text: Jim looks around the government site and thinks for a bit. He finally talks to the major and says, "You know, major, maybe this wasn't the right move." The major looks up at him and glares as Jim continues, "I don't think this is where I should be now, maybe I should go and help out my town and my family first."
  
  The major stands up and points at Jim, nearly yelling, "Look here, Thompson, you took an oath to defend the Constitution, and this is your call. You are needed here, not there. If we cannot get this country back together, it will be over for all of us. Your place is here, now, and you should get to helping us now. If you abandon us now, our next meeting won't be on good terms. Do I make myself clear?"
  
  Jim has to decide whether he should listen to the major and help out here or head back home to help his town:
  
  > Jim should leave and head back home...
  Jim listens to the major, but knows deep down inside that he is really needed at home to help his own people. Without saying another word he turns and walks out of the major's office. He can hear the major yelling as he leaves, but he ignores him and heads back out to his horse.
  
  He climbs up on his horse and rides slowly towards the gate. He is a little nervous as he heads towards the gate. He wonders what he might do if they decide to not let him out the gate. Fortunately he doesn't have to answer that question as the gates open even before he arrives. He soldiers there nod and wave to him as he rides past and into the open plains outside the city. He can hear fires burning in the city a short distance away.
  
  Jim turns his horse and heads back towards the hills. It will be a long ride back after having just ridden all this far, but he is sure that he is making the right choice here. He pushes his horse a little at first, to get away from the new federal government, but then lets the horse pick it's own pace for the long journey home.
  
  When he gets back into the hills and forests, he settles down and thinks about the people he knows at home. The days pass quickly and uneventfully as he rides towards home. He arrives late in the afternoon and rides past his parent's house. They are once again sitting on the porch. He nods at them and his father nods back. Jim is tired, so he quickly gets his horse taken care of and heads to bed to sleep.
  
  > Continue...
  Jim wakes the next morning to the sound of a light rain on his roof. He heads out on his porch and sees an overcast sky. It looks like it will rain all day, but it is only raining a little so far. He heads over to the barn and saddles up his black horse, Tarkus. He double-checks his sidearm -- while many people have always carried guns here, there hasn't been any need for them yet. Jim suspects it will not be long before the criminals really start showing up, and he wants to be ready. After putting on a long raincoat and hat, he heads towards the Sheriff's office.
  
  When Jim arrives at the Sheriff's Office, he sees that just a few people have gathered, maybe ten total. Perhaps the constant drizzle has kept more people away -- with electricity, the rain seems quite a bit more depressing than normal. Jim rides up, dismounts his horse, and ties it to a pole in front of the office.
  
  The Sheriff walks out of his office and stands on the porch. The porch is raised up a few steps from the crowd so everyone can see him clearly. He looks around the crowd and says, "This is all? This is everyone who wants to help this town? Lord help us, we are going to be in big trouble." He looks around again and then points at a tall fellow with a black knit hat saying, "Tom, hey, I'm glad you're here. Where are your two sons? We could really use their strong backs about now."
  
  Tom looked down at the ground for a moment before replying, "They went on down to Helena. They said they wanted to help out the FBI people. I told 'em not to go, but they haven't listened to me in a long time."
  
  The Sheriff's face grew red as he clenched his teeth. "To Helena? Don't they understand? Those people aren't interested in helping us, they are interested in helping themselves. If they find out we have any food up here, they're going to come after us and take it. I'm sure we will hear some crap about 'the common good' before they shoot us and starve us. Damn, why did they have to go?"
  
  The Sheriff paced back and forth for a minute before he addressed the assembled crowd again: "Look, I know everyone might not agree with me, but you've got to listen -- I know what those people in Helena will do. I'm begging you all to stay here and help the town. We've got to stick together here, or we're all going to be lost." He looked around at each person, looking each one in the eye before continuing:
  
  "We need help here, and I'm glad each one of you has come out today. Right now there's two places we need help the most: the armory and the food stores. We need people to help out at the armory and help prepare for the defense of the town. I know you don't think it will come to that, but I'm quite sure it will, especially if anyone outside the town finds we have food. We need to be prepared."
  
  "And that's the other place we need help: with the food. We need some people to take charge of the food supplies and start working on a rationing system so that we can all share what we have without having someone hoard it all themselves. Right now that's all we need, but I'm sure as time goes on we'll need more help in other areas. So each one of you can head out to one of those two areas, and we'll see where we are."
  
  The Sheriff stops talking and a few of the people start talking to one another. Jim overhears someone mention "going to Helena," but he can't tell who it is. As the others start breaking up the crowd and heading to places to help, Jim has to decide where he wants to help now.
  
