Glen Tate: 299 Days: The Preparation

“Yep,” Chip said. “The Mexico thing is a big problem, but the bond rating is even bigger. We’re done for.”

“I know,” Grant said, “but I must say I’m off on my timing here. I would think people would be making runs on the grocery stores. But they’re not. Am I on drugs or what?” He asked.

“Nope,” Chip said. “Most people are dumbasses. They won’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.” A customer came within earshot so Chip stopped talking to Grant.

Grant smiled at Chip and said, “Say ‘hi’ to Ted for me.”

Chip knew exactly what Grant meant. He smiled back and said, “Roger that.”

Grant was perplexed. Maybe the Collapse wasn’t coming. It was unfolding like Grant thought it would, but wasn’t happening as quickly as he thought. Maybe there wouldn’t be a Collapse. Maybe he was just overreacting.

He left the store and had another weird drive from Capitol City Guns back to his house. It was another period of time for him to transition from thinking about the end of the world to being a suburban guy. Grant hit the garage door button and put the happy face back on.

Lisa asked, “How was your day?”

“Oh, fine,” he said, lying. Of course. “How about yours?”

“Pretty typical,” she said. Amid all this news of what seemed like the collapse of the United States of America, Lisa managed to have a “pretty typical” day. Grant wished he could be as calm about this as she seemed to be.

“Kids,” Lisa asked, “what do you guys want for dinner?” Grant did not turn on the news. He knew Lisa would change the channel. She didn’t want all that doom and gloom to ruin her “pretty typical” day.

Grant was pretty worthless at work. He couldn’t concentrate on anything. He constantly checked the internet to see the latest news and thought of all the things he needed to do, which usually revolved around buying things like food. He’d sneak out at lunch and hit a drugstore for over the counter medications or hit the Dollar Store for miscellaneous things. He got some vegetable seeds at Home Depot for the vacant lot next to his cabin. He kept wishing he had some handheld radios but didn’t know where to get them.

It was Friday, and a shooting session with the Team was planned for the weekend. Grant called Pow.

“Hey, man, with all that’s going on, are we still going to the range?” he asked Pow.

“I dunno,” Pow said. “I’m kinda thinking about saving some ammo, just in case anything weird happens. We are so well trained now that we just need to maintain skills. We can shoot half as often and maintain them. I’m inclined to say we shouldn’t do it this weekend.”

Grant felt himself getting sloppy once again by letting people on to the prepping. But he knew he needed the Team to be part of the plan. “Hey, I’d like to show you something this weekend.”

“Sure, as long as it’s not in your pants,” Pow said with a laugh. “Nope,” Grant said. “I only show that to your momma. No, I’d like to show you something that could come in super handy if the shit hits the fan,” Grant said.

“Like what?” Pow asked. “A cabin,” Grant said.

“Oh, cool,” Pow said. “Who owns it? You?”

“You’ll see,” Grant said. They made arrangements to meet at an Olympia restaurant that was on the way to the cabin.

Grant was a little nervous about letting Pow know about the cabin. He trusted him, but he was basically showing the leader of several very well armed men a safe place stocked with food, guns, and ammo. Grant couldn’t re-take the cabin if the Team turned on him and decided to take it away from him. It seemed very unlikely, but it was still something Grant needed to think about.

Not much had changed in the news. California was still experiencing looting and scattered rioting. Texas was having major problems with all the refugees. Things weren’t escalating too much, though. Again, Grant was surprised that this was taking so long.

Sunday came and, after church, Grant met Pow at the restaurant parking lot. On the way out, they talked about the news.

Grant wanted to break it gently to Pow that he was a “survivalist,” although Pow was probably one too.

“So, Pow, I’ve been preparing for this for quite some time,” Grant said. “Shooting with you guys is more than just fun; I’m training for when I’ll need it.”

“Like now,” Pow said. “The cops can’t stop all this shit. There are going to be meth heads running wild. I hear you about preparing for shit hitting the fan. I’ve been doing it, too. We all are, Bobby, Scotty, and Wes too.”

Whew.

Grant continued, “So, I figure things will get weird in the city. We would be safer out here in the sticks.”

“Even an Asian guy?” he said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah, even an Asian guy,” Grant said. “Well, I’ve got a place for us. The Team could come out and stay. You guys could use a safe place and I could use a team of very well armed and highly trained gun fighters. See where I’m going with this?”

Pow had a big smile. “I saw this coming when you called me and insulted my dear mother. This wasn’t hard to figure out. So, I’m in. But, I want to see this place.”

They were turning off the highway and onto the road that went to Pierce Point. The only road into Pierce Point had a bridge a 100 yards from the highway that went over a creek. One way in and one way out. Grant thought he’d test out Pow.

“So, what do you notice about this road?” Grant asked.

Pow looked around. “Well, very defensible. Easy to put up a barricade there,” he pointed to the bridge. “A natural choke point.” Pow pointed up the road from the bridge and said, “And a nice hill there with a clear line of fire to the check point. There’s even a little volunteer fire station or whatever right here for some guards. A perfect set up.”

Grant was impressed. He had noticed the same things when he first came out to the cabin. They continued on the road and Grant asked, “What else do you notice?”

Pow looked around and said, “Lots of farms. Lots of chicken coops, cattle, gardens, small tractors, barns, boats. These people know how to get by. They’ll be perfect neighbors.” Grant couldn’t believe his luck. Pow was awesome.

They continued driving and Pow kept pointing out features showing that the residents of Pierce Point were far more self-reliant than those in the city. They went by one house and Pow said, “Ham antenna,” meaning a ham, or amateur, radio. “Nice. Comms are key,” Pow said, referring to communications. Pow went on to remark on the terrain and how a strategic intersection of two roads could be easily defended.

While Grant was pretty sure he trusted Pow, he still wanted to take some precautions to make sure Pow and the well-armed Team didn’t decide they wanted the cabin for themselves. It would be impossible to dislodge them from the cabin, so Grant wanted to make it hard for them to move in without Grant. He took Pow the confusing route to the cabin. He’d never be able to find it again without Grant or directions Grant gave him.

After the twists and turns throughout Pierce Point during the decoy route, they were finally heading toward the water. Once the water was visible, Pow said, “This is beautiful, man.”

They left the paved road and headed onto the gravel Over Road where the cabin was. They pulled up to the cabin. Grant pointed to it and Pow said, “Very, very nice. Is this yours? Whoa.”

Grant gave him the tour. He didn’t show him the food in the storage shed. That was the ultimate secret. Besides, Pow had probably figured it out by now. He was smart guy.

They walked down to the beach. “This is incredible, man. You are a lucky man.”