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    astone2292
  • astone2292
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  • 09/11/2021
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Rocky Prompts, Tennessee - 3. Prompt 132: Starting Over

p> War is never pretty. Who expected a war like this though? Over half the world’s populace is gone. Things are going to have to start over. What is your job in the aftermath of war? What was it fought about?

War is hell. It was one of my least favorite phrases; mostly for the fact it was said by many who had never seen war itself.

The only bright side I see out of it now is the fact those people got their comeuppance.

What a horrible thing to say. I need to remember many lost their lives. Hell, I lost friends to it. Richard. Sab.

Will. Fuck, I lost my baby brother!

The world is so messed up right now. Canada's gone. So is all of Europe. The Philippines, half of Africa, and Australia got blown up. Japan's a nuke zone again. Little Boy and Fat Man got put to shame.

At least I'm still living, right? Working for the new US government too? I can only be so proud. We caused half this shit! The mistakes were realized after a quarter of the world population was killed off. Got rid of another trying to right the wrongs.

Twenty years later, and we're still fixing it.

I guess I should quit monologuing. Hi, I'm Gary. I'm a Stabilizer. Our job is to reignite the spending market.

What a fucking joke. I'm in charge of getting East Coast retailers back on their feet. Let me tell you, it ain't easy.

The only saving grace I have is the remnants of the big box stores. Yeah, Walmart saved my ass. They were all on board with getting rid of their back-to-school sections and implementing basic supplies. They're not looking at profit. Well, not yet anyway. The sad part is they're biding their time before claiming their company as America's savior.

Yeah, I'm a business analyst. The government scooped us all up and put us to work as Stabilizers. Wherever our talents lied, is where we went.

The economy is going well, I guess. Not my area of expertise, but Donnelly and Simmons have the housing market figured out. Spending's down, but you'd be an idiot to think that'll get fixed anytime soon. It was all about survival for the first decade. A basic roof over your head, clean and running water, and rations came first.

Sandefur and Clemont focused on agriculture. Those corn farmers are living the high life now. They provide fuel, food, and booze. Everything an American needs, am I right?

Power was a no-brainer. Who knew all it would take to focus on solar energy would be damn-near annihilation of the human race? Coal mines needed more people than we could muster. Just about a hundred technicians across the thirty-seven states cover it.

There's a lot left to do, but I'm doing my part.

All because of that damned virus.

Copyright © 2021 astone2292; All Rights Reserved.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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drpaladin
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Digging back to an April 2012 prompt. If anything, I think it's a view of an overly optimistic outcome. I do doubt anyone would need to produce alcohol to drink for quite a long while considering the huge stocks distilleries have maturing at any one time as well as the existing bottled stock along with a diminished population.

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astone2292
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1 minute ago, drpaladin said:

Digging back to an April 2012 prompt. If anything, I think it's a view of an overly optimistic outcome. I do doubt anyone would need to produce alcohol to drink for quite a long while considering the huge stocks distilleries have maturing at any one time as well as the existing bottled stock along with a diminished population.

If you were to poll us Kentuckians what we'd ransack first... it's either Walmart or a distillery. 

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drpaladin
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45 minutes ago, astone2292 said:

If you were to poll us Kentuckians what we'd ransack first... it's either Walmart or a distillery. 

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "your eyes are bigger than your stomach." The US produces over 477 million liters of just whiskey a year, but this is only what goes out the door in bottles. You can multiply that many times over with years of maturing stock and this is just whiskey. You also have to factor in imported stock and what is still in warehouses or on shelves, Now beer is another story.

I'm still working on the stock from twenty years ago here, but I don't drink much.

Edited by drpaladin
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astone2292
1 hour ago, drpaladin said:

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "your eyes are bigger than your stomach." The US produces over 477 million liters of just whiskey a year, but this is only what goes out the door in bottles. You can multiply that many times over with years of maturing stock and this is just whiskey. You also have to factor in imported stock and what is still in warehouses or on shelves, Now beer is another story.

I'm still working on the stock from twenty years ago here, but I don't drink much.

I can only imagine what would happen to production from a nuclear fallout. 

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ZekeNix

What a clever punch-line!  But you were not joking, as we seem to be getting ever closer to an apocalypse of some sort. 

Hope is so deeply embedded in human DNA that we will forever keep pressing on, no matter what. Because that's what humans do.

Zeke

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astone2292
3 hours ago, ZekeNix said:

What a clever punch-line!  But you were not joking, as we seem to be getting ever closer to an apocalypse of some sort. 

Hope is so deeply embedded in human DNA that we will forever keep pressing on, no matter what. Because that's what humans do.

Zeke

I left a lot of room for imagination with this prompt. There was a war involving a virus. Nukes were involved. What the heck happened? Was is revealed it was manufactured? Did allies protect their friends too much? I'll let the readers decide; it might encourage some new authors...

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ZekeNix
1 hour ago, astone2292 said:

I left a lot of room for imagination with this prompt. There was a war involving a virus. Nukes were involved. What the heck happened? Was is revealed it was manufactured? Did allies protect their friends too much? I'll let the readers decide; it might encourage some new authors...

The encouragement is so noted :)

Zeke

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drsawzall

And there you go, another great impetus for a story...I'm a gonna have to look into using some of the prompts!!!

Sandefur and Clemont focused on agriculture. Those corn farmers are living the high life now. They provide fuel, food, and booze. Everything an American needs, am I right?

Edited by drsawzall
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astone2292
1 hour ago, drsawzall said:

And thewre you go, another great impetus for a story...I'm a gonna have to look into using some of the prompts!!!

Sandefur and Clemont focused on agriculture. Those corn farmers are living the high life now. They provide fuel, food, and booze. Everything an American needs, am I right?

Go digging in the old pages of Peeks and Prompts in the Writer's Circle! There are some goodies in there.

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