I can tell you that as a Texan, when our electric grid went down in the middle of winter, and then our water became unsafe to drink, our ideas about the collapse of society changed in a matter of days. It gets very real very quickly. Especially when you can’t just leave town.

The dependable stability of the systems we depend on is a very thin veneer. One thing goes down for slightly too long and everything that depends on it starts to fall apart rather quickly.

In my area anyway, there were a lot of people helping other people, sharing food and water, heat and shelter.

In my parents more affluent area, people immediately used up all of their community reserve of propane…. To heat their pools so their equipment wouldn’t freeze.

It’s story over plot.

Came here to say this. It barely worked as a book!