The Nowhere Dystopia

All of a sudden it was gone. The world got plunged into darkness. 7:36 pm Central time. No TV. No Radio. No Phones. The generators clicked on shortly afterwards. But those few short moments were enough time for everyone to realize that something had happened and that the world would never be the same again.

            The small town of Joann, Kansas was suddenly very lost. Every volunteer firefighter, paramedic, and farmer had set off for city hall by 7:40. The obvious course of action was to get organized. Quickly. Because Joann was founded by a bunch of worry rats back in the 50’s we had boxes of old walkie talkies buried in a back room. Everyone was given a box of 50 and told to distribute.  Once every little old lady and awkwardly single 30 year old had one, the orders were given. We were to gather every bit of survival and camping gear available. The pick-up trucks were driven by the old guys that owned them and we gathered all the supplies. The school buses followed to pick everyone up.

We were told to go the schools and drop off everyone. Once they were dropped off they were put to work. Moms went to the gym with all kids under ten, eleven year olds and up went to the cafeterias to clear space. Tables were pushed to the sides, kitchens setup with coffee makers running like crazy, and supplies being organized. The girls were gathering names and going through class rooms. Once everything had been put in order we called groups of five families at a time and assigned them a class room. They were given flashlights, pillows, and blankets. Once everyone had their sleeping arrangements we told everyone not to worry and gave instructions to go to the cafeteria of their building at 9am in the morning. That’s where we realized that we were truly in over our heads.