Anthony Newman - American Survivor

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.

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 Trump 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 outside 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 to cook stews and boil water for years. There was a faint smell of burned wood coming from the hearth.

The bedrooms had furniture from the mid-1900’s 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.

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.