The attempts by the nation’s leader to impose order were largely ineffective, and over the next few days even though the news constantly reported on new events they always followed the same trend: looting and riots in major cities, fires burning unchecked through entire neighborhoods, crime shooting through the roof, and local government officials who hadn’t had enough fuel to even truck in food now not having enough to send police and emergency vehicles where they were needed after the first few hours.
The news was interspersed with PSAs and statements from public officials, actors, religious leaders, and other prominent people urging everyone to remain calm and exercise social responsibility in the face of this crisis, which didn’t seem to be helping at all judging by the news stories regularly appearing of escalating violence.
Chaos raged in state capitols and along the east and west coasts, with any city with a large population getting a taste of it. Even though it was far too soon for people to be starving experts were already estimating death tolls in the tens of thousands, a number they grimly projected could increase by an order of magnitude within the next few days, and probably rise into the tens or even hundreds of millions over the winter if the fuel crisis wasn’t resolved.
Matt was shocked by how quickly things were falling apart in spite of the rationing and emergency measures cities under Martial Law had to have taken to prevent just this sort of thing. His waning hope that things would eventually go back to normal had long since given way to alarm as he instead saw things spiraling further and further out of control, with no sign of any return to normalcy on the horizon.
For the first few days newscasters had optimistically parroted the President’s assurance of quickly building new refineries and using the nation’s last reserves to make sure food and necessities were trucked to population centers all over the U.S. to outlast the crisis. They’d spoken of the various measures being taken to secure vital supplies and of doubling the workload at remaining refineries to meet increased demand.
But after those first few days after the attack the news reports of developments in solving the crisis dwindled down to nothing, and Matt couldn’t help but feel that in spite of the old saying that no news was good news, the eerie silence on the subject of when they could expect the refined fuel to start flowing and food trucks to start running again was very, very bad news. The sort that hinted at a long term disaster instead of a short term crisis.
The long and short of it was that it was only a matter of time before riots started here as well, and he had a feeling that was going to be days or even hours as opposed to weeks. Matt couldn’t take looking at the shaky videos of fires raging out of control and crowds hurling rocks and bricks at capitol buildings anymore, so he hurriedly left the lounge and made his way to his apartment.
The dorms were split into apartment clusters with four rooms each shared by two people, with two shared bathrooms and a kitchen and small living area completing the space. Five of Matt’s roommates had already left, including Chad, and he barely saw the two who remained. Neither was anywhere to be seen when he entered the apartment and took the soda bottles over to the sink to wash them out and fill them with water. Trev had seemed sure the power would go soon and the water would quickly follow, and Matt wanted to be sure there was plenty around just in case.
He was actually a little amazed that, thanks to the power restrictions and whatever fuel reserves the electric companies were running on, they still had plenty of running water and lights at night and even internet and cell phone service. And yet the flow of trucks bringing food and other necessities into the city had slowed to a trickle, quickly seized by city officials for rationing when they arrived, and only a week after the Gulf refineries attack the city had already run out of food and people were going hungry all around him.
Was Trev right, and that was all the food available in the entire city at any given time? A week or so? Sure, Matt could guess people were hoarding whatever they’d managed to snatch up and those who’d acted fast were doing okay. But even with all the stores with full shelves, the restaurants stocked for service, and the warehouses where extra food was stored until it was needed, not to mention locally produced food like orchards and egg and dairy services, he would’ve expected the food to last at least a month.
Although to be fair, with millions of people packed into a relatively small area even what seemed like a lot of food would disappear pretty quickly into so many hungry mouths.
Trev had been right. The government wasn’t going to save the day any time soon and things weren’t going to get any better, at least not before they got much much worse. Matt couldn’t see any real reason to stay when even a lot of the professors were abandoning their classes, and he was starting to see why his friend had been so worried about being in a city during a disaster. It was as he was filling the last of the bottles that Matt’s budding resolution to get out of the city crystallized into a determination to not wait another minute. It was time to head home, not just for his own sake but to be there for his parents when this chaos eventually reached even their small town down in Carbon County.
Before he left, though, he wanted to implement one of Trev’s other good ideas: stocking up on essentials.
Sure, he wasn’t stupid enough to think that there’d be any food left in stores at this point. But food wasn’t the only thing people needed in an emergency, and there were a lot of things people might have overlooked in their desperation to meet their more immediate needs. Things like toothbrushes, floss, soap, blankets, over the counter medicines, even toilet paper. If he could spend all his remaining savings on stuff he might be able to use or trade later then he’d still end up in a better position than if he came home with nothing but the clothes on his back.
He had to at least try, especially after Trev and Lewis had made him look like a blind fool caught with his pants down in a disaster with nothing prepared. He had enough fuel left in his car to take him home, or at least most of the way, and even if he didn’t quite make it he could always ferry the supplies the rest of the way. If worse came to worst he could borrow Tom Hawsett’s horse and parade wagon for the trip. To go shopping meant he’d have to walk to the nearest store and bring the supplies back to campus pushing a grocery cart, maybe making several trips for everything, but that wasn’t so bad.
But before he could head back out the door to walk to the nearest superstore, which was about a mile away, the door to the nearest room opened and his roommate Trent shuffled out. The tall, gangly student made his way to one of the couches in the living room, slumping down in the dim light coming in through the windows and staring at the blank screen. The twenty-five year old, who was still working on his bachelor’s, had always been a bit odd and rarely socialized with his roommates, but this behavior was strange even for him.
Matt paused in heading out the door and made his way over. “What’s up?”
Trent didn’t even look over at him. “Nothing, man.”
He usually would’ve left it at that and walked away, but this didn’t feel like a leave obvious problems alone sort of day. “Nothing? You’re sitting in the dark staring at a blank TV. Come on, what’s up?”