Rise of the Prepper: A Story of the Coming Collapse by Frank Bates Page B

people like them would go to Boone and put the lives of the residents in danger. He looked at the town from the mountain and watched as their lights casted away the shadows on the streets.
    Seth knew that he had a duty to find his family but for now, he would have to protect this town just like Father Alain, Terry, and Bernice were doing. It was his duty as a law enforcer and as a resident of Boone. Once things had settled there, then he would go and find his family.
     

 
    Chapter Twelve: Mission Start
                  For the third time that week, Seth packed his stuff and prepared to head out to town. He needed to talk to Father Alain about the situation in Boone, the raiders and how they could keep the town functioning despite the circumstances.
                  He loaded up his truck and told Brodie to watch the cabin while he was gone. On the way to church, Seth passed by the service station where he found Brodie. He slowed to a stop when he saw someone lying face down on the concrete ground.
                  Seth got off the truck and took a look around. The service station remained the same as when he left it except for the convenience store. The door was left hanging ajar, the windows had been smashed open, and the inside of the store looked to be in great disarray. Seth wondered if the looters swiped clean the entire store. He hoped they left some stuff in there, like batteries or at least some rolls of tissue paper.
    Seth approached the body. He flipped the body around to face him gently and discovered that it was a young male, around fifteen years of age. The unfortunate kid was dead; died of multiple gunshot wounds to the body. He was lying next to a car. He must have been driving and somebody must have stopped the car. It appeared as if the kid was pulled out forcibly from the car and shot.
                  Seth peeked in through the open door of the driver’s side. Seth was right for the most part. It seemed that there was another passenger. There was a bag with a cute cartoon character and some other stuff that might have belonged to a girl. She was probably this kid’s sister, friend or girlfriend.
                  He looked around for another body but there wasn’t any in the vicinity. Seth concluded that the kid’s companion must have been kidnapped by the same type of people who intruded his house last night—raiders—the ones Father Alain was telling him about the other day. Looking at this situation and what happened last night, not to mention the other day too, this raider situation in Boone seems to be getting worse. They had to control it before it escalates any further.
                  Seth said a silent prayer for the kid. After that, he returned to his truck and continued his drive down to the local parish to meet up with Father Alain.
                  Seth arrived at the parish shortly after leaving the service station. He opened the simple but elegant double doors of the parish. It was silent as a tomb inside but the wide glass windows let the sun in and the interior of the parish was bright in spite of the dark furnishings. The candles were still burning on the candelabrum on the altar.
                  “Father Alain? Are you here?” Seth called out.
                  A shuffling sound came from behind the altar. Father Alain came out wearing a robe, his hair in a high small ponytail, eyeglasses askew. He was sweating even though it was still early in the morning.
                  “Good morning, Father.” Seth greeted. He took in the priest’s disheveled appearance. “Err, what were you doing?”
                  “Ah.” Father Alain looked down at himself and noticed his bedraggled appearance. He laughed. “Oh, I was just cleaning. The backroom has become really dusty, probably because I haven’t held a mass in quite some time. Most of the parishioners have