Trouble in America: Five Apocalyptic Stories Read online

  Trouble in America

  Pete Thorsen

  Re-Released on Kindle & in Print

  June 2016

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher/author, except that brief selections may be quoted or copied for non-profit use without permission, provided that full credit is given. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely accidental.

  Five complete early stories from one of America’s popular apocalyptic writers.

  How I Survived WW3 is a story that follows a regular working man that happens to survive World War Three after making just a few preparations

  The Carrington Event Revisited is the story of a catastrophic solar coronal mass ejection event similar to the one that hit the Earth in 1859.

  A Collapse to a Fresh Start is a story of two young people who make their way out of Chicago and run to a very rural area of Colorado when they feel the United States is about to suffer an economic collapse and maybe change forever.

  A Midwest Homestead follows the lives of a young couple in Minnesota who through determination and hard work build their own little homestead that is their salvation in a time chaos.

  An Oklahoma Retreat is the story of a widely scattered family that all return to the original family ranch in Oklahoma when the United States falls on very bad times.

  How I

  Survived

  WW3

  By

  Pete Thorsen

  Formerly Published

  Under the Pen Name

  Jack Forester

  Originally Released

  On Kindle February 2014

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except that brief selections may be quoted or copied for non-profit use without permission, provided that full credit is given. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely accidental.

  Prologue

  My name is Thaddeus Olson. And what should I call this, my diary, my journal, stories from the end times. I’ll just write it and you can call it whatever you want if anyone ever reads it. It’s not like it can be published, there are no publishers anymore or much of anything for that matter. There has been a world wide thermo-nuclear war or world war three if that sounds better. I survived at least so far and I’m sure many others have also survived but when I say many I’m talking hundreds or maybe even thousands but certainly not millions. This is only my story and unfortunately for you I don’t have a college education so you will have to bear with me and any mistakes you find in the writing. I am just a regular guy that just happened to survive. I guess I should start with how a nobody like me survived when whole armies did not. Usually the best place to start is at the beginning, so be it.

  Before the War

  I really didn’t start this journal or whatever until after the war so I am only adding this section as I remember it and to give you a little background information. Naturally it is boring because I am a boring regular guy so read this at your own risk of boredom setting in. I lived near Prescott Arizona. I managed an auto parts store there and I rather liked my job and where I lived.

  I liked the fact that the weather never would get too hot in summer or too cold in winter. And I would even like the snow in the winter because I knew it would only last a day or two and then be gone. I guess I should tell you what I look like. I’m just a regular guy not too tall or too short at five foot ten. At one hundred and sixty five pounds I’m not too fat or too skinny, see I’m just regular. Just before the war started I was thirty two years old and single.

  I liked my job but it was still just a job so it was work. My passion was hiking. Not hiking across the whole country or hiking for weeks at a time but just day hikes. I liked getting away from people and I arranged my own hours at work so I worked weekends and had two days off during the week. I did that so I could hike without seeing other people. It also helped because I seldom hiked on marked trails but just off on my own cross country. Hiking was good exercise and provided me with plenty of fresh air and sunshine. And I did not care where I hiked; the woods and mountains but also the nearby desert saw my boot prints.

  I lived alone in a small older house well off the road on my own eight acres of land that had Federal land on three sides with my closest neighbor about a half mile away. I liked where I lived because I often just hiked right from my house and made long loops through the surrounding land. I thought my life was perfect and I was happy man.

  But the world news had me very concerned for a long time. I would spend my evenings watching the news and getting more news from the internet. All the world economies were in the dumps and just about every country had a sharp stick and was poking other countries just trying to start a war it seemed like. The world situation continued to look worse and worse. Seeing things getting worse and worse made me search the internet about how to cope with war or collapse which led me to survivalist and prepper web sites where I found many other people that were as concerned as I was about what might happen and how to survive it.

  So I started to buy some items that many people suggested to be prepared. Not a lot but just realistic supplies. But as the news got worse and worse I found myself buying more and more. Then it got to the point where many on the national news were openly talking about the very real possibility of a nuclear world war three. And you started to see personal fallout shelters advertised on national TV and people were buying them too. I couldn’t afford anything like that but I did have a plan.

  With all my hiking I had found many interesting things and Arizona is plumb full of old abandoned mines. So I picked a mine that was long since abandoned and was about twenty miles from my house. I was going to convert that mine into my own personal fallout shelter. Being spring I thought I should have plenty of time to get it all done before the late summer monsoons arrived though I wasn’t sure if I would get it done before the nuclear arrived.

