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Paul Fung

FYW 1000C

Professor Murray

November 11, 2020

The Diary of Richard Gomez: A Man Living in the Destruction of the United States

Day 1

Well I see the best way to start this is by saying my name is Richard Gomez. I’ve been

trying to live a “normal” life as you would call in current United States, but it has proven to be

very difficult when you have to take care of yourself, your family, lover, and survive hell. At

least my honey, Diana, has been safe at her home with ample supplies and her father, Derek, is a

gun nut, so they have more than enough firearms and munitions to keep them all safe and her

sister, Josephine, knows how to shoot. I suppose I’m writing this as a form of personal therapy

for myself after everything that has happened. Usually I wouldn’t do something like this, but my

friends have been recommending me to do this since all of us are so stressed and scared for our

lives since we have to live like this. We’ve been living like this for years, but I’ll start at Day 1

since I just started writing.

The United States has unofficially collapsed, and all its citizens are living like it’s either

Fallout, the Wild West, or This War of Mine. It’s been going on for a good amount of years now

ever since the economy crashed, people fought each other over the smallest thing, our national

debt escalated so fast, the borders were opened, and a pandemic steadily wiped us out and caused

turmoil. People grew restless from all of these and the damned politicians that should be our
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caretakers for everyone couldn’t care unless it filled their greedy ass pockets. Money is power

and power is everything after all.

That last big pandemic is what started this giant spiral of life as we know it. We lost so

many people from it that at one point the CDC was losing count of how many cases there were

and how many people died. It took so long just to recover from the disease along with vaccines

coming out publicly. People were too fucking ignorant to just follow some orders to keep

everyone healthy so we can live normally. Maybe if they all just listened, we wouldn’t have been

this deep in the shitter than we are now. So many people I have known could’ve been saved, love

you grandpop and grandmemaw.

Practically everyone lost their jobs and collecting unemployment was quickly becoming

problematic due to the volume of people signing up. People started to become desperate over

time to the point that some became robbers and had to create gangs just to take care of their

families. There are barely any cops anymore to take care of these either due to how everyone

affiliated them with the politicians that some are killed on site or that it simply is worth taking

care of this country anymore. I can’t say I blame them since they’re risking their lives for

politicians who don’t care about them or compensate them well, after all it was the media that

painted them in the worst possible light. The president during this time didn’t do much of a good

job at first, but he helped cleaned up towards the end despite it being too late for the damage

done.

The economy was in complete shambles with over sixty percent of the entire country out

of a job and fifty percent of businesses being closed down due to no money or customers. The

president hoped to recover us with his financial plans but their term ended prematurely, not even

the president could be safe from the disease. It happened close to election day so the vice-
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president never came into effect before the next candidate was picked. The next person really

screwed everyone over for good. While he may have good intentions of what he wants for

United States citizens, his logic and reasoning behind what he did made no sense since it only led

to more problems. Whoever thought minimum wage was a good idea was a psycho, and this new

president decided to raise it universally to the point that it was too high for businesses to hire

people or give anyone hours. Then this increased our national debt faster than ever before since

no one could pay taxes. On top of this, I don’t know who thought free college and healthcare

were good ideas with this country is so deep in debt that people’s taxes skyrocketed, and they

can only get below average services.

The new open borders policies didn’t help anything with how many people flocked into

the country. There were so many people who came into the country unaccounted for but were

protected by these policies. With the growth in population, jobs and housing became so much

more problematic, and we even got another of the disease from our last pandemic since not

everyone had access to the vaccine or any kind of proper treatment. There’s nothing wrong with

being an immigrant but our government should be caring more about our own people first before

they start caring about these other people. It doesn’t help that the president decided that other

countries needed help and money rather than our own country in a dying economy.

Every citizen has pretty much given into anarchy. People aren’t able to pay for any kind

of food or supplies for their homes, so people have to scavenge whatever remains of stores,

people’s homes, or any kind of public building. Some people are fighting each other not even

over supplies or anything, they’re just fighting all because they disagree and everything leads

into fights and riots. Hell, this has been going on even before the pandemic, people never learn

that they can disagree and still respect one another. Some states it has gotten so bad that they
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have been placed under martial law for so long, and yet they still continue to riot. There’s been a

good amount of riots here but no martial law yet.

I’ll end it here today. I don’t think I need to go on much longer since I’ve already

summed up this hellhole. I don’t plan on making this a daily thing since I can’t ever keep track of

something like this and I’m not big on journal therapy. I’ll probably just talk to others about

whatever happens and maybe if something big and serious happens I’ll mention it here. Hey if

I’m lucky this could end up in a museum and maybe I’ll be remembered for something.

