TSHTF

[dstraito]

The only problem was things weren’t getting better. The disaster areas still reported many missing and the dead were constantly being uncovered. Water sources were tainted and people started reporting getting cholera type symptoms, there weren’t many doctors around to actually diagnose it. People that had been on African missions knew what to look for and could easily diagnose the diarrhea, nausea and vomiting and the accompanying dehydration that could be severe. More people than not, didn’t know why they were irritable with sunken eyes, a dry mouth, extreme thirst and dry and shriveled skin with little or no urine output, low blood pressure, and an irregular heartbeat. They simply died because there was no medical help available. Streams were polluted with dead bodies and bacteria from raw sewage.

Besides cholera, the flu was making the rounds and almost no one received flu shots this year. The CDC was busy trying to help and respond to the hurricane and earthquake crisis and did not have adequate time or funding to develop the flu vaccine. There must have been several strains of flu going around, the symptoms would vary. Some would be a twenty-four hour variety of fever, aches, chills, and tiredness. Some would last for more than a week. Some would kill. In a normal year there might be between 3,000 and 49,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations. This year the deaths already were over a half million and the season was far from over. People were worried that the H5N1 avian influenza or bird flu would start an epidemic or maybe it would be the H1N1 Swine flu. So far it was suspected there were both but hospitals triaged their patients and flu like symptoms usually were at the end of the line compared to heart attacks, complications from the hurricane or earthquake disasters like buildings falling on you and general violence and mayhem like gun-shots and knife stabbings from people trying to take something away from someone else. Hunger made normal people act up. Infections became a huge factor in people dying. Small scratches and infections without antibiotic treatment ravaged the population. People not current with the tetanus shots were succumbing to tetanus or lockjaw. They wouldn’t even know until their neck got stiff, they had difficulty swallowing, their abdominal muscles got stiff and they started having painful body spasms. Of course by then, it was too late. Animal attacks were up as many domesticated animals lost their homes due to either the disasters or people unable to take care of them and giving them up. Rabid animals became more frequent.

The CDC had published a tongue-in-cheek report on what you need to do before zombies roamed the earth. They were actually making a point about hurricanes or pandemics or whatever disaster and they published a prep guideline of the types of supplies you should have from water, food, medications, sanitation and hygiene, clothing and bedding, and first aid supplies. Unfortunately with the zombie reference, most people didn’t take them seriously and were now becoming zombies, wandering aimlessly through their affected areas look for food, water, and maybe medical needs.

Diabetics couldn’t get their insulin anymore. When they ran out they died. Diabetes required well-balanced meals, monitoring blood sugar levels and the proper dispensing of medication. Low insulin levels caused high blood sugar that often resulted in a diabetic coma. There were other medical needs.

People that needed their high-blood pressure medicine.

People that needed medicine to control high cholesterol.

People that had heart conditions and needed their nitro pills were instead having angina and heart attacks.

People ran out of Epi-Pens or epinephrine and were dying from bee stings.

Asthmatics ran out of inhalers and their throats tightened up and their airways closed leaving them unable to breath, they died. This was a nation of people that believed in medicine.

There were a whole host of people on psychotropic drugs to regulate their behaviors, perceptions, mood and cognition. Without these, other people were dying as the stress levels brought on by disasters coupled without a medicine they relied on led many people over the edge into full psychotic episodes.

People ran out of oxygen and died like the asthmatics.

Old people were especially vulnerable. If they had anything like food or water it was easily taken away from them. Many died trying to protect whatever precious item they had, others died from malnutrition and dehydration. This was no longer a politically correct world; people in wheelchairs couldn’t get around. People no longer had a place to go for dialysis. Fathers and mothers deserted their families unable to cope with the pressure of not being able to provide and watching them die slowly.

Fathers and mothers were killed trying to protect their families from the scourges walking around. People used to their daily Starbucks Frappuccino Blended Beverages instead had a hard time finding any water and a harder time knowing what to do to filter out the impurities. They would get so thirsty they would come upon a creek and fall to it, drinking in the life-sustaining fluid, regardless of what was upstream and what bacteria or illness it might contain.

Family members were displaced many not being with their family as the disasters hit so they tried to do what they could to locate the missing ones. They would often travel, even against orders from the local law enforcement enforcing curfews to their homes only to find them gone. There were many orphans whose parents were at work while they were in day care. The day care might have survived while the work site didn’t. There were many parents gaunt and sad looking unable to find their kids. They were at work and their kids were at day care. Their work survived, the day care didn’t. They didn’t want to go on but they didn’t know how to quit.
Many people did know how to quit. Faced with these overwhelming loses, despair, desolation, with little or no hope for the future many took their own lives. The lucky ones found some pills and were able to go to sleep for good. The next were the ones that had or found a rifle or pistol and were able to dispatch themselves where it was over with quickly. Many jumped from what was left of buildings, unable to go on. You had to wonder whether or not they changed their mind before they hit.

Many people turned to religion for solace. Not only did some churches have soup kitchens setup but provided counseling and a small measure of hope. The churches were rapidly overwhelmed though and their resources depleted within days either from the massive demand or from roving bands of people that took from the churches what they were trying to give to the needy.

Cities rapidly dissolved into the base needs driving the people to frenzy, causing people to start looking around for their needs and eventually when those city resources were all used up, start branching out to the suburbs.

People’s homes were raided. Their food, water, preps, guns, ammo and anything that looked like it could be used to barter for the next meal were stripped away like locusts in a wheat field. If they were unlucky they were left alive only to die slower from starvation and thirst. If they were unlucky they were killed because the gangs didn’t want revenge seeking people trailing after them. If they were really unlucky, they had atrocities done to them and were left alive, albeit damaged beyond repair.

