Danny had finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, he was physically and mentally exhausted, thinking about the events of 7 years ago, he glared at every camera on the way down, hoping the building czar Eloise was watching, he had asked several times to be relocated to a lower floor, sure enough she had been watching, she came out of her apartment, I have good news she said, I got you a room right here at ground level.

Stunned, Danny in his most sincere and humble voice thanked her,She told him, he could move in today, and that if he stopped by later, she maybe had a few things he could use.

He continued to smile at her all the while wondering if she would set a trap for his arrogant and dis-obedient behavior on the stairwell, she was like that, evil to the core, or maybe he was the only person who treated her with any respect and she seen she was losing it. He would trifle with her later, he was hungry and wanted to eat.

He made his way to his eating station, it didn't take long to get his food, everything was the same for everyone, and that kept the line moving, there was no picking and choosing and there were no seconds.

After a few hardy bites, he went right back to thinking about that day, His neighbor Ben had just been brought out in a body bag,

He remembered being frozen like a statue, to afraid to look, to afraid not to look, he watched as they loaded Bens body and his weapons in the jeep, with clarity he realized, WE ARE BEING DISARMED, He shot out of the chair and went to the gunsafe, as he spun the combination in, he thought, I have watched, read and learned everything about survival, how to find food, how to filter water, how to survive, the jungle, the desert, the forest, my in-laws, nothing but nothing he learned or watched could prepare him for surviving a police state, Today he would have to write the book.

He wouldn't do anything stupid, this was not the OK corral, and risking His or Katies life was not on todays menu, He would give the illusion, first he loaded his favorite, the Colt Python, they would probably search the house, where could he hide it, he looked at Katie, she was a clever girl, in the early days of their marriage, Danny, being a rowdy iron worker could sometimes go over budget with partying,she would would hide the house money in the last place Danny would look, her box of tampons, he took the python and hid it in the bathroom under the sink behind the unmentionables.

Next was the 30.06, dammit, he never got more shells, he loaded the 2 he had and took the rifle to the attic and hid it under the insulation, it was lame, but it was all he had, they could have the .22 and .410, after closing the safe, he had to think of a way to talk to Mark, He grabbed one of Katies porcelain bells and told her to stand watch if anyone came near theirs or Marks house.

He went to the window and opened it and lifted the screen, he looked around for something to throw at Marks window, hmmmm, lemons, Katie had a bowl of lemons, he started chucking them at Marks window, it didn't take but a minute for Mark to respond, he pointed up meaning they should go upstairs and talk through those windows, he quickly explained what he had seen and what he had done, he pleaded with him not to do anything dumb, Mark reassured him.

And finally, he asked about Lee, Mark told him that he talked to him last night around 11, he said the wind damaged the door to the store and he would have to stay the night until a repair crew or the day manager arrived, as far as he knew Lee was stuck at work, just then Danny heard the porcelain bell go off, quietly he closed the window and went back down stairs, he wrapped up in his blanket and sat watching, the jeep was now at his house, 3 soldiers were coming to the door.

to be cont.