The Days After - Installment 1

The Days After: the Journal of

Randall Denison

CHAPTER 1. 

Year 10. Day 1.  It is a beautiful day although there are some dark clouds showing themselves above the Chocolate Mountains west of us. Jason and Rusty are playing in a young stand of water birch near the river. Ten years ago that area was nothing but reed and scrub. Nature is taking back the Colorado River.  I can see Tiffany and Helen in the kitchen, Mary and Sally are sitting on the veranda weaving baskets. Mary is carrying the baby so low that we're certain to have a new member to the tribe very soon. It's been four years since we had a baby. 

     Timothy and Anthony are cleaning a deer while Earl is firing up the nearby smoke house. The three of them are experts at meat preparation.  Samantha and Gwen are tanning leather. We need some new boots for the journey to our summer camp.  Beth and LeeAnn are spinning a pile of cotton they just combed this morning while Valorie is weaving it into the soft fabric we use for most of our clothing. Linda, John and I just returned from early morning fishing. It was a good trip and I need to help clean fish as soon as I finish this journal entry. We'll probably smoke most of it for the migration. 

  We're still camped at our winter spot north of the old Imperial Dam.  We just finished the roof on the new adobe buildings and everyone is anxious to move in. The first longhouse has become a kitchen while the other will be converted to a stable for the horses.

     What started out as a winter camp has become a village. The new adobe buildings have four apartments each and create a plaza like area between them and the river. We have opened the side of the kitchen so it can get lots of fresh air on warm days and can be easily closed to keep in the warmth. Right outside the opening is a veranda where we eat as a community.  The two metal roof shelters that I salvaged from a campground upstream have been moved to a spot on the bluff above the river. That gives us some nice outdoor living area for activities or just to sit and enjoy the view.  

     The view is spectacular and gets better each year as nature reclaims the world around us. The Colorado River is half way up the bluff because of the rain up-stream so the backwater is full and there is good fishing. Each year we have been seeing more plant and wildlife. We actually have trees near the river now. White oak, water birch and cottonwood are thinning out some of the reed. Cactus are returning since the creosote is moving away from the water.  We like having creosote nearby though because it is our pharmacy, but it doesn't like too much water and other plants don’t particularly like it.  

The sun is moving up in the sky and the days are getting warmer. That means we'll want to be moving north soon.  Now that we have horses we can cut across to our summer camp in the high country north and east of us.  The first year we summered up by Parker. We like to winter along the river where we are right now. There are lots of pools and lakes where we can hunt and fish. The dam hasn't been operational since the Last Day.  It's in pretty poor condition so we're expecting it to break like the Parker Dam.  The water level in the river above the dam will probably fall quite a bit but there should still be plenty of water.  The only dam we're worried about is Hoover. If it fails there will probably be a cataclysmic flood but there's nothing we can do about that. We're just hoping that the sound of the approaching flood will carry far enough that we get some warning.  

     It has been 10 years since the Last Day. Well, it was the last day I had any contact with the outside world.  Even then I can't be sure how accurate my count is.  Tiffany and I were listening to a recording of the President calling for the people to remain calm. He went off the air in the middle.  After that I started keeping track of days, and, when I realized that this was going to be a long-term situation, I started keeping a record of the sun and moon. When I got to day 365 on the fourth and eighth year, I added a day, so I shouldn't too be far off.  It doesn't really matter. This is our time now. We have no use for days of the week anyway.  Our only purpose for keeping track of days, the sun and moon is to help us with hunting and gathering and knowing when to move.

     It was never a secret that I had little use for our so-called civilization. The word civilization, which is defined as most advanced, refined, enlightened and sophisticated and carries an unsupported implication of superiority, always bothered me.  Our society was never superior.  It could only claim superiority because it wrote the definition and the definition was self-descriptive.  The people were actually physically and psychologically inferior and unhealthy.  There was an unbelievable level of apathy and lack of compassion, and, while religions were extremely verbal and exceptionally militant, spiritually was basically dead.   