The cities started emptying out, partly from people leaving looking for resources that could no longer be found in the cities and partly from mass die-offs from disease and turmoil. Typically the ones that made it out of the cities were the stronger, the harder, the meaner and the ones without a compunction keeping them from taking whatever they wanted. Many of these fleeing urbanites actually thrived. Their base, crass needs now knew no legal boundaries. Now, when they took what they wanted, there was no law enforcement to stop them.

In Texas, many were headed to Paradise.

[dstraito]

Gunny came into the house where Ralph and Doug were going over their inventory. “Mayor just drove up, has the Chief of Police with him.”

Ralph walked toward the gate at the front of the Compound.

The Mayor parked by the front gate. Both the Mayor and the Chief stood at the gates. “You gonna let us in, Ralph.” The Mayor said.

“I don’t reckon I am.” Ralph said.

“What do you want?” asked Doug.

The Mayor continued looking at and talking to Ralph. “You know, I can order you to let me in.”

“Not really, this is not city property.”

“We are going to declare Eminent Domain and it will be.”

Ralph pulled out an official looking document and handed it to the Chief. “I thought you might try something like this so I have an injunction from the State Attorney General keeping you from Eminent Domain or Annexation until a full hearing has occurred.

The Chief looked it over. “Looks legit.”

The Mayor said “There are other methods to get our way.”

The Chief’s right hand traveled toward the Taurus .357 in his holster.

Gunny racked the shotgun making that well know Hollywood sound that strikes fear into people.

“I’ll be back; it’s only a matter of time.” The Mayor said as the Chief of Police slowly withdrew his hand.

“You do that.” Ralph said.

The Mayor and the Chief got in the car and slowly drove away.

“How did you think of getting an injunction?” Doug asked.

“I didn’t. It is a worthless piece of paper I printed off from a document I made up, but they don’t know that. With the communications down, I don’t figure they’ll be able to validate it one way or the other, at least not for a while.

Gunny said “I know that type of person, the Mayor won’t stop. You will have to watch your back.”

“I always do with him, no change there, but you are right, we need to start assigning security shifts around the clock. There was a rough looking crew that passed by yesterday. They were scoping us out and either decided we would offer too much resistance and moved on or they catalogued us for future reference.”
“How many were there?” Doug asked.

“There were about ten, maybe more if some held back. Ten were all I could see through the scope.”

“I’ll pull the shift tonight.” Gunny said. “We can organize rotations tomorrow.
So far twenty people agreed to live at the Compound and they were all here. Word was trouble was starting to find its way in town. Stores ran out of supplies so there was no food or water. People were starting to branch out to neighborhoods looking for or taking what they wanted after they were turned away from the city. Sheila told them her dad had ordered the Chief and four of his men to go door-to-door and confiscate people supplies. He gave them a paper receipt for what he took and said to come to the city where everything would be distributed equally. They took the worthless paper and when they went to the city warehouse where the supplies were supposed to be stored, it was virtually empty. There were rumors the Mayor stored most of the supplies somewhere else for his own use but no one dared voice those rumors. Martial Law was declared nationwide to be enforced by local law enforcement in the cities, sheriffs in the unincorporated counties, aided by National Guard and State Troopers. So far all they’d seen was the locals led by the Chief.
Sheila had greatly disappointed her dad, the Mayor by agreeing to live in the Compound and follow the rules but she’d told her dad she felt safer there.

The Compound “core four” was Ralph, Doug, Susan, and Gunny. They were the decision making body. Sheila moved in next, followed by Jeb Rodd, the veterinarian, and then Houston Ashcroft and Sean Buckler that owned the Canoe and Kayak store, then Tim McCall from the feed store.

After they’d settled in, Mike Michaels and his family along with Maureen and Dan Martinson and son Roscoe, daughter Trey and daughter Alicia.

Several people from town saw those people moving and found out where they were moving to. They followed them and were stopped at the gate. They’d asked to live in the Compound as well as it sure beat the arrangements that the Mayor was providing. Basically the in-city arrangement was you give me what you have, then you go back to your homes, you defend yourselves, and when you really need something, just try and come and get it. People already saw the writing on the wall, yet they had no choice. The town of Paradise was the only support they would get, no matter how limited.

Doug organized limited excursions going through town. They limited them not only because of the finite amount of fuel but because of the ever growing hostility of everyone outside the Compound. The last trip, in the Chevy pickup a couple of volunteers took to look around town almost didn’t make it back. They’d run into Mark, Mack and Zeke who were carrying their rifles. Mark stood in front of them in the middle of the road and told them to stop. They’d backed up quickly but not before Mark shot a round through the engine. They barely made it back to the Compound as the engine seized. They abandoned the Chevy a block from the Compound gate and ran inside just as the three stooges came driving up.

Chapter – Ralphs Welcome Speech

Weeks went by. More people requested to join the Compound but most were sent on their way with only a few accepted. The Compound contained 38 people currently. If necessary, it could hold more people, less comfortably but 38 managed ok. Ralph called a meeting for everyone and stood waiting at the Gazebo for the last few people to show up.

Ralph held both hands up palms facing outward. “Greetings everyone. This is our first group communication. You all agreed to the rules and you knew what you were signing up for by being part of the Compound. I’d like to remind everyone why we are here and why we are doing this. Since you are here, you must agree that it is safer here than in the general populace of the world. Even Paradise can’t withstand the ravages of a society in chaos. There are going to be many, many forces against us, overwhelming odds and for that we have planned. We have joined together as a community to take care of each other, to watch each other’s backs. We have to follow the rules as agreed upon however. Failure to follow the rules will most likely result in you being asked to leave the Compound. The rules are made for our ultimate safety and survival. No going outside the Compound alone. No fighting amongst ourselves, one of the core-four which is myself, Doug, Susan, and Gunny will remediate all disputes. No stealing or lying will be tolerated. You can do no harm explicitly or by omission of action that will harm anyone or anything in this Compound. The only way this works is if we all pitch-in with chores and tasks necessary to sustain us. We are only as strong as our weakest link.

