The Last Blade Of Grass (6 page)

Simone and I are both preppers. That is the nature of my store; 2nd AMENDMENT GUNS and SURVIVAL PRODUCTS. So you could say I have an excessively developed sense of paranoia. It doesn’t prevent me from living and enjoying life, but if there is a potential threat, it is literally my business to be prepared for it. I would much rather have the luxury of being alive and embarrassed that I jumped into action when there was no real threat, than to be embarrassed that I am dying from something I could have prepared for.

When we lived in South Dakota, I just had the gun store, but I had to close it. I started it with a limited inventory and based the model on being able to order in guns from distributors, but the gun market soared and instant availability dried up. The manufacturers couldn’t keep up with the demand. The distributors’ stock dried up, and I had to close when I couldn’t order any guns or ammo to re-stock my shelves.

This new store I started with much more inventory than the last, and with prepper items like the ones that Simone and I both got for our family, and thought other people would want as well. It is essentially a gun store with survival foods, clothing, and other gear as well.

Shortly after we opened, there was a woman that came in and hit it off with Simone. That is Samantha. She is another prepper and was excited to have a store move into the area as a potential hot spot to meet other like-minded people. She had gotten her husband into prepping after they went through some floods in Oregon a few years back. Their town was cut off for over a week due to washed out roads, and she started wanting to have extras on hand. Samantha and her husband aren’t into the collapse scenarios like we are, but they know the importance of having certain supplies on hand because of their own experiences.

“Dad,” Hannah calls over to me from the computer. “It says all military bases are on lockdown, and there is some spillover rioting going on around some of the larger bases. There’s a CDC warning about a possible outbreak and to stay away from the rioters as they may be infected. What’s going on, Dad?”

“Your mom was warned at the hospital to look out for people with bite marks and trying to bite.”

“You mean zombies? You’re kidding, right?”

Unlike my wife, I am a great practical joker. I try not to be mean about it, but I love playing jokes on Simone and especially the kids. This is exactly the type of thing I would joke about, and then maybe get into a discussion with everyone about what they would, should, or could do if it was real.

“Hannah, I’m sorry sweetie, but I’m not joking this time. Your mom was told to look out for people that are aggressive and trying to bite. I told her to come home. I want you to keep checking the internet for anything you can find. Type in
plague
,
military
,
riots
, anything you can think of and find something, okay? I’m going back into the house to check on your brothers and sisters.”

“Dad, there are people outside, are you going to open the store?”

“It’s not eight yet, so no. I need to check on everyone and make a call before I open up,
if
I open up today,” I say as I head out the rear door into the house we built the storefront onto.

Our household consists of my wife, Simone, me, of course, and our five kids. We have three girls and two boys. I guess you could say we were bucking the trend of concern on overpopulation and just enjoyed having kids. Not just making them, which is fun in and of itself, but our kids are smart, good looking, and healthy. We genuinely enjoy having them around, so we wanted to have more of them.

What is really odd in a way about our choice to have more kids is that we are
preppers
. Deep down we believed that the world was going to have a major upheaval of some sort, and we arrogantly thought we could have as many kids as we wanted and still make it safely through life with them. So far we have done a pretty good job, even though the current economic collapse isn’t as bad as we expected. We thought we would be dealing with just a major global financial collapse, or worse still, an electric grid collapse due to an electromagnetic pulse attack (EMP) or solar event.

We figured correctly for the financial collapse, that there would be mass inflation and job losses, followed by increased crime and some starvation due to prices shooting up and making almost everything unaffordable. That has happened, but on a more controlled time scale than we thought it would occur. The country has been in continuous decline or stagnation for almost ten years and has increased its decline over the last two.

What we imagined would happen was a quick collapse. With our dollar as the world’s reserve currency, our government has been able to print up an endless money supply to help artificially keep things afloat. We figured our reserve currency status would eventually end and the delayed inflation from all that printing would hit, making essential items like food and fuel unaffordable. The stock markets would collapse as well, and the banks would try to call in all outstanding debts to try and stay afloat.

All of those things happening are supposed to cause mass chaos and society would quickly crumble. Then everyone fights and takes whatever they need to feed their starving families. So we stockpiled lots of food and water, ammo, reloading supplies, and guns and opened this store in order to try and help others do the same. Everything has happened, but on a gradual scale that causes people to react like a frog in water that is slowly heating to a boil. People can tell something is wrong with the state of things, but most can’t see the end result, so they don’t bother getting prepared.

The EMP scenario had us moving in a slightly different direction with us buying tools and equipment that could be used without electricity; saws, hammers, hand drills, manual blade grinders, as well as lots of paper books, cards, games, candles, oil and oil lamps. Finally, the EMP scenario had us stockpile a ton more food and ammo than just for the economy scenario. We figured with the loss of all power and electronics, the same lawlessness would occur as with the economic scenario, only worse.

With an economic collapse, there is always the knowledge that things will turn around eventually, and not everyone would be affected to the same degree. We are prime examples of people that did well during the downturn while many others were suffering. With a lights out case, everything would come to a crashing halt for everyone, us included. There would be no ray of sunshine, no hope that some other person, government, or country will save everyone. It would be an instant case of take care of yourself and your family and survive or don’t.

Some communities would pull together initially, but without electricity there is no gas, without gas there is no food, without food there is no hope. With no hope, most people would go feral, and we would have to hunker down and stay hidden for a long period of time, maybe a few years until it was safe to be out farming the land to grow our own food without risk of attack.