  > Jim should head to the armory to help with defense...
  Jim heads down the main street and turns right on Lakeview Drive to head to the armory. It is a medium-sized building with a good bit of barbed-wire topped chain link fencing around a parking lot on the right side. There are a few military Jeeps in the fenced in area and Jim wondered how long it would be before some hooligans showed up and tried to break down the fencing to steal the Jeeps. He thought it might be awhile because those Jeeps are pretty worthless without gasoline, and until there was electricity, the gasoline pumps were not going to start working.
  
  Jim headed to the main door of the armory, a large steel door clearly designed to keep people out. The windows for the armory were thick glass set deep in the concrete walls and were covered with bars. As Jim pulled open the main door he wondered who in the world such defenses were designed to keep out. After all, this was America, and no foreign troops had ever set foot on American soil since World War II, and even then only on a very limited basis.
  
  The big door creaked as it opened and Jim walked into the building. Inside the door was a small room with two other doors leading out through the left and right walls and a thick plexiglass window in the wall directly in front of him. He walked up to the plexiglass and looked in. On the other side was another small room, almost identical to the room he was standing in. Inside this room was a small desk just under the window. The desk was clear and the room was empty.
  
  Jim knocked on the plexiglass and called out, "Hey there! Anyone home?"
  
  There was no answer. Jim looked around and walked up to a door on the right. It was unlocked, so he walked in. There was a hallway behind the door that led to the left and past the door that led to the plexiglass room. Jim slowly followed the hallway towards the rear of the building. The hallway ended in a door. He opened the door and walked into a very large room. This room took up the rest of the space in the armory. It was a huge storage space, stacked with boxes, crates, and all sorts of other things. There was a large garage door to the right that was closed. He heard someone call out from the rows of crates, "Hey, who is there?"
  
  Jim called back, "Hey, it's Jim. Jim Thompson."
  
  A short bald man stepped out from between some of the boxes with a shotgun in his hand. When he recognized Jim, he put the shotgun down on the nearest crate. He said, "Oh, Jim, it's good to see you, we will be glad to have some help around here. I'm just waiting for more looters to show up, it's just a matter of time."
  
  Jim recognized Phil, a local barber, walked towards him and said, "Yeah, the sheriff said you needed some help down here. I came to see what I can do."
  
  Phil showed Jim some of the plans he had made up for defense of the armory and defense of the town. It was really rather rudimentary, but this wasn't Fort Knox they were trying to defend. Basically the plans were just to have teams of at least two guards at the armory at all times and two other groups that were going to patrol the main road entrances to town. Jim's first suggestion was to lock the doors of the armory except at shift change. After some organization, Phil sent Jim over to the barber shop where a group was supposed to gather for a patrol.
  
  > Continue...
  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 day patrol.
  Jim didn't pause and quickly replied, "Sheriff, I'll be working best with the day shift, at least to start."
  
  The sheriff nodded and went through each person in the room, asking them the same question. A couple more men chose the day shift, but in the end there were a total of five that selected the night shift and seven wanted the day shift. The sheriff pointed at Tony and Melvin and said, "Okay, you two take Alvin and James there and head on up to the north end of town. Setup what you need and don't let non-residents in town, period. If you can start building a barricade, all the better. Watch out for Garth, because I hear north is where he's set up his gang."
  
  He turned to Jim and continued, "Jim, you take the Yoland brothers and head to the south end. I don't expect as much to come from that direction yet, but we need to be ready. Make sure you're armed, this isn't a game. Take some of the old cars from Puckett's old lot and see if you can set something up to slow down any attack, too. I'll be sure to check in on you as soon as I can."
  
  The sheriff turned back to the rest of the assembled men and said, "The rest of you, get some sleep. Twelve-hour night shifts are not simple. Meet me back here before the shift so I can update you with any intel. Each shift, before you go on shift, meet here and we'll share information and updates. Any questions?"
  
  Melvin stood up and said, "Sheriff, if'n I'm understanding you right, you is givin us the right to shoot and kill without a judge or jury, is that right?"
  
  The sheriff nodded and said, "This isn't a game. We are defending the lives of every man, woman, and child in this town. Use your judgement. If someone threatens you or this town, then yes, you go ahead and shoot 'em. If you want to make it official, I'll even deputize everyone in this room. I a'int got enough badges to go around, but anyone on patrol can consider themselves my deputy if that makes it easier."
  
  Melvin nodded, picked up an old shotgun he had leaning on the wall behind his chair, and headed for the door. The others quickly got up and headed out as well. Jim headed out and started towards the south, followed by the Yoland brothers. As they stepped off the boardwalk and onto the dusty street, Jim said, "Now which of you is which, I can't never remember how to tell you two apart?"
  
