Dystopia: The Beginning of the End Read Online Free Page B

was ONLY for these members, and there would not be additions to the group unless they meet with everyone in person.  This was for sharing and information within the group only. 
    Matt knew that secretly, Dez wanted to lurk about their online profiles as a way to ‘background check’ their new friends. While she knew that people don’t always show their true selves online, she hoped she could possibly garner some insight into their new friends.  She assured Matt that it would never be used as a reason for anyone be included or not.  She said that she felt ‘it would give them an idea of the personalities of those in the group.’ 
    It was also discussed that they would monitor CB channel seven for group info, at least until Tawny could come up with a good coms plan.  A system where the channels would change by the day.
    Between the Isis threats, economic woes, threats of war, solar flares and Yellowstone.  Also not to forget to mention whatever else may lie ahead, the group was very much on edge.  Add to that the increased threat of Ebola; things seemed more urgent these days.  Loel spoke up saying,
    “I don’t know what might happen, but it is definitely a good thing to have a well-organized group of friends if we should find ourselves in a bad spot.”
    He then raised his glass, to which everyone responded in kind. 
    All in all it was a good meeting.  Matt, however, went to bed that night with an uneasy feeling, he’d had it for days, but thought it was simply September 11th that was bothering him.  He could now see this was not it, there was something else that was making him feel anxious and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
    He knew that something was bothering him, he just couldn’t figure out what made him so uptight.  He had been trying to put all the pieces of things together.  It really bugged him that the news had not revealed any details about this Ebola thing, and could not help but wonder what it could be a smoke screen for.
    Sleep eluded him for a long time, as he could not make his thoughts go calm, he kept running scenarios over and over until he finally succumbed and fell asleep.
     
    September 14
                  Matt woke up and headed to the kitchen for some coffee to find Dez fussing over his cup already.  The past few days were sort of a blur, and all seemed calm.  He thought he was all worked up about nothing and was just grateful for the coffee.
    They never seemed to be tired of hanging out together, Dez was a Writer and Matt worked on computers so they could both work from home some days.  They sat having their coffee on the porch swing, enjoying the crisp morning air when Tawny came hurriedly up.  Dez raised her cup to her and said,
    “Day off?  Grab a cup.” 
    Tawny headed for the door and said, “Yea, but let’s have it inside, you need to look at the news.” 
    Matt instantly felt dread, he’d known for weeks something was wrong.  Something more than just September 11 th , Ebola or run of the mill terrorist stuff. 
    They sat in front of the TV, reading the ticker along the bottom, today’s real news wasn’t even spoken by the anchor, and how they could not think this was important enough to speak on was beyond them.  The ticker read “financial markets are experiencing drop today in the wake of OPEC announcement. The standard for oil sales will no longer be backed in U.S. currency, all oil will now be transferred in Gold.” 
                  They all knew what this meant, although most Americans have no clue what the petro-dollar is.  Matt, Dez and Tawny knew exactly what this meant…. Hyperinflation was on the horizon. That, was something they were sure of and felt a desperate need to get things in order. 
    Thank goodness it was Friday and payday they all decided to pull nearly all their cash out of the bank go out to pick up a few things and felt they should do it today. 
    Dez texted her kids, they too know what