We have a variety of skills here and I expect everyone here to not only do their core job but to learn one or more other jobs as well. We can share our skillsets where we all become more valuable Compound members. This is not a democracy, rather but an autocracy. This is absolutely necessary and by the fact that I organized and planned it, I own the land and paid for most of the supplies you all will be sharing I retain absolute authority. We will all share here, but we will all contribute and work here as well. Those that don’t contribute as well as they can, will get a warning. After multiple warnings they may be asked to leave.”

Ralph paused for a second to look at the faces in the audience, making sure there were no confusing looks or dissention.

“Relationships here are by mutual agreement. That means both parties agree they are in a relationship, then they are. If either party does not agree then they are free to do what they want to as long as it does not involve someone else’s relationship. I’ve seen communities wrecked because of petty jealousy and raging hormones. This WILL NOT happen here. If you don’t resolve any differences you have with each other the issue will be brought to me and my decision is binding. We will work hard here and if we have time, we will play hard. We will have training, entertainment as I’ve already talked to a number of you about teaching classes or playing music for us on the instruments you play. It might just be possible for us to ride out the chaos America is going through right now and will go through in the near future to not only survive but to emerge stronger. Please bring to my attention anything you think needs to be discussed. Everyone please stay for the Gunnies presentation on Security.

“We have freedom of religion here. You are free to believe whatever you want. What you cannot do is to impose your religion on anyone else. If they believe different or don’t want to hear about what you believe they have that right.

We have freedom of speech here but if what you say causes dissent or conflict, you may be asked to take your free speech outside these walls where I’m sure you will NOT have those same freedoms.

We do not recognize anyone’s authority here but our own. We are sovereign. Especially any authority from Paradise. I’m not sure about the rest of the United States but I suspect Paradise is not on their radar screen right now.” Ralph stepped down the three steps and Gunny replaced him at the top.

“Thank you all for coming today, not that you had a choice.” Gunny said with a slight smile.

“Today we are going to talk about Compound security, what it is, why you need it and the hard and fast rules. For example, NO ONE goes outside the Compound without an armed escort. Why, you might ask? Very simply, we have items in the Compound that people on the outside would want. They will resort to anything including but not limited to kidnapping, killing, and breaking in to get what they want. We have it, they don’t. We cannot allow another group to get leverage on us by taking one of us and holding them ransom say for all the food we have or medical supplies or whatever else they are looking for. If we allow that, then in a short amount of time, we will be them, we will be without the items we so carefully saved for our survival.

We will have to have shifts for security; we can’t all sleep at the same time. The shifts will not only patrol the Compound but will take turns in the tower.”

The tower was in the Center of the Compound. It was thirty feet in diameter at the base. The tower rose to fifty feet where it was five feet in diameter for the top platform. Cross shaped openings allowed maximum visibility and minimum exposure. Below the top platform was another platform with evenly spaced cross shaped openings. The cross shape allowed a weapon to be adjusted up or down, left or right, and was only 3 inches wide at any portion.

“We are fairly self-sufficient in the Compound, but there will be times we have to venture outside. You must camouflage yourself. At all times you must treat the outside as a hostile environment as if there are people waiting there for you to emerge. You will be at your weakest outside these walls. Look at the shapes of the things you are wearing or carrying. In nature there are no squares or straight lines. Break them up with strips of camo cloth in shades of brown and green. Cover your weapons with camo paint. Dull anything that shines or could reflect such as metal fasteners, buckles or chrome. Don’t wear jewelry as it could reflect light. If you wear eyeglasses, keep them hidden by a low-brimmed hat or take them off unless it is absolutely necessary. Keep in mind your backlight. Is the sun or moon behind you and where you are headed? A silhouette shows the outline of the human form and the equipment it is carrying. The shape of the head and shoulders of a person are unmistakable and a attract attention. If possible break up that silhouette with the use of vegetation like thick handfuls of grass tucked into your shoulder straps or added to your helmet. Do not wear colognes. Most people that have spent time outdoors get finely attuned to the surrounding smells. They will be able to detect body orders, cooking, scents from colognes or soaps with fragrances; they will be able to smell machine oils. Keep quiet. Boots can squeak. Cleaning kits or magazines can rattle in your ammo pouches. If you forget and leave your radio on someone can talk over it at a most inopportune time. Be mindful of unanticipated coughs or sneezes and talking. Sounds can carry for long distances, especially at night. Learn the hand signals to replace talking and if you have to talk, whisper. Double check each other for proper stowage of your gear, slings and other noisy equipment before you move out. Do not wear colors that are rare in nature. Blend in with the natural vegetation. Check and change your camouflage regularly. Leaves could dry out and expose skin. You could have vegetation but move from the forest to open fields which would stand out. The most important color that needs camouflaging is that of human skin so use the G.I. camo sticks that come in your kits. Remember, being a good marksman with poor camouflaged is not as good as being a poor shot that is well camouflaged. Next week we will have a presentation by our resident Blacksmith, Dan Martinson.” Gunny stepped down from the gazebo.

Ralph stepped back up. “This is a new beginning for all of us. Do any of you have any questions?”

Lucy Daniels, a history teacher at the Paradise High School timidly raised her hand.

“Yes, Lucy, go ahead.”

