“I know what you did last night…” – You were pondering this idea of your neighbors being the famed MZB’s of the future… Could I be right? I think the more important question is could I be WRONG? I suggest that the fact of the matter is we all have the potential to become MZB’s. The recipe for this distasteful soup is age old. A hungry man will do things that he would never consider doing under any other situations.

 

   This hunger is what will be the driving force of the coming unpleasantness. We have all read about the golden hordes of desperate people that will flee the cities after the collapse of civilization. Why are they leaving? What would get generally lazy American citizens to get out of the car and begin walking? Food, that’s pretty much it! Don’t let yourself get all riled up over the comment on our laziness, I will include myself in that equation. We as a society have gotten quite pampered over the last few decades and exercise has become a hit or miss issue in our daily lives.

 

   So, back to your neighborhood. The exciting break in life’s monotony has grow old quickly. With most of the fuel supplies gone now, cars are seen only infrequently and the sounds of generators have all but disappeared. You have some gas left in your gas cans and still have the fuel in your cars tank  as a secret stash for an emergency. However, now the situation has gone from bad to worse as more of your neighbors run low on food each day. Most of the people on your block are spending the day congregated outside in the street, their discussion is mostly surrounding this lack of food. It is becoming apparent who the “Have’s” are  and more importantly which families are the “Have not’s”.

 

   You being a fore-ward looking and prepared DOOMER, had thought to provide for your own family and even have adequate stores to share with the wayward relative that might show up at the door. You, however didn’t foresee this level of need much less prepare to feed all these people that you scarcely know. You can see at least a couple of neighbors out on the sidewalk at any given time. On several occasions they were making motions to one house or another, it’s easy to see that they were speculating about what others may or may not have.

 

   Each day brings more knocks on the door with plea’s for food aid. While you were willing and able to give to those that came looking the first week, this week is proving to be a more sobering reality. You have come to grips with the fact that even the deep larder that you stocked won’t last forever and the more you give away the more the other neighbors find out and come looking as well. You realise that this is completely unsustainable, you’ll have to turn them away or they’ll put your own children in jeopardy.

 

   After discussing your decision to stop the handouts with your wife, you determine that it would be in your best interests to venture out to the street the next time you see the group forming. It isn’t much of a wait and you notice that enough people have gathered that 6-7 families are represented out there. Despite the nagging feeling you have in your gut, you grab an extra jacket to go over the heavy sweatshirt you have taken to wearing in the unheated house. You have ample firewood out back but started to only burn a fire in the stove after dark so the smoke coming from your chimney wouldn’t be as easy to spot. Extra jacket in hand and pistol securely fastened to your belt, you head for the door.

 

   Since you’ve lived in this house for coming up on 6 years, you can identify all of the men that are gathered on sight but other than nods of recognition and the occasional wave from the mailbox, you scarcely know their names. While no one is acting outright hostile or even unfriendly, the mood is decidedly cool in your direction. A few pleasantries are exchanged and the conversation is resumed around the topic of what might be done to acquire more food. Requests for candles and flashlight batteries are made but no one is volunteering to “loan” any supplies. One of the younger guys said that he had heard of a guy on the next block shooting squirrels, down in the park. An off hand remark was that the guy may NEED to share those squirrels, since they didn’t belong to him anyway! You don’t have to say much or even listen to hard to hear and feel the undercurrent that is growing in these folks.

 

   The conversation turned to how they were glad that it was spring and the weather wasn’t to cold anymore… Kind of a could of been worse, don’t you think type of thing. On that note, one of the guys turns to you and asks point blank if the smoke he’s been smelling was coming from your place? Not having prepared for that direct of a question, you answer honestly. Yes, you’ve been running the fireplace for a couple hours each night to conserve on firewood… Firewood? You still have firewood?? One guy asked the question but they all were now watching you intently… Apparently it was common knowledge that they had all run out already… At that point all you could do was shrug your shoulders, the damage was done! A few inquiries were made of the group to anyone wanting to host a dinner party that evening but that joke didn’t get off the ground. Within a few more minutes everyone began to excuse themselves, as if they had anything pressing to get back to…

 

   One neighbor who was walking your direction anyway, came up beside you and spoke softly out of the corner of his mouth. “You will help me out with a little of that firewood won’t you?” he asked. Under other circumstances this behavior would have been almost comical… Unfortunately, in just over a week without formal civilization, you are being forced to decide if you can afford to help a neighbor out with a “little” firewood. The situation was only going to get worse since the firewood pile was directly next to the garden shed where you kept your other supplies… What to do, what to do?

 

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This isn’t exactly the way I was planning for this post to go but hey I’m going to run with it as I know it is causing me to have to think this through… I hope that it has your mind turning as well!

 

Prepper