The Shelter

                Nuclear warfare—it isn’t pretty, and it isn’t quite as thorough as everyone thought it would be. Eleven people and an infant somehow manage to find a bomb shelter six miles out of Columbus, somewhere near the ruins of Waverly Plantation. Unfortunately, they discover edible food and water sufficient for only seven people to survive the sunless decades ahead and found the ensuing civilization. Rank the survivors from one to twelve, knowing that spots eight through twelve will wander the wastelands and die miserably. It is your responsibility to organize the new civilization. You must accept the occupants as they are.

Dr. Frank Breedlove, 62, is a surgeon. He is an atheist and is obsessive compulsive. He will not leave his wife’s side.

Dr. Ruth Breedlove, 48, is his wife. She is a botanist at a university. She has Type II diabetes. She will not leave her husband’s side.

Bart Baxter, 19, is a student at EMCC, where he studied plumbing and carpentry. He has awful grammar and has always made fun of nerds. He loves the outdoors, and bores easily.

Anna Santiago, 17, worked at a restaurant. She has her infant in her left hand, her cell phone in her right.

Keisha Harris, 22, is a cook at the same restaurant where Anna works. She is a great soul food cook. She is open about her political convictions and mocks those of others. She has a terrible problem with flatulence.

Regina Flinton, 37, is an electrical engineer. She is a proud member of the KKK. She is unmarried.

H. Onassis, 28, is a poet, and a lawyer. H. is transgendered, grew up in Greece, and speaks many languages. H. doesn’t like good ol’ boys.

Clarissa Carrothers, 29, is a devout Roman Catholic nun. She was a carpenter before becoming a nun. She has taken a vow of silence and will not eat meat.

Gregory Mbutu, 23, is a medical student and leads an aggressive militant group modeled on the Black Panthers. His research interest lies in finding genetic proof of African superiority. He suffers from simple chronic halitosis.

Dr. Raja Agrawal, 40, holds a PhD in history from Yale, and a law degree from Harvard. He is blind in one eye. He came into the shelter carrying five pounds of top-knotch cannabis.

Ted Dahl, 34, escaped from Parchman just before the bombs fell. He was a hired killer with extensive paramilitary experience. He is intelligent and amoral. He wrote three best-selling books on survival techniques while in prison.

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7 Responses to The Shelter

  1. Tejus Kotikalapudi says:

    1. Ted Dahl: Despite the fact that he is amoral, he is intelligent and will realize the need for people with strong skill sets so he probably won’t kill any of his group members. He knows how to survive and fight so he will be useful to the group.
    2.Dr. Frank Breedlove: As a surgeon, Breedlove is essential to the group despite his flaws.
    3.Dr. Raja Agrawal: Agrawal is going to be the glue of the group. In addition to knowing history and law (therefore probably knowing how to keep the group together), he also has 5 pounds of cannabis that will definitely calm the group down in tense situations.
    4.Dr. Ruth Breedlove: Because Frank Breedlove won’t stay unless she does, she is necessary. She also is a botanist, which may be useful in fixing the food situation.
    5.Keisha Harris: She is a cook and having good food can raise the morale of the group.
    6.Bart Baxter: He would be the strongest of the group and would be able to do a lot of manual labor.
    7.Regina Flinton: As an electrical engineer, she can fix problems in the bunker and there would be no African Americans in the bunker so she would be good.
    8.Gregory Mbutu: Even though he is a medical student, he is too radical to be of use.
    9.H. Onassis: I dont think there would be any need for a poet in the group
    10. Clarrisa Carrothers: being a picky eater is not good for the group and communication is key in situations like this.
    11/12: Anna Santiago: She has no use for the group.

  2. Madison Huddleston says:

    1. Ted Dahl, 34.

    2. Regina Flinton, 37.

    These two would make a power couple. Regina is still of childbearing age, she could foster the next generation alongside Dahl. Considering that these two people have very strong convictions about their beliefs (survival and the KKK (which is a race purity group, aka racial survival)), I’m sure that they can find some sort of respect for each other. Plus electrical engineering and military experience is totally a solid base for a new civilization.

    3. Gregory Mbutu, 23.

    4. Keisha Harris, 22.

    This is another power couple. Despite the fact that these two people are not the most pleasant to be around due to medical issues, having the ability to trace back history, organize a militia, and feed people are valuable skills every community needs. Keisha is still of childbearing age, which is important.

    5. Dr. Raja Agrawal, 40. Because every group is incomplete without a pothead. Jokes aside, a strong background in history and a connection to government (he’s a lawyer) is important for any society to have.

