by Ron Foster
We can’t lose one critter by stupidity, have anyone break or lose a hand or finger to a trap or miss a meal because you don’t listen to me. We got food now but it ain`t going to last long and when these reserves are gone its only what we manage to preserve or get for ourselves. “Dying times” started a week ago in the hospitals when the lights went off and they were the lucky ones. Now we got plaque, disease, starvation, dehydration and social unrest and violence just cracking out of the egg. Keep your composure, keep up each other spirits, above all keep your humanity and don’t bicker about what you can’t change because the only lifeboat we got takes all hands to keep from sinking. This house was not designed to support all of us and living conditions are going to be a cramped as hell soon enough but, remember the stories of heroism in P.O.W. camps, the survivors of the holocaust who managed to live under worse conditions than we will ever face.” Dennis said before being pointedly asked by Monica what freedoms or rights Dennis was leading up to that they would no longer have.
“You all know I have been a “public prepper” on the internet and somewhat locally for years now. I got “stuff” folks want and it will soon be people are crazy desperate. That means visitors of various bents on mischief. So, security first. Get ready for a big freaking confrontation and wanting what food they think I got. The unwanted visitors can come upon us at anytime day or night. You got the ones that will start neighborly and those who are scared of my known affection for guns and and my assurances I don’t mind using them if we feel threatened. The later visitors will come at dusk, dark of night or predawn to take our wares. I can’t be trying to trap the woods for animals when I should be setting a few mantraps and guards on our perimeter for safety sake.
Everyone will have a work schedule and a guard schedule, I see no other alternative. Community meals will be out and we eat in shifts soon enough so we ain`t all bunched up and ready targets. It takes awhile to get into this mentality and we are all going to be scared of our own shadows and picking at each other for not observing basic security rules until it feels commonplace. Me and Charles will fall back in the zone of our military war skills, but me and him freaking you out to make sure you are not sleeping on guard duty or observing light and noise suppression is going to drive you ballistic.
“No one, and I mean it when I say it, starts the crap about saying we ain`t in the military or this isn’t basic training because it is for awhile. It’s a new way we got to live now folks. No calling our business loudly to each other like its time for dinner or I am going to take a poop etc. Don’t holler at me in the woods “where am I at?” if we get separated when I am running point or trapping. Talk low, keep visual distances, watch and wait when in doubt and for all our sakes be very safety conscience in regards to your field of fires should you want to pop some caps at something. More folks die off of friendly fire than enemy fire, I can’t stress that enough. Basically you ladies guard the house while men folk forage and hunt like a bygone era and we try to outlast the known threats and prepare for the future ones. Everyone is going to be dependent on his or her tribe of brothers and sisters and individuality will be put on the shelf until a “way of being” is established.
We are all very talented but a division of labor and security is to be considered as effective until we can all surmount this learning curve we are forced to deal with in adapting to this strange society we find ourselves in. Hey I know I sound all caveman or something but it’s like this, I hunt, you clean what I catch, while you cleaning I am doing security. All the neighbors might be figuring out that gunshot they heard was me getting a deer and wanting a rear haunch of what I got when their hunting efforts are not feeding their families. I need to be out of the woods and close to home as soon as I can. There is wood to gather for the cook fires, gardens to tend etc. I can be tired from the trail carrying back meat or from sitting in the rain waiting for Mr. Animal to pass by for an opportunity to feed us. Up at dawn for me to go hunting or trapping don’t mean we sort out personalities or problems until the wee hours of the morning if it can someway be overlooked. The grand thing we got to do is put the tribe common welfare first beyond petty jealousies or personal problems.
We sacrifice for the community or tribe, not to one another. It is the focus of a common goal and existence that must take precedence. Be a believer in that. The extra cracker or choice portion of meat goes to best hunter or forager. It is up to them to decide the disposition of that item for themselves or sharing with others. If someone is lacking in skills due to age, talents or otherwise then community support is needed and not harassment. Common goals and ideals, common defense, do you get me? Feel me? Or whatever it is I am supposed to say in this day and time? “Dennis said as he finally finished his diatribe about how they should show each other kindness and understanding in a world gone topsy turvy.
All the pieces of a "perfect storm" are lining up over the next few days in a manner such that I believe next week will be like no other. From man-made natural and unnatural disasters to the chaos in Washington NOTHING happens by accident anymore. Get ready to hear the term Quarantine and Isolation being tossed around like popcorn by the media.
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper. – T.S. Eliot