(Ending from last part)….

They drink and talk about their past lives together. They wonder where family members are, they wonder how the world will be in twenty years. They wonder if there is another planet out there. They just think if the world is over then they wouldn’t be here. They try to create a purpose out of what is left. Together they move forward but still sleep with one eye open….

until it shuts from a drunken state.

---

 

The men awake to find they have woken on a pile of dust beneath them. Liz was intelligent enough to somehow find her way back to the underground shelter.

Thomas tries to get up but discover his legs are tied. John already knew this. He was trained for this moment. Two men are standing on opposite sides of the barn and know there is something hidden on the property. Some kind of food source. John and Thomas are quiet until one of them speaks.

“So i bet you are wondering what we want from you? You obviously have sustained yourselves somehow out here. You should agree to give away from supplies and we will cut the ties.”

John sees Liz peaking out from under the tractor. She appears to have a clean shot. He hopes she does because he is about to do something crazy. He signals to Thomas to talk. The men look at him. John signals to Liz he is taking the guy on the left. He jumps up like some kind of superhero, then clumsily but extraordinarily knocks the guy over, looking like a bowling pin towering over a shorter bowling pin. John’s height definitely helped him. As for Liz, she shot the man in the shoulder and he ran for his life.

“I didn’t want to hurt him but sometimes you have to. Some people just don’t get survival.”

‘I know Liz. You had to, and thank you for that.”

”Yes, of course. Thank you Liz” Thomas chimes in.

They are all a little shaken but realize this is going to become an every day occurrence if they do not fortify the land. People will just wander to them and they do not have enough to sustain everyone. This is not a world for takers anymore. This is a world that only communities survive in. People who hold onto selfish desires end up dead. There is no room for people who no longer contribute.