When The Fault Breaks: Life Will Never Be The Same Read online

  "You are so right Ben but now the fish are almost gone and you can't see the bottom anymore."

  "I know Beth it is disgusting and the hunting, it used to be the deer would wander in and out of camp without any fear, so much so we called them pests because they would try to eat anything that may have been left out."

  I laughed to myself it reminded me of when I backpacked across the Olympic Mountains in Washington State.

  "We had been here for almost a month enjoying fresh fish, lying naked in the sun during the day and watching the stars at night. Then you guys showed up Ben, and now we cannot catch any more fish."

  "Very funny Peter I noticed you didn't say you couldn't lay around naked anymore, because you never stopped that."

  "Why would we Ben, you and Beth were all over that? Beth loves to lay around naked in the sun as much as the rest of us."

  Beth objected, "Really you have to tell the world that we all laid around naked here?"

  "Oh Beth like you have ever had a problem showing off your body. I cannot count how many times you said, 'let's find a nice nude beach.'"

  Clearly unhappy Beth said, "Shut up Ben."

  Ann barked out, "All right you guys stop fighting, it was so nice we would count the satellites we saw each night to see who could find the most as a sort of a game to pass the time on the warm summer nights. The sounds of frogs filled the air creating a symphony that would have been lost if the radio or TV was on."

  "Yea just like it was before we left our home in Washington, wasn't it Ann?"

  Ann continued, "Bats filled the air at night feasting on the mosquitoes keeping their numbers down. Every night we could hear the owls all around us hooting in the dark."

  Fred added, "Well Ann at least they are still out there eating the mosquitoes."

  "They sure are Fred."

  "You know what I miss? Every now and then we even heard coyotes crying out in the night."

  "Me too Ann."

  Beth added, "Not me they used to scare the hell out of me."

  "It's all right now, you are safe, I think they are all gone or eaten."

  "Funny Peter, real funny."

  Ben added, "What I don't miss is the raccoons, if we didn't put everything up at night we would find it scattered all over the next morning."

  "I can assure you they all have been taken for dinner."

  "Now when I stand on the overlook the scene is very different, it is like something out of an Armageddon movie. Motor homes are circled like the old covered wagons arranged as a sort of barrier to the weather and walls of a compound. Inside the motor home circles are groups of tents with a large fire pit in the center."

  "I know Fred it is so crowded now."

  Ann complained, "There are logs and rocks ringing the pits for seats. There are tarps tied everywhere covering the area so it looks like a big top. Some of the lucky ones were able to park their homes under trees and had made a sort of tarp house between all the trees."

  While we were talking Tammy and Sandy came in and sat with us by the fire.

  "Hi guys we are glad you joined us."

  Tammy asked, "What are you guys all talking about?"

  "We were just reminiscing about what it was like when we first got here and about how it is now."

  A very clearly irritated Sandy exclaimed, "I hate how things have changed since so many people have come here. People are pigs I hate them."

  Tammy replied, "Yes Sandy it is a shame even though this is now their home they treat it this way."

  "With this many people living here it has put a strain on the area and it cannot sustain the demand on it."

  Ben made it clear how he felt, "I know Fred, to start with we will run out of food very fast and there is neither enough time to plant or grow the food, nor a place big enough for a garden for this many people. Additionally, we do not have enough seeds to grow the amount of food for everyone.

  To make matters worse, even with everyone conserving, the fish will be gone in no time, and all the wildlife has either headed for the hills or is already consumed. Even the raccoons left because many had turned to catching and eating them.

  The entire area is covered with motor homes, tents, and tarps; it looks like a tent city in the big cities with large numbers of homeless. Every night the smell of trash burning in the fires fills the air; there are fires in every site so the wood is going fast."

  "I know Ben and that is only the logistics issues, social issues are beginning to become a real problem. The sound of every type of music overwhelms the sounds of the night, so it is no longer a very peaceful or safe place. Gunfire erupts in the night as drunks' fire off shots in the sky.

  People are stealing from each other and fights are erupting almost every night. Those fights are becoming more and more severe as fewer resources remain. One night a woman came stumbling into the fort in tears. Apparently somebody had attacked her from behind when she went to go to the bathroom. The guy placed a bag over her head so she couldn't see his face then raped her and left her tied up."

  Fred added, "It's really bad Peter, some have asked me to assign armed men to patrol the area but I have no intention of doing that. We have no desire to be police for the area but did add a roving night watch just to make people think twice before raping someone else. To be honest if we ever find who it was he would be killed as there is no room for that crap here."