“Well, I’m glad you made a spot for me and my husband, but you make it sound awful bad out there. I fear we won’t be able to hold out against all the bad people.”
Ralph said “I think we all feel that way Lucy and not all the people out there are going to be bad people but good and bad alike, they might choose to take from us what they need. We are holed up in our Compound armed to the teeth against city people who would normally never leave their houses or pose a threat to us. People are going to envy us, they are going to fear the unknown, and our methods must remain unknown to them. I know many of you have friends that are not part of the Compound. We aren’t saying you can’t be friends with them, only that you do not share what resources we have at the Compound or any of our schedules or routines. If I was to give any advice, it would be to not allow fear to fill you but hope. If it is our time to go then there won’t be anything we can do about it anyway, but if it’s not, then we can make it past this burdensome time in America’s history and come out on the other side, ready to start again. Lastly, I think you would have more to fear by NOT being in this Compound, than you have to fear for being part of it.”

The town librarian Mrs. Smooty raised her hand. “I know we can’t feed everyone, but what if someone really in need comes to our gates and really needs help. We can’t just turn them away.”

Ralph nodded as if in agreement. “There probably will come a time when men, women, and children stand before us at the gate and beg our mercy, our food, our water. In the Dallas Fort Worth Area, there are over six million people. You would agree that we couldn’t feed all of them?” Mrs. Smooty nodded in agreement.

“Paradise has a population of over 800 people. With our current food and supplies and the 38 slots for people that have been allocated for, those reserves would last approximately one year. Maybe a little more if we supplement them with hunting and if our well continues to run. If we took in just half of those, our supplies would be gone in a little over a month. We would be defeating the very purpose we initiated this process for; we would not be taking care of each other and our loved ones. That doesn’t include the people from Bridgeport, Decatur, Denton, Springtown, Justin, Keller, and Fort Worth that might wander by here. The most dangerous people will be the non-survivalists, those who have not made provisions for surviving; they will be a mortal danger to us and are not to be let into this Compound without clearance from one of the core four. Don’t we have a duty to ourselves to give us the best chance to survive as possible? In fact, we have a social obligation to our family and community to survive and the non-survivalist is simply a poor and irresponsible citizen.”

Mrs. Smooty said “I understand, but what if we could grow crops, and have more than we need, couldn’t we share some of it.”

“The first maxim of farming is to “Feed yourselves first. After plowing, sowing the seeds, harvesting the crops and processing them, we put away what we think we will need to feed us until we can grow the next crop. Then we take maybe ten to fifteen percent so for seeds for the next years’ crops. We must put aside a reserve in case of a disease, drought, mildew, rat infestation or some other event limits the food we have. But yes, if after all that if we have any extra, we could possibly share it with people in dire need. Remember, we are survivalists because we are optimists. Some people say we are pessimistic but a fireman is a fireman, not because he believes everything will burn, but because he believes much can be saved. Doctors don’t believe in death, they believe in life, and a survivalist believes that life and freedom can be saved, if people of good will are prepared.”

All she said was “Thank you.”

Ralph stepped down and milled about with the Compound members. Most conversations we various scenarios that might or might not happen and how this new life was both frightening and exciting.

[sssarawolf]

Thank you much,

[dstraito]

President Packard liked to think he achieved the Office of Presidency based on his qualifications, popularity, and views. In the back of his mind in the dark recesses he could not totally put away the truth that he was bought and paid for. He came to the office with virtually no accomplishments. He’d only been in the Senate for two years and he won that election after manufacturing some dirt on his opponent so ran virtually unopposed. He still held the record for the most campaign money for a single candidate and there were no pretenses of where it came from even though he tried to distance his thoughts from that. Unions, leftist organizations, and a myriad of community groups created and funded specifically to launder the money and put him in power. He never met with his benefactor, there were at least six degrees of separation between them but if one was to describe the relationship, it would be puppet and puppet master.

Packard was privy to some of the conversations of what the conspiracy groups would call “the Elites”. The recent disasters were warmly received. It sped up their plans and eliminated the need for a false flag operation. The rich not only wanted to collect all the world’s assets and power for themselves, but wanted to thin the world population so it wouldn’t pose such a threat. In their view, not only were there too many people for the earth’s resources, there were too many people to control. The magic number was arbitrarily chosen to be around 500 million. Given the world’s population of seven billion people that translated to a genocide of 6.5 billion people.
Packard just couldn’t get his head around it. His wife wondered why he was so distant lately but this really messed with his mind. He wanted out but knew there was only one way out and he was not going to choose that. Current methods being employed were unsustainable and exploitative international development which leads to massive hunger, starvation, and famine worldwide, the fomentation of war and military procurements throughout the nation’s leading to millions of deaths worldwide, and finally the creation and spread of infectious diseases leading to global pandemic, plague and pestilence on an unprecedented scale. Other methods included the build-up and use of nuclear, chemical and biological agents, the poisoning and contamination of the planet’s food and water supplies, the introduction and use of deadly pharmaceutical drugs in society, weather modification and the triggering of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis through electromagnetic psychotronic weapons, both on Earth and in space, the promotion of homosexuality to limit population growth and spread the deadly AIDS virus, forced sterilization in countries such as China and more.

As President he knew about some of these but many were dark programs run by non-existent corporations of ghost agencies. Monsanto was in full deployment mode with genetically modifying certain crops. Ostensibly to increase resistance to pests, it had side effects like sterilizations. He was aware of the HAARP program which was the ionospheric research program in Alaska. HAARP stood for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program and was a joint research venture funded by the United States Air force, the United States Navy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the University of Alaska. The project was started way back in 1993, with the aim of analyzing the ionosphere, in order to assess the potential of developing it to further enhance the radio communication and surveillance technology. A high power radio frequency transmitter was used to excite a specific portion of the ionosphere for a temporary period. Many conspiracy theorists held that the research project is basically a directed-energy weapon, a weather control, and an earthquake induction device in disguise. They didn’t know how right they were.

