Life After Dead People

[Wyldwraith]

Prelude:
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Turns out all those ancient cultures and vague prophets were onto something when they fixated on 2012 as the date the world would end. Wait, that's not right, the world didn't end. We did. By "we" I mean mankind, humanity, civilization, the global village. Whatever you called it, it's gone now. I'm getting ahead of myself though, as you're probably wondering what this crazy bastard is raving about. I'll start at the beginning then. Fair?

First things first, my name is Gideon, my mother seeming to have decided that getting the shit kicked out of me regularly would be a character builder, or something. I mean, why else saddle a kid with a name like Gideon in the 20th century? Hmm, come to think of it that might've been where I started to go wrong. After enough black eyes, split lips and bloody noses, I decided reasonably enough I'd rather be the one administering the pain than the one receiving it. Things looked up for me for awhile, but then as a junior in high school this new kid decided he was going to establish his credentials as a Billy-Badass by taking me down. By then I'd been fighting in and out of school, and often against boys two or three years older than me since the 7th grade. The new kid, Alexander, he got off two swings that fanned air before I broke his nose and knocked out both of his top middle teeth. Unfortunately for me, it turned out that his father was a civil attorney, and friends with the frigging Governor no less. Amazing what money and connections can do to the truth.

Long story short, the punk's lawyer father sued me for the trumped-up medical expenses, pain and suffering, and mental anguish. Despite the fact the D.A had indicted his darling boy for Battery and the police investigation determining I'd been defending myself, the jury of mostly wealthy retirees and white-collar job-types saw things his way. They awarded Alexander a little under two hundred thousand dollars, which my parents were on the hook for since I was a minor. We lost our home and had to move into the shitty apartment that was all my dad could afford since my parents' savings had been wiped out (along with my college fund) and his wages being garnished. As for me, I was expelled from high school of course. Guess it helps having friends in high places.

It wasn't long before my parents were constantly fighting over money, and my Dad had started drinking again. He blamed me for "Turning their lives to shit" and made sure I heard about it, each and every day. After the first time he decked me in a drunken rage my mother talked her sister, my Aunt Gloria into letting me come stay with her. That turned out to be even more of a nightmare than getting hit now and then, since my Aunt was rabidly strict and one of those hypocritical holier-than-thou bible thumpers. She made my life a living hell, until in desperation I got my GED and enlisted in the Army the day after my 18th birthday.

Spent two years as a grunt, before my Lieutenant, the first person to really believe I had potential in a long time convinced me to apply to O.C.S. Third time was the charm, and I cranked out blood, sweat and tears to make Lieutenant. Spent some time posted in Germany after that, before availing myself of the available training to become part of the Army Corps of Engineers. Then Desert Shield and Desert Storm came along. Don't want to talk about that except to say that by the end of my third four-year hitch the only thing keeping me in the military was the Stop-Loss policy. Forced me to do almost two more years over there before finally turning me loose.

After that I used my G.I Bill money to go to college, majoring and graduating with honors in Engineering. My military experience coupled with my new diploma landed me a great job in Structural Engineering. Moved to Florida during the real estate boom as part and parcel of a promotion and salary hike, and for the first time in my life things were looking great. I'd just financed the purchase of my own house and paid in full for a new car when the real estate bubble burst. Quickly found myself a victim of downsizing, and just one of tens of thousands watching helplessly, for the SECOND time in my life, as the bank swooped in and took my home. To say I was bitter, had a chip on my shoulder, and an axe to grind after that would be a gross understatement. My one bit of good luck didn't come in time to prevent my life from going to shit, but I took the sweet job and sweeter bonus an old military buddy hooked me up with and saved damn near every dime. When the job finally played out, I had a little over 130,000, and decided to do what I'd wanted to do for some time.

Bought myself a nice little ten-acre plot on the edge of the middle of nowhere, and built myself the cozy yet sizable and sturdy cabin you see before you now. Then I filled it and my surroundings with damn near everything I'd need to stay out here and forget the human race existed. The whole self-sufficiency thing ya know?

I'd still be inside the cabin you're in or near at the moment if you're reading this, except for the damned zombies. No doubt yet another fuck-up by the fucked up human race, it didn't take me long after finally realizing what was happening to figure out if I stayed put I'd end up either zombie chow or with some Thunderdome wanna-be's bullet(s) in my back. So, I took everything I needed and took off, planning to lie, cheat and steal to get anything else I required along the way.

Guess by now the human race is an endangered species, and getting more endangered by the day eh?
Too bad I can't find it in me to give a rat's ass.

-Letter found nailed to the cabin door of one Gideon Vail