So we are as prepared as we can be for everything electronic to just stop working and/or for the country’s money to become worthless, and the chaos that would ensue. We even stockpiled medical supplies for whatever the latest possible pandemic was running through the grapevine at the time; SARS, MERS, H1N1, or Ebola. We are far more prepared than most in end of civilization scenarios, but we didn’t figure into our vision of the future the imaginary monster scenario of a zombie disease taking out the world.

As I look in on Olivia, William, Amelia, and Benjamin playing, I hope that the violence and riots on bases they are talking about is nothing more than the same chaos and destruction that has plagued our larger cities for the last few months. Military personnel are having the same issues with low or delayed pay and degraded services as everyone else. Perhaps it is just their turn to riot and it seems worse to everyone because they have more guns than the rest of us. But if that were true, there would be no warnings about bites. How are we going to protect our kids from zombies?

“Olivia. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, Dad. We’re just playing with Scooby Doo.” There is an assortment of Scooby Doo figures set up by a small castle.

“I see that. Amelia, William, are you two okay?” They both say
yes
at the same time.

“Thank you for playing quiet. Let me know when Benjamin wakes up, okay? Hannah is in the store with me, so if you need anything, just come in there.”

I dial Samantha’s number on my cell and wait for her to answer as I walk back into the store.

“Hello? Eddie, is that you? I was going to call you after I dropped off Jake,” Samantha says a bit nervously.

“Samantha, have you heard what’s going on at the bases?”

“Yes, Conner and I were talking about it earlier this morning, but at the time, I didn’t think it was such a big deal. Eddie, have you seen what’s on the news? They just started showing someone’s cell phone footage from one of the bases in Arkansas. Everyone is going crazy. I mean, they seem insane and are just attacking each other. Do you think this is some kind of terrorist attack?”

“I don’t know. I guess it could be an attack, but it seems a bit of a stretch to think terrorists could hit so many bases all at once. Listen Samantha, Simone is coming home from the hospital, and I think you should get Conner back home as well. When Simone called, she said they were warned to look out for people becoming violent and trying to bite each other. The CDC is telling the hospitals it is some kind of plague. They just aren’t alerting the general public directly yet, but I imagine that will hit the news soon.” I pause for a moment to let that info sink in, then say, “Samantha, I am moving everything to the ranch.” There is a short silence on the other end.

“Do you think it’s that serious?”

“Yes, Samantha, I do. And apparently a lot of other people do as well. I have a small crowd outside the store right now, and I’m supposed to open in ten minutes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not going to open up. I’ll have to tell the people out there to go back home. It’s only me here with the kids, and I’m not about to let thirty desperate people come into the store and start fighting over what I have on the shelves.”

“You have that many people out there? Eddie, do you need us to come by and help?”

“Thanks, but not yet. You get Conner and yourself ready to head out to the Ranch. Be prepared to take everything, Samantha. If this is what it sounds like, then we won’t be coming back to the city anytime soon. Oh, one thing I do need you to do, have Conner arrange for a semi to come by the store so we can load everything that’s here and take it with us. Tell him I’ll pay the driver four times the rate if they can show up in the next few hours. And I’ll need someone to help load the truck. Whoever it is should be trustworthy. They’ll know where we are and all of the supplies.”

“Okay, I’ll let him know.”

“Dad, Mom’s on the phone,” Hannah says, offering the store phone to me.

“Samantha, I have to go, Simone’s on the phone. Get Conner home and get us a truck okay?”

“Okay, Eddie. Goodbye.”

“I’ll take it Hannah, thanks. Simone, where are you?”

“I’m in the car and leaving right now.”

“Okay, come on home and drive carefully. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes. I love you”

“I love you too. See you soon,” Simone says and hangs up.

The Krenshaw Household

“Hi honey, did you call Eddie already?”

“No, he called me. Conner, he says he is moving his family to the ranch, and we should do the same.”

“Did he tell you anything specific?”

“The CDC is warning the hospitals that there is a possible plague outbreak. His wife was told to watch out for people coming into the hospital with bite marks and acting aggressively.”

“What? You mean like an animal attack? This is something to do with rabies?”

“No! Conner, they were told to watch out for people biting each other. People! Not animal bites. Conner, I believe him. You need to come home. There was something in the way he told me what was happening. It sent shivers down my spine, and it let me know he was absolutely telling the truth.”

“Was he that dramatic?”

“That’s just it. He was calm, firm, and direct. It made me feel like I was on a ship and the captain was telling me we were sinking.”

“Okay, honey. If he is taking it this seriously, then we should as well. I’ll leave work in the next half hour. First, I have to tell my people what I know, and give them a chance as well.”

“Conner? Eddie wants you to send a driver with a truck that can haul all of the stuff he has in his store, and someone to help load. He said he would pay four times the rate if the driver can be there in the next two hours.”

“Samantha, you need to call Emily, and get her back here from Portland.”

“Oh Conner, she’s not going to like this. She has that scientist from Germany with her right now.”

“Who is with her?” he asks, clearly confused by what his wife is saying.

“Her biology group is getting to work with him because of that research paper that she was telling us about. Don’t you remember?”

“Samantha, you need to get her to come home. It doesn’t matter who she is with if things are serious enough to move to Eddie’s ranch. I’ll call her after you do if I have too, but she’ll come home if you explain everything to her, okay?”