Prepper Fiction Collection: Four Books in One

by Susan Gregersen

Pete and Lonnie read about it on the internet, since they didn’t have cable TV any more. At least that made it easier to hide their initial shock and panic from the kids.

  “What are we going to do?” Lonnie asked Pete in alarm. Pete paced the room, thinking.

  “Let’s go for a walk. I don’t want to have the kids hear us discuss it,” he said. They told the kids and Grandma where they were going and shrugged into their coats.

  “Don’t worry about a thing!” Grandma assured them soothingly. “I’ll keep a good eye on the children!”

  Lonnie smiled at the thought that the kids needed watching. She felt warm inside at the relationship the kids were forming with her grandma.

  Pete and Lonnie headed down the sidewalk. Most of the walks had been shoveled but some hadn’t and they made their way through the deep snow, stepping in the tracks of those who had walked along before them. More and more people had begun walking or bicycling where they needed to go. A few bicycle tire tracks weaved through the snow on the street. The city had cut back on plowing all but the main roads and their street rarely got plowed. Passing cars had pretty much packed the snow down, making travel possible, although skid marks showed where cars had trouble gripping the icy packed snow.

  As they walked along in silence Pete reached over and took Lonnie’s hand. Despite the gravity of their situation Lonnie felt warm inside. It had been years since she and Pete had taken a walk together. The dark shadows over their life returned and she sighed.

  “We no longer need to discuss how to save money or make the house payment. We’re past that now. We need to decide where we’re going to go, and it won’t be easy this time of year,” Pete said.

  “I know,” Lonnie answered quietly. She shivered as she became aware of the cold. A cold wave had moved in the night before and the temperature had dipped almost to zero. Even now it was only in the teens. She couldn’t imagine them being homeless this time of year. “How long do you think we have before they’ll come and put us out?”

  “Foreclosures take a while. Maybe 2 or 3 months? I know the banks are trying to move faster on them. We also have to worry about the electricity. It used to be against the law to disconnect someone until after some time in April. I read in the paper a few weeks ago that some utility companies were shutting people off anyway,” Pete said glumly.

  “Well, if we can get through until at least March the weather will be warming up. We don’t even have a tent though. Grandma can’t sleep in the car!” fretted Lonnie.

  “We’re not going to have to live in the car!” Pete assured Lonnie. “We’ll figure something out. We need to keep the electricity bill paid so we have heat. We’ll stop paying everything else. It’ll be a month before they shut off the phone. I don’t know how long the cell phone company will wait to stop our service if we don’t pay them.”

  They walked in silence for a while. Dusk was settling over the neighborhood and lights were coming on. There was a time when it felt warm and cheery glancing in windows and seeing families eating dinner or watching TV together. Tonight it just felt cold.

  When they walked in the door of their own home Carrie stuck her head in the living room and said “Dad, Grandma Kathy called. She said to call her and hang up, and she’ll call back on her own long-distance.”

  Pete walked over to the phone and dialed his parents’ number. It was a lengthy set of numbers since they worked and lived overseas. Currently they were living in Germany. When the phone had rung twice he hung up. Moments later it rang in their living room and he picked up the receiver and said hello.

  “Pete, we’ve applied for early release from our contract and we hope to be home by spring, or summer at the latest,” his mom said. After Pete asked why she went on to explain about the economic situation in Europe and the belief she and his Dad shared that things were coming to the point of collapse. “I just hope things hold together long enough for us to get home. We’ve considered just booking a flight and leaving everything behind.”

  “Wow, Mom, that would be burning a lot of bridges. Do you think it’s really that bad?”

  “Yes. We wouldn’t burn those bridges if we didn’t believe it. How are you and Lonnie and the kids doing?” she asked.

  He explained about their situation, reluctant to distress his Mom further by sharing their problems, but knowing he should tell her. She was quiet for a while.

  “You could go to the farm,” she said finally. Both were silent for a while. “Sell what you don’t need and buy what you do need. Then go there. Doesn’t take much to live there. You’d need food until you can grow more. The woods is full of firewood. There is some food and firewood there you could use, but you‘ll need more. You’d be warm. You’d have a roof over your head.”

  Pete shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, Mom. It’s so different from what we’re used to. I guess we could if we had to. I’ll think about it.” They made somber small talk and his Dad shouted a “hello” from the background, then they got off the phone.

  “What is it?” Lonnie asked. They sat down on the couch, Pete lost in thought. They didn’t notice the kids were in the adjacent dining room watching them. Even Grandma, rocking in her chair in the room down the hall, was hardly breathing as she strained to hear.

  “It could work…” Pete said vaguely. “It would be hard, but it would keep us alive. We’d have a place to live…”

  “What could work?” Lonnie asked gently, her hand encouragingly resting on his arm.

  He explained about the conversation with his Mom, and when he paused the kids raced into the room.

  “Grandma and Grandpa are coming home? Yippee!” said Zack and Carrie, holding hands and dancing in a circle.