Day 9

Well, we’re fucked. Martial law has been placed in federally. The president sent out an

executive order to place all states under martial law due to the amount of riots going on. Nearly

half of the damn country is in a pit of fire and disarray. There’s a mandatory curfew for everyone

when it starts to get dark, about dusk to 7 AM. Looters have gone into full effect everyone, and I

even saw some in town while I was trying to get whatever groceries and stuff remained at the

stores. Luckily my dad, Hector, and I were smart enough to loot a gun store nearby early on but

it got fucking ugly.

A bunch of bandits had the same idea as us. The store owner, his wife, and the bandits

got into a huge firefight trying to get into the store. They kept the owners distracted while we

snuck inside to take what we needed. We didn’t wanna take too much since these owners were

still people and there might be others who need these guns for protection. After all, since we only

wanted to get weapons and ammo for self-defense or hunting animals, we only grabbed 2

hunting rifles, 3 shotguns, and 3 pistols then enough ammo that could possibly hold inside our

backpacks. We started to make our way away from the shop but then we were cut short by the
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end of the firefight. Both the store owner and his wife were killed but it too late for us to help.

We almost made it out clean until one of them spotted us and started to unload on us.

We got home as fast as we could, but when we got home I started to feel weak and a

sharp pain in my back. My dad noticed I had a bullet hole in my upper back. He took me inside

and lied me down for my brother, Kevin to look at me since he had a lot of medical knowledge

from the medical school he could’ve finished if it wasn’t for this shit. We had some medicine,

painkillers, and bandages so I’ve been healing okay these past few days.

He told me that if they got only 4 more inches to the right, my spine would’ve been hit I

could be paralyzed from the neck down. Thank God that these bandits were inexperienced with

their guns and missed all my vital pieces. I told my girlfriend what had happened to me and man

she raced faster to get here than the first time I told her that I was home alone and special outfits

for her. She was bawling like crazy thinking that I was dying, but I held and assured that I wasn’t

dying anytime soon, at least not for another 60-70 years. She calmed down after I told her about

what my brother said and how lucky I was. She ended up passing out in my arms so she stayed

the night since she was so worried about me. She returned home in the morning to take care of

her family.

My dad and Kevin plan to head out to the local pharmacy or hospital to see what they can

find for me and to refill on medical supplies. They’re probably gonna have a difficult time

finding medical supplies since those usually go first in times like these. I hope the weapons we

got will help them.

Not much news other than the martial law and the burning states. The military hasn’t

been a problem for us since my dad and I are the only ones going out and we both have gun
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licenses so we’re allowed through any checkpoints with our firearms. Mostly all they do is watch

for bandits or looters and protect important stores, buildings, and patrol around. We didn’t get to

us at the gun store in time or us they probably would’ve shot us on sight.

I keep thinking about what happened at the gun store. That poor couple were just trying

to defend themselves and protect their guns for people who truly needed it. We didn’t even

bother to help them. We used their deaths to our advantage. We’re no better than those fucking

bandits or the damned looters. I guess in this world we live now we gotta stop caring about that

stuff. We need to worry only about ourselves to ensure that we and our families survives, after

all, wasn’t that the same thing before this all happened. Fighting for jobs, competing to get

money, getting rich by any means, and stepping over others in the way. Maybe people haven’t

changed from how we used to live, just now it’s more obvious.

Day 24

Things have been rough for everyone lately. A lot of us haven’t heard from some of our

friends either nearby or across the country. We’re worried sick about them because we don’t

know if they’re dead, their houses were destroyed, or some other shit. At least some of our other

friends who live nearby are okay. A few left to gather with their families in a bigger house,

strength in numbers I suppose, but we can still stay in contact with them. I heard one of my

friends, George, had to kill a group of bandits trying to assault his home, luckily, he’s a big guy.

He seemed pretty about it all since he only saw it as self-defense, and he knew that if he didn’t

step up to defend him and his family they all would’ve been dead or even worse. He said that the

military showed up a little after they notified them and disposed of the bodies. The soldiers

seemed very understanding towards him and he went off the hook no problem. Guess self-

defense laws are looser now since many people have to take matters into their own hands since
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the police have been overtaken by the military. We’re glad that we live on a private street that’s

secluded off from any main roads so we don’t attract many people or traffic to us.

I haven’t seen anyone other than my girlfriend since this all started. We all want to get

together in some way again but the military might take an interest in us if there’s too many of us.

