Terms For Survival by John Reeves (phonics reading books .txt) 📕

Terms For Survival

1
John Ward sat on his post remembering what being an American once meant. The night was quiet, as there was no movement from the insurgence. The rebels weren't bad people; just people looking for something they once had. They wanted to wake up in the mornings, and then go to their respective jobs. Provide for their families the way society had done for decades. None of them wanted to battle other Americans for land, food, and shelter, but that was the way things had become.
There was no law across the land, and there was no military to defend the United States anymore. Not that there was any foreign threat to defend America from. The military presence died off shortly after the oil ran out. Highways and interstates just sit there like monuments. The military vehicles were among the last to travel on what had been the best transportation system in the world. Technology had peeked in 2015, and from that day forward everything went backward in time.
In 2031 life was back to the most primal form. The stronger and more intelligent groups, conquered the weaker ones, and no single individual could survive alone. Hiding from the various groups didn't get you fed, and settling down would surely get you found and killed. Women and children could only find protection in a group. Street to street grouping, became town to town, and eventually state to state. Smaller less effective groups formed, but were destroyed by the larger and more powerful. When Martial Law failed society, the growing revolutionary groups began to try to piece the nation back together.
John knew every day was like the one that had passed. Defend what is yours, and find what you don't have. At the age of fifty-one John had seen his loved ones die, from violence, sickness, and for reasons he didn't know. He'd lost everyone, and clung to the group for some sort of identity. He liked to think they needed him, but if he was killed on his nightly watch nobody would really care. There was no longer any symbol of freedom to be found.
The religious groups got stronger, and the lost people who were looking for answers joined them. The vast number of traveling bible bangers couldn't be defeated. In most cases they only got stronger as they moved into unwelcome territory. The leaders of the church still held more power than the common group. They'd built a universal alliance across America. The church built power as the government fell. When society grew feeble the churches merged into a moving force. Those looking for guidance found it through religion, and so did the lonely looking for a safe haven. The fact that they could explain what was happening through the bible, made believers out of hundreds of thousands. When they said the end of times, the population could finally relate to the message.
Not everyone liked the moving powers of the church, but everyone knew the power they held within their tyrannical following. When they came in shouting their friendly offerings, groups were forced to entertain them.
John could remember the feeble attempts for alternate energy applied by the government and millionaires. He could remember the 'Go Green' slogan in the final decade of the old world. The electric cars that only the rich could afford. It was an incredible invention, and it might even have saved the upper class of society, but the middle to lower class would have perished. When martial law went into effect, there were battles among the upper and lower class. There was the old saying that John couldn't remember where it came from, "History repeats itself, but every time it does the price goes up." Some of the people weren't affiliated with the rich government, and they weren't affiliated with the lower class. Many were killed in the cross fire, but others found a side.
By 2019 the second revolutionary war was in place. The year before secrets leaked out about the government killing Americans. The entire country was in total disarray, but there were groups of hundreds headed for Washington D.C. There were parts of the communication system that had been cut off. Radio was not one of those. When the military bombed Indianapolis, Indiana, the death total was in the thousands. Nobody knew why they started there. Over the years it was said they were aiming for Chicago first, but something went wrong. The public perception was the rich trying to do in the poor. When they fired the first shot the war had began, news didn't travel as fast as it had, still everyone knew within twenty-four hours.
The groups had been formed. They took on huge numbers as they went into battle, the military was not nearly as strong against their own people. Many of them couldn't see themselves killing their own people. Those were the ones who deserted their position. It wasn't a battle for freedom, it was a battle for survival. It wasn't hard in those days to find acceptance in a battle against the military. In six years of intense warfare the American public had taken over. John remembered when the government wanted to take the guns away from society, and that was before any kind of crisis hit America. Both sides lost lots of men when the earthquake destroyed California.
Buildings that were built to withstand a massive earthquakes tumbled to the ground. Millions of people died in that disaster. In the old world people would have come to each others aid. That didn't happen with the ongoing battle taking place. Money was worth nothing, and everyone had raped the markets for everything they needed. The supplies were not as plentiful as first believed. Firepower had been greatly reduced by time the government was no more. What had become of the world seven years after the war ended seemed just as tragic.
Groups that had grown to defeat the government, and soon they were battling each other. The ammo ran thin to nothing by the time the groups began a war among themselves. Some of the smaller groups merged with the lager more powerful communities. Many of them didn't in the hope that order could one day be restored. The more powerful groups were battling for dominance, and the religious sector was decimating the smaller groups. You either joined them or you died, there was no other option when they invaded the town. Those willing to fold their position were given a place among the religious machine. If you fight with them, then you'd fight for god. If you choose not to fight for god, then you're fighting for the devil.