  “A FARM??? Oh boy!!!” yelled Danny! “Woo-hoo, chickens and pigs and cows and horses and--”

  Pete cut him off. “There aren’t any animals there right now, and I didn’t say we were going!”

  Silence abruptly filled the room, then a quiet voice said “Why not?” Faces turned in surprise to the doorway where Grandma stood, gripping the door frame.

  “We could make it work. We can plant things. We can buy or barter for chickens and other animals. I don’t know much about your parents’ farm but there might be hunting or fishing in the area,” she said.

  “There’s a pond. It does have fish,” Pete said. The idea seemed surreal to him. He’d been raised in the city and when he was grown his parents had sold the house and bought a farm in the country. Not just the country. The middle of nowhere. He’d visited several times but it was as foreign to him as the new life they’d started as civilian contractors to the military and started working overseas.

  “When do we go?” cried Danny.

  There were many family pow-wow’s to make plans after that conversation. The first thing they did was to sort through their possessions and find everything of value that they would not need at the farm to survive. They sold or pawned it all, being disappointed in the low prices things brought. The pawn shops were stuffed with goods and few people were buying. Pete and Lonnie felt lucky they got anything for the electronics, jewelry, and few antiques they had. They advertised a “yard sale” and held it in their living room. They sold their beautiful couch and chair set for $30, having paid $1,200 for it new. The odds and ends of furniture leftover were just going to be left in the house. Friends and neighbors asked what their plans were. Pete vaguely mentioned a relative in another state who said he might know of a job for him. That much was true, but Pete knew his cousin was only trying to find a way to help and there probably was no job.

  With the money they got they bought warm work gloves and boots, extra laundry soap and other sundries and personal items. They kept in mind how much they could fit into both cars, allowing room for the family as well. They let the insurance lapse on the cars and then stopped making the payments.

  All the money they had went into supplies and food, both to keep them alive until they left, and to take to the farm. Lonnie took her grandma’s whole So
cial Security check for February and spent it all on rice, beans, flour, sugar, and other basic foods. Two days later she went back with Pete’s unemployment check and bought more food and sundries, and was shocked to see prices had climbed steeply in just those couple days.

  The kids sorted through their clothes and possessions, packing what they were going to take, and giving away what they could to friends. The car in the garage was loaded, every nook and cranny filled with something, and suitcases tied on the roof.

  The phone was disconnected and their cell service had been discontinued. In the middle of February the lights went out and that day’s mail had a disconnect notice from the power company.

  “How are we going to stay warm?” asked Carrie. She had on a sweatshirt, a sweater, and a coat.

  “We’ll have to bundle up and move around. Oh gosh, I guess we should buy long underwear. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that!” groaned Lonnie.

  “I have two pair of flannel pajama pants on under my jeans,” offered Zack. Lonnie looked at him in surprise.

  “That’s a good idea, Zack! We can all do that. I think we should still get some long underwear though. I wish we could afford wool socks. I guess I’ll see if my shoes fit with two pairs of socks on my feet.” Lonnie headed toward her room.

  Danny went to make sure his great-grandma was warm. She was sitting in her rocker with a blanket around her legs and had on a sweater and a knit hat. Her hands were inside the opposite sleeves of her sweater.

  “Grandma, how come you’re not crocheting or reading?” Danny asked, worried about her.

  “My hands got too cold. I’ll have plenty of time for that later! Did you know that back in the first depression people had to burn their furniture and books and other possessions just to keep from freezing?” she asked.

  “I wish we could make a fire. I wish we had a fireplace or something.” Danny sighed and went to the window. Most of the snow had melted during sunny spells between storms. The matted brown grass and bare trees made him sad. It was like there was no life or color, and that they would be next.

  Pete walked in the room and said “We could build a campfire in the backyard!”

  “We could? Yippee!” yelled Danny, jumping up and down. He left the room with his Dad. Grandma stood and dragged her chair to the window. She settled back in and watched contentedly as the man and boy began picking up sticks and limbs. They took rocks that had bordered Lonnie’s flower gardens and made a fire ring in the middle of the back yard.

  Danny ran toward the house and then reappeared with a newspaper and a lighter. Soon smoke was rising from the ring of rocks, and Grandma could see flames. It warmed her heart, but she felt the growing chill in the house creeping into her bones.

  In a short while Lonnie and the other two kids were out by the fire. They gathered close and held their fingers over it. It was the first time Grandma Jean had seen Lonnie smile in a while. Some sort of discussion seemed to be going on, and finally Pete nodded and walked away. About 20 minutes later he returned with a bag of marshmallows. Later she found out he had jogged 8 blocks to the gas station and bought the bag of marshmallows… for $4.50! It was the last treat the family had for a long time.

  The day after the campfire a tow truck pulled up in front of the house. It backed into the driveway and started to hook up to their car. Pete ran out the door and talked to them. After a while they got back into their truck and left. Pete waved confidently at them and strolled carelessly back to the house. The others had been watching from the window.

