The Next Great Depression

prolog1

The depression sunk us low. Lower than those that sunk in 29. Our high ideas of history's follies kept us from our fears. We didn't see it coming. We didn't consider the obvious; we rationalized away our fears. I remember the days before. When I had a room painted apple green.. a crisp virgin white trim softened the space. A fluffy down comforter and pillows, so pristine. I remember wanting more. Working hard just to buy a pretty dress. Working late to by a plane ticket to the Bahamas. But what are they now? They are nothing to me. Just faded and stained memories. Time to forget those times. Time to forget how to smile. Forget how to laugh. There is no time now, for all of that.2

When the depression came we were bewildered. Me and mine. What the hell? We thought. How could we fall so far? We didn't see how high we were. High on drugs, high on sweets, high on adrenaline from fights. A fat opulence had spread though us. A diabolical view that work, sweating, was the poor illegal’s job. That the pitiful existence of all others was because we let it be. Because we tolerated them. We cashed in every favor and when that was done, we took more. Who was going to pay for our ways? Our Debt grew. We kept it coming and we were kicked by our own ass stomping boots. 3

My husband was off at war, fighting for something he didn't know if he understood when changes stared. He went on three or four deployments to this war that seemed to never end, against a foe we couldn't find. He came back each time more hardened and distant. I don’t know exactly when it all started. Iraq seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back. Then China silently at first, bought all of our debt. And we owed a lot. They bought it all and then demanded that we pay immediately. Of course we couldn’t. Our own people lived off of credit cards and money with no backing. How could a government pay the debt of so many debt ridden people? Our dollar was useless, just good for burning in a cold hearth.4

As if taking the hint natural disasters followed. The storms and twisters by the dozens in tornado alley, the floods and ferocious hurricanes in the south. The drought in the Midwest, the earthquakes along the coast. Forest fires spread and consumed many cities along with most of the shriveled and dried out farm land. Then the craze about the various animal diseases couldn’t be ignored. Avian, mad cow, and some weird wild bee. When the viruses made the jump from animal to human we dropped. The sick were treated until treatment ran out. Suspicion grew. A hate for expensive doctors that couldn’t save loved ones. A fear that all were infected with some form of disease. Of course this suspicion spread. Our already fragile economy crumbled and gave out. Every store was lost, every bank went under. The government couldn't help itself much less help the people. We relied to much on our government. To much on our stupid idolized ways. 5

The diseases killed off workers. No food grew on the demolished land. Without gas no transportation was possible unless you were brave enough to walk. We didn’t have much to look for in life. Many took the simple way out. Only to find it wasn’t so simple after it was done. To late now. Those that chose to fight.. well, they fought with every breath and still didn’t know exactly what to do.6

I remember that last goodbye, the day of his fifth deployment. That was the last I saw my husband. Everything crashed and left him and all the others stranded in a hostile war zone. The beady eyes that watched them from the darkness knew. WE were no more, OURS wasn't the way anymore. I am assuming they adapted. Struggled and many probably disappeared. Fighting for life knowing it was futile. I hope for survivors of this torn existence. I hope. 7

Back home in the states things weren’t much improved. We fought each other. The weak were eliminated. No more than cowards’ eyes and blood. The strong did worse, fought dirty to live. Darwinism exerted itself.8

I fought. Did things I should regret but don’t. And that was how it was. Once glorious buildings were raided, and collapsed. Clean streets dissolved into dirt. Everything went from the gray of pollution to the deep brown of dried blood and fecal matter. Fires burned whole cities alive. And we started to leave. The few of us that managed to hide our weakness.9

I though about the horrors my husband had faced. The horrors I only learned about when he talked in his sleep. Dream fogged fears and indrawn breath. I was starting to get the picture. I understood now, why he refused to speak of those never ending days. Never let me know the contagious depression and weariness. 10

There is a pain in the soul when you know there is nothing you can do and you cant figure out what happened to stick you in such a position. My fingers ached with heartbreak and the efforts of my meager scrapping at life. What was wrong with us! Why had we let ourselves come so far from the ideas of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Our integrity and our foundation. 11

Would we manage to turn our society around? Start over, new and fresh... a second time. Before a leader had always been there to step forward and halt our plummet into despair. All the times before we had managed by pure luck to have a competent if not brilliant leader in place when disaster peeked around the corner. This time our luck ran out. No one stepped forward to save us. 12

I was living off base in Hawaii when our world started to crumble. Hawaii is such a hang loose kind of place that I think it took a while before the actual fall hit us. I gathered up all the basic necessities of life and walked to base at the first signs of struggle. I wasn’t about to pit my toothpick arms against a 300 pound Samoan.
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Chapter 113

Moon dust again. The powder had settled into all the creases on my face, in my nose, in my lungs. Now the layers were starting to become distinctive. Little dirt glaciers with time tables and fossils. Sand storms that last for hours and sometimes days will do that to you. An orange glow is all the light we get. The sun is in shadow because of all the sand. A slight blessing since it softens the intense heat, just a little.14