The internet was a wonderful thing but sometimes it allowed too much freedom of information. Another correct theory called sterilants chemtrails held that chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for purposes undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs. He wasn’t going to confirm what the chemicals had in them as well as being able to affect the weather if they wanted to.
The mandatory vaccinations such as Gardasil was a program that was unraveling. Vaccines used to be for the benefit of mankind, smallpox, chicken pox, whooping cough but now they were being used by the elites for the purposes of depopulation. Originally to protect against HPV Gardasil caused a noticeable increase in autism, strokes, paralysis, tics, and other unwanted symptoms. Congress tried to make this vaccine mandatory but thanks to the internet, the adverse effects were becoming too well known.

The previous century was by far the bloodiest in human history. Hunger, famine and disease took billions of innocent lives. World Wars I and II along with the despotic regimes of Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler reaped record levels of death. It was estimated Hitler killed between twenty and twenty-five million people. Stalin killed between twenty and sixty million people. Mao killed between forty and seventy million people. More recently, the killing fields of Iraq have taken the lives of more than two million men, women and children this past decade from foreign and economic intervention. More than four million people have been slaughtered, mutilated and massacred recently in the Congo. Factor in the unrestrained build-up of weapons of mass destruction in the world, especially in the Middle East along with the desire and willingness to actually use them and it’s no wonder people are seeing the Apocalypse of World War Three becoming a virtual inevitability. The death toll of World War III would eclipse all previous wars in scale and magnitude.
With the millions of deaths worldwide with all that happened in the United States and the rest of world, Packard couldn’t believe his benefactors were impatient. They wanted their agenda to move at a faster pace.

“So many dead, so many dead.” Kept echoing through the President of the United States head and much of the blood was on his hands. He wanted out, but that was not to be.

[dstraito]

Susan had never been so busy. At the no-kill animal shelter there were mostly cats and dogs. Sometimes someone would bring in an animal they found like an owl or duck with a wounded wing but mostly cats and dogs. Here at the Compound her main focus was to make sure the animals remained healthy, keep the breeding programs going, and administer the food, water and any medicines they might need. There was so much she had to learn. She was really grateful that Jeb Rodd accepted the offer to join the Compound. He was the veterinarian where she’d worked and even though he was only out of vet school a year, she’d already learned a lot from him. Jeb was about six four, broad shoulders tapering off to a fit waist. His hair was a bit unruly but that is because he didn’t care that much about his appearance even though he was very good looking.

Susan was getting to learn about their Brahman cattle they had. Ralph chose them based on their high tolerance to heat and natural resistance to many parasites. They looked pretty scary with that hump and their horns but they were considered a maternal breed. She did keep her distance from the bull though. They had sheep mainly for meat and wool but they were going to try and utilize all of their animals and not waste anything. By products could be obtained from the intestines, horns, hooves, fats and fatty acids, wool and bone. They could use the Manure as it was high in valuable minerals such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium carbonate.

From the pigs, besides the obvious bacon and pork roast they could make insulin for the regulation of diabetes; values for human heart surgery (though probably not at this compound), suede for shoes and clothing and gelatin for many food uses. Swine by-products are also important parts of such products as water filters, insulation, rubber, antifreeze, certain plastics, floor waxes and more. There was a litter of pigs just six weeks old that were adorable and she had a hard time thinking of the animal by-products with these cuties.

Jessie went everywhere that Susan went and she was fun to watch as she chased the sheep into tight-knit groups. That would be a skill that would probably come in handy but right now; Jessie looked like she was just practicing.

She spent a lot of her time in the barn which of course where most of the animals were. In one corner a Calico cat she hadn’t gotten around to naming yet had five kittens curled up asleep lying against her. The Calico was brown, black and white with amber eyes. “You better teach them to be mousers or you are on the menu.” Seeing those cute kittens brought out her soft side and she just wanted to pick them up and hold them but she restrained herself. Jeb told her to not get too friendly with working cats or they won’t do their job right.

The show quality Boer goats were neat to look at except for their eyes. She thought goats had demonic looking eyes. One of the main reasons the goats were there was for the meat and milk, and from the milk, goat cheese. The female, Jeb taught her was a doe, the mail a buck, the young were kids and a castrated male, a wether. Female goats were sometimes called nannies and males sometimes called billies.
She would probably have the hardest time viewing the rabbits as a food source. In many parts of the world, rabbit meat is considered a delicacy; it is white, find-grained, and delicately flavored. It is easy to prepare and can be used in many recipes. Their rabbits were New Zealand Whites because of their hardiness and size. Unfortunately, America has a preoccupation with animals that are cute and New Zealand Whites were very cute. On the outside in the front of the barn were a series of rabbit hutches with wire mesh bottoms. Below the hutches were frames filled with soil and Red Worms. The rabbits fertilized the worms; the worms digested and made for a very fertile soil that could be used in their agricultural endeavors. Of course besides eating the rabbits, their skins could be very useful. Seeing one hutch with the white furry mass Susan suddenly thought of a good luck rabbits’ foot she’d had as a kid that was dyed green. “Not too lucky for the rabbit.” She thought.

On the side of the barn, they had a 40x20 foot area totally enclosed with chicken wire with chicken coops against the barn wall. The chickens were Leghorns, though originally from Tuscany, Italy, they were imported to North America in 1853. They were known (according to Jeb) to lay 250-300 eggs per year with a superior fee-to-egg conversion ratio.

The geese had the run of the place and usually hung out by the catfish pond.
One thing Susan was glad she didn’t have responsibility for was the bees. They had a beekeeper for that and the bee colony was outside the Compound. It was a risk to maintain the bee yard outside the protected area but everyone was glad they did. Besides honey, the bees were instrumental in pollination and helping the plants and crops to grow.

