***WARNING!! STANDARD NSFW DISCLAIMER!! CONTAINS A HANDFUL OF F-BOMBS AND OTHER SUCH HARSH LANGUAGE!!***
I stopped at the local supermarket here in town on my way home from work last night to pick up some stuff. I got one of those roast chickens in the plastic containers that you can warm up and some little snacky things to eat for dinner before I went to bed.
This might seem kinda weird, but when I write it's...kinda like I'm watching a movie in my head only with being able to know what the characters are thinking then I tell you guys all about it. Just hang with me here, folks. I have a point and I'm getting to it.
So, I brought the chicken home and popped it in the microwave. I've spent a lot of time in the minds of some very scared, very hungry and desperate people over the last couple years and it's made me appreciate not only how good things are but how fragile the system really is.
So, I brought the chicken home and popped it in the microwave. I've spent a lot of time in the minds of some very scared, very hungry and desperate people over the last couple years and it's made me appreciate not only how good things are but how fragile the system really is.
Think about this for a second. Where did the plastic that my dinner came in come from? Where was the chicken raised? How far away from my house was it packaged? How many gallons of diesel did it take to get it from there to the store? Where did that diesel come from?
I remember reading somewhere that the average meal comes from about 1500 miles away (at least here in the States, I don't know about anywhere else). Most stores have only (at best) a three day supply of food on hand. Need prescription meds? Only about a day or two supply there. Everything relies on an amazingly intricate system of computers and a lot of hardworking people showing up at work every day. Now throw a mess of zombie shaped monkey wrenches into that well oiled machine that keeps that system running.
Hell, for that matter I live in the Northeast US and lived in the middle of 'Tornado Alley' (the part of the Midwest United States where tornadoes show up every year just to fuck your shit up and remind you that you live in an area where bison should have sex and that's about it). Every time the weatherman opens his mouth lots of luck trying to find a loaf of bread or bottled water in the store because everybody immediately rushes out and buys everything up. And that's just because there might possibly be a tiny hiccup in the power system for a day or two.
Hell, for that matter I live in the Northeast US and lived in the middle of 'Tornado Alley' (the part of the Midwest United States where tornadoes show up every year just to fuck your shit up and remind you that you live in an area where bison should have sex and that's about it). Every time the weatherman opens his mouth lots of luck trying to find a loaf of bread or bottled water in the store because everybody immediately rushes out and buys everything up. And that's just because there might possibly be a tiny hiccup in the power system for a day or two.
And do any of you out there have kids? Riddle me this, Batman. How many times would you hear your children say "Mommy/Daddy, I'm hungry." before you started looking at your neighbor's house? The average American home has something like two days worth of food on hand. The government probably won't be there to hand out MREs for a little while (if they show up at all).
There are a lot of bad people out there too. What do you think they'll be up to while the police are otherwise occupied? Guess what, you're pretty much going to be on your own. I'll bet dollars to donuts that a lot of these pro gun control people would change their tune very fucking quickly. I like fried cakes, by the way.
The world my books take place in is actually not that far fetched when you think about it, even with the zombies (as a quick aside, do a little research on your own. It's really not).
So...what are you going to do?
