Beach, Noon, Book

It was around noon, and the beach was quiet. It was a hot day, but no one visited the beach in at least 5 years. Greg was driving his run-down SUV; the whole windshield was missing and all the doors were missing except the one by the driver’s seat. Much of the roof was torn, only a slab covering the back seats remained. He had to get to the Caliente Hotel, one of the few hotels remaining along the southern Florida coast. Few places were safe anymore, so Greg had to hurry. He had to deliver Traleri’s book. It wasn’t safe to e-mail it, some hacker could easily find it on the now severely compromised network. The delivery had to be personal.

Greg continued down the coast. There was a flock of seagulls pecking at some courses next to a flaming car, up by the boardwalk. A whale and plenty of rotting fish were right along the coast. The whole sight was depressing and unusual, nothing like Greg could have imagined as a 5 year old making sand castles. But now all the water was contaminated. No one really knew how it occurred; many just assumed the National Public Health service mistakenly added too much of a mild psychedelic drug to the drinking water and things went out of control and spread quickly throughout the nation’s water supply. It was supposed to help the citizens feel a little less depressed, just like fluoride to improve teeth, but all that resulted was widespread and uncontained depression. So many people died in one month that the entire government collapsed in the chaos. No one could figure out that it was the water that was the problem until at least half the population died.

All that remained now were city-states, primarily defined by their computer networks and electronic defenses. Ever since the hurricane, though, all networks in southern Florida were compromised. It would take at least a year to build back up. It severely hindered Traleri’s efforts to form a safe and free environment, free of the isolation that had been plaguing what was once a country. For some reason or another though, many cities preferred to achieve control of land with violence. And certainly if they knew of Traleri’s plans to form a free state, they would kill him.

Greg saw the beaten-down hotel up the sand dunes. The plan book would be in Traleri’s hands soon enough. It was the beginning of the future.