      Some years before the Last Day I had come to the conclusion that the combination that was killing humanity, and everything around it, was the merger of capitalism and religion. They are rather like O’-ethylmethylphosphonite (aka UL) and sulfur.  Separately they are relatively harmless. Together they are the ultimate lethal gas.  Capitalism is basically an eighteenth-century version of feudalism. For capitalism to continue the populace had to constantly increase their consumption. Besides the fact that all that did was make the rich richer, it was not a sustainable system.  They were destroying the environment and people in the name of profit.  The crazy thing was that religion, most specifically the Abrahamic religions that originated in the Middle East,  found it beneficial to buy into the capitalist story, just as religion had supported feudal nobility by giving titles like “Defender of the Faith”, making capitalism pseudo-sacred and causing the common person, whom the capitalists preferred to remain ignorant,  to believe that this travesty is how things were meant to be.  

     I had been a part of the system.  Tiffany and I both worked forty to sixty hours a week or more. Some people we knew also had ten or more hours of travel time to and from work on top of that. We didn’t have children.  I don’t know how we could have. We hardly had time for each other. We would eat our dinner with our smartphones in front of us reading texts and answering emails.  After dinner we would each work on projects meant to get us ahead at work or improve our place in the food chain. The only time you could, with a clear conscience, really do nothing was on your scheduled vacation time.  We had friends who did have children. I don’t know why. They never saw the children.  The children would be in day-care when their age was still calculated in days and weeks.  Mom or Dad would pick the child up from day-care between five and six in the evening, feed them and put them to bed.  When they got to school age they spent their day in school and went to a day-care of after-school program.  Tiffany would be at the hospital by six-thirty each morning and would often still be seeing patients at seven o’clock in the evening. We, like everyone else we knew, did this to survive.  And if we would, by some miracle, survive until retirement age – which kept getting pushed later – you hoped that you would have enough money that you didn’t have to find a retirement job.  More and more people were failing.  It was a miserably failing society. About eight years before the Last Day Tiffany and I decided to drop out.  We never regretted that decision and it is probably why we are alive today.

     Life is good now and ten years of survival and good living is something to celebrate.  It was quite a journey getting here. Ten years and it feels like yesterday. 

Year 1. Day 3.  This is the third day since we lost all contact with the outside world. I have no idea what's going on. It is extremely unnerving. Normally I don’t really care to hear all of the news from the outside world because it is generally bad news, but I always had some idea of what was happening. Suddenly there’s nothing.  I decided that I need to keep track of time and journal. Who knows how long we will be out here.  

     Three days ago we were listening to the President calling for calm. The best we could tell all hell was breaking lose around the country. That's why we're here. I'll be honest. We are hiding out in the desert.  We figure that we’d rather face rattle snakes, scorpions, mountain lions and other big predators than the violence of people who worship ignorance and get off on cruelty and violence. We've been nomads for eight years because we couldn't stand the bickering and fighting. After the President's speech was cut off we started to drive into town. From a distance we could see smoke and hear sporadic gun fire.  We had no idea what was happening but we were not going to drive into the middle of it. We turned around, hitched up our camper trailer, put the truck in four-wheel drive, and headed out on an old dirt road toward the Colorado River. About a half-mile from the river we found a nice thicket of palo verde and mesquite. We parked the trailer as far into the trees as possible.  Just to be safe we put tarps over the truck and piled branches around it. We're definitely not going to be driving anywhere until whatever is going on is over.  We are close enough to the river that we can walk there after dark. If the fighting is over water; which is very likely; we sure don't want to be too close or try to get water during the day. One of us keeps watch while the other fills our water containers.  We stay out in the desert where most people have no idea how to live. Our skills as nomads living in the desert is going to be our salvation. Our biggest problem is that we are going to have to become Hunter-Gatherers because we sure can't run into the grocery store. That really scares me. I've wanted to forage for food for years but every book I've read on the subject says that you must be extremely careful and should have an expert teach you because for every edible plant there is one that looks almost identical that can kill you. Oh, well. No choice. 

