We became too dependent on technology. That is the best I can figure anyway, because when it all failed, it seemed as if the world was ending. We went from a population of over seven billion humans, to just over two billion in a matter of weeks. All of the people that had gone around saying that the world would end in 2012 went around with an arrogant, “I told you so” look in their eyes. People that never believed it was possible panicked. It was pathetic more than anything.
Those of us that live in the mountains, far distances from everyone else, were largely unaffected. See, we don’t really live “on the grid” like those in the towns and cities. My family, like many others, gets our power from a generator and solar panels. We grow our own food, and have a very large survival shelter and underground network connecting us with other, like minded families. We worked together for years building all of this. We all did our part, canning, dehydrating, and storing food for everyone in our underground storehouses, and creating a water collection process that would not fail, even if our wells run dry.
No one outside our network knows what we have here. If they did, we would certainly have to fight to keep it. We have not been outside since the nuclear plants failed and released all that radiation, with the exception of the men to perform maintenance on the solar panels and refuel the generators. The radiation suits seem to work well enough for them. We found a way to grow our plants inside, and keep some animals, so that we are less likely to run out of food. We have enough stored for us all for several years, but it is nice to have something fresh every so often.
On occasion, we are actually able to contact a wanderer on our radios, but the news is always the same. Because of the incredible amounts of radiation, it seems nearly everyone has some form of cancer. The babies that were unlucky enough to have been born after the disasters seem to be immune though. Newer cars will not run anymore because their chips were fried in the sun storm, and there is no gasoline for older cars because the refineries exploded. It seems that if you have no horse, you are walking. No boat? You are stranded.
Well, I guess the point is, we are leaving. We have several very large boats ready to take us out of the former United States. We are going to go to Russia, as the radiation is not as bad there. We have left everything in working order, and all of the information you need to keep it all going is in the attached file. You are welcome to everything we have left behind. We have the radio set to broadcast hourly until someone finds the location and shuts down the recording.
I suppose the last thing is the warning. You must never go beyond capacity. This network can only sustain 50 people, or the system will go critical. The environment will become toxic, the filters will fail, and you will die. Follow the attached instructions completely, or the system will fail. Do not alter the automatic system setup in any way, or you will endanger the lives of anyone you bring in. I wish you the best of luck…