This sand storm wasn’t the worst sort. Exceedingly uncomfortable and annoying but not unbearable. And after months the heat seems less intense. Still get the dirty itches all the time. Painful pin-prickling underneath layers of grime and sweat.15

It is weird to think that a month ago I was on patrol with Yazzie, Veach, and Kemp. Keeping an eye on the newest additions to our platoon. Young guys filled with spit and swear words. We would spend endless hours triple and quadruple checking the same stretch of deserted road to insure the safety of everyone in the area. More countless hours were spent meeting with the Iraqis. 16

Meet-n-greets. Random conversations where we are forced to initiate chats about hotdog s and Oprah while gagging down small quantities of warm goat milk. Mandatory political bullshit. At night we would stand watch and dream about shooting the ragged dogs that constantly skirted us. Mangy beasts with no hope. But now everything is different. Much much different.17

"Hey Yazzie" As long as I have my Buffalo Indian I will be ok. We have been through a lot of shit situations and aren’t too worse for wear. A missing finger, a few broken ribs and a few misplaced quarts of blood is all.18

"yuh" He wipes some of the sand-mud from his eyes before looking at me. He looks about 40 years old with all the caked sand and grime covering his face. We both got here when we were 28 and it has only been 7 months since then. It's this hell hole of a country, that's what it is. The stink gets into your being and you can’t wash it out, even if you had any soap or water to spare.19

"Just checking" He closes his eyes again and dozes. I might as well go back to sleep too. No one will be able to find us in this. Not even the bastards that live in this shit hole.20

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"You don’t have a single plane out?" the weedy little man doesn’t like me, I can tell. It might have to do with the fact that I am being my pushy most aggressive self. Not that I have a choice.21

"No" He turns away. How irritating when I can plainly see three planes out on the tarmac.22

"Why not. This is a military base in the middle of the Pacific ocean and you have no planes stopping to refuel or to.. to anything on the way back to the mainland..?" I pointedly look through the dirty window at the planes. Ok so one of them has a huge hole in it and the other one seems to be missing all the glass and half the rivets but the third looks fine and that is all I care about.23

"We don’t have...." 24

"Nevermind.. I’m camping out here until you give me something" I walk away before he can say anything else to aggravate me. Stupid short little turd. He just stares at me as I make my way over to the row of rickety chairs across from his desk.25

Blank stares drive me crazy. It's as if Douche Magee doesn’t think I am capable of coherent thought. I picked out this spot in his view for a reason. This way he knows I haven’t left. Sucks to be him. I have all the things I need in my Alice pack. Thank goodness Dusty got me a midget one to match his. This one fits me perfectly, not that I am a midget I am a bit tall for a girl which suits me just fine. 26

All the necessities fit in the tough green bag. Two pairs of clothes, dried fruit and jerky, rat packed MRE's, two canteens, another pair of shoes, bandages, pain killers, hand sanitizer, lighter, waterproof paper, pens, poncho and liner. My compass, watch, and flares are shoved into the little pouch on the outside of my Camelbak. Just one other small bag with random other things that might come in handy. I am ready, as well as I can be. It isn’t as if living in Hawaii encourages you to pack up on winter jackets. Thank goodness it is only May. I still have months to get home. Not like this pace is really helping though. Setting up only takes a bit of wiggling in an uncomfortable chair and the use of some shades. This way he will feel like I am peering at him continuously. Maybe he will feel encouraged to tell the next plane that I am here.27

It’s hard o imagine life like it used to be. Constant trips to Hard Rock or Ruby Tuesdays. Nights out BBQing or at the beach. Don’t people always say ‘if you had told me I’d be doing this such-in-such at time ago I would have laughed in your face’ Well I have to say it is true. Who could have imagined sitting in a basically empty tarmac on a disbanded military base trying to stare Douche Magee into letting you on a broke plane? Just a few weeks ago I was cleaning my house and making a list of bills that needed paying. Well, the good news is that I don’t have to pay the bills anymore. Those companies don’t exist anymore. And to think I used to spend all that wasted time yelling at sprint and State Farm employees.
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We really need to find some clean water. We ran out an hour ago and in this heat it only takes 30 minutes to dehydrate into a heat casualty. The sand storms seemed to have sucked the entire continent dry. All except this nasty fecal filled river. We've followed this turd colored river for what feels like eternity. Little shanties on the edges with piss smelling goats and little hadjis squatting outside. Easily avoidable since the ragheads around here are about as smart as a piece of rotten carrot. God a carrot would taste good right about now. a fresh carrot. anything besides these nasty ass MREs and the pieta bread we manage to steal. 29

"what time do you think it is?" The sun had been pounding down on us for what felt like 8 hours to me but I am sure was more like 2.30

"I dunno, maybe 10. It is hard to know." yazzie glances around, his M16 tucked into his shoulder, barrel slightly downward.31

"I think we should be in Syria by now. or pretty damn close to it." I remember those little kids seemed to be able walk the distance all the time. We used to stand on post knowing full well that it was about 400 miles to the next city and here come two kids around 4 and 8 years old walking up the road as if they live just around the corner. It happened all the time. Sometimes they had a goat or the kids were younger or it was just some ancient old man all dried out and raisin like from years of the same type of trips.32

