Lamp Black: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 2) (5 page)

“People will want what we have, and if we don’t give it to them, which we won’t unless the conditions are favorable, they’ll come and try to take it from us.” said John, with a momentary pause that was just long enough to emphasize the importance of what he was about to tell them.

“What’s a favorable condition, dad?” asked Adam.

“That’s a good question Adam. A favorable condition is creating a way to provide food for a needy person without giving ourselves away . . . without telling them we have food
to
give away. There are ways to ask for help that are not threatening, and there are ways to give help without revealing that we’re prepared. But most people will act out of desperation, and feel that it’s their right to take whatever they need to stay alive,” replied John.

John studied Adam and saw that he understood, but a shadow of a doubt seemed to linger on his face. John continued, hoping to better explain his concerns, “There’s really only one way a threat can enter our house unscathed, to get into a position where they can take everything we have without destroying it, and that’s by taking a hostage.” John let the word “hostage” hang in the air for a moment before he continued. He could see by the look on their faces that they were scared. “It’s inevitable, really, since I will have to go outside several times a day, and I won’t always be able to see everything, that it will
involve me. It will probably be an ambush. The worst case is that they shoot me, but I don’t think that will happen because that would limit their options to gain access to our house . . . to our food and supplies,” said John. “I’d be no good to them dead, or even wounded. A dead or disabled hostage is of no value to a threat, especially in our case where they would need one of us to gain access. We’ll have to make a new challenge and password every day, and include a word that indicates duress . . .”

“What’s duress?” asked Abby.

“It’s when someone is making you do something that you don’t want to do. You would be under duress if someone told you they would kill you if you didn’t convince your mom to open the door for you, or something like that,” answered John.

Abby blanched at John’s example. John almost apologized once again, but he reminded himself that they were living in a new world, a hostile and violent one, one filled with many new and very serious dangers. To calm her down, John added, “Abby, baby, you have been very fortunate. You were raised in a safe and healthy family environment for many years. You mom and I have gone to great lengths to keep it that way. I don’t want to express my worldly experience on you again, but you have to know that you guys have been raised differently than most children around the world. We were blessed to live in a prosperous and safe country, one that wasn’t caught up in war, political turmoil, or overrun with crime, sickness or famine.

Your mom and I . . . we’ve given you everything we could to make you safe and happy, to prepare you for the future, and we never, not for a moment, thought that all of that would change in a matter of a few short days. That’s all changed. Now we have to be on guard. People that weren’t bad when the police were around, will now do things they wouldn’t normally do. Bad things will happen. Bad people will come here. Everything we knew about transportation, communication, law and order, everything . . . even the simple things like shopping for food
and clothes, and eating at restaurants . . . all of it has changed. And if we’re going to survive, we have to adapt to the change.

Now we don’t change who we are. We continue to hold on to our Christian values, but we have to be alert and cautious to danger and unexpected threats. We can’t blindly expose ourselves to the bad people.” John paused and cleared his throat before continuing. “As food and water become more and more scarce, we may have to live in the shelter, at least until the worst of the desperate people move on. But I seriously hope it doesn’t come to that. It won’t be fun living in the shelter. Anyway, I just wanted you guys to understand that we’re not changing, we’re adapting to the change in order to survive.”

John saw tears running down Abby’s cheeks, and he was forced to check his own emotions. He hated seeing his children hurt or upset. It made him feel weak and vulnerable. It made him want to strike out, to curse God for bringing the disaster upon them, but he knew God was the wrong target of his anger and frustration. He couldn’t be angry with God, not when he thought it was God who put him on the path to preparedness in the first place, not when it was God who communicated with him through his dreams, and provided him with a spiritual guide. No, it was God that gave him a purpose. He would not curse God, not today, not ever.

John rubbed his eyes and looked at Adam, who sat resolute, determined not to show any emotion like his sister.
Just like me
, thought John. “I don’t want to talk about what might have happened if that assho . . . sorry, if that man somehow made his way into our house. But from now on, we must assume that anyone who comes to our front door is a potential threat. We don’t treat people rudely, but we remain ready and alert. If someone is a threat, to any of you, then I will use deadly force. I will protect you guys with my life.”

John looked at Adam and said, “It might have seemed awesome to kick that man off the patio, but it could have happened very differently. I didn’t shoot battery guy . . . only threaten him. For some people that’s enough to push them away, but not for others. Some would see
my mercy as a sign of weakness and look to take revenge. That’s why we have to be careful. Anger has a way of clouding a person’s better judgment. That’s what I want us to prepare for, the angry, desperate people who will want to hurt us and take what we have.”

“Do you think that guy will seek revenge?” asked Jenna.

“I don’t know, but anyone stupid enough to try and force entry into our house is capable of doing countless other stupid things. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of that guy,” replied John.

“You should have shot him, dad,” said Adam.

“You don’t mean that, Adam. I won’t kill someone for the sake of killing, even if it’s a man that acts like an animal, unless it’s absolutely necessary. Besides, the time to kill always seems to declare itself, Adam, it always does. And you will know it, too, when the time is right. You don’t kill unless you have to, and I didn’t have to kill that man, his actions didn’t warrant a death sentence.”

“How will I know, dad?” asked Adam.

“I hope you never do, but if anyone ever threatens you guys with death or harm, I’ll kill them myself. In that case, they will have brought death upon themselves, which is very different from me giving it to them. Anyway, I got a little off track. So, if someone’s using me as a hostage, and tries to get into our house, what do you do?”

“If someone has a gun to your head . . . can I shoot them?” asked Adam.