  Tammy complained, "The waste generated by this many people is impossible to manage. Even though we have dug several pits around outside the area and built enclosed outhouses, people still head out on their own to use whatever area they want.

  Many complain that the outhouses are too far from their site, but there is no way to put enough in so that everyone is happy. Toilet paper litters the area as many will not even bury their waste or paper, however the paper problem did go away on its own as everyone ran out of it."

  I had heard enough; "All right everyone I got it, all in all the camp has become someplace we do not want to be. All these problems were the reason we always did our best to find isolated locations to stay. We spent a fair amount of time as camp ground hosts in several state parks and found that in general, I hate people.

  One time while were cleaning the women's bathhouse we found a big pile of shit in a shower stall, and more smeared on the walls. Here like there, we find trash and cigarettes butts everywhere, it's like they think the world is their ashtray, I never will understand that attitude. Why do they think they have the right to throw their butts anywhere?

  I think the only answer is to find a different place to go. The first thing we need to do is to see if we can find someplace we can get to from here, one where we will be able to cover our tracks getting there."

  Ann asked, "So are we all really talking about leaving?"

  Fred was the first to chime in, "I sure am."

  Beth asked, "Wait is this really what we want to do?"

  Ann replied, "I don't know about you Beth but I sure am ready to get the hell out of Dodge."

  Ben cast his vote, "Me too Ann, we need to find someplace far away from here."

  Fred spoke up again, "Ben has a point; we need to make it as far from here as we can. There are a number of reasons for it, first just from a logistics perspective. Then there is the social aspect, crime is on the rise, people are getting nasty and not the least of which the cleanliness issues we talked about earlier.

  Luckily not everyone would want to leave let alone have the means to. Before we find a location to go to we need to figure out how many would be going. I know it is not a pleasant thought but we need to figure out if we have to limit the number going."

  "What are you saying Fred? You want to leave people behind?"

  "Yes, that is exactly what I am saying Beth, but I would bank money that most will not want to leave; it is very likely that some won't want anyone to leave."

  "I don't really care if someone wants us to stay, screw them. Things are getting out of hand here and we are running out of resour
ces. If half the people left it would double the amount of time everyone that stays behind would have before their resources are gone."

  We were so engrossed in our conversation we did not even notice that Ramon had come in. He just sat quietly in the back listening to our conversation until he felt compelled to add his two cents.

  "Peter is right some may even try to force us to stay, they see us as their only hope and will be afraid to go it alone."

  Beth asked, "Hey Ramon I never heard you come in when did you get here?"

  "I have been here long enough; I agree we need to leave but I think some may try to use force to keep us from going."

  Ann asked, "Where have you been?"

  "I was hanging out with Sally."

  Sally was a cute blond with really blue eyes; she was one of the nurses that Fred recruited.

  "You guys have been hanging out a lot these days is it getting serious?"

  "Maybe Ann, but we will see, it looks like I have missed out on a bunch, but from what I did hear it's not something you want everyone else knowing about yet."

  "Hey Ramon before you sit down can you close the gate before you join us, we have been discussing options of what to do to deal with the overcrowding here and you may be right we don't want everyone knowing yet."

  "That's easy we need to get out of here."

  Everyone looked at Ramon and laughed.

  "Are you sure you haven't been listening in on more of our conversations?"

  "No Beth I haven't, I just know I am not happy with the way things are here and have been looking for a way to tell you all I was ready to leave for some time now."

  "So I guess the question now is where do we go and when do we get out of here. Fred do you have any thoughts on that?"

  "I do Peter as a matter as a fact we have been unhappy and have already been looking at the maps, Brandon and I have some thoughts on where to go."

  "Are you telling me that you have been planning on leaving without telling the rest of us?"

  "No Peter I just wanted to come tell you in an informed manner, I never go into something like that without looking at my options first. Sorry it's one of my flaws I have no intention of changing."

  "Please Fred never do, so what conclusions have you came to?"

  "We have found a valley over a hundred miles away that we would like to go investigate. It is deep in the wilderness with absolutely no roads. It's several ranges away and there are no indications of human inhabits for at least a hundred miles around."

  "So how do we get there Fred?"

  "Well Ben that's the crutch of it, it is SO remote it's going to be brutal to get to."

  "That sounds like my kind of place. Have you already sent anyone that way looking?"

  "No Peter, I would not have gone that far before coming to you and discussing it with you."

