Welcome to the United States, 2023

The world is a different place now. Nuclear war is inevitable. The world economy has completely collapsed except for the United States, North Korea, Great Britain, and Russia. We are 36 trillion dollars in debt and our government is very unstable. Most people don’t know it, but the US government is going to take over. Our rights will be completely stripped away, and all of our citizens will be put in work camps. The entire population is being brainwashed. Only a few people haven’t already lost their mind. I, George, am one of those people…


I woke up abruptly to find my roommate, Johnny, staring out the window. By the look on his face, I could tell something was wrong. He looked very agitated. I asked him, “Dude, is something going on?”

He walked right up to me and slapped me in the face multiple times until I got up from my bed. I got very angry and shouted, “What has gotten into you!?!”

He looked at me straight in the eye. He was practically crying. He whispered to me, “There hasn’t been a single soul outside this morning, they’re coming, George.”

I instantly understood he meant the government was after all of us. I turned on my computer and tried to find any information I could. There was only one problem.

“Dang it!” I shouted loudly, “I can’t get a signal!”

“The government must’ve cut all connection to the outside world,” said Johnny, “We don’t have time to worry about that. Just grab everything you can. We’re going to have to go into hiding. The government could take us as hostages any minute.”

I packed some of the stuff I know I was going to need: money, a lighter, clothing, food, water, duct tape, and a bunch of containers. I decided to bring my IPod and its charger in case I had the chance to use it to get updates on the government takeover. I grabbed a few more items and I was ready to head out.

The way Johnny and I were going to get out of here is with two bikes and a wagon. To be completely honest, the setup we are using to leave this dump has more flaws than North Korea’s welfare system. It’s the sorriest thing I’ve ever seen. It has an old jump rope connecting the wagon to my bike. It’s actually really embarrassing, but that doesn’t really matter in a situation like this. I would haul our items as Johnny kept a lookout for anybody who could help us or harm us.

“Hurry up man!” I yelled to Johnny. He was still getting his stuff while I got ready our gear and equipment for the journey.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he yelled back as he loaded his gear into the wagon. “Where are we going anyway?”

“I am not sure what the situation is there but we can go to Hines Park.”

“What do you mean by ‘situation’,” asked Johnny

“I mean that I don’t know if it’s peaceful or overcrowded or something. Heck, there could be a gigantic Hunger Games going on there for all we know.”

Hines Park is a low lying area with a river named the Rouge River. It also has a road named Hines Drive twisting along-side the river and a decent amount of forest area.

“We will hide in the woods until we can find a better solution,” I told Johnny. “We can build ourselves a base of operations there.”

We ride all the way to Hines Park without saying much to each other.

“It doesn’t look like anyone is here,” I whispered when we finally road down a street to Hines Drive. “We can set up our base right behind this utility station. We’ll be able to get water from the drinking fountain and we’ll have a good view of this section of the road to make sure no one suspicious passes us without us knowing.”

We get to work on our shelter. After we make a decent teepee I work on making fire as Johnny works on preparing our food.

“Hey Johnny,” I say, “finally got the fire.”

“Good, now we can cook these hamburgers,” Johnny says.

We eat lots and lots of food as the sun goes down. We fall asleep only for me to be rudely wakened
by the sounds of people talking.

“Do you think that’s them?” says one man.

“I don’t know but I know those two are out here somewhere,” says a deep voice, “I heard it myself when they were packing their junk on a poorly designed trailer that had more flaws than North Korea’s welfare system.

“What?”

“Never mind,” says the deep voiced man that’s what George said.”

I gasp when I hear my name. I then realize that our fire is still lit and if the two men turn this way I’m screwed. I quickly douse the small fire with the little water that’s left in my water bottle. I then hear the strange men start talking again.

“Do you think they can hear us sir,” says the first man

“Yes I just heard George douse the fire he’s left burning all night”…

When I hear this I immediately black out…


The next morning, I’m shaken awake by Johnny.

“Wow! You sweat a lot while you sleep.”

I feel like I’m waking up from a bad dream when all in a blur, everything just comes back.

“Johnny we need to leave, now! Last night there were two men talking about us! I was awake, but you were sleeping, and they know where we are, what we’ve done, and they’re following us and they’re”…

“Calm down!” Johnny tells me, “now explain this to me slower.”

I tell Johnny about everything that happened.

“We need to get out of here,” he says

“I got an idea,” I say, “but it’s going to take time… and Home Depot!

Johnny stares at me like I just grew a second nose.

“Don’t you see!” I tell him, “We can build ourselves cars to flee from the country!”

“I’m not sure if you understand, genius,” he says sarcastically, “But we don’t have any gas!

“Who said they needed to run off gas?”

Finally the spider web covered gears in our heads start to turn again. I finally figured out how to get out of this mess!


We then take the long bike ride to Home Depot, which as I suspected, the entire warehouse is abandoned. We make our way inside.

“What we should do first is build the motor,” I state.

Johnny, again, looks at me like I’m the village idiot.

“I already know we don’t have gas, look here.”

I show him a bin that was labeled ‘electric motors’.

“Um, bad news George.”

“What is it?” I ask.

“There’s only one electric motor.”

“That’s okay, you can have it Johnny. I have another idea.”

We spend days on end working on our tickets to freedom when three weeks later we finally finish.

“May I introduce to you,” Johnny announces, “Betsy!”

“Seriously, you named it ‘Betsy’. Of all other things, you took hours on end to think of a name for a vehicle meant to get you out of an economically depressed area and you came up with Betsy!?!”

“Whatever George, Anyway, it’s an electric powered vehicle with solar panels.”

“My vehicle has the same stuff you have except I had to make an electric motor from scratch. It’s also twice as efficient,” I say.

“Whatever nerd! Let’s just get going before it’s too late.

Johnny and I drive down abandoned streets that are dead silent and practically have tumbleweeds. We eventually make our way onto a highway heading north. We then start driving through some mountains in Michigan’s upper peninsula.

“Hey George,” Johnny says quietly, “I think we’re being followed.”

I look behind us, and I see a truck… The same truck as the two men had!!! I remember!!!

“STEP ON IT!” I scream.

Just as we start speeding up, the truck speeds up and is hot on our heels

“Pull over!” a man in the truck with a megaphone says loudly, ”Surrender now!”

I turn around for a split second and I get a glimpse of the man holding the megaphone

“Oh, My, Gosh! They’re wearing swastikas! They’re wearing swastikas! Go faster Johnny!!!”

Then I can see from far away a sign. I realize it’s the United States/Canadian border. I then wonder if we can make it in time.

“Johnny, we’re almost there!” I shout, “Yes, yes, YES! We made it!

“We finally did it!” Johnny exclaimed.

“This isn’t over,” said the man with the megaphone, ”We will hunt you down. You can never escape!”