It was easy filling her days with the animals. It was hard work for sure, working 12-14 hour days. There were tasks to do and she hadn’t learned to delegate very well but she was getting better at it. What wasn’t so easy was after the work, when she had time to reflect what was going on in Paradise, in Texas, in the nation and the whole world. Surely it must be near the End Times. Homer Watkins operated a ham radio and lived a few miles over and although asked to join the Compound he did not agree. He came to the Compound every couple of days with a report and what he was hearing from across the nation wasn’t good. Anarchy was everywhere, millions dead, martial law and increasing conflicts, and other countries going through the same issues. Homer fired up his generator every day for one hour and communicated with his radio buddies worldwide.

She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t commit to Doug. Sure, she had a rocky first marriage but a lot of people got married the second time around and everything was fine. Doug was everything she wanted in a man, he was kind, thoughtful, caring, handsome, and her dad even liked him. Her doubts centered more on herself than on Doug. What if the problems in her last marriage were her fault? What if she brought problems to Doug that he didn’t deserve? What if things didn’t work out and we are stuck in this Compound for a long time?

He was far too busy coordinating activities and tasks right now but it wouldn’t be long and he’d want to have the “serious conversation” again, the same one they’d had twice already and it always ended with her turning him down. She decided not to borrow trouble and wouldn’t worry about it until she had to.

She was going to have to tell Doug and her dad that Mark threatened her the day she moved into the Compound.

[dstraito]

Tim drove while Garrison slept. They left Lake Charles and the body of the Sherriff he’d gunned down in cold blood. They had to weave through the abandoned cars and every gas station, restaurant and store were closed due to lack of electricity. The car approached the outskirts of Beaumont where he saw a gas powered sign announcing the rolling blackout scheduled for the area would be from eight pm to eight am the next morning. It was 7:50 pm so he pulled into the first station he saw. There was a long line of people in the gas line when a man in a QuickieMart uniform came out and told them there was no more gas and it didn’t matter anyway because the electricity would be turned off in eight minutes. Most of the cars left but two. One guy made a show of lifting his hood and messing with his engine. Tim drove around to the side where he could see the rear of the building and the front at the same time.

“Wake up Garr.” Tim said.

“Huh, what.”

“Wake up. We are going to rob this guy. Looks like he just sold a lot of gas so he must have a lot of cash.”

The lights cut off right then. Not just the store lights but the lights on the island, the street and everywhere else as far as you could see.

Garrison said “What’s going on, why’d the lights go out?”

Tim said “Sssshhhh. A sign said they would. Look for the guy coming out the back door.” He had his hand on the door so he could jump out quickly.

From the front of the store a light came on and then went off and they saw the man working on his car open the car door, retrieve something and shut it quickly. They could barely make him out in the starlight as his silhouette walked down the side of the building from the rear.

“Wait a minute.” Tim said.

“What is it?” Garrison asked.

They watched the silhouette walk around to the rear of the store. They heard a door open as if the bottom was dragging on concrete and then the dragging sound followed by the door closing. They couldn’t see very well but the silhouette standing beside the door pointed something at silhouette that just came out the door. One silhouette shouted and then raised whatever was in his hand and hit the other silhouette. One of them opened the door scraping against the concrete again and both walked inside.

“Quick, get out now.” Tim said.

He got out of the car carrying the Sherriff’s .357 and flashlight and went over to the back door. Garrison followed him. “What are you going to do?” he asked.

“Sssshhhh. When they come out I’m going to take whatever he took. He’s gonna do all the work and we get the profits, not a bad job eh?”

“What if he has a gun too?”

“Then he’s dead.” Tim said coldly.

Tim heard someone shout out “No, don’t, please.” He heard a thunk followed by the sound of something sounding like it hit the floor. He heard footsteps approach the back door. Just as they were even with the door he shouted “Freeze” while turning the flashlight on in the guy’s face.

You never saw someone more startled. He threw his hands up in the air and dropped his tire iron but held on to a bag in his hand.

“Drop it.” Tim said.

The guy let go of it. “Who are you guys, cops?”

Tim asked “What did you do to that guy?”

“I’m not saying nuthin.”

Tim pulled the hammer back with an audible click.

“Ok, I hit him with the tire iron. Don’t you have to read me my rights or something?”

Tim said “Don’t move or you’re dead. Garr, go check on him.”

Garrison had a little one cell AA flashlight and he moved around the guy in the door and proceeded down the hall.

He came back a minute later. “The dude is dead, man.”

Tim still shining the light in the guy’s eyes said “How do you feel about that?”

The guy was nervous but obviously had a problem with authority. “Don’t mean nothing to me, how am I supposed to get by.”

“What’s your name?” Tim asked.

“Steve. What’s it to ya?”

“What’s your full name Steve?”

“Steve Winslow.”

“We aren’t cops. Now I have a choice here. I could shoot you down like a dog. Or I could maybe see my way into letting you join us. Which one do you think I should do?”

“Join you in what?”

“Now does that really matter, considering the alternative?”

“No I guess it doesn’t.”

Tim lowered the light and pointed it past Steve toward the inside of the store. “Let’s see what else we can get.”

[dstraito]

Doug and Ralph closed the door to the study. Every evening they would go to the study and review the activities and tasks of the day and what needed to be done in the near future. Twelve and fourteen hour days were the norm and even though dog-tired at the end of the day, there was a satisfaction to getting things accomplished.

Ralph poured the standard crown for both of them. They rationed it to one glass per evening so sipped it very slowly to make it last.

Doug said “People are doing their tasks and they are working hard but I think some of them are getting a little testy. Long days, no distractions.”

