The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse Read Online Free PDF Page B

flames, ten maybe twenty miles ahead of them. “Let's go,” Tobias said. The boys cautiously fled the school, squeezing through the front gate, and then they were off.
     

Chapter 7: The Night Before
     
    The night Jeremy Rafelson got the note to flee the city he immediately went back to his trailer to pack. “You idiot,” Jeremy said out loud to himself. “You unbelievable dumbass. A year of preparation, for what?” He paced the trailer in a frenzy of packing. His survival bag overflowed with supplies. A single low watt light bulb over his portable stove provided the only source of light in his small cavern.
     
    Jeremy opened the cabinets and flung the nonperishables onto the floor. “All of this shit, useless! Preparing for what? To go into hiding? Abandoned by those bastards,” Jeremy found some more packed food in another cabinet and kicked it across the room.  He felt betrayed by his prepper group for leaving him. He was angry with himself for not getting out of the city in time. He couldn't believe that for someone expecting the world to end at any moment that he hadn't been more proactive. Yes he had enough to survive in his trailer for a month or possibly two; however, it was clear to him now that the city itself was the danger. Why couldn't Rob have told him where they were going? Why would it be all up to him to figure something out? “That's the problem with civilians,” Jeremy thought (even though he was a civilian now) “they don't understand loyalty.”
     
    He was supposed to be prepared for this, but instead felt confused and angry. Then a thought flashed across his mind: Linda. “No!” Jeremy shouted. “That's not why I waited so long. It can’t be the reason. It’s not the reason!” After his tantrum, Jeremy flipped through his relocation guide and skimmed for the safest spots outside of Pittsburgh. He wasn't sure which roads to take. He knew he would need all the gasoline from his storage shed. It was just a matter of keeping it concealed. “Hell,” he thought, “might as well take the water liters too. Might as well take all I can fit.”
     
    His bug-out bag was packed with the survival gear he had learned was crucial in a disaster situation. In the bag were clothes, extra shoes, maps and a compass, first aid kits, a portable tent, a portable sleeping bag, water purifying tablets, canned and dehydrated food, fire starting materials, toilet paper, knives and pepper spray, all his personal documents, hygienic products, sunscreen, insect repellent, flashlights, batteries, garbage bags and other items useful while on the move.
     
    He placed some weapons, a few knives and his pistol, into small assault pack. He wanted to take everything he could possibly fit in his truck. One area suggested by the guide was Tennessee. This was what Jeremy had in mind anyway. There were mountains in Tennessee, lots of them. It was a bit of a ways out there, but considerably safer than where he was at.
     
    It was midnight, and on one of his last trips to the truck, Jeremy's mind raced with a million different options. He was also getting anxious, short of breath, carried away it felt. “Get it together, man, and focus. Just get out of town, go to the mountains.” He thought of his parents and how he needed to contact them, or tell them what was going on. “But I don't even know what's going on,” he thought. Then a frequent and unwanted question resurfaced in this mind: What about Linda? He knew she had married another man and that they had a child. Maybe he should warn them? But what if he's was wrong about everything? He should help them anyway. No. It was a stupid thought to suggest. A stupid thought to entertain. He would go to his parents’ house first.
     
    The sound of gun shots from afar removed Jeremy from his daydreaming. Though not unusual in their frequency, Jeremy noticed a strange repetition. It was almost musical. He got into the truck when another thought crossed his mind. This time