We can’t even go somewhere like a park since most of them are being used as camps for the

military and people who have to be relocated from losing their homes. All of us keep each other

occupied with video games and stuff while we try and wait for all this shit to end. Many of us

have had trouble sleeping due to paranoia and the gunshots we can hear outside. A heard a giant

explosion the other day, sounded like it was coming from the direction of the mall. Don’t tell me

the military has to start bringing in tanks now to take care of people, it can’t possibly be that bad

yet. It’s probably just some vandals and stuff.

My younger sisters, Lisa and Emily, have been cracking under all the pressure. They

keep going on about how they all want their old lives back, I can’t say that I blame them, but

they gotta learn to be strong now. Emily had a massive breakdown and went berserk in her room.

She collapsed crying about the whole thing so my brother and mother, Mary, had to comfort her.

Mother slept with her through the night to ensure that she calmed down and didn’t do anything

harmful. After that, everyone seemed to calm down and we’re somewhat of the new normal.

Hopefully the military can get everything under control since they might be our only chance to

return to our old lives.

Day 52

There have been more moments of peace lately, if you can even call it that, it feels more

like control. The bandits and their attacks on people’s homes have toned down a large amount in
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exchange for increased military presence all around. Many people are afraid to leave their homes

now since there are military patrols going up and down every street possible, even the private

streets like ours since they want no stone unturned. There’s a lot of rumors spreading about what

the military are doing, something out of fucking Nazi Germany with the Jews or the British back

when ruled over the US. Military barging into homes claiming they’re “searching” for anything

suspicious and things go missing, soldiers lounging around people’s homes, soldiers objectifying

women in their homes, soldiers firing upon anyone who disobeys them, and all kinds of

harassment. I don’t know what’s worse: no protection where the cost is possible attacks or

protection where the cost is the lack of privacy.

Part of me believes the bandits are just in hiding now or up to something else. Maybe

they’ve gotten better at things, even potentially disguising as soldiers. I could just be getting

paranoid and angry cause of the military everywhere. I noticed a couple of suspicious people

around my neighborhood now, some I’ve never seen before and they like to glare at us. One guy

had a tattoo down his neck and the other looked like your average guy which was even scarier

thinking that just anyone who looks normal might be suspicious. They’re up to something more

sinister, like there’s some underground stuff going on with the bandits and people. Are they

targeting our homes or people specifically?

My girlfriend and her family don’t feel save at their home anymore. They’ve noticed

similar shady people around their homes on top of the military bothering them. Derek is even

more worried since he is the only man in house taking care of his wife, Crystal, and 2 daughters.

He feels that if he’s killed or something that the family might be at a severe risk from the

military harassing them or something worse. We arranged that we would help them move
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everything important and supplies to our house and they’ll be living with us until this shit is

taken care of.

Day 85

i’ll fucking kill those sons of bitches all of them none will be left alive after what they’ve done

i’ll butcher them like pigs the bastards came at night the same fuckers i saw the past few days

eyeing me down a dozen of them came to raid us and shot up our home. they killed dad, lisa,

emily, mom and shot diana, crystal, derek, me. diana and derek nearly dead, vitals hit. shot four

times, still moving. crystal was only hit in crossfire, grazed side. i’ll find them. i want the two i

saw butchered, tortured, hung. damn scouts. house in shambles, windows broke, supplies safe.

barely killed half of them. they’ll be back, need to stop them.

Day 86

Everything has gone to fucking hell. There were 14 of those fucking bandits last night, a

giant gang. They killed four of us, fucking 4 while we got 6 of them. I recognized the two

fuckers that were watching me around the neighborhood. The military is fucking useless. Despite

the constant shooting and gunfire going on for nearly half an hour, they never made it in time to

catch the fuckers or save us. It’s like they fucking knew when to leave, when the military would

arrive. They never made it into the house, but that didn’t matter since they killed dad and mom in

the firefight and killed Lisa and Emily while they were inside trying to cover the house and get

everyone and everything somewhere safe in the house for them to hold off the rest of the bandits

if we died. Kevin tried to help them while he was inside but it was too late with how deep their

vitals were hit. Josephine was able to fight off the rest of the bandits to get them to flee.
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The military tried to do whatever they could when they arrived. They had plenty of

medical supplies for us to use on us. Surprisingly, their medics were nice to help us up and make

sure that we had enough supplies for us to survive our wounds. They gave us some bandages and

IV bags for Derek and Diana. She has been unconscious ever since and he struggles to stay

awake so he only stays up to eat before going back to sleep Diana took two shots to the shoulder

and stomach then Derek ran over to protect her but he got 7 shots in his back from it. I got shot

in my arm, back, chest, and shoulder. I don’t feel anything vital hit and I should be okay without

a about a week since nothing was broken. The medics said we should okay over the next few

days to a week. Thankfully, Kevin is okay so he’s able to take care of everyone even without the

medics.