“No distraction are a good thing, a distraction means something bad is happening.”
“Not necessarily. I think we need to start playing music in the Compound. It could be a pleasant diversion.”

“We have the speakers for announcements. Those Altec-Lansing speakers were fidelity quality but I’m sure not everyone agrees to the same kind of music.”
“I talked to Smokey’s son and he said he would be glad to DeeJay, after he gets his chores complete. He said he’d take requests and rotate the music so everyone gets a chance to listen to what they like. He has an MP3 player with a 100GB hard drive and over 60,000 songs.”

“Let’s do it.”

Doug went on. “I borrowed our office projector. It worked very nice on the wall last night. We should start doing a movie night once a week. I had the wall painted white and it makes a very good 10x8 screen.”

“What are you doing, turning this place into Club Med?”

“No, I’m trying to make everyone as comfortable as I can here, we don’t know how long we will be here. You know what they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

“As long as Jack gets his work done, I don’t care.”

“We have several people that tell stories quite well. We are also going to have a story session going a couple nights a week. People can choose to attend or not, their choice. They are meeting around the fire pit over by the Gazebo.”

“If they have a fire every night they will have to go outside the walls to cut more, what we have now is for cooking and heating.”

“We have people making soaps, candles, and cleaning products and they are each mentoring one person so they will have a backup in their specialty. Smokey is going to pick an apprentice for blacksmithing.”

Ralph said “There is one more thing we need. I put all my thoughts and effort into preparing for disaster in a physical way and I think we have done pretty well.”
“What did we forget?” asked Doug.

“I forgot to plan for our spiritual needs. We need to remember the Sabbath and keep faith in the Lord now more than ever. We need to include stories from the Bible in our story telling sessions for any that would like to hear it. Personally, I’d like to have Church on Sundays but I’m not qualified to preach. I was thinking we could start hearing stories in which people of faith live through adversity like the Exodus, the Stories of David, Joesph, and Job, Daniel and the lion’s den, or the story of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego. I like the message that believers have often been tested by trials, but that those who keep the faith have endured. Maybe we can recruit a minister to fill that need.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe Susan has some ideas on that.”

“We already asked the Minister of her church but he declined saying he needed to server where people need him the most.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Ralph said.

Gunny walked in. “We have a family at the gates that are asking to see you. I think they want to join the Compound.”

“Did you tell them we aren’t taking any more people until we see how the numbers we have work out?”

“There are a couple of other factors. It is a Mexican family. The man said his name was Jose Garza and that he’d worked for you last year.”

Ralph said “I remember. I liked him, he was a hard worker. You said there were a couple of things. What else?”

His family is with him, two sons and two daughters and it appears they have all been roughed up, maybe beaten. He said three guys in town stopped them as they were passing through and when they didn’t have anything those guys wanted they just started hitting them.”

“Three guesses as to the three guys.” Doug said.

Ralph got up. “Let’s go talk to them.”

They walked to the front gate. Even though it was dark there were solar lights on all the paths and a solar panel and inverter to provide power to open and shut the gate as well as light it at night.

Jose was being propped up by his wife. His four kids stood behind them.

Ralph typed in a code in the keypad and opened the gate. Doug rushed out to help Jose and put his arm around Jose’s shoulders. They led the family in and immediate closed the gates. They took them to the kitchen were the remnants of dinner was being put away.

Ralph talked to Penelope who was putting the food away and she brought over six plates with food and a loaf of sour dough bread that had just been baked hours earlier. She also poured them tall glasses of cold water.

The Garza family was famished but they went for the water first. After eating and drinking and many gracias from every family member Doug and Ralph took Jose into the study and closed the door.

“Gracias, Senior.” Jose said again.

Ralph said “What are your plans?”

“I planned to take my family back to Mexico. We were in Oklahoma and it has taken us three weeks to get this far. I heard things are not much better in Mexico. We were hoping you might take us in until it gets better, we’d work very hard for you.”
“We are not really taking in more people right now. There is a whole town full of people in Paradise that have either asked to come join us or they will be asking us when the collapse gets worse.”

“I have nothing to offer you senior, other than the hard work of myself and my family.”

“Why don’t you go into the kitchen and get some more food. Let me talk to my partner here.” Ralph said.

Doug helped Jose back to the kitchen and returned to the study.

“Partner, I like the sounds of that.” Doug said.

“I’ve come to think of you as a partner, no, really, more like a son.” Ralph mused. “So, what do you think, give them some bottle water, send them on their way.”

Doug said “I know we can’t take everyone on, not even very many, but this seems like a real nice family. The people in the Compound have been working hard, but I bet they don’t hold a candle to these folks. I guess what you said about prepping spiritually really hit home, I’d like to help these folks.”

“I’m glad you said that, I feel the same way. Jose did a very good job for me before and I too like him. I’m glad to see you are starting to think of your spiritual side.”
“We still need to make this conditional. I know there are some people who are bias and might not want to share with Mexicans, especially ones that are not in the United States legally. Better than in town though, there are people that would do far worse than that, in fact, did. I bet the three stooges were responsible for their beatings.”

They walked into the kitchen and told Jose. He was overjoyed and wept. They told him it was conditional but it was as if he didn’t even hear those words he was so happy to have his family out of harm’s way, even if only for a little while.
“Doug will show you to a tent where you and your family will stay. The Cabins are all full right now but the tent has a kerosene heater if it gets too cold and the bathrooms are fairly close by. Rest up a couple of days and then we will put you in the rotation to work.”

“Si, yes, senor, we will work very hard for you.”

Doug went to bed feeling a little better about things, like they might not have helped the overall situation in the United States, or even Paradise, but they helped when they could.