    6. Dr. Ruth Breedlove, 48.

    7. Dr. Frank Breedlove, 62. They need to pass on the valuable skills they contain to the children that the aforementioned couples will have. Botany is crucial for gardening once the radiation has subsided, and surgery is an extremely important skill set to have.

    8. Anna Santiago, 17. She contributes very little.

    9. Clarissa Carrothers, 29. Silent nuns with dietary restrictions have a slim chance of survival.

    10. Bart Baxter. I just think he’s going to be a source of trouble and will cause a divide in the group.

    11. H. Onassis, 28. While languages are important, they are not necessary for this situation. We already have a lawyer.

  3. Andie says:

    1. Dr. Raja Agrawal, 40

    His PhD in history will be important to preserving an account of everything he’s learned, all the way up to what caused the nuclear disaster to begin with. His cannabis will be fine so long as it is kept away from the infant. For the others, it might actually help them cope.

    2. Ted Dahl, 34

    He will probably be the most useful in the short-term in building a new civilization, hopefully alongside Dr. Agrawal. His amorality, though, will only hurt the group in the long-term.

    3. H. Onassis, 28

    His language skills will prove useful if/when they find other survivors.

    4. Dr. Frank Breedlove, 62
    5. Dr. Ruth Breedlove, 48

    They really only get to stay because Dr. Ruth Breedlove’s skills as a botanist will be needed (especially if the cannabis begins to run out..). Hopefully the rest of Dr. Frank Breedlove’s life will be short, though. His surgeon skills might prove useful somehow, but both his atheism and obsessive-compulsivity could lead to problems with the other survivors.

    7. Anna Santiago, 17

    She is the youngest, and because she’s already had a child, pregnancy will be nothing new to her. If Dr. Frank Breedlove dies, his food could go to her baby. Maybe Mr. Dahl could aid in that.

    8. Bart Baxter, 19

    The guy’s a dunce, and would just be annoying to deal with for the rest of eternity.

    9. Keisha Harris, 22

    Her love for political debate would just lead to conflict within the group. Besides her cooking, she has nothing to offer the group but the potential for children.

    10. Regina Flinton, 37
    11. Gregory Mbutu, 23

    Their extreme political beliefs would also just lead to conflict. There’s no room for believing in superiority over others when it is when groups of people that work as a team survive the most comfortably in disaster situations.

    12. Clarissa Carrothers, 29

    Similar to Ms. Harris, she doesn’t really have much to offer to the group but her potential to bear children (which I don’t think nuns do anyways?). It’d also be difficult to have her with Dr. Frank Breedlove, despite her vow of silence.

  4. William Shy says:

    Bart: He has some practical knowledge, and carpentry will be important. He loves the outdoors and bores easily, which could be helpful because he will always be busy helping the survivors due to boredom.
    Keisha: we need someone who can cook
    Gregory: he is a medical student, which will be useful. His skills imply that he has at least some survival skills as well.
    Raja: Knowing history and law will be important for founding a new society/government. Also he has cannabis which everyone will like.
    Ted: he has survival skills which will be of utmost importance. Though he is amoral, he will understand the situation and the need for everyone to help the group survive in any way they can. His intelligence and paramilitary experience will make him a good leader as well.
    Frank and Ruth: It seems that we can either have both or neither of these two; Frank’s surgical ability will be helpful, at least in the short term and also for passing his knowledge to the younger generation. Ruth’s botanical skills will be of utmost importance for growing food and other necessary plants to help the survivors build a sustainable living condition.

    Anna/infant: she has no skills and she and her infant are useless and will only hinder the group.
    Regina: we don’t need an electrical engineer because that skillset isn’t really useful for an apocalypse situation. We also don’t need a racist.
    Onassis: speaking many languages won’t be useful in this situation, and neither will poetry. We already have a lawyer.
    Clarissa: nuns will be useless and her vegeterianism will be a hindrance as there are no guarantees in terms of food. We already have a carpenter.

