EOW Chapter two

Eight of us left our home in the Texas Panhandle that morning, and setting up in the Hondo Valley was more an adventure than an escape. It took three weeks to set up permanant shelters. We had a four room dugout with a large central area, and a smokehouse attatched to one side.  Dugout  .
In the coming weeks we tried to return to a normal life, as normal as is possible following the EOW.  We held school for the kids, even teaching them how to tie knots, hunting for food, and the three R's. The first sign of winter was in early november when the first freeze came. Then the reality began to sink in, just what had happened, and what was to come. This was not just some grand adventure we would go home from someday, Our society had broken down, It wasn't the end of our country,  America is alive in its people, "for as long as the wind dances across the plains and stirs even a single star, for as long as a dream stirs a lonely heart, then abide honor and pride, and freedom will go on forever, and America will never die." Those words are the hope we live by. There are times we all get discouraged, and nothing is ever easy, even going to the bathroom is difficult. It hits me sometimes how lazy and complacent we had gotten, allowing ourselves to be controlled by the allure of technology. Had we only truly understood just how much was at stake we would have made things different long ago.
(present day)
It is not as cold this morning, I am on guard at the far end of the westernmost canyon. I am here because we had raiders two days ago, and nearly lost some valuable supplies. The deer jerky we made was stolen, and only recovered when the raider was shot. My father built this rifle I carry, and it served me well.
I saved my thermos and use it every morning now, at the western canyon guard site. Winter stayed late this year, and it almost feels as if the seasons are changing. It is early May, and the temperature should be well above the lower thirites at night even here. We have discovered trade with others in the area, and one is a rancher from farther up the canyon willing to trade beef for ammo, and I am still thinking about it. We have some 30-30 that we don't need as the rifle that used it was damaged beyond repair long ago, and I kept the ammo for just this purpose, maybe.