  "I am glad to hear that Fred, but now that the ten of us have all discussed it and are in agreement that we need to investigate it, we need to call a meeting on this and see how it goes."

  "I say let's do it."

  "I second that."

  "Third here."

  "Then it is done let's get everyone to the fire circle tomorrow after dinner."

  "I will take care of that Peter."

  "Thanks Ann, I can always count on you but don't tell them what the meeting is for."

  The next night almost everyone gathered around the fire. Everyone was wondering why they were there and all kinds of rumors were going around.

  "I would like to thank everyone for coming; the last time we all met here like this was to vote on Sarg and his men to stay. That was a couple months ago and things around here have changed."

  "That's for sure."

  "Thanks for the support Tom, but I think I have this."

  "Anytime."

  "As I was saying, things have changed. I am sure all of you will agree that life in camp has become overcrowded. It is getting harder to find game and we have had to go much further to find what little game there is. Same goes with firewood, there is none left anywhere near here and winter is coming in a few months so we will need much more."

  "After some soul searching and long discussions with a number of people we have come to the conclusion that some of us need to move on. Several of us have decided that we are going to scout out a possible new location, one that is far from here and as isolated as we can find."

  "WHAT! Why are you leaving us?"

  "REALLY, were you not hearing me? There are too many people living in this location to support us all, I know most of you know that. I am sure there are also many more of you out there that want to move on as well and we would be happy to have you join us."

  "What about the militia, are they going?"

  That really pissed off Fred, he started yelling.

  "I have told you over and over we are not a militia, we are Preppers we were just more prepared for this mess then you, but yes we are going too to get away from ignorant people like whoever it was that asked that."

  "It is alright Sarg, yes, most of his team is going as well, some of them have made close friends here, and dare I say relationships, and don't want to leave. As he has said all along that none of his team is here against their will and they are free to stay.

  I guess the first thing I need to know is how many of you want to go? But before we get a count I want to make one thing absolutely clear. Many of the problems we have here have nothing to do with resources.

  Many of the problems that lead to our decision to leave were with some of the people's ethics here. Littering, destroying the natural beauty around us just because they can, the list goes on and on.

  Anyone that wants to join us MUST to be willing to live by more civilized behavior. We will not take the problems we have here with us; we will not tolerate stealing, we will not tolerate rape, and to the rapist out there you know who you are, you are not welcome to come if you do and are caught you WILL be killed.

  We will not allow any other sort of anti-social behavior. If you are willing to live by those higher standards and to help your neighbor than by all means join us, if that is not your style than please stay here.

  The repercussion for that type of anti-social behavior will be severe. Let me make this perfectly clear, we will be going to a completely remote location, hopefully one where no one has ever been before. If someone harms someone else and it cannot be made right the only option is death.

  We could not allow someone to leave pissed off and bring back help. I know it's severe but it's the only way. Over the last few months I have been able to get a grasp on your general nature and I know of several that WILL not be asked or allowed to join us. I am sorry that is just the way it is."

  Someone raised their hand to ask a question.

  "This is not a vote or a question answer session; it is not a do we want to do this thing, this IS merely to inform the rest of you all that some of us ARE leaving, and an offer for some of you to join us. I know many of you have no desire to go and will never understand our reason for wanting to leave but it is what it is and that's it. So if you want to go, gather over there by Ramon, raise your hand Ramon so they all can see you."

  Ramon called out, "Yo! Over here."

  "If you already know you have no intention of leaving for whatever reason thank you for coming, you are free to go about your night. If you are still unsure or have any questions you are free to stay; I will be happy to answer any you have."

  "What about the rest of us, who is going to take care of us?"

  "I don't know, you guys will have to find a leader, but it has never been my job to take care of any of you; you all have been doing just fine taking care of yourselves. One thing you seem to be missing by us leaving is that many of you staying will now have a roof over your head for the first time in months. What more do you want?"

  As I looked out over the crowd I could see a bit more than half had left the fire circle. I thought to myself if this many come we might be bringing many of the pr
oblems with us. I knew we needed to make sure we were all on the same page.

  "It's looking like more of you want to stay then wants to go, so it's not like we are leaving you ill prepared. I know there are some of you out there that are on the fence on if you want to go or not. I will see if I can guide you one way or the other.

  I said in the announcement that anyone that goes needs to be committed to life in a different world than you are used to, a world where we all can live a peaceful life, and provide for each other's needs. Given the nature of our plans only a handful of people will know where we are going; this way if someone overtakes this place none of you will know where we are.