Just as she asked, you relayed to your family everything that had happened, just how it all happened! You intentionally left out the details of the murders at the house and how the woman wasn’t found inside… the part that had just occurred withGarywas covered only quickly since the boys had undoubtedly read their mothers body language, knowing that something terrible had nearly happened. When they were younger and you still read them bedtime stories, they would always catch you if you tried to cheat and cut the story short by skipping a section; thankfully they didn’t catch the bits of missing information and question you further this time!

 

   As you told the story, your sons sat with vacant looks in their eyes; probably describing it as dazed would have been more accurate. In this modern world they hadn’t had the opportunity to be faced with any real stress. Sure they had seen you and your wife go at it a couple of times, troubling to a young person but they knew you loved each other and your fights would always blow over quickly.

 

   If you remembered correctly your older boy had had a few school yard scuffles but nothing to serious. At 11 years old, you wouldn’t call him naive to the ways of the world but you’d done your best to control the content of television shows watched in your home and the latest violent video games didn’t make it in the door! Funny how the state was so committed to keeping guns out of the adults hands but those video games were just fine with their leftist agenda? While the boy truly loved his video games, it was books that were becoming his passion. He enjoyed history and reading about the folk heroes of the early American west! You hoped he knew how proud you were of him…

 

   His younger brother at 9 was a bit of a momma’s boy in your estimation. Your wife insisted on babying him beyond the point you would prefer or think necessary. He was a good boy and anyone could see that he would be a strong man someday… Built like a tank that kid was, only 9 but you could see football player written all over him! He only lacked confidence and that was largely do to the extra mothering your wife did. In this new reality it would be even more important to see that this was brought under control. With his size and a little confidence you could see that when full grown he’d be force to recon with. He loved you and wouldn’t give you to much trouble but woe to the bully that started any issues once he realized the growing power he had…

 

   Your thoughts had drifted naturally to the boys; it was them that would inherit this new world and all of its uncertainties! If you and these men you were being forced to throw in with failed to stop this threat in its infancy, it would never be stopped later. Time was not on your side, every down trodden loser like that mechanic, idolized these biker types for the power they were perceived to have. Given the opportunity the losers of the world would always join and share in the orgy of violence; giving the bikers and their ilk the growing numbers required to become, for lack of a better description, unstoppable!

 

   It appeared that a window of opportunity was going to open soon allowing this all to be nipped in the bud. If and only if your group or some other group found a way to stop them now! Your doubts were screaming in your ears – “Stop them, how could these pansies in your neighborhood stop anything? A while back a man up the street had covered a pile of boxes in his driveway with a blue tarp in violation of a neighborhood rule and they couldn’t get him to do what they wanted despite their moaning and groaning!” You had to wrestle your mind back to reality, your wife was asking questions and you could only hear a few words at a time and they all sounded as they had come from the other end of a pipe… Your head was fuzzy and you wished again that you hadn’t even gone to the meeting, information this heavy and being thrust into leadership was just too much of a mental strain…

 

   The boys asked if they could go up to their rooms. You quickly told them you thought that was a good idea but you would want to meet with each of them in a little while to have a private discussion on what they were just told. Each of them raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything, just got up and started upstairs. Your wife looked as though she wanted to join them and stopped firing questions at you long enough to allow them to get out of direct earshot.

 

   “Well”, she started in, “what are you going to do”? “What’s the plan, you have to have a plan, right?”… You knew she was right; you did have to have a plan! What exactly did you have to work with, what could these neighbors of yours be counted on for? It was clear that at least the folks on your block hadn’t thought to store food but just maybe somebody had a gun stashed that their grandfather had given them… It’d be too much to dream of that there would be some other firearms hobbyist with anything like you had stored away. You doubted that when the State had made it a crime to personally own any firearm with a detachable magazine over .22 caliber that many folks took the risk of jail time and held on to the weapons. Many guys that you had known over the years refused to turn their guns over to the state agents and transferred them to relatives out of state instead. This was about the extent of the rebelliousness that you’d seen all the brave gun owners muster… They failed to comply but took the safest route possible to get the weapons out of their hands so as not to find themselves in any trouble. Big talk and not much in the way of action, not a shovel to be found with any of them…

 

   She continued with, “What about asking the neighbors flat out if anyone had any weapons” or “maybe just talking about that stuff will prompt them to think of something else that could be used, even if there weren’t any traditional weapons around?” She was so level headed some times that it scared you… The emotional out bursts she had shown recently were not typical and the strain of the situation was really wearing on her. She was absolutely right… if you wanted to know something and these jerks wanted you to be their leader then you should just ask! If they didn’t want to step up and do whatever it was going to take to defend themselves then why should you bother? Maybe you’d get lucky and find out there was more guns available or better yet someone that had experience in the military that would be willing to work with you. Might be that some of the other blocks have more to work with in those garages and sheds then just old lawn equipment… Just have to ask, that might work after all, could it really be that simple!

 

   You told her how much you loved her and that you better go have a short conversation with the boys to be sure they were able to deal with the information they heard today. It was a lot to have to process in such a short period of time, but if the adults we’re going to have to deal with this reality then the kids better get on board too! The life of plenty that the boys had always known was coming to an end and for some people life itself had ended. It was going to be a life with new rules and hard realities!

 

   So far the worse that had happened under your roof was a few hunger pangs. Those outside of your home but within sight of your own front door were experiencing worse! Some were beginning to feel hungry themselves, which was bad enough but others were seeing the hunger in the eyes of their children. The shortages had begun almost immediately and things that had always been easy to come by and taken for granted were now becoming scarce.

 

   If after only a couple weeks time, food and supply needs were going unmet, what would it be like after a month, a year? Would this society be able to hold on? So many things that you should have thought of but didn’t… How could you help your own family much less the community as a whole? Was this neighborhood worth fighting for, would the people in it do what needed to be done to secure their place in these new circumstances? Do you have what it takes to lead them? Your own self doubt was nagging at you again and you felt like a much smaller man than you had just that morning!

 

      In such a short time those that existed in the margins of society and as our countries lowest common denominators were rising to the top… The top of the food chain anyway! They were willing to do whatever it took to become the kings of this new land and in the absence of anything to stop them they would do exactly that – anything!

 

   You began your ascent of the stairs to your boy’s rooms at the top. You heard only silence as you approached the younger son’s door… As you stood in front of the door for a moment collecting your thoughts before entering, you heard the quiet sound of voices coming from the older boy’s room. You couldn’t make out what was being said but as you approached you heard the older boy explaining something to his younger brother…

 

 

To be continued -

 

Prepper

 

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