The first days were, ironically, the most difficult for Evan as they went raiding, with things getting easier as days passed.  People were trying to go about life as normal.  Security systems still worked, the police actually cared in those first days and tried to maintain order as the governor declared martial law.  Communications outside the state had largely ceased entirely, so the state was law now.<br/><br/>The three of them, Evan, Dave, and Victor, were having the time of their lives as they set up roadblocks, jerry-rigged spike strips from garages full of nails and cutting the tires right off of cars parked in the open.  Theys punctured gas tanks and siphoned the fuel, selling it, trading it over those first days for a rifle and ammunition for the each of them or some food and water while canned goods and bottled water still remained.  They did, however, keep a single vehicle for themselves.  It was a large pickup truck, with a spacious cabin for two of them, plus weapons and some of their supplies.  The bed in the back carried the rest of the supplies plus one of the three of them, sitting in the back, a tarp thrown over the supplies as they roamed the cracked and shattered highways.<br/><br/>When they came across the hill on the top of the house mentioned earlier, the pickup wound its way up the hill, Evan pointing it out as it was his turn to play the part of guard and watchman.<br/><br/>The three of them jumped down off the truck as it hung out in front of the house, Victor staying outswide, sitting on the house's porch, staring out over the dirt path they'd just taken to keep an eye over the truck.<br/><br/>Evan and Dave readied themselves at the door, and nodding, the door was kicked down, the two of them breaking in quite silently.  They moved lightly but swiftly through the first floor.  Wherever Monique and her father were, they heard not the movement of men but the shattering of wood and the breaking of valuable objects as the two men ransacked the place.  Evan found himself after a momentt turning over the living room in his search for anything useful.  Dave worked into the kitchen and after tearing out a few bins from a closet was pulling out what little food remained there and hadn't (likely) been moved into that panic closet.  The very closet Monique had her sights set on as Evan stepped through the doorway, weapon up and pointed at the girl's father.  He said nothing, simply firing as he saw the old man in his sights, the terrified girl backing into the tiny room just off to the side in the corner of his vision.<br/><br/>"Get over here!" Evan called to Dave just after triggering two .223 rounds into the older man's chest without a second thought.  The rifle swung at once to the girl as she disappeared into the closet.  But he didn't fire, finding his reaction-time a few moments too slow as the door slammed shut.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>