  There had once been a road that went to this mine of course but it had deteriorated so bad you couldn’t get there even with a four wheel drive truck. But I had an old quad that could make it and I bought a small used trailer made for a quad that I could use to bring supplies up there.

  My very first step was a door which I decided to place in about ten feet or so. I carted many two by fours up to the mine and slowly made a rectangular opening about six foot high and three and half feet wide. The wood I glued and anchored into the rock walls, ceiling, and floor. Then I used spray foam insulation to completely seal it where it met the rock. I made a very heavy wood and metal door for the opening which was tightly fitted. And could be locked from the outside or barred from the inside.

  I painted the door a flat dark gray and while it was still wet I threw sand and dirt from the floor on the paint. It was rough and blended well and without a light someone entering might not even realize it was a door. Unless they saw or felt the heavy hasp and padlock I put on of course (that I also painted the dark gray). I also had a heavy PVC pipe that went through this new wall and to the outside. This pipe was painted the same way as the door then covered with dirt and rocks. When it got outside it had a ninety degree elbow
that pointed down with a heavy grate that covered the opening and I covered the inside pipe opening with a standard cap that I could take off.

  Inside the mine I sealed off one off shoot shaft the same way as the front door only not near as heavy duty. This shaft went only a short distance and then went straight down for some distance. I did not know how deep the shaft went because it had water at the bottom. This was to be my septic tank. The sealed wall would stop any orders from entering the main mine area and I brought up a standard flush toilet which had a pipe attached that went through the wall and into my ‘septic tank’. This wall was very thoroughly sealed.

  I knew I had plenty of water to flush with because father back in the mine it angled down and it was all water. I had no intention of drinking this water but I could certainly use it for washing and flushing. Once the front door was sealed off I set off several bug bombs in the mine so I would not have to worry about spiders too much. There were no air shafts so the only way in and out was the front door and my pipe ‘air shaft’.

  The mine had one other short off-shoot leg besides the one that led to my ‘septic tank’. This other shaft was only about fifteen or twenty feet long. It was a little wider and was to be my main living/sleeping quarters. I made a bunk on which I put a piece of three inch foam for a mattress.

  I hauled in a blue food grade fifty five gallon drum and set it on a heavy stand I made and gradually filled it with clean drinking water on my many trips up to the mine. I also brought up four five gallon sealed water jugs giving me seventy five gallons of drinking water plus several of cases of soda and sports drinks. Then I hauled in what I thought might be six months of food even though I had no thought of ever staying that long in there.

  I put in two small propane camp stoves (just in case) and a few cases of the one pound propane bottles which would also work with the camp lantern. I had two crank up flashlights and two crank up radios that had built-in flashlights and area lights. I had three twelve volt deep cycle batteries and a hundred and twenty watt solar panel which I would mount on the steel brackets already securely mounted outside when I entered the shelter to stay.

  The steel brackets were carefully hidden as was the wire that ran out to them. The brackets would hold the panel at a fairly steep angle that would lower its output somewhat but I had hoped would keep it cleaner from the fallout and blowing dust. After a whole lot of work and fair amount of money my fallout shelter was ready I thought and just in time because the world situation seemed to be getting even worse.

  The world was on the brink and even the Federal government told everyone to have at least two weeks of food and water on hand and more would be better. When a shooting war broke out in the Middle East it surprised no one. And it escalated to include many surrounding countries. Then it looked like it would include the big three like everyone feared. The US, Russia, and China were gearing up.

  When for no reason that was readily apparent to anyone India launched nuclear missiles at Pakistan and also into China. At that point everyone knew it was the end. I had heard enough and I took some last minute things and shut down my house and went to my shelter. This time I took my cycle and drove it right inside the shelter to protect it. I mounted the solar panel and made sure it was solid and working right. Then taking one of the wind up radios I climbed up to the top of the hill that contained the mine and sat down to listen.

  I had gotten the radio tuned in just in time to catch the announcer say that there were reports of multiple missile strikes in several countries. Then a report of a mushroom cloud in the New York City area. Followed by a report of a mushroom cloud near Los Angeles. Reports followed of several more mushroom clouds in other areas then I saw a flash in the south and the radio just went to static.

  There were mountains in the way so I could not see much looking south but I was sure about the flash. I of course did not really see the flash only the reflection of the flash on the mountains. I would have likely been blind if I had actually seen the flash itself. Phoenix would be a likely target as a major city and it had the Luke Air force base plus had the largest nuclear power generating plant in the USA nearby.

  I knew I had a little time and made my way down the hill carefully and entered the mine shutting and barring the door behind me. And then I really sealed the door by taking the tube of caulking that I had kept near just for that purpose and caulked all the way around the whole door opening including the bottom. I was sealed in for the duration.

