Silence of the Land

By Christopher Michael Benoit

Silence of the Land looks at a possible future for humanity through the eyes of three generations of the Hurley family. Silence takes the reader through a journey of hope and discovery several decades after the collapse of civilization due to the complete and utter disregard for basic decency for our fellow human being as well as our land, sea, wildlife, and eventually for ourselves. The price we pay is steep and brings us to the abyss of the end of humanity. Silence of the Land illustrates a possible future but leaves the reader with a sense of hope and optimism that we can learn from the mistakes of the past and use those mistakes to build a future based on a true respect for our fellow human being as well as the world we live in.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639853724

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 Christopher Michael Benoit

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books, Inc.

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2022

Cover art credited to Dylan C.

ISBN 978-1-63985-371-7 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63985-372-4 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

It’s sad when one passes to his friends and family, but it is even sadder when there is no one left to feel pity over their fate.

—Drew Hurley, January 30, 2029

To my son, Drew, and my wife, Kaaren, who have always inspired me and continue to inspire me and have always believed in me. Thank you, both.

I love you, Dad.

To my little girls, you will always be in my heart.

Contents

1. The Collapse

2. The Pact Goodnight TWITS

3. Stories from the Before Times by Drew Hurley Part One

4. Bourne and Beyond

5. Stories from the Before Times by Drew Hurley Part Two: Eastward Bound

6. Ludlow Wall of Misery, Stewart Mass

7. Weston, Connecticut: The Golden Age of Americana

8. Why

9. Toxic Dead Zones: The Dead Apple

10. Arcadia PA Evan Daniels, Historian, Keeper of the Knowledge

11. The Ghosts of Clifton, New York

12. Stories from the Before Times by Drew Hurley Part Three: Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2029–2033

13. Burlington, Vermont: The City of Walls

14. Mayor Van Tunes The Easy Rider, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire

15. Stories From Fenway Park

16. P-Town Shores

17. Homecoming

1

The Collapse

This is the story of a man searching for answers to his past while looking for signs of hope for the future in a cold and silent land.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will ring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (Peter 3)

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)

The distant sounds of screams, total blackness, feelings of being out of control, drowning in fright! The overwhelming reality that I could not exodus this nightmare. I could not wake myself up. Was I dead? I had no breath. I needed air.

This is a special report from Fox News. The president has ordered total martial law for the entire country. Anybody out after 8:00 p.m. without the proper clearance will be shot on sight without exception.

How is this happening? Gunshots, bloody bodies in the streets, parents looking hopelessly for their children, families walking without emotion people, screaming soldiers in the streets, gangs of raving lunatics, raiding anything that was not tied down.

NBC News was reporting that the federal government of the United States of America would be suspended due to the ongoing national crisis. This would take effect as of midnight tonight. The US military would be under the direction of the various governors of the viable states that still had functional governments.

This is a special report from CBS News. Several large explosions have been reported near the financial district of Manhattan. Reports from the scene are that some may be nuclear in nature. CBS News can also report that mass explosions have been reported in London, Moscow, Beijing, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Houston Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Chicago, and Seattle. The explosions are believed to be both biological and nuclear in nature.

Jack, Jack, Jack, wake up, wake up!

I could hear Kate’s voice, but I couldn’t seem to rise out of my nightmare.

Oh god, please help me. Please help me… I need water. I need some water…

My heart was racing. My shirt was full of sweat. The bed was soaked!

Jack, it is all right. Jack, calm down. It’s all right. Jack, wake up now! Jack, wake up!

I looked up, my eyes still not focusing. I saw my wife, Kate, through my blurry vision. The room was coming into focus. Oh my god, it was just a dream.

Jack, it’s all right. You were having another one of your nightmares.

Kate began to rub my back, and I slowly felt my soul coming back to my body. This one was very intense, the worst yet.

I blurted out, I have to go. I must go. I need to do this. I have to find out what is out there. Kate, you know what I must do. Where are Dad and Ray? What happened? I screamed loud enough for the whole house to hear. My voice raced through the quiet air of our home with vengeance. I need to do this for my own sanity! I owe them this.

Kate tried to understand, but I could see the sadness in her eyes. She was hoping that this day would never come. However, in her heart, she knew it would at some point.

My name is Jack Hurley. I have a wife, Kate, three beautiful daughters, Sarah, Karen, and Kendra, and a dog named Heidi. The year is 2075. I live in an area formally known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, near the town of Chatham. I am part of the colony we call simply the Cape. We have around a thousand settlers in our community. We live in what has become the after times or the new times depending on when you were born. Life is good for us considering the alternative. Our whole colony has worked hard, and we have carved out a good simple life for ourselves and our children based on solid principles and beliefs we called The Pact. We have plenty of freshwater, three doctors, with three more in training. The children all attend school, and our overall quality of life is exceptionally good. We are happy and content with our place in this disjointed, quiet world.

