Anthony Newman - American Survivor

Every day 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 thermo-nuclear 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.

It was pure luck and a couple of good decisions that had helped Joe survive the first days of the world’s collapse. Now he would need to learn quickly how to survive, or he would be just another casualty in the billions who died that year and would never be remembered.

Joe dropped to his knees, looked to heaven, and thanked God for delivering him. He realized that he was one of the luckiest men on earth to have received this myriad of blessings in such a timely manner. He thought, Yeah, I’m lucky, but right now it looks like only the lucky will survive this debacle.

Constance May Simms was a divorced single mother who had sacrificed every day for ten long hard years so her daughter could have a good life and get an excellent education. She gave birth to Cloe when she was only 15 and had to drop out of school. Her jock boyfriend did marry her but quickly ditched her when she interfered with his college and womanizing. Cobie was 18, divorced, and uneducated when she entered the workforce. She was too proud to go back home to her mom and stepdad. She lived on welfare and WIC while working as much as she could until she was able to get Cloe into kindergarten and started her first job that paid above minimum wage.

Cobie got her nickname from her younger stepbrother when saying Cobie was the best he could do as he tried to say Connie’s name. She was five foot four, weighed 115 pounds, and had jet black hair to go along with her outgoing disposition. She had hazel eyes and a smooth blemish free skin that made her look younger than her 29 years. While she was beautiful, it was in a Tomboy sort of fashion.