299 Days: The Collapse

Chapter 59 Alone (May 6)

Grant was on guard duty that night. He was alone; they had stopped the two-guard shifts because things were so peaceful out there. Besides, everyone was getting tired.

It was beautiful out there. It was May and the spring weather was fabulous. A clear night. But his mind was elsewhere.

He felt Manda’s cell phone vibrate. It was Pow, who would be telling Grant when Lisa and the kids would be arriving. Grant couldn’t wait to read that text.

The text said, “She wouldn’t leave. Won’t leave house. Said you need to come home. Sorry, man. I tried super hard. We’re coming out soon. We can go back and get her if she calls.”

He felt like someone kicked him in the stomach. He couldn’t believe it.

Then it hit him: he was on his own. He no longer had a family. He was alone. He started crying and couldn’t stop

His life was over. He had failed. He hadn’t gotten his family through what he had known was coming for years. He had done all the preparing he could, but he still lost because his family wouldn’t make it. He’d rather be dead than have them go through what was ahead of them. How could this be? He had plenty of food and a safe place, but no family to share it with. What good was that?

You’ll see. They will be fine. Have faith.

Was that just wishful thinking? The outside thought had not been wrong so far. It had told him to prepare when the rest of the world continued to live obliviously. It told him a crisis was coming even when that seemed preposterous.

Grant remembered that survivors of various disasters always said the same thing: once you quit trying to live, you will die. You have to believe that you’ll make it. And making it was not just that Grant himself lived; it meant Grant and his family surviving. So he decided that he would find a way to get his family. They would come out to the cabin. He would figure out a way.

He sat there the rest of the night. Alone. He immersed himself in constructive thoughts. How to guard the cabins. How to get food. How to introduce himself to other neighbors so they could start a bigger and bigger common defense and food sharing system. It didn’t take long before he fell asleep.