Desolated

25 years after the end of oil, Dev hears the sound of hoofbeats on the road. No one has been up the road in six years and now the last people he wants to see are here. A dozen armed men on horseback, promising a return of government and order. Dev doesn't believe their promises, and they come with too terrible a cost: a tax of food. He and the neighbors are barely scraping by, the sharp bite of hunger their constant companion. He had feared that drought and heat would slowly kill them all, but now the danger is more immediate. They must find a way to survive this new threat. But with nothing more than a handful of bows, how can they defend against rifles?