Things didn't go as plan after leaving Marty's. My trip to the East took over two years. What I saw of what once was America, appalled me. There was no coherent structure left. Gangs, cults and local militants had replaced any forms of government. States were divided and the federal goverement no longer existed. The general state of the country was anarchy. There were thousands of tiny fragements of power, but there was no longer any overridding leader. There wasn't any structured military left in America. Members of the arm forces were scattered into hundreds of different segments. The vast arsenal of weapons was no longer under control of any one group. Heavy combat hadn't occurred between the tousands of facades, but as marty had said it was only a matter of time.

I spent over a year going from one group to another hoping to find some kind of common goal they all share, but there was none. Each group seem to have its own agenda. The country was breaking apart from within. I was certain that a violent civil war was soon to begin, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Maybe, the country had always been divided. There were always special interest groups with there own agendas, but now they were armed and dangerous. What was it that had held this country together?...I thought.... What shared values and purpose did we all share? If there ever were one I could not think of them now. The will to survive...the need to conguer...thrill of conquest...glory of the fight. I quess these were always in us, but before somehow had been surpress. Now, it seemed these were the basic elements that were driving indiviuals. Basic, savage, wild....but somehow right.

I needed to get away. The pull of the groups were becoming to strong. I was afraid if I stayed among them I too would soon join. Somehow the wild, animal instincts that had somehow been quenched had come to life again with a vengeance. I decided to live in the wilderness away from human contact. By the time I had made this decesion Congress no longer held session and the President was nothing more then a figure head.

I almost starved in the forest due to my lack of survior skills. But slowly I learned to fend for myself. I became quite resoucefull over time. My skills as a hunter became quite good. I lived a primitive existence but it felt right...like this was the natural order of things...the way man was intended to have lived. I also, reconginized that I too was becoming more like the people in the rest of the country. Whatever was occurring to them was happening to me. I however, enjoyed living in solitude away from...the pack. I knew if I didn't return, to what was left of civilization, I never would.

Durning my time in the wilderness I had developed the concept for a cartoon. At first, it was just something to preoccupy my time. An attempt to stay in connected with civilization, but soon it became more. I relazied that the cartoon was a comic attempt at trying to explain waht was occurrring in the country.

The cartoon was in comic strip form and told of a family of flees that lived on a dog. The flees lived their life, theorized and philosophied to the meaning and purpose of it, without ever coming to the realization that they were living on a living creature. They never realized their limited perspective to the big scheme of the universe and their insignificant part in it. The flees believe they were the only lifeforms and therefore the most important part of the universe. They never understood that they were just one form of living being among thousands....in one universe among thousands. The flees vastly over estimated their purpose in the universe. The problems and dreams seemed trival and amusing to the reader because he/she understood how greatly misinformed the flees were to the actual universe. The comicstrip was called "Flee's of the Dog". When I left the wilderness i published it in several underground newspapers.

By the time I rode to the East, 'Flee's of the Dog" had what use to be refered to as a "Cult Following". This term was not used any longer in what was now know as the former United States. It had drastic imilactions because of the events that were unfolding in America. The divison in the former U.S. had withered away all remains of political order. Anarchy was the rule of the land and fighting amongst the many segements was now common place. There were no longer any official government and most of the political leader had been assisnated. There were no states, just terriorties, maddness and desturction.

There was no way of contacting Bryan before I reached West Virginia. The formal means of communication no longer exsisted. Telephones, faxes, e-mail, mail, and telegraphs were all gone. I had gotten Bryan's address from Marty and was hopping he and Tina hadn't moved. Lukily, they hadn't.

I rolled up to the house tired, confused and damn glad to be there. Bryan was walking out the door when I arrived.
"I don't believe this, Bryan said, I figured you for dead. Good God, Tina, he yelled, we have an actual celebrity in our mist."
"Celebrity, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Well, you are the "Flee's of the Dog" man, aren't you."
"Yea, I guess so. I just can't believe you've actually heard of it."
"Heard of it?..Tim you're famous."
"From what I've seen of this country I'm not interested in public fancy, beside the strip might be well know , but believe me I'm not."
"Well I guess being a celebrity doesn't count for much now. What with the rapid approachment of Armageddon and all."
"You really think things are that bad?, I asked"
"That bad ,hell yes. Where have you been living in a cave."
"Actually, yeah. For a good portion of the last year I was living inside a cave."
"For real, far out! Come on in and see Tina. You look like you could use some rest."
"You're right I could use some rest. You Tina together, strange world. I hardly even know her."
"Yeah, I guess you were out of it during most of that trip, weren't you? You're so right about one thing, it sure is a strange fucking world."