The Wayward Axe

The Wild Ride “Ah hell, I guess this train ain`t going to ride me no more!” Farley said to himself dejectedly as his van’s engine spluttered and died from lack of fuel. “Was just a matter of time, oh well? This piece of crap van got me further than I expected so I guess this place is a blessing in some ways.” Farley muttered as he coaxed the van as far as it would go before manhandling the steering wheel of the now hard as hell to turn former power steering over to the roadside as best he could. Well, he wasn’t totally pulled off the side of the road but that was the best he could do because of the narrow shoulder. “Now what shall I do?” He said to himself for the umpteenth time today. Not that he hadn’t rehearsed this little bug out and bail out of the van scenario over a thousand times already in his mind on the way down here. But that didn’t matter now. Even though he knew and had planned for getting himself broke down and stranded today, he still had no way of knowing where exactly he was going to end up at. He had bugged out of the city driving towards the lake with only a half a tank of gas and no known chances of getting any more fuel. It wasn’t much of a plan but it was all he could think of doing in the position he was previously in. He had left the city 10 weeks after some space weather had managed to make mincemeat out of the electrical power grid and deteriorating conditions had forced him out. Scientists had been noting the correlation between geomagnetic storms caused by the sun and increased frequency of earthquakes and volcanic activity for years but no one had understood or predicted what the effects of a huge coronal mass ejection from the sun would have on the New Madrid fault line. FEMA had been watching seismic activity in Tennessee and the surrounding area along with the Geologic Survey department monitoring small earthquakes and upheavals in the area to try to predict the historic reoccurrence of a mega quake like what had occurred before historically in the late 1800’s. FEMA had even come up with a multi state plan exercise called the “Great Shakeup” to help the millions of refugees they expected from impacted regions should such an event occur but they had no idea of the scale of the event that had actually occurred and was felt nationwide. The Mississippi river had reversed its course temporarily just like it had in the past but this time it had also split the country asunder and changed the geography of North America. Quakes had also occurred along the San Andreas fault in California and volcanic rifts appeared in Yellowstone. Farley figured he had held out in the city about as long as it was somewhat safe to do so while watching to see if the government was going to even try to mount any significant response. They couldn’t of course; this disaster was just too big and too devastating. He had heard on the radio that the new US capital was in Denver but they were really operating as such in name only and doing very little to assist its’ suffering citizens. No, it was every man and woman pretty much on their own now and he had decided to get out of the city while the getting was good. Farley had been a wise prepper and had stored up about a years worth of food to see him through disasters but he knew that this supply would run out or maybe get stolen and it was time to act now while he still had the means to give himself a longer term chance at survival. He had loaded up about all of the food he had in the house, and headed for the lake. That would solve his water problem but food and shelter still needed to be considered. He could fish and that was an important something even though he didn’t like to eat fish much and indeed had some allergic reactions to commercially processed fish. He figured eventually he might find a vacant house or building he could take up residence in before the winter and wild game was always more plentiful in such regions. He admitted it wasn’t much of a plan but it was all he could come up with. He didn’t even know the geography he was going to except that he had once spent a weekend in a rental cottage in the area years ago. He had high hopes he might find that same cottage empty but that was if he could even find it again. He had detoured around burning towns, abandoned vehicles snarling traffic, closed bridges etc. and now was pretty much lost except for knowing he was in the general area of the lake some 10 miles distant. This was a huge lake encompassing many miles of shoreline with a confusing array of access roads and back roads so he had serious doubts about finding that exact little cottage he was seeking. He also had no idea whether or not it would be occupied if he did luckily find it. He doubted he would have much to worry about its’ owners objecting to him taking up residence there, but you could never tell. They might have even moved there for their own survival but he doubted that as they seemed to own several rental properties. Getting in wouldn’t be much of a problem he grinned to himself, thinking about a multi tool he had with him called a “Truckers Friend”. Matter of fact he had with him a different model of the multi tool called a “Little Trucker” that was more suited for survival and he could use to gain entry. One of those war hammers of his was soon going to be indispensable to his day to day living he guessed. ––––––––