Year 1. Day 4.  I'm so glad that we installed solar several years ago. I love being out in the wilderness but I'm not ready to go totally primitive yet. Sure hope things out there are calming down and we can get our lives back. Tiffany figures that we will never get our old lives back. That could be a blessing, but it's also a bit scary. There is still no radio. I ran the cell signal booster up as high as I could get it. I know there are at least two towers within fifteen miles of us. There's one down on CA-78 by Imperial Wildlife Refuge and one north by Ehrenburg.  There was nothing out there. I really want to find out if our nomad friends are okay. The word 'alone' has taken on a whole new meaning. I hiked to a nearby area known for disbursed camping. There were five rigs there.  Someone yelled "stop or I'll shoot" as I got close. They were frightened and running out of supplies. At least they had water. 

     They told me that four days ago all hell broke loose. I already had that figured out.  It all started when a private army calling itself a security company shot a handful of people who were trying to take water from a California river. The security company said that their employer owed that water and they were protecting it. People from the town took up arms and went after the security force. Federal and State police arrived. Since the security force was protecting their employer's property, even though they were on public land, the police sided with the security company. It was a massacre. Word got out and the country went ballistic. 

     The folks at the camping area had been on vacation and found themselves trapped here.  I suggested that they'd be safest if they hunkered down somewhere in the desert and waited until things calmed down. They were determined that they were going to convoy out.  I gave them some tips on boondocking and left.  I told Tiffany what the campers had told me. She wished that I had been able to convince them to stay hidden in the desert but it was their decision. 

Year 1. Day 14.  We decided that we needed to go into town today to see if we could get some supplies and some news. I really wanted to go alone so I didn't put Tif in any danger. I got the usual 'stop babying me' speech. Actually, she's right. We need to stick together.  I strapped my 12" blade bowie knife to my leg, we both hung a can of bear spray on our belts and headed off to find out what was going on.  What we found was a ghost town. What a mess.  There were signs of fighting and death everywhere but there were very few bodies. Many of the walls were riddled with what appeared to be automatic weapons fire and some large holes that looked like they might have been made by a mortar.  Most of the buildings were standing open, windows broken out and obviously looted. I saw one of the rigs from the campers by the river. It was riddled with bullet holes but no one was inside and no blood. This is what we were afraid would happen to them.  There was nothing for us to do except see if we could salvage anything we needed. I headed toward the hardware store first. 

        The hardware store was pretty well sacked but the main things that were gone were items needed for towing and guns. I loaded up on fishing gear. Tif found an overturned Victorianox knife display. There were a number of the big knives with all the little tools. Even if I'm wearing one of my single blade knives, I don't go anywhere without my Swiss Army knife. They are amazing little tools.  Tif gathered all the ones that had multiple tools, attaching one to the utility belt she had picked up.  I was able to find two small pumps that I could convert into hand pumps. I had already decided that we need one for water. Filling our water containers by dipping was a real pain. Since there weren't any gas stations open I decided to make a second pump to see if I could pump any gasoline from the bottom of their inground tanks. We were taking everything we could find that would hold water or gasoline when Tiffany noticed the loft. The hardware had a loft that looters had missed or maybe didn't feel they had the time or safety to go up there. I did and I found enough containers to fill the back of the truck, dropping them down to Tif waiting at the bottom of the ladder.  I also found several portable solar panels in the loft.  Looters had left most of the very large batteries, probably because of their weight, and most of the six volt batteries.  We found three large lithium batteries and a pallet of six volt batteries. A good battery has about a five year shelf life. I'm hoping it won't be that long, but we need to be prepared. 

     The truck was getting full so I went looking for a wagon or trailer to help me salvage more while Tif continued salvage efforts at the store.  We didn't want to take a chance on a second visit any sooner than necessary.  Someone in the RV park behind the hardware store had left their cargo trailer. I guessed that they didn't want anything slowing down their getaway. I felt bad dumping their personal things on the ground but at that point I really needed the trailer and I doubt that they are planning to come back if they survived the getaway. 

    Returning to the hardware we loaded and finished packing our salvage into the cargo trailer. While I was getting the cargo trailer, Tif found a multi-band radio in the office. We figured that we had a small inverter that would power it and it might get us news or contact with the outside world, so we brought it with us. 

