text: [Themes: sci-fi, dystopia]
  
  Jim heads back down to main street and turns right to head towards the only barber shop in town: Red's Barber. No one really knows why the place is named Red's, it has just always been named that. There is no one there with red hair and the guy that owns it is named John, but the name "Red's Barber" remains. The building looked as if it was built 100 years ago, but since it was the only barber in town, business was always good.
  
  The storefront looked a little like an old western town with a plank walkway outside the front of the store, raised slightly off the street. There was some dust and remains of mud on the walkway, but it was mostly clear. Jim's footsteps echoed as he walked along the wooden walkway towards Red's. He looked across the street and saw Jenny Hovath in front of the general store, sweeping the walkway on that side of the street. He smiled at her and nodded. She waved and with a swirl of her dress, turned and walked into the store. Jim turned back to business and Red's barber.
  
  The small bell rang as Jim opened the door to the barber shop. Everyone stopped talking and looked up when Jim walked in. The small shop was full with a group of about a dozen people. Standing in the middle of the group was Sheriff Horace Timkin in his dusty uniform. Sitting in the two barber's chairs were Tony and Melvin, a couple of farmers from the north of town. The Yoland brothers were seated next to each other in a couple of the waiting chairs. The two of them ran a ranch and a blacksmith's shop with an office a few blocks from the center of town. There were others there as well, standing in the background.
  
  The sheriff nodded to Jim, then continued, "So as I was saying, word is that there are some folks that are starting to follow Garth Endwait." He looked around and saw some faces showing recognition, but others showing confusion. He continued, "For those who don't know him, Garth has spent more than a little bit of time in my jail cells. I don't think he's done an honest day's work in his life. He's taking advantage of this situation to continue his ways, and word has it that he might be getting ready to hit the town to gather supplies. We need to set up some patrols here to watch the main streets. If he and his pals show up, if we don't deal with them up front, we're going to not have a town real fast."
  
  The sheriff looked around at the assembled men and continued, "There are plenty of folk around now that aren't here. They want to deny what's happened and are just waiting for the power to get turned back on. But I'm telling you that's not going to happen, at least not just yet. I thank you men for showing up here to help defend this town because that's where we are going. We need to be prepared right now, today, and we need to be unified in our defense of this town. If we don't stick together now, this town is going to disappear. I know you men don't want that and neither do I. It might hurt if we have to turn some people away, but know that by sticking together we are assuring our own survival. I hope you understand that."
  
  The sheriff looked around the room again, trying to gauge the men in the room. He sighed and said, "If you don't want to get involved, now is the time to head out." He paused and no one moved. He continued, "If you're here to stay, then we need to set up some patrols. We need people who know how to use a gun and aren't afraid to use it. This are tough times, whether everyone else wants to admit it or not. I need to set up four teams to start out, on 12-hour shifts. Two of the teams are going to cover the main road at the south end of town and the other two will cover the north end. I need volunteers to cover both the day and night shift. We'll get more organized as time goes on, but this is going to do for the start." The sheriff looked over at Jim and said, "Jim, do you want to start out with the day or the night shift?"
  
  > Jim should request the night patrol.
  Jim decides to take the night patrol. The Sheriff nods and Jim walks back out the door. As he is leaving the sheriff calls out, "Meet up with Tommy. He's planning on taking the night patrol, too."
  
  Jim headed home for the afternoon and tried to sleep. He nodded off a few times, but never really fell asleep. He hoped that would be enough to keep him awake for what he expected to be a long, quiet, and boring night. With no planes and no electricity, nights these days were quite different than a short time ago.
  
  When the sun set, Jim saddled up his horse and once again headed for town. The night was silent except for the sound of his horse's hooves striking the ground. When he reached the main street, he could see a couple old cars had been pushed from the sides of the street to create a makeshift barricade. As he approached he heard from behind one of the cars, "Hey! Who goes there?"
  
  Jim stopped his horse and called back, "It's me, Jim. I'm here so you guys can go get some sleep." A group of men stepped out from behind the cars including Yim and Yar, a couple brothers who lived north of town. Tommy had already arrive. Yim said, "Hey, go to see you, Jim. I suppose we'll see you again tonight." Jim nodded and Yim and Yar walked away to the north in the falling darkness.
  
  Jim took his horse over to the car lot at the side of the road and dismounted. He loosely tied the horse to a railing and walked back over to join Tommy. He said, "You think we'll both stay awake all night?"
  
  Tommy smiled and replied, "I don't know that it will make much difference, eh?"
  
  Jim pulled open the door of the nearest car and sat down. He said, "If I see you nodding off, I'll give ya a poke. You do the same. But now if we both nod off at once? Well, hopefully whatever we need to defend against will give us a poke."
  
  Tommy shrugged and leaned against the car, trying to focus on items far away in the darkness. The night was calm and quiet. The moon was near new, so there was little light from it. Many stars were visible and they provided the most light since without power there were no mega-malls or parking lots to illuminate the sky. There was little to see as a light breeze blew across the valley.
  
  The night continued and nothing changed for hours. Twice Tommy started to slip and fall, but he caught himself before he dropped. He had to nudge Jim once as his head started to bob. But they both snapped awake when they heard the crunch of gravel coming towards them out of the darkness. Jim stood up and looked over the hood of the car down the road.
  
  There was a group of people heading towards them in the darkness. There were about six of them, and from what Jim could see in the darkness, they were armed with both pistols and rifles. It was hard to see their faces clearly, but their intent was obvious.
  
  > Jim should shoot quickly and stop the mob as soon as possible.
  Jim wasted no time and quickly raised his gun. It was dark, but he focused on the movement as he pulled the trigger again and again. There was a cry from one of the figures while the rest quickly scattered into the darkness. Tommy slowly moved around the end of the car, checking to see if he could tell where they had gone when there was a sudden shotgun blast from the right. Tommy dropped like a rock as Jim fired towards the direction of the blast. There was a thud as a body fell to the ground. Jim ducked back down.
  
  He could see Tommy's foot from where he was crouched down. He was pretty sure that at least two of the attackers were down, maybe more. Either way there were still a number of them still out there. Jim sat quietly, trying to listen to see if he could hear the attackers moving. He really hoped that they were running away, but he didn't hear any sounds at all.
  
  Jim waited and then heard the sound of crunching gravel again. Unfortunately, he could hear it two directions -- from each side of the car. He pointed his rifle towards the end with Tommy and slowly, quietly, moved towards the sound, hoping to get the drop on the attacker. When he reached the side of the car he quickly stood up and was face to face with a rough-looking kid with a scrabble of a beard. He was skinny and looked desperate, but he was also armed. Jim didn't want to, but he squeezed the trigger and the face disappeared from his sight as the kid fell behind the other side of the car.
  
  As the same time, Jim felt something like a huge shove in his back a fraction of a second before he heard the rifle crack. He slumped forward on the trunk of the car. He tried to turn and lift his rifle, but he found that he suddenly didn't have any strength. His face hit the trunk as his muscles gave out and everything faded to blackness.