had expected to find. It didn’t have electricity, propane heat, or a pump to get running water into the very rustic cabin. There was an old well that had seen better days. He took the wad of keys he had found in the pouch, opened the door, and looked around. The furniture was covered with sheets. Although the cabin was a beautiful little place to live he decided to stick with his more modern cabin. He took a different route back to his home.
After cleaning the entire house, including the basement, he loaded the spoiled food into his trailer and headed back to town to dump the trash and purchase enough groceries to last him a couple of weeks. He remembered that Grandma had told him of the fierce winters and deep snow in the mountains. He also stopped by the bank and left with $10,000 cash which he converted to old silver coins and small silver bars on the recommendation of one of his survival books.
After he had finished his errands, he heard on the truck’s radio that banks had closed before noon and that the entire financial system of the USA had been hacked. A voice on the radio said, “One of our financial experts says that the cyber attack destroyed all records in 80 percent of America’s banks and that no one could tell how much money they had in their bank accounts and all mortgage info had been lost.”
Another expert reported that all stock trading records had been wiped out in the USA, Japan, and Europe. Millions of people were flocking to their bank to get their money out. Joe quickly realized that his valuable stock was now worthless.
Joe doubled back to check with his bank. There he found a huge crowd gathering at each of the banks on the block. Police cars were pulling up as fights broke out in the crowd. Joe floored his Bronco, and a few minutes later, he heard the radio emergency broadcast warning. He pulled over to focus on the alert as he saw people streaming out on to the streets.
The announcer said to keep all radios and TVs tuned to the Conelrad Emergency Broadcast station during this dire emergency. He then introduced the President who said, “My fellow Americans, 0ur country suffered a horrendous cyber attack on our financial system just a few hours ago, and now New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles have been attacked with small thermonuclear dirty bombs by Islamic terrorists. Though these bombs were small in yield, consisting of military grade explosives attached to the radioactive material, the damage is substantial. Our military is responding … Oh, my God. Numerous missiles are inbound. Seek shelter…” The voices were replaced with static, and then the radio went silent.
He saw two cars collide ahead of him and heard crashing sounds behind him. Only an old pickup truck was moving, and every driver was getting out of their stalled vehicles. One of the vehicle’s gas tank had ruptured, and gas flowed toward several other cars. The gas ran under a crashed car and erupted in flames. Soon several cars were on fire, and one exploded. The smoke from the burning tires was black and acrid as it burned Joe’s lungs.
Several people were injured in the crashes, and good Samaritans were checking on them. The Bronco’s engine was still running so he started to pull around several
stalled cars when he heard a terrible roar above as a shadow blocked out the sun. A few seconds later, a Boeing 737 Airliner crashed into the side of Mount Ashland. The crash was followed by a huge rolling cloud of black smoke. Joe was certain no one had survived.
Joe didn’t even have time to think before several other explosions came from the direction of the Medford airport. Planes were dropping out of the sky, and thousands of people were dying around him. One of the aircraft struck a factory, and there were multiple secondary explosions after the initial crash. He heard a deafening sound coming from his left and saw a small jet gliding down to the ground without power. Joe then noticed that Cobb’s Outfitters and Outdoors Store was in the path of the plane. The plane struck the ground in the parking lot of Cobbs and slammed into the building. It exploded, sending flames and smoke skyward. He thought about that raven-haired beauty in the camping supplies department and thought what a waste of a gorgeous woman. Damn.
Joe was frightened and headed out of town as quickly as the vehicle would go. Several minutes later, he heard gunfire. He saw two older vehicles fleeing town and heading east on Dead Indian Road. One of them, a black Jeep, turned off on the same road that he took to get to the cabin. The Jeep kept going northeast when the road forked, and Joe took the eastern route to his cabin. He flew up the side roads and dirt paths back to the cabin.
Joe only knew something horrible was happening to his country. He didn’t know much about the financial system or nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse bombs. He just knew the shit had hit the fan and it was the end of the world as we know it. He arrived at the cabin and turned the radio on to only hear static. He drank several bottles of beer down as he sat in the basement, collected his thoughts, and let his nerves calm down.
That’s how Joe Harp left civilization and disappeared into the Oregon woods before the world’s financial collapse, and nuclear EMP attacks caused civilization to fall apart. Billions of his fellow men would die over the next few months. Joe wasn’t a prepper or a survivalist. He was an average Joe who made a living fixing cars, and now he was fighting to survive.
