Before the Power was Gone: A Powerless World Series, Book 0.5

by Glaspy, P. A.

  At this point we had only been working on it for about a month, so we didn’t have a whole lot, but we already had buckets with beans, rice, sugar, and flour in them. The buckets and mylar bags had eaten up almost half of our prep budget that first month, but we’d gotten a good little start. Janet looked at the labels on the buckets.

  “How long would this feed the three of you, Anne?”

  If we didn’t have anything else, and we made some kind of flat bread from the flour, I’d guess two weeks to a month.”

  Bob pointed to the stack of bottled water. “And the water? I’m guessing you’re planning for something to happen that would cause water to stop flowing from the faucets.”

  Russ answered that one. “We’re trying to plan for anything that might happen, buddy. A person needs about a gallon of water a day, minimum, for drinking and eating. A case of 28 bottles would take care of one person for one week. I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that they started packaging them 28 to a pack and calling it a case. We’ve got enough water there for about two weeks for the three of us.”

  Bob and Janet looked at each other, then back at us. Janet smiled at me. “I think we have a lot to talk about, sister. At first, I was hurt thinking that you started this without me, without telling me. But I can see how you would think people would start calling you a nut job for even thinking you needed to do something like this, much less actually doing it. Don’t ever think there is anything you can’t talk to me about, Anne. Now, show me where to start because I don’t want to not have you with me in an apocalypse either.”

  I hugged my best friend and we walked down the hall to where I had the ereader with all the prepper books on it. Bob slapped Russ on the back. “So, what do the guys do while the womenfolk are planning and storing and stuff?”

  Russ grinned at him. “Plan and build other stuff. Let me show you.”

  chapter 4

  I have to tell you, prepping was a lot more fun with Janet. She had ideas I hadn’t thought of, and together we were hell on wheels. They had an extra room in their house that was used for storage for the most part, so that became their prep room. They matched our set up almost exactly and bought the same items we did. They couldn’t have the livestock in their backyard; we had a six-foot privacy fence, and theirs had none. We just built more pens for them in ours. I wouldn’t have thought we could have gotten closer, but we did. There’s something about planning for a catastrophe with people you love that brings you together.

  While they were working to catch up to us in supplies, we told them about bug out bags and get home bags. Bob looked confused. “I get the get home bag. If something happened while I was at work, I’d need supplies to get me home to my family and the preps. I don’t get the other one, the bug out bag. Bug out means leaving. Where we going? All the stuff is here. I thought that was the point of the whole thing.”

  Russ laughed. “Well, yes, but try to imagine what it would be like out there for everyone who didn’t have preps. Most people have very little food in their house. What do you think would happen when they run out?”

  Bob was nodding slowly as the scenario played out in his imagination. “They’re going to try to find more. I get ya. So, then why are we stocking everything here? Shouldn’t we have it somewhere else, and go there if SHTF?”

  “We have it here because we don’t have another place to go to, not yet anyway.” I told him. “Russ and I have been trying to figure that part out. It’s the last unknown at this point.”

  “What about the farm? If I understand what a bug out location is, it should be perfect.” Janet said.

  “Well, of course we’ve thought about it,” I replied. “But, we would never assume your aunt and uncle would be okay with us just showing up at their door.”

  “Why not? We do it all the time. Sometimes you just gotta have Millie’s biscuits and gravy.” Bob had a dreamy look on his face. When he smacked his lips, we all laughed.

  Janet rolled her eyes at her husband. “Let’s plan on going out and talking to them about it this weekend. I can’t think of a better place to ‘bug out’ to than there.”

  ****

  And that’s how we got a bug out location. Monroe had a bit of the conspiracy theorist in him – okay, more than a bit. I think his exact words were, “I don’t trust nobody that works for any alphabet government agency. FBI, CIA, ATF, DHS – that bunch there is the worst. Anything happens, them DHS assholes are the ones we’re gonna have to worry about the most, I reckon.” They said they were honored to be included in our TEOTWAWKI plans.