I’m going to find those people who did this when I recover. I have a feeling that I know

where their camp or base is. I saw them come in and out of woods by our home. They have to be

deep inside because we saw their lights disappear slowly as they moved away. I know those

woods well since I’ve gone walking in them for years before everything happened. I’ll track

them down and kill all of them. For my family, for Diana, and for our safety, they must be

stopped.

Day 97

I found their camp. I followed a couple of them into the woods and found out where

they’re hiding out. There’s about 15 of them. According to the news, it’s going to storm

tomorrow and I think I could that to my advantage. I have a plan to take these fuckers out. If the

storm is as bad as they’re saying, I use the lightning and thunder to cover my approach on their

camp. I’ll take one of Derek’s assault rifles and one of our shotguns to fight them off. They

won’t know what hit them.

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Day 98

i won

Day 100

It’s over. I did it. I kill every single one of them, burned their camp to the ground,

butchered some of them that were still breathing, and took everything they had. Diana and Kevin

told me what happened when I came home.

They said I came in looking like a completely different person. I had this, mad evil grin

across my whole face, Diana looked at me in complete horror to the point she was afraid of who

I was, like she didn’t recognize me. There were cuts, stab wounds, and gun shots all over my

body. Kevin said I was running on pure adrenaline and that I should’ve bleed out on the way

home. My entire face was destroyed with bruises and slashes on my face, even one of my right

eye sockets looked like it got punched and almost caved it, if anyone hit me harder I would’ve

lost the eye. My arms and shoes were covered in so much blood and they could tell it wasn’t my

own and it was still wet, dripping off of me. Everyone froze staring at me for what felt like an

eternity until I finally let out the words, “I did it,” then I collapsed on the floor. Kevin, Diana,

and Josephine rushed to get me patched up and stop all of the bleeding. They worked the whole

night to ensure that I would be okay. They said I was out for a while until today when I’m now

writing this. I could see that Diana could barely even look me in the eyes, she didn’t even kiss

me or anything, she looked completely scared of me. Kevin said he was leaving to go to the

hospital or military camp for some blood bags since I was going to die if I didn’t get blood now.

Derek wasn’t bedridden anymore, I guess he started walking around while I was still asleep.
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I don’t know how to feel about what I’ve done. It feels like I should be happy about this,

but I just feel like I’ve lost a part of myself and a monster. I can’t remember whatever happened

at the camp, it’s like I wasn’t even there. It feels like I left my body and it went on its own. I tried

talking to Diana and she’s very nervous about it. She said she barely recognizes me after what

happened and she just wants me to be okay and to stay safe with her. I feel so shitty for scaring

her like that and what I did to her. I made myself a monster to her. I just wanted to keep her safe.

I don’t know what’s happened to me whether it was the firefight that tipped me off or was it all

just built of from over 3 months of this life. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her and everyone

safe. What I do from now on is for our safety. I still love her and everyone else, nothing will

change that. I love you, Diana.

Day 129

We’ve heard some news lately about a new group of people coming to power in the

United States. They call themselves the Liberators. They claim the United States has gone

against everything it has ever stood for with the constant martial law and control through the

country. They want to take down whatever remains of the government and politicians in power

that are just perpetuating their agendas rather than taking care of the American people. We’ve

seen some posters they’ve put up saying they want new recruits since they’re going to need tens

of millions of people if they wish to overtake the government and the military. They plan to

make the country’s first priority the citizens’ rights and well-being and not to focus on acquiring

as much money as possible. They seek to take care of people within the country first and

foremost and not citizens of another country unless they are in dire need or agree to help us in

return. We’ll finally have people in authority that’ll use it to take care of our people and country,
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God do we need it now more than ever. Maybe now our system will be built so that it’s the

system itself that fails but rather it’s the person’s fault for failing.

Word has gotten around about how some Liberators actually took back some towns that

were under heavy military control. People are mixed on these people and the military. Some feel

that the control is what’s keeping them safe and we just need to sacrifice some freedoms, others

believe that the Liberators will help us bring our way of life back and give us the rights that

everyone deserves and to have nothing restricted to a safe, sane person. I really hope everything

about these Liberators is true, I really want my old life back and maybe have this country change

from what it once was.