     The grocery store and pharmacy were probably the worst damaged. There was no food left. Even the big walk-ins were empty. We weren't surprised. We were rather pleased to find that the pharmacy still had some medications.  All of the basics that people know and anything whose name they might recognize and was worth money were gone. We weren't too worried. We have plenty of creosote bushes near us, the Native American's pharmacy. The looters had left almost everything that had big chemical names instead of trade names.  Tif and I started going through the bottles. Between the two of us we knew or could figure out most of the drugs. Looters had actually left a large supply of dihydrocodeinone, which is a form of hydrocodone. We also got some celecoxib and ketorolac, both nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. For some reason the looters also left the antibiotics, so I loaded up. 

     On the way out I noticed that the stationary shelves were almost untouched. Who was planning to do any writing when the world seemed to be coming apart?  Some of the little notebooks and bundles of paper were still in shrink wrap under the display cabinets. I took all the paper, pencils and pens we could handle. Tif just smiled. She knows I would go nuts without a way to journal or write.     

     Our last stop was at the gas station. It was the old-fashioned type with two work bays. Just like at the hardware, the looters didn't take the time or the risk to go into the loft. Like most of those old gas stations there was a loft filled with tires, oil and lubricants, filters and a host of other essentials. I was lucky enough to find a crowbar and removed the cover from the gasoline fill port and with one of my hand pumps we filled all of the gasoline cans in the truck. We siphoned over 100 gallons of gas from the bottom of the three tanks containing unleaded gasoline. 

     Before we left I looked in the tow truck to see if there was anything which I might need. Tif was checking out nearby stores. That was when she heard the voice. It was a weak voice saying "help me. Please help me."    

     She called me over and we traced the voice to a dumpster behind what had been a fast food restaurant.  Laying on top of the trash was an old man. His body was broken and covered with dry blood. We got him out of the dumpster as gently as possible but he screamed with pain.  

     Tiffany examined the old man. Often he would give a short yelp from pain when she touched him.  She hasn't worked in an emergency room for years but she hasn't lost her touch. As I was talking to the old man, whose name was Fred, I caught her looking at me and shaking her head ‘no’. Looking down at Fred's broken body I knew what she meant. 

    Fred told me that shortly after the riot in California the people in town heard that the Meleketites were trying to take over the government. Daniel Meleketi, the founder of the ultra-conservative, militaristic cult has been dead for years but his son took over the cult. He has run for president several times and failed. Every time he failed he would incite riots among his followers. Most of the people in town merely got in their car, van or RV and left. Those who remained were either those who had no way to leave or thought they could survive the Meleketites. 

     When they arrived, the Meleketites were heavily armed and killed anyone who resisted them. The only way to stay alive was to either run or pledge allegiance to Meleketi. They had found Fred hiding in the back of his garage while they were looting the town. They beat him until they thought he was dead and threw him into the dumpster. 

     Tif's the physician but even I knew that this poor old man wasn't going to live much longer. He was in tremendous pain and we had a good supply of hydrocodone. When we offered him the pain killer he asked us to give him something that would put him out of his misery. He knew that he could not survive. He wanted to end his pain for good. 

     According to Tif the maximum amount of hydrocodone per day is 60 mg. Each of our tablets had 10mg.  I let Fred have eight tablets. He talked for a few minutes. His pain was greatly reduced and he was getting sleepy. He thanked us over and over until he fell asleep, or perhaps lost consciousness. In either case he had no pain. We sat and watched him until we noticed that he didn't seem to be breathing. It was over. 

     We drove home in silence. We were safe, but we wondered what was going on in the world around us.  Did the Meleketites bring down the government?  There is no way to know.  We hooked up the radio and scanned every frequency we could find but there was nothing. You'd think that whomever won would be on the air bragging or reassuring folks unless there just wasn't any power anywhere. Tif suggested that maybe no one won. That's a really scary thought. 

    As we sat watching a beautiful Arizona sunset we talked about the future. Strangely enough neither of us is worried about surviving.  We're facing a steep learning curve concerning edible plants. I'm sure of enough that we're not going to starve. The fish are probably full of chemicals but we can't help that. What does cause us to worry is whether there is any form of civilization left out there and, understandably, we are both terrified that the Meleketites will discover us.