You heard the murmurs but couldn’t make out the exact words… The crowd parted as you continued forward to what felt like an appointment you had on the bleachers. It was almost as thought the crowd had needed to see something done to awaken them from a sense of being powerless.

   You and your family had been feeling the beginnings of this powerlessness and you had been prepared for this disaster better than 99% of the folks around you. Your wife had been successful in keeping the feelings at bay by finding ways to occupy all of your minds. Many of these people standing around you had no such hope. They had made no preparations for a change in their reality. Even the things you had done over the last several years were looking like they would not be nearly enough. The situation had started small and exciting but it was becoming clear that the solution to this problem would be slow in arriving, if it ever did get resolved!

   Without much of anything to say in the way of addressing this crowd you stepped up on the lowest level of this section of bleachers. Your voice sounded weak, at least in your own ears. You made a quick, curt introduction as a member of the neighborhood but left off the specifics of what home and street you lived on. The crowd listened quietly as you apologised for the harsh treatment of the man  but his continued interference was going to do more harm than you dealt out on him. Everyone was called to a meeting and you suggested that it get underway. You were tempted to add that if there were any further disruptions before the speakers were allowed to finish that you wouldn’t go as easy a second time. You decided that it would be better to keep those thoughts to yourself. With out anything further, you stepped down to the ground and moved off to one side indicating that you were going to wait for the speakers to get the show on the road.

   As your adrenaline was still working its way out of your system, everything seemed to be moving in a degree of slow motion but you stood your ground. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the bleeding man and his wife standing behind the crowd. It appeared that everyone was ready to settle down and hear the stranger out. No one seemed to be showing particular interest in you anymore and even the nearly silent private conversations stopped as the man stepped up further on to the bleachers and introduced himself.   

   As it turned out he was the brother of one of the original residents in this neighborhood. His brother was a retried man that lived a few streets over from you and appeared to be a well respected member of the community, except by the small group of trouble makers. You hadn’t ever met the man’s brother but did know which house was his as it was diligently and carefully landscaped. The story began to unfold and the man explained the events that had let up to his arrival here among us…

   This man had been living inside the city limits and with few exceptions the story from his neighborhood was similar to that of this one. The first week saw people begin to run out of food and then fuel. Just as you had seen over the last 24 hours, the stress levels began to elevate. One night the sounds of motorcycles had awakened him and probably everyone else within a mile around. Originally the sounds were just loud but not directly outside his home. As the minutes past the roar grew louder and then around the corner came a dozen bikes. The riders were a motley crew of rough looking men and even a few women. These women weren’t the type an average man would want to tangle with, much less ask out on a date.

   The bikers didn’t appear to have arrived on this street randomly. They pulled up in front of a home just a couple of doors away from his. It wasn’t the kind of arrival that would be welcome as these jokers parked not only in the driveway but on the lawn too! All but one of the riders had gotten off the bikes and proceeded to force their way through the front door to the house. He explained that much the same as in your case, he knew few of his neighbors well enough to do more than wave a greeting. However, this house was the home of a friendly young family. A young couple and their 3 children lived there, these bikers didn’t fit with the lifestyle that the couple exhibited. It was pretty clear that these guests weren’t expecting a warm welcome and several weapons were seen as the party entered the home.

   The man had hung his head on a couple of occasions during the story that he continued to tell… Since the electricity was out of course the neighbors lights hadn’t come on but he knew there were faces in all the windows up and down that street. As he watched the scene unfold, the sound of muffled gun shots were heard. Next a group of the bikers began to exit the house carrying boxes in their arms. Several groups came out and the contents of these boxes were loaded into saddlebags strapped to the sides of most of the bikes. The single biker that had stayed outside was a short distance up the street in a over watch position. He didn’t say he had seen a firearm but it was clear he remained behind to protect the group from any well wishing neighbors. Sadly, the man continued the story explaining that shamefully not a single man came out of his house to try to help this family…

   The bikers had only been in the home for 5-10 minutes and then after packing their bikes were gone as quickly as they had come. The way this story was relayed had kept a strange hush over everyone and the way he described the silence that followed after the bikers left had a very eerie undertone that all present could almost feel for themselves, right then!

   His story continued as he came to the conclusion that since no one else was moving, he would go investigate. He dressed quickly and soon found himself carefully approaching the home. As he came to the driveway, he admitted to having second thoughts. He even said that he was afraid of what he would find. Several times he turned to see if anyone else was going to come outside… No one did. He saw curtains drop back down into place as his gaze almost caught the neighbors that he knew were watching. His conscience was already doing a number on him for not coming to these people’s aid. He knew he couldn’t turn back now…

   Slowly he approached the front door to the house. The door was open but of course the home was dark inside. He stopped to see if he could hear anything but was only met with a deep silence. As he reached the doorway he noticed that the door jam was broken, it had obviously been forced open. Almost out of habit he reached inside and tried to locate a light switch. After a lifetime of electric lights a flip of a switch away, this habit would die hard! When he was of course rewarded with no response to his flipping of the light switch he stepped inside.

   Just a few steps inside the door and there was a new level to the darkness. No moonlight was reaching into the home now and he only knew he was approaching the homes hallway because he was familiar with the floor plan. He again stopped, he had to try to quiet his heavily beating heart so he could hear if there was any other sounds coming from the darkness. Only then did he hear it…

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Prepper