The Wages Of Thy Sin: a glimpse into the future

Work had been going along just fine, but one day the unthinkable happened, our protagonist was laid off. What was he to do now? He decided to ride out across the countryside and visit his old hometown some four hours away for a few days. He was really in for a shocking surprise with what he discovered had been going on. Where were all of the people at? What in the world had happened?