Relief

When the world is falling apart, you have to hold onto anything you can grab. After the flash, in the days of panicked evacuations, then rioting, then conflict, I learned to pack light, and take supplies wherever I could get them.

Now, almost a year into the civil war, some of the most extraordinary acts of survival have become mundane. But still, I find myself being thankful for the small blessings that we have. There are no shortages of supplies, both from our own government, the opposition, neighboring countries, and a private health organization. Of all those different factions combined, it might surprise you that the private company is the biggest donor.

Kurdizov Enterprises. Palmyra is their hometown. The company started here as a simple pharmaceutical manufacturer over seventy years ago. Now they have bio-engineering labs, cutting edge hospitals, and they’ve worked with the state department to set up local aid sites across the city.

I live in one of those aid sites now. After wandering through the ruins of the city for weeks, I finally settled down here.

It’s rough living, but y’know what? I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from.

Though, I will say, the meals themselves aren’t always the most appetizing. Lately, they’ve been serving us these minimally marked soda cans and MRE’s. Looks like something out of a sci-fi film. They taste alright though.

Every couple of weeks, Kurdizov will partner with some big global food supplier, and bring in a whole new rotation of flavors. A couple weeks ago, they partnered with OKAY Soda, and brought in a couple dozen palette’s of soda. I can’t think of many other places in the world that have soda in stock During an active warzone.

Y’know, I read that in my history books once. German soldiers talked about when they knew they’d lost WWII: when they saw an American ship that’d been sent out to serve ice cream to the troops. It was such a luxury, all while the German soldier’s were starving, and running low on ammo.

It’s probably one of the most American things our nation has ever done. And the crazy logistics behind such a supply chain? Whew. The mind struggles to comprehend that kind of military cohesion.

But here in Palmyra, the Feds are looking just as scrappy as those Liberty Lions. Sure, they got plenty of guns and ammo, and even tanks to boot, but neither side looks that good. There’s a skittishness to them, like they got every reason to avoid a fight and no good reason to engage. But if that was true, You’d figure one of them would have surrendered by now, but no.

But if this war is gonna be won by anyone, my bets on these Kurdizov Folks. They have supplies to spare- Honestly, I think I’m eating better than most of the soldiers out there. And if that’s true…

Well, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Having someone who actually cares about people’s health in charge for once. Yeah, that might be alright.