text: I wrote this in 2019 and haven't touched it since. Let me know what you all think. I haven't came up with a title yet either. Chapter One In the beginning there were a few jobs that you did, you either worked in the mill, logged in the woods, or were in the transportation business. Let me tell you everyone was struggling. Healthcare and most stores were ran by the government, and the stores that weren’t were owned by the timber company. Prices of everything were through the roof and wages were low despite the prospering export prices of plywood and lumber. By the time you got your paycheck it was mostly pennies due to having such a big account at the local store and gas station. That was okay for the most part since housing was provided by the timber company or government and as long as you worked housing was free. No one was particularly happy with the way things were going, but we all woke up and did our jobs. But it’s been that was since shit hit the fan in 2020. Things were really heating up in big government between the Republicans and the Democrats. We all knew whoever one there would be trouble. That was 8 years ago, but it feels like yesterday. Let me explain to you what happened in the shortest way that I can. We were watching the voting come to an end on Fox news when the screen went blank briefly then this lady came on air, she said “due to the way things are heading with government we are taking control of America”. Then the screen and power went out. Cell service diminished. Everything was black and cold. Now I always thought the government was just a big puppet show ran by a higher power and now it seems I was right. In the coming weeks power came back on and troops of some sort in all black uniforms moved into the city. A curfew was enacted and you couldn’t go anywhere without permission. People were dying and those that survived, including myself, were about to start living in hell. America was then divided into areas by what was produced the west coast, Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California were the timber producers all owned by operated by one company. The southern half of California along with Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico were all for testing, what they were testing no one knew. Texas, Oklahoma, the Dakota’s, Wyoming, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia were cattle and oil. The Midwest states were farming areas. The rest of the states either fell or were used for God knows what. It came to be know that most everything we knew as Americans was a façade and was owned by an elite group of people. That group of people only had one thing on their mind and that was money. We all worked for pennies while they padded their pockets and lived well in DC, we were all required to watch a programming at the beginning of every shift that outlined how well our economy was doing. It angered everyone, but we took care of business and did what we needed to do to care for our families. Chapter Two It was a Tuesday morning, I started my morning routine as I always do, poured a cup of coffee, let my dogs out, and went sit in my lazy boy. I pulled out my book as I started going through my plan, there were about 5 of us who were planning a rebellion. We planned this out during our hunting trips we took once a month. We were all tight knit as we ran the big boilers that powered the West Coast Lumber mill. We knew we could bring it to it’s knees if we shut the steam valves and caused an explosion. We knew that if we tripped the fire alarm, then told people to run we could get everyone out of there before the whole thing hit the critical blowing point. So that is the plan we enacted. I triple checked my list as I laced up my boots, I pulled the pistol from it’s hiding spot and tucked it into my waist band, today was the day. I kissed my wife good bye and knelt down and petted my dogs and told em I would see them later. God only knew if I’d make it home. I walked out the front gate and threw my lunch box inside and fired up that old truck. As I backed out of the driveway I was praying that this plan would go right, and that no innocent people would get hurt. We had already spread the word for many people not to show up and hoped they would listen. The mill should be mostly deserted anyway since it was a maintenance day and only the boilers would be running. I stopped by John’s house and picked him up, we didn’t say much as we knew what needed to be done. 9:15 A.M I walked over to main steam valve and started closing it, the plan was in place and this was the first step. Brad was walking around silently telling everyone to walk out, get in their rigs and leave. It would be a big blast. Brad came to me around 9:45 and told me the place was deserted, we knew at 10A.M some big wigs that controlled everything would be in a meeting 100 yards from the boiler building, those 10 people were the only lives that would be lost that day. We were sending a message to the corporate Giants that we wouldn’t live this way any longer. I told John, Brad, Dave, and Harold to get out and I’d over pressurize the boiler, as soon as I knew it was ready to blow I’d meet them at the cabin where our families were waiting. 10:15 A.M the boilers were hissing so that was my queue to leave, I locked out the controls and high tailed it to my pickup at the bottom of the stairwell, I looked over at the office building and said a silent prayer for what was about to happen to the assholes in that room. I fired the truck up and pulled out of the complex. 20 miles away from the top of the ridge I watched as WCL exploded in a firery mess. The deed was done and the 5 of us would soon be wanted men.