I’ve been thinking of joining the Liberators, they sound like they could really help us

return to our lives. If the military was so great to bring order back, why are we still living like

this for over 4 months. Everyone else doesn’t want me to go, saying that we should just mind our

own business and let people handle. I have that feeling that this’ll help me keep everyone safe

and ensure we can have our lives back. I don’t want to keep living like this and I know they

don’t want it either. I’ll keep us safe, maybe I’ll even get rewarded for helping. I don’t want to

leave Diana, but I want to ensure a future for us. I want to live with her and raised a family and

live our lives together until we die. I must do this once I’ve recovered from my wounds.

Day 184

The Liberators have declared war against the United States. It’s another American Civil

War. People and the Liberators have grown too tired of the US government and they want a

change now so they want the Liberators to take charge. The government and president have

responded by labeling the group as a terrorist organization, but this had the complete opposite
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effect that they wanted, this merely fueled the fire in the American people. The government

wanted to demonize the Liberators but everyone feels that because the people feel so strong and

relate to the Liberators that it feels everyone has been called a terrorist, and now they are all

angry and are out to fight the government.

Diana tried to convince me to stay again instead of going off to join the Liberators and

fight the government. I told that it was something I had to do for everyone to keep us safe. She

gave in and told me I could go but she wanted me to promise her one thing, “Don’t you dare

come back if you show up like that other person I saw months ago, because I’ll tell you to go

away.” I promise her that no matter what happens. I don’t wanna lose her or anyone else

anymore. I just want this to end, and if I have to be involved to get this thing to end, then so be it.

She told me that everyone might not be at the house anymore if I’m gone for too long, so she

can’t promise if they’ll still be here. I’m going to share one final night with everyone, and then

I’m going to spend one of the best nights of our lives with Diana before I leave soon. I love her

so much.

Day 268

I returned home. The Liberators won. The government is being restructured and new

people are being appointed as I write this. Everyone is gone. Most things were taken like family

stuff, supplies, cars, and weapons. It feels so lonely here now. I grew up here for over 20 years

and now it’s empty. I was hoping to see everyone and Diana again, but I guess that’ll have to

wait a little while longer. I found a note left in the wall by Diana. She said everyone moved

upstate to move in with her grandparents to be in a more secure area from bandits and the

military. I hope everyone there is safe. She put in the note, “I’ll be waiting for you until you get
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here every day. I love you so much, honey. Get here once you read this.” I’ll find you, Diana.

I’m coming baby.

Day 271

It took a few days of travel, but I made it, finally. When I arrived at the house, Diana

answered the door and had the look of complete shock on her face. She practically tackled me

when she processed it was me and started to bawl her eyes out. She was terrified that I might

have died in battle. It felt amazing seeing her again after so many months. I missed her so much,

she’s sleeping on me right now as I write this.

Diana, Kevin, Crystal, Derek, and Josephine are all safe. This house is amazing shape,

that’s what you get for living in the rural upstate surrounded by nothing but hills and forests. Her

grandparents, Mabel and Robert, have been safe ever since this all started. They told us how

because it’s so secluded out there that they couldn’t even hear anything going on in the cities or

the rest of the country. All of their neighbors and people in town have been avoiding everything

so they could try and live their lives peacefully. The only sources they had for anything was what

the news provided them and whoever they could get in contact with. They’re just glad that we’re

okay and they’re so sorry for what happened to my family. They said that we’re welcome to stay

with them for a while.

The Liberators on the news are working as quickly as they can to fix any damages done

to the country and restore it back to normal so people can go back to working and living life.

Kevin plans on going back to medical school once everything is sorted out and they can reopen.

Derek and Crystal most likely will try to go back their home and do whatever they can to make it

feel like home again. Diana and I plan to go back to my home and repair it, and Kevin said he
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would help us and stay with us until he goes to medical school. All we can hope now is that the

future for everyone is brighter after this. I have faith in the Liberators and what they are doing. I

believe they can get everyone back on track and give us our lives back, it’s just a matter of time

now.

Works Consulted:

Cox, Jeff. The Worst Might Be over for the Economy, but the Future's Not so Bright, Either. 31

July 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/07/30/the-worst-might-be-over-for-the-economy-but-the-

futures-not-so-bright-either.html

Amadeo, Kimberly. “Top 10 Economic Predictions for the Next Decade.” The Balance, 31 July

2020, www.thebalance.com/top-economic-predictions-for-the-next-10-years-3305699