The dreams had always haunted me since I was a small child. My dad would tell me stories about the world before all hell broke loose. I was addicted to watching the old videos that my father had recorded as the world ended. Being born just after the collapse and being raised in a world that was quiet and somewhat normal, I truly did not understand what he had gone through; however, the older I got, I had the thirst to understand what had happened. When my dad informed me of his plan to explore New England and visit his childhood town, I was intrigued.

He said he wanted to do this before he died. He felt an extraordinarily strong drive within his soul that he had to go on a final journey of discovery and closure. My father was in good shape both physically and mentally; however, the thought of my sixty-plus-year-old father and his best friend, Ray, out exploring the wilds of New England, frankly, scared the hell out of me. The pair left over five years ago.

Dad had witnessed all the sides, the good times, the horrible times, and the times we have now. He wanted to find out what was growing out of the ruins of the human experiment that had crashed and burned so badly several decades before. The only real way to do that was to get down and dirty and explore the remnants of the carcass. When dad and Ray left, I remember the enormous feelings of guilt, but I knew my family needed me more, and I had to make a tough choice. In addition to being a father and husband, I also knew my community needed me. Dad would have liked me to go, but he understood my priorities were part of my core values—the same values that my parents had gifted to me as I grew up. I could not put myself in that kind of danger.

At least that was what I told myself, but the dreams were getting more and more intense, and I was becoming more difficult to live with. I felt guilty. I told Kate on many occasions that I should have gone with my father and Ray. I know she blamed herself as one of the main reasons that I did not go when they left over five years ago.

Drew Hurley, Ray Wilson, and two former Navy SEALs, Randy Funk and Mike Lewis, left the Cape in March of 2069. The four vanished without a trace. Cape security launched a mission in 2071 but only got as far as Highway 495. The questions as to what may have happened to them have haunted the entire colony since their disappearance. The trip was planned out, down to every detail possible under the circumstances. They had done a fair amount of reconnaissance beforehand, going over the bridge to Buzzards Bay and up Highway 25 into some of the towns. The route was tied to knowledge that my father and Ray had from the before times. Additionally, they had the experience of Randy and Mike, who were experts in survival skills and nautical navigation, which may have been needed, depending on the road conditions.

I fully expected them to arrive back home with stories about what was out there. The land beyond the Cape seemed dark, cold, and distant, but it begged for discovery. The questions about their whereabouts had to be answered, and Adam and I had no choice but to answer those questions, considering they were part of the founding fathers of the Chatham colony. It was our calling, and we knew we had a mission to complete.

The beginning of the collapse of the United States of America and the rest of the world can be traced back to an exact date, November 6, 2022, when, for all intentional purposes, America died. The country elected its first socialist president in a landslide. President Ariana Camilla Martinez, or ACM as her blind followers would call her, was a true believer in the teachings and beliefs of Saul Alinsky and others like him. ACM grew up in Sacramento, California. Her parents, Nora and Joseph Martinez, both worked for the state of California in various roles. Ariana was an only child who lived a somewhat quiet life in the central California capital. She attended the University of California, Davis, majoring in sociology with a minor in history. After she graduated, she taught school in Oakland and became involved in the underground socialist movement in Berkley and the east bay meccas of socialism. By 2012 she rose to city council president in Oakland. Her rising star continued as she became a California state senator in 2014 and eventually a United States Democratic/Humanist senator representing northern California in 2017. Martinez and her socialist partners very quietly followed the teachings of Alinsky and his eight steps for a socialist state. They masterfully wrapped themselves in his teachings, spouting a very candy-coated version of his desires for America and the world that the young millennials bought into with gusto. The groundwork was laid out, and the implantation was about to start.

Healthcare: Control healthcare and you control the people.

Poverty: Increase the Poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.

Debt: Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you can increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.

Gun Control: Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.

Welfare: Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income).

Education: Take control of what people read and listen to—take control of what children learn in school.

Religion: Remove the belief in God from the Government and schools.

Class Warfare: Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.

(Saul Alinsky’s eight steps to topple a nation and create a socialist state)

Candidate Ariana Camilla Martinez released her plans via her various social-media platforms to her supporters before the election. ACM called it the Plan. It outlined her radical agenda very clearly. She promised more details after she was elected. The Plan was chilling when you read between the lines.

The Plan

Government-mandated-based education. Private schools will be illegal, including all religious-based schools as of January 1, 2028.

By the year 2028, all American diets will consist of plant-based food provided by the government.

Animal-based farms will be illegal by January 2029.

Government-mandated health care/insurance. All private insurance will be illegal by January 31, 2026.

Adequate housing provided by the government. Private homes will be acquired by the government and will be used to house diversified citizens, thus making neighborhoods a mix of all people.

All American citizens will be required to be bilingual, English and Spanish, by the year 2030 or face fines with possible jail terms.

Mitigate long-term health care needs by providing lifetime health maintenance to those who the government deems as essential to the state. Individuals who are not cost-effective to the state will be deemed as nonessential and will be humanly disposed of.

Guarantee a job with family-sustaining wages to every citizen regardless of the status of citizenship.

Obtain informed consent of indigenous peoples before any further development in disputed lands.

Government-mandated retributions as defined by President Martinez.

