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The Prepper

    T HE SEVENTH TIME Mona Hendricks turned down Critter Holt for a movie date, he decided it was time to walk away for a little while. The determined scamp had finally reached his limit on the rejection meter. The one-sided love affair started twelve years earlier on the first day of kindergarten, when Mona, the redheaded firecracker, took his bag of apple slices and ran around the playground taunting him. Throughout elementary school and junior high, Critter pined after Mona like a thirsty dog, only to be denied any water. When they got to high school, Mona joined the cheerleading squad and Critter hung around a more edgy crowd that liked to skateboard and laugh at cheerleaders. Critter watched from a distance as Mona chased her dreams of being the most popular and prettiest girl in school. She dated good-looking guys with bad attitudes. He figured by the time she was finished with the idiot squad, she’d be ready for a guy of substance. Eventually the obsession with Mona faded into the background, like the soft droning of a foghorn. He trusted she’d come around––when the moment was right.
    During senior year, the Repatterning laws were getting worse. Critter figured the Planners were moving their plan into the final phases. He’d been paying attention to what had been happening around the world and in his small town of Arvada, Colorado. Businesses had been closing, television networks were going black, and the Planners had shut down the Internet. While most people ignored what was happening around them, Critter was well aware of the madness infecting the country. The “sheeple” easily adapted to the new laws, but Critter wasn’t the type of guy who’d fall for anything––with the exception of Mona Hendricks. His grandparents had escaped from East Germany decades earlier and often warned him that freedom was a precarious commodity. Every day he noticed one more freedom being removed from the equation. He wanted to do something about it and stand up to the Planners.
    “They just pile distractions upon distractions to keep us further from the truth,” he told his buddies.
    The motley group of scrappy teens would nod in agreement, though they didn’t fully comprehend Critter’s rants.
    “If people spent more time studying reality instead of immersing themselves in this surreality , things might not be as bad as they are.”  
    The day he received his letter about the mandated Executive Order of Conscription, he knew the situation was too far gone to fix. He laughed and tore up the notice. He wasn’t going to show up at some office in downtown Denver to be shipped off to fight in some fictitious war. He wasn’t a fool. That’s when he began making a plan for his escape. He got his buddies on board and they started packing their bug-out bags, which included the following items:
    1) Water, hydro flow filter, and straw filter
    2) Backpack, vacuum-packed meals, and protein bars
    3) Boots, a pair of long pants, two pairs of socks, two shirts, protective jacket, long underwear, ten bandanas
    4) Tarp, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad
    5) First-aid kit
    6) A firesteel and scraper, along with ten boxes of wooden matches
    7) Mini-propane stove, small pot, foldable utensils, portable lantern, and extra battery packs
    8) Infantry knife, Kahr CM9 semi-automatic with ten boxes of ammo
    ###
    Classmates teased them for their outlandish paranoia and labeled them The Preppers, which was supposed to be an insult, but Critter wore the name with pride. One day all of their liberties would be wiped clean, and they’d be living in a prison state. He went out of his way to ensure he’d be prepared for that day. And when the day came and all of Arvada was crumbling down, Mona would want a man with a plan. Critter had a plan all right. A solid one. He’d swoop in and save the day. Now all he had to do was wait for the right moment.  
    Critter skateboarded down the bumpy suburban street on his way to school on that