Misc A Question

P

pauldude000

Contributing Member
Would you guys be interested in short stories where the story is based around the concept of when even the best preps fail?

I think it might be interesting, as it would pit my mind as the aggressor to great prep concepts. The stories produced could possibly show worst case scenario flaws in how and why a particular prep situation could fail.

If you guys want more of this, throw me scenarios you would like to see the flaws in.

For instance:

Place: Old 1960's nuclear fallout shelter in very good structural shape underneath a house in the country, 5 miles from nearest small town in a wooded, hilly area.
Distance From Nearest Large City: 100 miles.
Number of Preppers: 5 male, 3 female.
Preps: Enough general supplies for 5 years. Enough gasoline for 6 months.
Weapons: Five AR-15 rifles, five 1911A1 pistols, three Remington 870 12 gauge shotguns.
Ammo: 10,000 rounds of 5.56, 5,000 rounds of .45acp, 2,000 rounds 12 gauge buck, 1,000 rounds 12 gauge slugs.
Reason for Prepping: Possible threat of nuclear war.

If you would like to see how this nut (or a different nut entirely) could be cracked, let me know. My knowledge will be either the aggressor or the leader of the aggressors in the story out to commit mayhem.

Here is how serious I am... I do not care if you put 'unlimited' as the answer to preps and ammo.
 
Lake Lili

Lake Lili

Veteran Member
Morning Paul,

Could be an interesting scenario. I always tend to think of the failures in terms of people. There is always someone in a group who fails to hold up their end. Sometimes it is because in the end they can't wrap their mind around the SHTF having actually happened. Sometimes its because their contributions have been all hat and no horse - they can talk a good game but don't have the skills behind it - or they do have the skills but refuse to use any of them. They may also be a predator with very good camouflage, and what happens when that predator is the pretty, sweet talking teenaged daughter of the man in charge of the fallout shelter. And what happens when his only blind spot is his little princess. We all know what happens to family-run companies when Junior is either a complete psychopath or completely incompetent and the parent in charge can't see it. But if you were to add the pressure of a SHTF scenario in the cooker of a bomb shelter, it might read more like Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians.

Have a great day, Lili
 
sssarawolf

sssarawolf

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sounds good. Things like: they didn't make sure or assumed it was water proof and isn't. Didn't make sure it was as sound as it looks, Ii e cave in etc. Like Lily says they have a wolf among them, a spoiled brat, a gibsmethat. They thought of everything but a good waster disposal unit. One has a boy or girl friend that's really part of another group that wants in. So many ideas and I am sure you have a ton of them.
 
P

pauldude000

Contributing Member
To see into the future to what probably will happen, just look far enough into the past.

There are tons of instances where extremely well supplied impregnable fortifications fell for various reasons. In most cases the fall was man-made, while in others it was nature or accident. However history teaches us that there is no such thing as a truly impregnable fortress.

I think most here would be surprised at how easy it would be to take out a heavily fortified bunker defended by experienced people, such as I listed above, leaving no survivors and ultimately getting most all of their supplies, including most of their preps, all of their weapons and a huge amount of their ammunition...
 
Grand58742

Grand58742

Senior Member
I had thought about something similar at one point. It actually was what "Normal" was going to be until I reversed course in the first few chapters.

It's an interesting concept to think about. The preppers that shift from good to bad to attempt to survive. It's not about what they have stored (in reference to your initial post) but rather the mindset of doing what they feel has to be done to continue living. They end up being the villain, but you have to make them interesting and almost likable to keep the reader entertained. More of a getting within their head of a realistic scenario that very well could play out in a collapse situation.

Kind of like Denzel Washington in "Man on Fire." A person doing some really bad things, but for reasons they've rationalized as being right.
 
P

pauldude000

Contributing Member
I put up the story to the scenario I posited. The title is "The Bunker".

If someone has a different scenario they would like me to target, let me know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top