Jenna gasped. “Adam, you will not shoot anyone holding your father, not if I have anything to say about it,” responded Jenna, angrily.

John almost said, “Yes, you can take the shot,” but thought better of it. Adam was a really good shot, but shooting past a hostage was tricky business. John trained himself extensively for that pistol shot. It was one of his favorite shots to take during competitive shooting matches, but he only began tackling that challenge when he could quickly place a three-round shot group in a one-inch square, at twenty feet.

John recalled, while training on a paper hostage target, that his shooting instructor wrote Jenna’s name in big bold letters on the front
of the silhouette. John was tasked to place three rounds in the nasal-ocular cavity outline of the hostage taker at seven meters. John had no problem with the challenge, for one reason he knew that Jenna’s written name on the paper target didn’t mean it was actually Jenna standing there. He was as good with disassociation as he was with association, so taking a hostage shot didn’t concern him. The other reason he wasn’t concerned was that he knew he could cleanly hit the hostage taker. Other members of the class didn’t share John’s confidence. About half the class hit their hostage with the first shot.

“If someone has a gun to my head,” replied John, “Don’t open the door. It’s that simple,” said John.

It wasn’t quite that simple for Jenna, or the kids, so John talked them through a few believable scenarios until they were comfortable with a variety of different responses. After an interesting conversation that, much to John’s displeasure, referenced Hollywood and television portrayals of hostage situations and armed combat, John was able to balance his family’s fantasy with a dose of reality.

“People usually don’t drop with the first round,” he said. “Two quick shots, center mass, is what you aim for. If you need to, then you put a shot in the target’s head. But not just anywhere in the head. The head is covered with dense bone, so it’s better to aim here,” said John, and with his fingers he made a window over his eyes and sinus cavity. “This is the best way to guarantee a finishing shot.”

“John! Really?” said Jenna.

“You’re right. I’m sorry dear.” He looked at Adam and said, “Forget what I said, son,” and winked to him.

Adam tilted his head, and acting like he was riding pool water from his ears, he lightly tapped his head with the palm of his hand. “There, dad, it’s all out. No worries, mom,” and winked back.

J
ohn and Adam spent the next hour and a half installing the front door brace. They began by anchoring a three foot long, four-by-four post to the entryway floor, at the outside edge of the door’s inward swinging arc. With a ceramic drill bit, John tapped into the foundation and anchored the post to the ground with expanding bolts. They then constructed a four-by-four U-brace, to match the length of the floor brace, and inverted it on the floor. The two legs of the U-brace were positioned twelve inches from the door, which would allow John to open the door, but prevent anyone from forcing it completely open.

With heavy hinge plates, John secured two angled four-by-four braces between the floor brace and the U-brace. To close the remaining twelve inches between the door and the brace, John cut two additional wooden braces and connected them to the door brace with hinge plates. When complete, John had a two-stage door brace. With stage one, he would lift the hinged short braces that would allow the door to open to no more than twelve inches. In stage two, he could lift the entire brace free of the door and open it completely.

John called Jenna and Abby to the entryway and asked them to test the door brace. Abby wrinkled her brow at the sight of the wooden monstrosity sitting in front of the door. Jenna’s response was much more obvious. She gasped when she saw that John had drilled through their red oak hardwood flooring. She exhaled, crossed her arms over her chest, and said, “What have you done to my floors?”

“I know it looks ugly, Jen, but it will keep us safe,” replied John. “Adam, show ‘em how it works.”

“It’s easy, mom. Watch this.” Adam easily lifted the first part of the brace away from the door. “Now watch this,” he said, and then lifted the heavier, second stage, of the door brace back on its hinges and laid it on the floor well clear of the door. “Pretty cool, huh?” he said with a smile. John winked at Adam, and Adam quickly returned the door brace back to its fully secured position.

“I want to leave it in place at all times,” said John, as he patted the brace with his hand. He liked the smell of the new cedar posts, but decided to keep that thought to himself given Jenna’s displeasure over the hardwood floor. John scanned their faces and said, “All I ask is that no one move the brace, or open the door without someone standing as backup.” They all nodded in unison. John watched as Jenna and Abby took turns moving the brace. Once they were comfortable with it, everyone returned to their tasks at hand.

John and Adam cleaned up the mess in the entryway and moved to secure the backdoor. The brace for the backdoor was much less elaborate, mainly because John didn’t plan to use it. He was very glad it wasn’t a sliding glass door, they were much harder to secure, even with expensive security film. But for the backdoor, John used heavy lag bolts pushed through pre-drilled holes in three two-by-fours. He anchored them firmly to the door frame.

“Now for the clean room,” said John. “Adam, go get the six foot ladder and meet me in the laundry room.” John quickly surveyed the laundry room while Adam went to fetch the ladder. The laundry room was located between the kitchen and the mudroom, just to the left of the garage door and pantry. The space was just large enough for a washer and dryer, a utility sink, and an assortment of cabinets. The mudroom was smaller yet, about six by six, and equipped with a sturdy wooden bench and two rows of coat hooks. Four metal gym lockers were anchored on the opposite wall, one belonging to each member of the family.

The mudroom door, or the side door, as John liked to call it, was windowed, so John replaced the original glass with ballistic glass that
could defeat ammunition up to .44 magnum. He also installed a complete door frame armor kit to prevent forced entry. It looked like the weakest point of entry into the house, but it wasn’t. And that’s exactly how John wanted it to be. The side door would be their main access door as long as the ash was present. John recognized the need to have a quick exit in case of an emergency, and the side door was the best choice given their current security situation. He also really liked the side door, mainly because it had a window that allowed him to see outside without exposing himself to possible danger.