"We've been following the river though. it winds around a bit so it might be a day maybe two before we get to the border." good thing he had an aerial map when this shithole swallowed us up. Was it like this back home? I bet there were probably still protestor and faggot parades.33

"Better be fucking soon my ass is chafing." Walking in all this gear always chafes a body. If only we had some Vaseline... or how bout a truck. that would be better no freaking walking anywhere. A Toyota with a lift kit and four wheel drive or a sand buggy...34

"....hey Vorce wake up." Yazzie waved his hand in my face a couple times.35

"Sorry man I was wishing for a truck" water might be nice too. Yazzie just grins. his dried lips cracking. 36

"I think we should go check out that hut over there." I push the tip of my 16 down river to indicate the spot. I could see the outline of some dirty claylike hovel ahead. Maybe they would have something we could steal.
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It is a good thing Hawaiians are so laid back or the crash might have been harder. I’m sure it is way worse on the mainland. Here its all one big moke family unless of course you happen to be white, which I am. But still they don’t bother me as long as I stay on base. not that this base is all that much of a base anymore. Everyone that could, got here and holed up. they are supplied and if they live frugally they might just make it through. Only a few still opted to stay on and run the place. some aren’t even Military they just took charge but I say they earned their place. It is almost like a regular little town here.38

Douche Magee told me a while ago that if I was ready the next plane going out could take me with it. Finally a flight. And I only had to wait two days. Even if it is on an old prop plain that I’m pretty sure has a 30% chance of landing in anything other than a flaming ball of fire. I haven’t really got a choice though. When stuck on and island 2000 miles from another land mass you take whatever you can. So for the next 10 hours or so I will be sitting in deafening noise trying not to think about falling to my fiery death. Cramped and sleepy but alive and optimistic.39

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It didn’t take long to clear the one room shit shack. The hut didn’t look like it had been used in a long long time. There was one room. sand floor, clay walls. two windows and the door. Nothing in the back. Nothing to the sides. We searched it quickly. I stood post while Yazzie rooted around for anything useful.41

There wasn’t a thing. we moved on after covering our tracks. The river as getting much smaller and had just turned north sharply. Only a short way to the border now. the plan was to get to the border and turn west until we get to the sea and follow the sea west until we find Israel, hopefully still allies. Good basic plan. the trouble was finding food and water and not being found ourselves. 42

So far the only contact we had had was the very beginning when we were first sucked into this shit pile and our chain of command unloaded us and saved themselves. We were on foot patrol at the first signs of trouble. and two weeks later we had been dumped. I’m not even sure how it happened but of the 35,000 Marines actively deployed I’m sure there are about 15,000 that are still here. Not many of the 15,000 are still live. I guestimate about 5,000 if that. when the invisible enemy realized our situation they suddenly became visible. every one of them popped out from his hidey hole and took a shot. We lost 29 of 31 Marines. Just me and Yaz left. Caleb is gone and Blake. Both of them by my side since boot camp. And the rest, Marines new to this shit hole.. well newer than us. Second pump and still idiots. They cost Caleb and Blake their lives. Yaz and I almost went with them but managed to make it through with only a few holes. Like all the other survivors we are heading home any way we can.
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Landing on a chunk of freeway isn’t my idea of a great landing. Apparently Douche Magee didn’t want to tell me that this flight was headed for a San Francisco freeway instead of a nice airport. I guess this way the fag mobs couldn’t get the planes. Works for me though. I could have wished for Portland but as long as I was on land connected to home I cant care less.43

Time to hike. It was going to be a long walk but at least I cant get lost. Go north until the Columbia then west until Portland. Simple. I wonder how many blisters I will get?44

"That was a rough flight" one of the other passengers basically shouted. We were all pretty deaf now since a person can only stand so much whirring and engine noise. No one answered the complaint. Idiot. Who cares if it was loud and cold and long. We landed and we can continue on.45

I hopped out of the beastly noise maker to take a look around. Not much of anything. Broken lanes of freeway and random burned cars here and there. A few shrubs. The sun was about to set and that means time to find a place to camp for the night. I hate not knowing what to expect. After looking at my compass I decided to head northwest along the freeway. Maybe there will be a spot to sleep unnoticed before to long.46

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The border didn’t look like much of a border to us. We didn’t even notice that we had crossed it. Yazzie consulted his map and after orienting ourselves we realized we had been in Syria for a few hours. What a anticlimactic moment. so we push on. 48

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Chapter 250

to be continued. 51

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Notes53

As the new millenioum becan the US economy slipped into recession. Businesse fired hundreds of thousands of workers and cut procution. Then on september 11th 2001 terrorist attacks generated shockwaves that are still reverberating around the global economy and have no visible end. Natural disasters such as hurricane katrina and the indian ocean tsunami wiped out the homes and devistade the lives of millions. and an onslaught of aids has lowered the life expecatncy in some african nations to just 33 years.