  5. Vincent Chung says:

    1. Dr. Raja Agrawal, 40.
    Most likely a chill and practical person. He will keep the moral and the vibes in check.
    2. Ted Dahl, 34.
    A hired killer. Top-notch survival artist with irreplaceable experience. He can protect the group and have a third eye on sus activities.
    3. Dr. Frank Breelove, 62
    4. Dr. Ruth Breedlove, 48
    Very intellectual people I’m sure, can contribute to the group with their knowledge of medicine.
    5. Regina Flinton, 37
    She’s a racist, but who cares, she’ll get over after she’s on the gas that Raja has. She an electrical engineer so good knowledge. Definitely a must have.
    6. Keisha Harris, 22
    She can cook good food, her political views don’t really matter. Nobody cares about politics when they just want to survive.
    7. Anna Santiago, 17
    She’s young and has a kid, although not the most useful she is a set of hands and the kid will be the leader of the next generation they have. Good to keep the community progressing.
    8. Bart Baxter, 19
    He’s probably pretty cool. He in primary working and mating age so a necessity to the group.
    9. H. Onassis
    10. Gregory Mbutu
    11. Clarissa Carrothers, 29
    She’s not gonna eat the food we have for her, she gotta go.

  6. Josh Bates says:

    1. Ted Dahl. He might be aggressive, but he’s the right amount of aggressive to be able to survive in the apocalypse. With his survival skills and amorality, he would be a good leader to the team, giving this small group of people the strong authoritarian leader that they need. His survival skills could be easily taught to the others, improving upon the skills of the entire group.
    2. Dr. Frank Breedlove. His surgeon skills would be very useful to the team for very obvious reasons. He might me old, but his skills combat that downfall. He could also use his time teachers an apprentice his skills in preparation for his inevitable death.
    3. Dr. Ruth Breedlove. Her husband’s requirement to take her too is no problem for she herself is very useful. Not only would she be able to grow plants, giving the group a constant supply of food, but she would also be able to tell what wild plants could and could not be eaten. Also, at the age of 48, she might not be able to have children any longer, but she probably isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
    4. Regina Flinton, this is the point in the list where people begin to be less clear in who is actually the best. Although she has some potentially very problematic ideas, her skills as a electrical engineer could seriously advance the group into a next level of survival. Also, I do not think that people should be chosen based on political ideas in this situation, but mainly on usefulness.
    5. Bart Baxter. Although he is not the most educated, his youth and trade skills would make him useful to the group. He is skills in both carpentry and pluming make him double useful on their own, but then considering the fact that he is probably strong and able to have children makes his lack of education overlook-able.
    6. Keisha Harris. She also is not the most successful person in the list, but just like Bart, her simple skills and young age would make her useful. She is an experienced cook, which could help her make sure no one eats bad food, and also hopefully make the food more interesting to eat while she’s at it. Also, her young age makes her because she will have more energy and she will be able to have kids.
    7. Dr. Raja Agrawal. The final person on the list made it only because I had no reason not to add him and there was not already a person on the list that had his skills. His PhD and Law degree will hold less use than other skills that other group members have, but they at the very least prove that he is intelligent and willing to learn new skills. Maybe he could be Dr. Frank’s apprentice.

    All of the following potential members had skills to offer, but in all other their cases, their skills were also found in more useful people.
    8. Gregory Mbutu. His skills as a medical student would be almost invaluable in the apocalyptic world, yet I did not pick him for two reasons. First, he and Regina Flinton, I found to be equally useful, yet I knew that I could only pick one of the two of them. Second, I picked Regina because Gregory had an other person with similar skills to him that was less problematic, Dr. Frank.
    9. Clarissa Carrothers. She was not picked simply because her skills as a carpenter were found in someone else such as Bart Baxter, who was younger, probably stronger, offered more skills, and was a less picky eater. That might sound mundane and small, yet that inability to eat meat would severally harm someone in a world where wild meat is going to be the most calorie-heavy thing available.
    10. H. Onassis. H. offers the less useful skill of law, but only at a less advanced level than Dr. Raja Agrawal, and offers the even less useful skill of poetry. While art is important, the need for survival defiantly lowers the need for poetry in the shelter. Other than that, H. doesn’t seem to have any other uses.

    And finally
    11. Anna Santiago (12. Her infant). Not only do these two people not have anything to offer to the group, the introduction of an infant and an uneducated, irresponsible teenage would only add two new problems to the group. The infant is not going to be needed for the revitalization of the new generation because there are other people in the shelter that could bear children, and there are assumingly other people that have survived. The addition of the child was meant to pose a moral question (along with the radical, yet conflicting, ideas of both Regina and Gregory.), yet I do not believe survival situations to the be place for morality. Morality is a luxury that can only come with civilization, for mixture of instinct and morality is a concoction that is extremely poisonous.

  7. Andrew says:

    Dr. Frank Breedlove

    Dr. Ruth Breedlove,

    Bart Baxter

    Anna Santiago

    Keisha Harris

    Regina Flinton

    H. Onassis, 28

    Clarissa Carrothers

    Gregory Mbutu

    Dr. Raja Agrawal

    Ted Dahl

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