Duncan Macmillan had been in prison for 13 years and 2 months when he escaped in the chaos of the Great Pulse. No one cared at the moment about the recapture of criminals, when the government at all levels had collapsed. He knew exactly how he would survive: home invasion. More intense than simple burglary, it would enable him to take over a household for a day or so, eating whatever food was available and grabbing any money he might need for his one-way trip to Europe. It would also be lower-profile than robbing a public place.
Furthermore, he would get to enjoy some sex for a change. That was a long time for the 43 year old former Army master sergeant to be without women. The other part felt that his wife had just abandoned him when she realized that there would be no conjugal visits to a military prison and no chance of him getting any money to send to her on the outside.
There was a family that lived rather close to the facility and would make excellent victims, as luck had it. The father had been a guard until one of the inmates murdered him. They had evidently chosen to stay because moving would be too inconvenient. It was a nice revenge as well, since Macmillan hated all of the guards at Leavenworth.
Eventually, the force that won control of Kansas would use the prison again, but at the moment it was abandoned for the sake of civil war. Diana Hammond was a busy woman, working to support herself and her teen children. Barry was the younger at 16, while Sarah had just celebrated her 18 th birthday. She had no idea of how a serious of a blunder she had committed at that point.
Duncan saw that Mrs. Hammond had come home from work and was fatigued. She had gotten a TV dinner out to microwave, unaware that she would have to wait before she could eat it. Sarah appeared to be studying for mid-terms. Barry was somewhere else. The community had not yet chosen sides. This was the ideal moment to attack them. Damn stupid locals, thinking that they are safe and protected. Macmillan repelled over the backyard fence and headed for the open screen door at the patio.
