Last Stand: Surviving America's Collapse by William H. Weber Page A

on.
    “You want a burger?” Bill asked , smiling.
    “What is all this?”
    Bill looked at him as though he’d just landed from another planet. “John, it’s the block party. Have you already forgotten?” Bill was having a great time. Behind him, kids were playing and shouting in the noonday sun. More neighbors had brought up folding chairs and begun chatting with one another. Then John spotted Al and Missy, mingling in the crowd.
    Could he have already finished those preps on his own? John wondered.
    “We’re not gonna let some power outage ruin a yearly ritual,” Bill was saying. “Hey , John, why don’t you bring Diane and the kids down? I’m sure they’d love to have a bite and enjoy themselves. John?”
    “Huh, no, I don’t think so.”
    Bill stopped flipping burgers long enough to put a hand on John’s shoulder. “Let your hair down, man, and live a little.”
    Bill was seventy now, a child of the Sixties. As long there was a drink in his hand and he was having fun then nothing else seemed to matter. He hated anyone or anything that threatened to bring down his high.
    “I feel like I’m dreaming,” John said, looking around him.
    “Hey, I’ve lived through all kinds of outages, my man. Ice storms, earthquakes. You name it, I’ve done it. You know the one thing I learned, John?”
    “No, what’s that , Bill?”
    “You can’t let Mother Nature control you.” Smoke rose up from a row of burning patties. “Oh, damn,” Bill said, flipping them again and realizing they’d become hockey pucks. Bill scooped them off the grill and tossed them into a trash bin beside him.
    The sight of such waste, especially under the circumstances, was almost too much to bear. “In a week from now you’ll be digging through the trash to eat those burgers.”
    Bill stopped, stunned. “Excuse me?”
    “Are all of you living in some kind of fantasy land? Don’t you see what’s going on?”
    The look on Bill’s face was that of someone dealing with a madman.
    “Now take it easy, John. Is this about the burgers I threw out? They were burnt, no one’s gonna want them.”
    “Haven’t you wondered , Bill, why none of the cars are running? Why the phones are all dead?”
    “I have , John, and no one here knows what’s happening because the TV’s not working either. That tends to happen when the power goes out.”
    “I was near the interstate yesterday after it happened and you know what I saw?”
    Bill shook his head, looking like he didn’t want to have this conversation anymore.
    “I saw thousands of stranded motorists abandoning cars that no longer worked and walking down what had become a parking lot.”
    Bill didn’t say anything.
    “Something terrible has happened , Bill, and to the degree that it’s possible, I believe I’m prepared to handle what’s coming. Are you?”
    John walked away, but he didn’t go home. He went over to Al, who was sitting in a fold ing chair next to his wife, drinking a beer.
    A guilty look spread over Al’s face, like a child who hadn’t done his homework.
    “Hey, Al. Hi, Missy.”
    “Hi , John,” Al said, as Missy nodded hello. “Beautiful afternoon, isn’t it?”
    “It is. Did you mana ge to make any headway on what we spoke about yesterday?”
    “I did,” Al said. “Still plenty to do . Was going to do some more after the block party’s done.”
    John smiled. “Okay, Al. Just let me know if you need a hand.”
    “Will do.”
    As he turned to leave, Missy said, “Why don’t you send Emma and Gregory out for some hot dogs and drinks? I’m sure the other neighborhood kids would love to see them.”
    That was when John spotted Brandon, the young man he’d seen with Emma yesterday. He was sitting by Rose Myers’ maple tree, looking sad and lonely.
     
    When John got back to the house, an argument was in progress. Diane and Emma were shouting back and forth at one another. It was unusual to hear fighting in their household. He’d tried to teach the