[dstraito]

Dallas reportedly was up smoke, literally. Arsonists were setting neighborhoods on fire to make people flee their homes. They would rush in and grab what they could from the house before it was totally engulfed in flames. Many of the arsonists were consumed by their own fires. More and more people were either homeless from the chaos or from choice. Many chose to try and travel outside the city to points unknown. Most were woefully unprepared with no bug-out bags or kits containing travel survival supplies. Most couldn’t navigate the wrecks and ruins of previously abandoned cars or if they could, they didn’t think ahead enough to have a full tank of gas so they abandoned their vehicles as well. People out in the open didn’t fare well as they were picked off by opportunistic thugs or roving gangs that were out to steal anything they could from anyone that had anything. The fires were not being put out as the infrastructure was effectively down. What started as roaming blackouts became random blackouts as demands on power were uneven and put strains on the Texas Electrical Grid. Plants started needing repairs and they couldn’t get the parts and if the parts were available the people that could have installed them were long gone. The previously affluent areas were hit first. The thief’s first targets were Highland Park, Lake Highlands, the Preston Country Club and areas like that. Security systems meant nothing. If their battery backups still worked a signal was sent out to security companies that were so overwhelmed they did not even try to verify and see if it was really a problem, they just assumed that it was and that there would be no police to do anything about it.

Ironically, the traditionally poor areas of East and South Dallas, areas like Oakcliff were among the safest. All the looters must have figured there was nothing there worth stealing as they sought out the more affluent areas. The minorities were a majority in these areas and they tended to put a lot of stock in faith. In the short run, it appeared to work but as people started getting more desperate, the fabric of society begin to tear, then rip into shreds with every person for themselves. While people could fiercely vie for their own survival, that was nothing compared to someone trying to provide for his family, to ensure their survival.

Convenience stores, grocery stores, specialty food stores, restaurants were looted by hungry mobs. One group would break into a store and on the way out another group would rob them and take what they stole for themselves. There were many shootings, stabbings, beatings, and other actions not conducive to survival. As the urban stores and communities started being cleaned out of resources, the desperate starving, crazed people began branching out, at least the ones that survived the inner-city wave.

It was a common occurrence to come across dead people in the street or in houses that were already looted to find the owners in various forms of rigor. The smarter people started forming coalitions. They started sharing resources and grouping together. A group could easily over power one or two individuals they ran across and as they did, they gained power and resources. Rewarded by this model, they formed a loose set of rules and impromptu leaders emerged. If they were strong leaders they led their groups to even more power and strength. If they were weak, ineffective leaders they would be replaced by someone with a little more intelligence and a lot more ambition.

The East Side of Fort Worth followed the Dallas example. Everything was in flames, most people were on their own but there were a few groups learning about teamwork. There were a few groups leaning about strength in numbers and hierarchy of command. As these groups gained knowledge and power they became more ruthless and bold. Hundreds of thousands of people in Fort Worth and Dallas died before they were able to learn the survival lessons. The people that remained became more and more zombie like. Disease was rampant, clean drinkable water non-existent. There were reports of rapes, suicides, murders, all of which went undeterred by law enforcement. There were even rumors about cannibalism since food was a scarce resource and not being replenished. Squirrels, cats and dogs became a rare and endangered species quite likely to end up on a spit over someone’s campfire and if you were invited to share, you didn’t ask what it was being cooked.

The TCU and University area in Fort Worth was hard hit. The hospital districts already overwhelmed by the influx of diseased and injured patients was quickly overrun by people looking either for medicine to make them better or medicine to make them feel better. The hospital staff quit unpaid, overworked and overstressed.
Mobs and looters followed Interstates out of their city areas they’d lived all their lives. Many ventured further than they ever did while the world was still intact. Dallas mobs followed I75 and I35 both south and north and I30 mostly west. In Fort Worth they took I30 both east and west, I35 both north and south and State Highway 287 northwest and southeast and State Highway 114 both east and west. The northwest direction took them through a lot of little suburbs like Rhome and Boyd and not too far away, Paradise. Denton looters took I35 South and North. Most of the mobs running into each other between Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton viewed each other as competition for scarce resources and turf wars ensued. More people died. Groups began to form. As locusts storming through the inner-cities salvaging what they could, these groups began to gain in goods to barter and more importantly, weapons. The group with the better weapons usually won out over groups with fewer or no weapons and individuals didn’t have a chance.

Preppers who prepared diligently for all kinds of disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, Electro Magnetic Pulses, Nuclear Wars, Earth Quakes, Polar Shifts, collision asteroids did not adequately prepare for one factor, human nature. Years’ worth of preps fell prey to invading strangers who chose rather than to prep, to take what they wanted from those that did. There were more than a few prepper’s that died with a look of consternation and confusion on their faces like they did everything right, why didn’t it work.

Those prep supplies, the guns and ammo, the food, water, and medical supplies, the camping gear, the MRE’s, all followed the motto “To The Victor Belongs The Spoils”, meaning it was all for nothing.

The good news was that this group inner warfare was killing a lot of bad people off, even though a lot of good people were being killed as well. The bad news is, the ones that survived followed the motto “Survival of the fittest or strongest.” They were the worst of the bad and they had the strength and the cunning to survive where hundreds of thousands before them did not. That made them very dangerous.

The outward flow slowed somewhat. Now that groups started gathering resources they started being a little more cautious. They’d hole up in a few conquered houses for a few days after the conquest and consolidate their bounty. Each outward stage was like a groups of bees swarming from one location to the next gathering more resources, more despicable vile people and further entrenched the hierarchy to a more efficient level. They were getting organized. With nothing to fear from local, state or federal law enforcement, and not many people that could withstand their onslaught, they advanced slowly toward Paradise.

[223shootersc]

very good story like your work, can't wait for MOAR