  The two brothers looked at each other and smiled. The one on Jim's left said, "Are you kidding me? I'm Yar, I'm over six feet tall and weight over 225 pounds." He looked around Jim and continued, "Little Yim over there can't be more than 150 pounds soaking wet!" Jim looked over and Yim and saw a thin, wiry man with two six-guns on his hips that stuck out wide, making him look even thinner.
  
  Jim chucked and said, "I know, I was just messing with you." Yar laughed and punched Jim in the shoulder. Jim looked over at Yar and said, "So I see Yim has a couple pistols, are you armed?"
  
  Yim said, "Hey, let's go over to grab our horses. I've got enough there to fight off a small army."
  
  The three of them went to an old hitching post that used to just be for decoration. There were two horses there, and one had more than one long gun sticking up from the saddle and saddlebags that were filled to bursting. Yim smiled and said, "See there? I think we'll be okay for a little while, no?"
  
  Jim nodded and the three headed for the south end of main street, Yim and Yar leading their horses.
  
  The south end of main street had a couple small buildings on the sides of the road, just enough to make it so cars would have to stay on the street. Yim and Yar quickly headed to the abandoned car lot nearly. They tied a rope from a horse to the car, then Yim guided the horse while Yar sat in the car, steering, to move the cars into position. After an hour or so, they had set up half a dozen cars in a form that would make it so no one could drive into town. Leaving the doors of the cars open, they sat down in two of the cars with a clear view of the road south.
  
  As the sun started to set behind the mountains, Yar pointed down the road. A plume of dust could be seen on the road, approaching the town. Yim looked down the road and said, "Well, looks like we have company. That's either someone with trucks and fuel, or an awful lot of horses."
  
  Yim stood up and picked up a long gun from the back of one of the pickups they had set up. Yar checked the clip loaded into his rifle as well. Jim looked at the two of them and chambered a round in his rifle as they waited for their visitors to approach. In a few minutes, the source of the dust was clear: an army brown 5-ton truck was driving towards the town. There were clearly three people in the cab, but the rear of the truck was covered with a tarp and could contain anything...
  
  > Continue...
  The large army truck continued to drive towards the blockade, a dust cloud following closely behind. The old, strong diesel engine groaned as the driver decelerated and slowed the truck down before the cars. The brakes squealed as the truck came to a complete stop and the cloud of dust flowed past the truck and over the men standing guard. Jim looked through the dust and watched the cab of the truck.
  
  There was silence for a moment as those in the truck waited for the dust to settle a bit. Then both doors opened at the same time and men in desert camouflage uniforms hopped down to the ground. The third man climbed out the passenger side. The two men on that side spoke to one another and then one of them jogged to the rear of the truck as the other walked towards the blockade. Jim looked over to Yar as his grip tightened on the rifle.
  
  When the man got closer, Jim's eyes widened as he suddenly recognized him -- at the same time that the flap was thrown open on the rear of the truck and men started piling out of the truck, one after another, carrying combat rifles. They started jogging towards the town as the lead man suddenly recognized Jim and smiled evilly.
  
  "Well, I see we meet again, Mr. Thompson," he said. He nodded to the other two at the blockade and said, "Oh, for you two who don't know me, I am Major Alexander, and I'm in charge of this military group that is in support of the New United States of America. And this fellow here that you're standing with," he gestured towards Jim, "is a known deserter and traitor to the country." About that time the rest of the troops with Major Alexander started to arrive at the blockade and quickly fanned out wider than the blockade, hands on their weapons.
  
  Yar and Yim looked over at Jim, then back to the major. The major continued, "He made his choice long ago, but you two don't need to stand with him now." When neither Yar or Yim moved, the major said, exasperated, "Okay, I'll make it simple for you. This guy is a traitor in time of war. Anyone who stands with him will also be considered a traitor. Now move aside, all of you!"
  
  Jim looked slowly over at Yar, then over at Yim. No one else moved. The major raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh, that's how its going to be? Fine." He turned his back to the three and said, "Kill the traitors."
  
  Jim started to move, but before he could bring his rifle up, the soldiers with combat weapons at the ready moved first. There were dozens of shots slamming Jim's body backwards towards the nearest car. Yar didn't have time to move before he was cut down. Yim started to duck, but the bullets hit him in the neck and he continued down the ground quickly. Major Alexander didn't look back and instead called out, "Move those cars and let's get this truck into town to find out what kind of supplies we can round up. Move it!"