2

John thought about the day his son Ben was born. It was May 13, 2003, and the best day of his life. He'd just been named manager of the plumbing supply shop in Hendersonville, Mississippi. No it wasn't a very big town, but Memphis, Tennessee was just an hour drive away. The medium sized surroundings were just what John thought was right for raising his son. When Ben was born there was an overwhelming sense of fear inside him. Only the simple ways of Hendersonville could assure his worst thoughts wouldn't come true.
The events of September 11, 2001 were still fresh on John's mind back then. The big city life seemed all too unsafe. The salary at the plumbing supply shop had been less than he could make with his college degree, but the sense of safety the small town provided was the deciding factor. What was a couple hundred-dollars compared to complete happiness. Not to mention he'd gotten the three bedroom, two bath, house for a song and dance. Although it needed some slight renovation the great price was still one helluva deal.
By the time Ben was born his room was completely refurbished, but other parts of the house still needed work. In 2008 as Ben started school the house was completely finished, and that included the additions they'd added onto the existing structure. There was a minor hint at the impending recession. John had no idea they were one year away from some major setbacks. They'd been forced into tapping into the college fund they'd secured for Ben. In 2010 John was forced to take a large cut in pay. The economy wasn't being friendly. The family had to undergo some changes.
John took on side job preparing people's taxes. His background in accounting he was thankful for. During the year soldiers were coming back from the middle east, the stock market had shown signs of improvement. In Mississippi it didn't feel like there was an improvement. Everywhere in Hendersonville there were people looking for work. The economy might, or might not have been on the rise. The employment rate was down, and had been for over a year by the time 2011 rolled in.
The down period had closed many factories and small businesses across the country. Other companies and cooperate powers grew stronger than before the recession. Factories that had populated small towns across the country were not going to ever be operating again. The few that did remain across the country greatly reduced their manpower. People who'd worked these factories for forty and fifty years, people who'd put their blood, sweat, and tears into these factories were lost. Thousands of empty buildings stood as a reminder of what once was.
There were nice homes all through Hendersonville. Beautiful houses being sold for half of their expected value. It had been that way as far back as 2007. John could remember how he and Nikki, his high school love were going to spend the rest of their life. It was suppose to be something beautiful, and they were suppose to grow old together. Yet somehow they began to grow cold with each other. Ben could see they were having a difficult time, although their best efforts to keep it from him had holes in it. All was not perfect in the Ward family, but nothing is ever totally perfect.
Religious cults popped up all over the country when the 2012 conspiracy theorist came out of the woodwork. It's possible that was when they began gaining strength; that would make them a powerful force in the years to come. Quietly mass numbers of people were beginning to follow the word of the gospel. They seemed to be predicting the future in a way that made them seem like modern day prophets. The words the powerful leaders spoke came across as the truth. The 2012 end of the world scenarios drove people to places they might not have been. The doomsday theory that had been in place since at least 2009 created some of the radical religious groups, but there had been hundreds of dangerous underground suicide religious groups. Nobody ever saw them coming, when they did, it was too late.
When December 12, 2012 didn't bring on the end of the world, it managed to bring on a new and unpleasant world, that wasn't fit to live in. The attacks were small skirmishes at first. However, all too soon they'd become more violent. "Your government wants you dead." People began protesting and holding signs. Murders and violence had become common place by 2014. There was something noticeably different around that time, although the impending war was three years away. The suicide bombers began blowing up government ran facilities. They're actions were directly connected to the end being the beginning. They were doing what God wanted them to do. It was the Apocalypse that the Bible predicted. It was