Free When the Power Is Gone: A Powerless World - Book 1 by P. A. Glaspy

food and water, so you and your family can survive?
    The more time that passed, the fewer people there would be alive in need of resources. But the majority of the ones who survived would very likely be of the non-savory persona. Those survivors would have killed people for their supplies. They would have banded with others like them into gangs, and they would be looking for ways to further their efforts through intimidation and violence. They would take what they wanted, whether it was food or something more sinister. With no police or consequences, criminals of all kinds would be running free, doing whatever they wanted to get whatever they wanted or needed. They would start in the cities, because that’s where the largest populations would be, so more possibilities for food, water, weapons – between the stores they could loot, and the people they could take from, they could last there for weeks. But eventually, things would run dry there, and they would have to widen their range for gathering supplies. The suburbs outside the cities would be their next targets, but those places would have little to nothing to offer the gangs, since those people would have been using those potential resources for their own families. So they wouldn’t be in the burbs long. After that, rural areas like ours would hit their radar. We didn’t want to be here when that happened.
    Russ had relayed all of this to us over dinner. Thankfully, he saved the grossest parts until we had finished eating.  Now that he had given us the worst case scenario, we couldn’t sit around and wait for them to get here.  “First thing we do is start a 24-hour watch. The visitors we saw today are reason enough. Someone will be awake at all times. Us guys will handle that for now. We can do two- to three-hour watches at night.” I started to protest, but he stopped me.
    “Anne, I know what you’re going to say, but I want you and Janet, and the boys, working on getting the supplies loaded in the trailers. You gals know what food, clothes, linens, first aid and toiletries we can use, and you pack better than us.” He grinned when he said the last part. He was right. We did. We could get more stuff in less space. I think it was a love of puzzles that made us that way.
    Bob took over the conversation to offer his own input.
    “Russ, Brian and I will work out a schedule for security. I’ll step up and offer to take the least favorite shift from 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM. Those are the most dangerous hours as far as falling asleep on watch. As long as you gals keep me caffeinated, I’ll be good. But I have to fulfill a promise to Brian first. I promised a good bourbon after dinner, and I think we could definitely use it.”
    He headed to the kitchen, grabbed the Wild Turkey and five glasses, and brought them back to the table. He looked at Rusty and Ben, and motioned to the stairs.
    “Boys, go play a game or something. We got some grown up shit to talk about.”
    The boys snickered but did as they were told. Like they were going to complain about playing a game. They couldn’t get online, but they had some pass and play games on the mini tablet. They could deal with that.
    I looked at Brian. “So, it looks like you’ll be joining us. With people roaming the roads, I think we should move you in as soon as possible. You guys need to take wheelbarrows, or whatever we can use, over to Brian’s, get his stuff and get him set up here as soon as possible. Brian, we don’t have a spare bedroom, but we’ll set you up in the den. There’s a hide-a-bed in the sofa, and you can at least close the door. I think we should do this tonight. What can we do to help?”
    Russ raised his glass. “I’d like to propose a toast. To our families, and our new addition. May we stay safe until we can get to the farm.” We all raised our glasses, and downed the bourbon. That warm sensation went down to my toes.
                  As we put our glasses on the table, Bob