Duncan

2010
Global warming, an earth killer asteroid, World War III, or even a great plague, but no one expected the total collapse of the world’s economy, or that it would be the mechanism for the decline of the world's civilizations.

Bank closings soon became epidemic. The ones that did not initially close stopped lending. Without capital, businesses failed and unemployment soared. The world's governments continued printing money trying to keep their economies afloat, but in the end, their currencies lost all value.

Finally, precious metals and gems became worthless. Only things that people could eat, drink, or wear had value. Hoarding food became essential and salt became the currency for trade.

The Decline, at its beginning, spread from city to city unnoticed. One city service stopped and then another until eventually water and electricity failed and firefighters, police, and hospitals stopped responding. Once the violence began, it could not be stopped.

Industrial civilizations of the world have declined to a version of Europe’s dark ages. Basic education survives, but higher learning, especially the sciences, is lost to the senseless violence after The Decline. Yet, for some there remains a belief that a new renaissance will emerge from the world's lost knowledge. It lies dormant; waiting...

2050
Young Josh Duncan leaves his family to fulfill his childhood dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean. Traveling west from Denver, he stops at Green River to trade for salt and encounters man's inhumanity to man.

Helping his new friends deal with Blackburn, and The-man-with-no-name transforms him from a helpful, easy-going youth to a hardened, fast acting man capable of killing without remorse.