THE KING OF DETROIT (An Original Dystopian Sci-Fi Novel – Episode 2)
The King of Detroit saga continues. In this episode we discover what it was like when Yellowstone erupted, the collapse of civilization as we know it, and the rise of new city states.
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It wasn't an explosion so much as it was an implosion, at least at first. In an instant, thousands of acres of Yellowstone National Park fell into the boiling ocean of molten rock beneath it, instantly vaporizing those unfortunate souls who happened to be visiting the park at the time. I doubt they even had time to feel fear or to know what was happening. They had it easy; it was those who survived the ordeal who had it hard.
When Yellowstone erupted, it made a truly terrible sound that could be heard hundreds of miles away. Some say it sounded like death, a loud and terrible rumble that lasted for days. Others describe it as the sound of a terrible wailing and gnashing of teeth, straight from the pits of Hades itself. There are many who still hear it in their dreams. I suppose it will haunt them for the rest of their days. Who can ever truly be free again after such an experience? Such things change people, but never for the better.
Rivers of lava poured out of the angry caldera in all directions. Smoke, fire, and brimstone made their way toward the sky. So powerful was the calamity that the volcano created its own weather system over and around it, stretching for miles in all directions. Lightning flashed constantly across the sky, like millions of flash bulbs going off at once. Powerful winds ripped through the land. Tornadoes descended from the ominous sky above and wreaked havoc on an already-ravaged land. It truly was hell on earth.
The ash that spewed from the mouth of Yellowstone formed a dark, ominous cloud layer that covered the whole world. It poured ash and foul sulfuric rain over the lands for what felt like an eternity. I stopped counting how many days it rained before it all stopped. The rivers and streams became foul with the sulfuric muck that quickly filled them. The air became almost unbreathable from the stench of the rotting corpses mixed with sulfuric fumes. The remains of an untold number of humans and all manner of animals covered the lands. There were just too many of them to bury. I doubt anyone will ever know with certainty how many perished.
I wish I could tell you that there was plenty of food and water for those of us who survived. Oh, how I wish. But that certainly wasn't the case. At first, the survivors simply looted grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, warehouses…anywhere they knew they could find food. Those resources went fast, too fast. You would have thought that people would have had enough sense to conserve and ration their provisions. You would have thought.
When the easy stuff ran dry, people turned to stealing from others, or just killing them and helping themselves. Some people hunted. Just as all of humanity was not completely destroyed, many animals survived, too. But not all people had hunting skills or anything to hunt with. In time, desperation set in. Some tried to glean nutrients from eating bark, chewing on pieces of leather, eating insects, and basically anything else that would keep them alive.
When those things failed to quench their hunger, some turned to killing others and eating their flesh. There are even rumors of mothers killing and eating their own children. I have no reason to doubt that such things happened. Extreme hunger tends to make people do extreme things they never imagined they were capable of…and later deeply regret.
It has been three years now since Yellowstone erupted. News of other parts of the world travels very slowly. As far as I or anyone else knows, there are no more nations. There is no more Russia, China, Germany, Brazil, or the United States. The old boundaries no longer exist. There are no more large armies to defend them. There is, however, something new. Or something old that has been made new again. It all depends on how you look at it. We have city-states. The great cities didn't necessarily die when Yellowstone erupted. Rather, they were transformed into small nations, many of them with their own kings and queens.
Some of these kingdoms have already waged war against neighboring kingdoms, like the recent invasion of Chattanooga by the army of Atlanta. It had something to do with the pillaging of resources. Food, medicine, alcoholic beverages, gasoline, and so many other resources are now commonly fought over. That's the usual reason behind most wars these days…something to do with acquiring resources, or preventing others from having access to the resources you control.
Even though Chattanooga had the smaller army, Atlanta wasn't able to take it, or its resources. Chattanooga's mountains gave its army a strong tactical advantage. When Atlanta's army marched up I-75 to plunder the small city, Chattanooga's army had no problem defeating it from the relative safety of their positions high up in the mountains. There have been other wars, of course, but they are of little consequence. The outcomes of those wars have no bearing on the lives of either my family or me.
