Fire Departments were a nice idea that quickly began to serve those clients who could afford them. It’s not uncommon for a whole subdivision to go. Often some foreign investor will be nearby, wanting to buy your burning property for five cents on the already empty dollar. Most people take it. Sad.
Above the clouds is like the city doesn’t exist. There are only three ways up the mountain. They are tightly controlled. Lumber goes out, slowly. Water stays. Food comes in. It’s bad down below. We see their fires burning. We watch our treeline very carefully. Firebugs are shot on sight.
100_0288, originally uploaded by ericspaceman.
Three stories down, totally doable. There’s a group of five guys coming up those stairs, hell bent on kicking my ass and robbing me. They may throw me off this roof anyway. So, maybe I save them the trouble, jump now, roll with it, and maybe land on something soft .
We searched. Everyone searched. Los Angeles is a full city. Was a full city… Costco was cleared out. Gas stations ran dry. Homes were looted. The power stopped running pretty quick. Gas and water shortly after. Me and some of my friends were able to gather, for protection and efficiency.
We survived. Money kind of ceased to matter when people were dying around you from the fucking flu or by freezing to death in winter, in Los Angeles. I hear other places had it way worse. At least they were ready for the cold. So we bundled up and searched.
Things were tough there for a while. Who am I kidding? Things were fucking hell for most people. Imagine burying one of every four people you knew. That was about the norm. I had to bury my mom, dad and brother. I have no idea why I was left alive.
When I say ended, I don’t necessarily mean the world blew up. It was a perfect combination of a few very specific things. It was the econopoclypse, the influenza that attacked the affluent, and the strange weather before 2012. Any one of those could have wrecked America. All three at once?
Raiders. Great. Some old timers tell me that the Raiders were some sort of sporting club back in the day. Now, they just steal, rape and burn. I hate raiders. They usually creep in by night, all leather and metal. If you listen close, you can usually hear them coming.
Mending wounds in a time where proper medical care isn’t even really an option is damn essential. You get a knife wound, even a minor gunshot wound… Chances are: you’re dead. Knew a guy that died that way. Fool shot his own foot and it got all infected, to death.
“I’m not interested in any story, chum,” he said to me. “you’re going to empty your pockets. Strip down to your naked ass, and run. That way.”
That gun never wavered. Armed robbery happens too often, out here. I knew that. I never should have gone outside the walls.