  “What’s going on? What on earth did you tell them? I was sure they were going to take the car and we’d really be stuck for getting all of our stuff and ourselves out of here!” Lonnie said.

  “They’ll be back,” he said grimly as the confidence he’d portrayed gave way to dismay. “I just told the biggest lie of my life, and I did it without guilt. What a world this is becoming.” He sighed, rubbed his head with his hands, and went on.

  “I told them we’d sold the house and would have enough left from the sale that we’d be able to not just catch up the car payments, but to pay off the car loan in full. They were so happy to think they wouldn’t be stuck with just another car on the repo lot that they’d probably never be able to sell, they bought my story. I told them the money from the house was to be in our bank account by noon tomorrow and I’d be in to pay them.” He paced the living room.

  “This means we have to leave now. First thing in the morning. We can load the car tonight, except for our blankets and coats.”

  The rest of the family stared at him, their minds racing. They knew it was coming but now it was suddenly happening and they were in shock. It didn’t seem real and they didn’t know where to begin, although they had been talking about the plan for weeks.

  “Did you know I have a credit card?” Grandma said unexpectedly. Everyone looked up with startled glances. Lonnie wondered if Grandma’s mind was wandering.

  “Oh?” Lonnie asked. “Can I see it?”

  Grandma went to her room and came back with a card in her hand. She handed it to Lonnie, who looked it over on both sides.

  “It’s still valid!” Lonnie said.

  “Of course it is! I kept one when I went to the Care Center, just in case. I used it a few times, too, to buy little presents and cards, and yarn for my crocheting, and other little things. One of the women who worked at the center helped me pay the bill online.” She stood straighter. “I have a perfect credit rating and a limit of $5,000 on this card! Now, let’s make a shopping list!”

  “But grandma, you won’t be able to pay it off! They’re going to stop Social Security payments!” Lonnie said.

  “Yep. Talk about burning bridges. They won’t be able to find me anyway, and they have a lot of fish to go after in this pond of a nation!” Grandma turned to Danny. “Go get me a pen and some paper, okay?”

  Danny scampered off and returned with paper and pen.

  “Grandma, we can’t fit much more in the cars!” Pete said.

  “I know. Some of these things won’t take up much room. Plus, we can bury ourselves with blankets and coats, and free up more room for supplies. Now, we need a gun,” she said matter-of-factly. The room was filled with a chorus of cries and responses.

  “Whatever for?” Lonnie asked.

  “I thought we were going to a farm, not the wild west!” Carrie said.

  “I took karate, I don’t need a gun,” Zach said.

  “Can I shoot it?” cried Danny.

  “Grandma’s right. We’ll need it for defense, and for hunting. But I don’t know the first things about them,” Pete said.

  “I do. Or I did. I can’t imagine they’ve changed much since my younger days. Come on, Pete, let’s go see your pawn shop friend. Granny’s getting a gun!” she said. “…and hopefully some ammo.”

  A couple hours later Pete and Grandma came in the door. It had snowed all afternoon and the sidewalk was slushy. They changed into dry shoes and socks before showing the rest of the family what they had bought.

  “The prices were awful! But we got a 20-gauge shotgun and two boxes of shells, and we got a 9 mm handgun. He didn’t have any ammo for it, so he sold it to us cheaper. On the way home I ran into Dave and he said he has a .22 rifle and some ammo I could buy. I told him I didn’t have any money, but we worked out a deal that he and Debbie can have everything they want from what we leave behind tomorrow. He’s going to bring the rifle over around 8:00 tomorrow morning and I’ll give him my house key. They can sell the stuff or keep it themselves, or whatever they want.”

  “Are you sure it was smart to tell him our plans?” Lonnie asked anxiously.

  “Sure. He won’t tell anyone that we’re going to my cousin’s in Indiana!” Pete said with a twinkle in his eye! Everyone relaxed. “We’ll be long gone before he realizes we did more than just abandon a house that was being foreclosed. None of this will hurt him, and it might help him if they get in as bad of a situation.”

 
“Now, Lonnie. It’s your turn to go shopping with me. Get your coat!” Grandma went over by the door and waited.

  “Grandma, I think that’s too much for you! You already walked through the snow to the pawn shop! Is it really important that we go out? Don’t you want to rest?” Lonnie was worried about her.

  “I’m fine. Besides, I’ll get to rest tomorrow in the car. We still need stuff.” She waited stubbornly, so Lonnie shrugged into her coat.

  It was dark by the time they returned, weighted down with bags containing powdered lye from the hardware store for soap-making, and long underwear and wool socks from the Army surplus store. There were a couple bags from the grocery store, but those went straight into the car.

  They had eaten the last of the bread at lunch time, so they heated soup over the campfire in the back yard for their dinner. They quietly loaded everything but the blankets into the car, locked it, and went back in the house.