  Monroe was a pack rat, bordering on hoarder. He never threw anything away and was forever bringing more stuff home. He had sheds and outbuildings packed full of so much stuff we couldn’t even tell what all was there. The guys worked with Monroe to fortify and hide the front gate from anyone who didn’t already know it was there. Millie, Janet, and I went through the house, making lists of things we needed to bring out at some point, so the place could handle more folks.

  Millie posed a question to me. “Do you think there will ever be more than the eight of us, dear? Should we plan for more?” That was a good question. I hadn’t thought about there being more than just us there.

  “I’m not sure, Millie. I guess it could happen. We can stock up for a few more, just in case.”

  The farmhouse had a basement and a root cellar. It had an outhouse that hadn’t been used in 50 years but was still standing, and still usable if the need arose. There was a pump for the well outside and another on the sink in the kitchen, dating back to when the house was built when they first got married. Millie had grown up in the country with no running water and had hauled many a bucket from a nearby creek as a child. She told Monroe she didn’t ever want to have to do that again. He took care of his girl.

  ****

  Over the next year and a half, we spent many weekends at the farm, canning, gardening, helping to butcher livestock, and learning an enormous amount of valuable information about what life was like on a farm. There’s something quite satisfying and gratifying to know you can grow or raise your own food and not have to worry about whether or not the store is closed, or if it would ever open again. While we weren’t completely self-sustaining out there, we were close. We had hundreds of pounds of flour and sugar between the three of us, and lots of coffee and tea. We had moved some of our preps from our houses out to the root cellar, which left us more room at home for…you guessed it; more preps!

  We added some internal security features in the houses. If we got trapped there, we’d need to be able to have some defenses in place. They weren’t ideal, but they were the best we could come up with in the area where we lived. We had a strip mall about five miles away with a decent-sized housing development right next to it, so on top of the 30 or so houses on our street and the next one over, there were a potential 50 more within walking distance. That could easily represent 150 to 200 potential threats.

  Russ’s business was booming. He was busy all the time. We had enough disposable income for some bigger purchases now. He traded in his 2000 pickup for a 1980 work truck. When I asked why, he showed me some articles on what vehicles might make it through an EMP and which ones almost assuredly wouldn’t. My 2012 SUV was toast if that happened.

  Bob worked in an electronics store, and most of his pay was commission. As you might guess from his personality, he did very well. Janet was a stay-at-home mom, but Bob made enough to take care of them comfortably. Russ and Bob got together and bought a matching pair of trailers. Bob’s SUV was pre-computer chip, too, so we had the vehicles we needed, and now we had the means to take the preps with us! I was so excited when they brought them home. I ran to Russ and jumped up in his arms.

  “Oh, Baby, this is awesome! You have no idea how many nights I lay awake, trying to figure out how to get out supplies out with us if we have to leave. I may be able to sleep now! Will everything go in? Can it hold the weight?”

  He laughed at my excitement. “Yes, honey, it
will all go in. It will probably be tight, but it will go. We had the floors reinforced and had the axles swapped out for heavier duty ones. They’ll carry anything we put in them.”

  Bob came around the front of the truck just then. “Good thing, Bubba, cuz my faraday cabinet is loaded DOWN with equipment, electronics, and a big, bad ass genny.” We had faraday cabinets in the garages for the big stuff, like power tools and generators, and cardboard lined metal ammo boxes for the smaller electronics, like tablets, the ultra-valuable ereaders, radios, even a cheapie cell phone. We had no idea if these things could survive an EMP in the way we had tried to protect them; all we could do was hope what we’d read online was correct.

  Janet had walked up to join us, and Bob wrapped an arm around her waist. Russ did the same to me. “Well, gang, I don’t think there’s much else we can do to prepare for whatever might happen. We’ve got supplies and a way to take them with us if or when things go to hell here. We’ve got vehicles that should withstand any kind of electrical events. We’ve got guns and ammo to protect ourselves and our preps. We’ve got a place to go when this one gets bad. And it will, unfortunately. If any kind of lasting event happens, this place,” he motioned down the street, “will become a war zone. Folks fighting for food and water, trying to take what other people have, because the instinct to survive is one of the strongest in a man or woman. The instinct to protect and provide for one’s young, their family, is the same, if not stronger. What would you do to feed your child? What wouldn’t you do? That’s what we will be up against. We’ll have to keep our eyes open, be aware of any change in the attitudes around us. As soon as we see it starting to deteriorate, we have to go. The longer things are down, the worse it will get. We don’t want to be around other people when that happens. I wish we could help everyone, I do, but it just isn’t a viable plan. We have to put our family first.”