  I had planned for the very long time I would have to spend in the mine. I had my laptop with a whole load of information on it plus a few video games. I also had bought a used Kindle Fire off EBay and had loaded it with a couple hundred books (most of them on the free days because I was never rich). I had several small pieces of workout equipment which I used everyday.

  I had hoped the solar panel would make it through any EMP attack and if there had been one or not I did not know but the panel was still working. I had wired a few simple twelve volt LED lights in the mine so I would have some light. The solar panel had plenty of power to recharge my laptop and the Kindle even using the low power lights. My plastic ‘air shaft’ I left sealed but I did have a small twelve volt fan that I could insert into the pipe that would blow out air or be turned around to bring in air. I had a filter arrangement if I wanted to filter the incoming air.

  I had doubted I would need the air pipe or the fan. Though I had tried to seal the mine I assumed realistically there would be enough air seepage to provide plenty of oxygen for me. I had never been worried about the electrical items in the mine because I figured all the rock and dirt would shield them.

  Whether that was true or not I did not know but everything continued to function. But it was very boring even with the plans I had made. And I missed the sun. But other than that I was quite comfortable and had plenty of food and water. I had packed in a large variety of food and drink so at least I could vary my diet. My septic system worked well and there had been no odor leaking into the rest of the mine. Both my Kindle and the laptop kept track of the time and date.

  I continued to sleep at ‘night’ and be up during the day even though it was always the same in the mine. I had packed in many clothes as it was a constant cool temperature in my fallout shelter. I had about forty feet in the long stretch of the mine and I ran laps everyday back and forth. I actually got in better shape than before with all the constant workouts I did besides the running.

  After a month I did think about going outside but was determined to stay a full sixty days even though that was just an arbitrary number I had picked because I had no idea about nuclear fallout and such. So I stayed in my little hidey-hole for the whole sixty days I had set as my goal.

  And at the end of those sixty days I was more than ready to get out in the fresh air and sunshine again believe me. When I cut the caulking off around the door and removed the bar that held it shut I was both anxious and worried when I opened the door. I had put on my sunglasses and hat and still it was so bright I stepped back into my hideout and just looked out the door from a distance for awhile. Slowly my eyes had adjusted to the bright light and I gradually walked to the mine entrance and out into the full sunshine.

  It was great getting outside. As I stood outside what at first had been very bright light I could now see was not. It was like very hazy or almost smoky. Of course nothing else looked any different to me and I had no idea what to expect after a nuclear war. I did not know if I would even be able to see the sun or what the weather would be. But everything looked and felt normal to me except for the haze.

  It actually felt quite warm but that was to be expected after the very cool spot I had been in for two months. It was now the first week of September and it should still be quite warm. I had clipped a ‘Nuke Alert’ to a belt loop and it was silent and that was a relief. I then climbed up on the hill and tried the crank radio I had brought with me. I searched all the radio bands but found no signal. That was not very surprising though. I went back
in and pushed my cycle outside.

  I had already filled the saddle bags with some gear, food, and water knowing day sixty was coming. I then removed the solar panel and put it in the mine and shut the door securely but did not lock it. I got on my motorcycle and it started right up so I began the ride back to my regular house.

  I arrived at my house without seeing anyone but that was not surprising. And I did see a couple rabbits so some stuff was still alive. My house looked fine and was only a little bit dusty inside. The nuke alert remained quiet so if there had been any radiation it must be gone now but thinking about it, I had been in the mine during the monsoon season.

  During the monsoon the winds would have been mostly from the south and carried any fallout with it up to this area from Phoenix. But the summer rains should also have washed the fallout away. According to my nuke tester if there had been radiation it was now gone.

  There was no power on at my house and I did not stay long, locking the door on my way out I had headed over to my neighbors place to see if they were all right. I remember I pulled up near their house and knocked on the door. Then I knocked again a little harder. I could see both their vehicles here so I knew they must be home. So I had tried the door and it was unlocked so I stuck my head in and yelled “Hello, anyone home.”

  I had heard nothing so I stepped inside. The place smelled kinda musty or maybe like there was a dead mouse in there or something. I walked in farther and yelled again but at this point I did not think I would get an answer.

  I just assumed they were gone and had been for awhile but I thought as long as I was there I would just give a quick look in the each room. In the bedroom I found them lying on the bed. They had been dead for quite awhile it looked like because they were all shrunk up. I decided I would run in to town and report their deaths. I almost went back and took my truck but I was on my cycle so I just took that and headed in to town. When I got out on the highway I was surprised that no one else was on the road.