The Purge

The Fight to Survive

"Auntie Alex, tell me the purge story again! Please!!"

My nephew Max begged as I walked through the door. He was only seven but every time I came over he insisted I tell it to him. He said nobody told it like I did.

"Alright but first you have to get ready for bed." I said.

He quickly ran off and I went to his room to wait for him. He was ready in minutes and snuggled up next to me in bed.

"Alright , it all started one sunday, when I was at church....

______________

"This is not a drill; in 48 hours a purge will start at 12 PM PST Tuesday, May 13th. It will end at 12 PM PST wednesday, May 14th. All firearms will be legal along with murder during this time. No police or emergency response will be available. All hospitals will be closed during this 24 hour period. This purge is country wide. Good luck, may God be with you."

We rushed through the store grabbing everything fresh in our sight. We had been at church when the purge warning rang through the loudspeakers. My mother and father collected my four siblings and I and we left immediately to go to the closest store. Once we got there, the three oldest of the siblings, my older brother James, myself and my younger brother, Hank split off from my parents and the two younger ones, Kat and Teddy. We met up at the checkout line and rushed home.

When we got home it was a blur of everybody calling all our extended family to our house. Once everybody got there, they were put to work. My home had been turned into a fortress in a matter of hours; all the windows were covered in wood or paper, makeshift fences were put up, the animals were all brought inside, platforms were set up in the trees. Everyone who was old enough to handle one, had a gun. The capable older teens were in charge of patrolling the property. My two uncles were inside with the kids and inexperienced family members. My father was running around, answering questions, giving orders and running the whole operation.

Everybody was exhausted. It was 7 PM the night before the purge started. No one had gotten any sleep since the warning came out on Sunday. Everyone slept where they could; every kid slept on the floor. They just found a quiet corner and made a bed and went to sleep. My aunts and uncles took my siblings and my rooms so we had to sleep on the floor too. The house was quiet as everyone fell asleep, dreading the next day to come.

It was 9 AM, the purge would start in three hours. Everyone was running around doing last minute preparations; getting more ammunition, boarding up one more window, puting supplies into backpacks incase we had to move, puting flashlights and candles all around the house for if the power went out.

"Alexandra, come help me with this." my cousin, Stephanie demanded, struggling to pick up an ammo box.

I rushed over to help her before I went out to help organize the patrolling crew. I was 17 and the best shot in the family so I was put in charge of patrolling. We had to watch for trespassers on our thirty acer property and deal with them accordingly. Time flew and before we knew it, the purge was starting in ten minutes. Everybody was looking around with wide eyes filled with fear and confusion. As the purge started I could feel the collective breath everyone took and held as the clocks chimed 12 PM.

I think everyone thought everything would blow up when it started. It wasn't anything like that. We never even saw anyone until five PM and they were just walking down the road trying to get somewhere safe. Once ten PM rolled around people looking for trouble started to come buy. Most of them moved on when they say how prepared and armed we were. There was one group of twelve that wanted what we had and decided to try to take us. Their twelve were nothing compared to the twenty fighters we had. With little shots fired and only one minor ingery on our side and a few on theirs we fought them off without too much trouble. We had a rule to not kill, we would just lock them up in our makeshift jail until the purge was over. By the time eleven AM came, wednesday morning, we had more than thirty people locked up. Most of them came in groups of two or three and not knowing we were in the woods, surrendered easily when five people with guns solidified out of the darkness surrounding them.

When 12 PM wednesday rolled around, we let all of the people that had come, out of our makeshift jail. If they needed it, my cousin, Dr. Mark, gave them medical attention and then they were on their way. Even though my whole family made it out okay, many of our friends didn't. We never want the purge to happen again. We hated that we were forced to be violent to protect ourselves. We decided that if there was ever another purge, we would leave the country immediately. We would go and visit our good friends in canada.

_______________

"That's my favorite story Auntie Alex." Max yawned as I finished.

"Yes, I know. And you know what the best part is? It's never going to happen again. Your daddy will keep it from happening so you never have to worry about it."

"Yeah, that because my daddy works for the president!!" he said proudly.

"Yes, he dose. Now it's time to go to sleep... goodnight Max"