“In a way,” Samuel nodded, understanding Abi’s confusion. If he didn’t work for a global banking corporation, he would likely be in a similar boat. “But if you think about it, it’s the value of goods that matter. If we can’t put a price on something, then what is it worth? It’s all going to be about demand now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well if you think about necessities,” Samuel explained, threading his thoughts together as they came to him. “That’s what most people will need now. Food, water, shelter – the basic core pillars of survival. No one is going to care about a thousand-dollar television set or a fast car if they can’t feed themselves or keep themselves clean and safe.”
“Oh yeah, of course,” Austin nodded. “I reckon a new form of currency will come out pretty soon. The only question is what?”
“Well food, surely?” Trent said, the answer fairly self-explanatory in his eyes. “That’s the main thing everyone will need.”
“It’s possible,” Samuel agreed. “Our major food suppliers are all going to be wiped out pretty quickly. If you think about how much land is used up in this country for livestock – or even for growing food for the livestock – that just won’t be sustainable anymore. I don’t really know what will happen there.”
“It’ll most likely all go to waste,” Austin announced, much to everyone else’s surprise. “Well, there isn’t going to be anyone around to do the jobs required to keep things ticking over,” he explained simply. “If there’s no one doing the job, the basic parts will fall apart.”
“I don’t understand why we can’t just wipe the slate clean,” Abi suggested. “It’s not like this has only happened to some people. It’s everyone. So why can’t we just say it didn’t happen and then move on? No one misses out if everyone is in the same boat.”
“But then money would just lose all its value.”
“Yeah, you’d be talking a couple hundred bucks for a tin of beans.”
“More, probably.”
“But why? I don’t understand. If everyone is on the same page so to speak, what does it matter if we just skip ahead a chapter?”
Samuel laughed at the analogy, understanding the reasoning Abi was trying to put across but also having heard the same argument far too many times already before. “It’s just not possible,” he shook his head. “Money has a value for a reason, and we’re not the only country that has it. Why do you think when you go on holiday to Europe, everything is nearly twice as expensive? Or if you go over to Mexico everything is dirt cheap? It’s based on the economies. We’re one of the global superpowers; so many other countries depend on our economy to regulate their own. If we just wipe the slate clean like you’re suggesting, we’ll ruin more than just our country, but potentially hundreds of others too.”
“Right,” Abi exhaled, not sure what else to say in response to Samuel’s statement. She understood it to an extent, though felt like she would never completely wrap her head around it all. Either way she realized that there was nothing they could do; Samuel had certainly tried during his time in Trident and look how that had turned out. The four of them – along with everyone else in New York, and across America – didn’t have much choice now but to adapt and see what happened. They were all about to experience a whole new world to the one they had become accustomed to.
Similar thoughts carried through Samuel’s head as he chewed on his bottom lip. The more he said it out loud, the more real things became to him. It was like he needed constant reminding how serious their situation was, despite how it only took a glance out of his apartment window to see the very real effects. Through everything he hadn’t really sat down and considered the long-term effects; there had been a brief period at his parents’, but back then even he hadn’t understood the magnitude of it all. Everything was different now and there was no avoiding it.
Trident burned in the distance and outside his apartment building people rioted in the streets. Windows were smashed with reckless abandon, stores ransacked and ruined while men and women of all ages screamed and shouted like children in a playground. The law had dissolved from a firm structure which everyone lived by, to a tattered pile of rags, burning on the ground. There was no coming back from this and it didn’t seem like anyone was even willing to try.
Chapter 20
Much later that night, Samuel found himself tossing and turning in his bed, unable to get any rest. Austin was on his couch in the living room, everyone having agreed that it was best for him to spend the night and see how things were in the morning before trying to go back out into the city. Trent and Abi had gone back upstairs eventually, the four of them sharing several hours of morbid conversation over what was going to happen to the country as a result of this banking crash. They’d watched every news report that was still in operation, but many were already just repeating the same coverage on a loop. Samuel knew it wouldn’t be long before all television stopped. There was no money to support life’s necessary elements now, the luxuries would certainly be among the first to end.
As the four of them had first started talking about everything, Samuel remembered thinking how that was what he needed to wrap his head around it all. But hours later he only regretted the conversation. It hadn’t helped him to see the bigger picture or to gain some sanity and understanding; it had only