  “Why wouldn’t we just pack up and leave as soon as it happens, Russ?” Bob asked. “Seems like that would be the smart thing to do. Then we wouldn’t even be here when it falls apart.”

  “Depending on what kind of event it turns out to be, we might have to go right away. But the first few days will be dangerous. People will be panicking, trying to figure out what’s going on, trying to find someone to ‘help’ them. The more we can avoid those confrontations, the better. No one can come into our homes and see what we have. If word got out, we’d end up a bad situation trying to hold on to our supplies.”

  Janet looked concerned. “How bad is ‘bad’, Russ?”

  He looked at her with grim resolve. “Really bad. Imagine the worst, then worse than that. Hungry people are desperate people. Have you heard of people who get cranky when they’re hungry? What if they haven’t eaten for three days? Cranky would look nice compared to that scenario.

  “We live in a society of instant gratification. Hungry? Throw this frozen dinner in the microwave. Five minutes later, you’re eating. Thirsty? Turn on the faucet, out comes water. Now, imagine if those things are gone. There are over 45 million people in this country on food stamps right now, and over a million of them are right here in Tennessee. That’s almost 20 percent of the state’s population. That breaks down to one in five people. What happens when they can’t use their EBT card because there’s no electricity, or the grocery store closes because they aren’t getting any more deliveries? They’ll loot the grocery store, that’s what. When everything there is gone, where will they look next for food?”

  “Other people. Their neighbors’ homes.”

  “Exactly. And do you think they’re going to believe you when you say you have nothing to give them if you’re standing there looking well fed?”

  Janet shook her head. “Nope. No way. If they thought we had food, we’d be targets.”

  Russ gave her a curt nod. “Just like they looted the grocery store, they’ll start looting houses close by. So, either we’re here and we defend the place the best we can, which would be dangerous and possibly deadly; or we leave and let them tear each other apart. It’s cold, but like I said – our family comes first.”

  What a depressing thought. I looked up the street and tried to envision it at war with itself. We didn’t “hang out” with any of our neighbors besides Bob and Janet. Our neighbor on the other side was a snooty banker type who barely acknowledged our existence. Across the street was a young couple who were almost never home, so we rarely ever saw them. On the other side of Bob and Janet was a family we were sure was part of the 20 percent getting food stamps. Our little corner of the universe was pretty small.

  Bob tried to lighten the mood. “Well, maybe nothing will happen, and we’ll all grow old with all of our preps around us and laugh at ourselves for doing it. Hey, then we can test the shelf life of that stuff that said it was good for 25 years. It will probably taste like sawdust.” He grinned, then laughed at his comments. We joined him.

  “Let’s hope you’re right, Bob, but not about the sawdust.” I gave him an elbow in the gut. He let out a whoosh of air. “Let’s eat. Janet and I made tacos.”

  We walked inside, and I took one more look down the street. I sure hope we never have to use this stuff. I can’t imagine life not being like it is right now. I went in the house with my family, never expecting anything to change, but knowing we had a plan if it did. A plan I never wanted to have to put into action, but felt more confident for having one. Maybe nothing will happen. Maybe something will. All we can do is be ready.

  And that’s how I became a prepper. That’s where we were in my story when the SHTF.

  This is a prequel for the A Powerless World series. To read more about Anne and Russ, Bob and Janet, and their sons, their story continues in When the Power is Gone, Book 1 in the series. You can purchase it on Amazon here:

  When the Power is Gone

  Book 2, When the Peace is Gone, is now available for download. You can purchase it here:

  When the Peace is Gone

  You can read the first three chapters of When the Power is Gone, Book 1 for free! Just sign up for our News and Events mailing list, and we’ll send you a pdf to download.

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