The government of the United States will take over all industry and private business by the year 2030.

All private businesses will be outlawed by the year 2030.

Citizens found guilty of conducting black-market business will face a minimum of ten years in prison.

As of January 1, 2030, married couples will be allowed to have one child only. Children conceived out of wedlock will be terminated without exception.

Effective January 31, 2028, travel outside the United States will be limited to one justified trip per five-year period.

Martinez was the first person elected from a new political party formed in 2019 after the hellacious losses suffered by the leftist in the 2014 midterms and the devastating loss of the White House in 2016. The United Humanist Party of America sprang to life out of the fragments of the hard-left segment of the Democratic Party. Members of this new party soon started calling themselves simply the Humanist.

The mantra for the Humanist was a political party without borders. The Humanist believed that mankind should promote liberty worldwide by building a political party that elects people who are focused on all human beings. Individuals who are elected to public offices must have as their top priority to move public policy in a humanist direction with the focus on all people, not just the people of America. In theory, as with most liberal utopian concepts, they may have sounded appealing to some but in practice were a complete and utter disaster. Human beings have borders for a reason. People are proud of their heritage and culture; it’s their identity.

Humans are complex, unique individuals who live their lives vastly differently depending on their environment and circumstances. The idea that we could all live together peacefully was not based on any form of real reality based on our actions from the past. The diversity of humans is what gives us our richness and culture and keeps our creativity alive and thriving. The Humanist believed in a one-world government with one leader elected by the citizens of Earth.

President-elect Martinez made it very clear on November 7, 2022, that the United States will be a vastly different nation very soon. The new president quickly informed the American people that the upcoming State of the Union speech will go down in history as a turning point for human history. ACM’s Humanist party believed in the concept of reclassification which, in reality, was class warfare. The cradle to grave approach had been tried before and was a miserable failure. The old USSR comes to mind as well as many other brilliant failures throughout history. The writing had been on the wall for a while as modern civilization had started to collapse after years of social decay. Morality and virtues had become lost, and the world was truly becoming corrupt and ugly.

It was not uncommon to see the so-called leaders ridicule anybody or group who believed in any sort of higher power. The arrogance of the Humanist demanded a strong response, but one never came. The damage was being done daily, and on a level of craftiness that was hardly noticed. Before anybody truly realized it, the American way of life and country had been lost. The ironic twist was the fact that the arrogance of the new powers in Washington, D. C., undermined everything they allegedly believed in. The ultimate failure of the Humanist was the belief that mankind could work as one race of people.

The symbols that mankind was amid its own demise came quickly with heated veracity. The first signals were the financial markets. The combined American stock markets lost over 80 percent of their value within a two-month period after Martinez’s election. My father said that he had understood that the election itself was tainted with certain areas of the country supposedly posting election results of 99.9 percent for the so-called humanitarian. Under Martinez’s leadership, the government soon gained access to over 90 percent of the private businesses in the United States by taking control through the strong-arm of the Internal Revenue Service and severe regulations. Government agents were systemically turning the United States into some kind of so-called social utopia as seen through the eyes of President Martinez and her radical humanist party. At the same time, the agenda of the Humanist was systemically gaining momentum throughout the world. ACM gave striking details of her true intentions on January 29, 2023. Martinez’s State of the Union Address spelled out her intentions in clear, concise terms.

The newly elected leader announced that due to the deepening economic and social crisis, she was enacting the Presidential Powers Act or the PPA. The power grab was quick and supported by both houses of Congress who were firmly controlled by the party of ACM. The PPA act gave Martinez the power to sign any law written by her core group of legislators into power simply by her belief that it was needed for the well-being of the majority of the American people. It was similar to a presidential executive-order privilege with one huge caveat being the fact that ACM could completely circumvent the congress without any recourse. The congress was powerless against the power coming out of the Oval Office. When properly translated, it meant that was in the best interest of her radical Humanist agenda. Under the PPA, the executive privilege powers increased tenfold, thus making Martinez the first imperial president in the history of our republic.

The PPA announcement in the State of the Union speech was followed by the revelation that the United States of America had become a partner with Iran and Syria on a variety of military, energy, and economic fronts. The Iranian partnership resulted in the fragile relationship with the nation of Israel to completely implode. ACM claimed that the pact with Iran was a pathway to peace in the Middle East, which was a total fabrication on the part of the hard-left president. President Martinez stated the Israelis’ refusal to acknowledge the existence of Palestine was grounds for the termination of all ties with our only true ally in the Middle East. The rationale by the American socialist leftist was completely and utterly insane. The actions by ACM were soon followed by most of Europe with the exception of the British who had left the European Union years before. The American president’s strongest supporters were clearly the American and European press who were supportive but somewhat surprised how quickly the American imperial president acted in regards to the Jewish nation. Israel was our only strong partner in the Middle East, but that fact escaped the socialist American president. With one stroke of a pen, the president instantly put the entire region in turmoil and the world at the precipice of a third world war.

The PPA act completely nurtured the US Constitution and any opposing