I like your game, that said, you should know conservative doesn't mean stupid, they would miss less even in an emotional situation, less indecisive. The inner voice might as well be whispering in his left ear. If dystopian society is the thing, there would be no hesitation under the story to breed with the fertile girls, you are just voicing your own limitations. Finally (so far in story) a conservative would have come up with ranged, and melee weapons with silencers or crossbows. Personally I might use coated weapons to render the opposition harmless and deal with them as needed. No need to wipe out the bandits, a communication of terms might be laid out by leaving a posted notification. The bandits are needed to keep your infected numbers down. Eventually the infected should destroy themselves too. Your story does not include any study into their behavior or their feeding. The conservative would have the entire complex monitored, trapped, and protocols on entry and capture if needed. No doubt at some point they could be followed, so you want something ready to render them harmless. Trading could be the start of a new civilization. I expected with all those vehicles the protagonist would try to wire up some other vehicles for more stealthy runs too. Get some binoculars and watch set out trip and tracking to see where the patterns are for who is in the area and in what amounts. So like I said, don't criticize what you don't know. The very ones you cry about might be there to save your bacon someday. Oh and you really think a convenience store is going to be the limitless source of supplies, come on. Why isn't your guy up checking the solar panels, batteries, and control grid to see why the power failed. Why is he so stupid that he doesn't use black out techniques, unless the rest of the area has lighting on?
Did you actually read through all the dialogue or just do a lot of skipping to get to H scenes?
Neither Kinderfeld, nor his MC, said conservatives were stupid. There was also no mention of omniscience...
Jack, the MC - is not stupid but he admits to making some bad choices, things he feels he should have anticipated in hindsight - much like most of us would who lack SEAL/SPEC OPS training and/or huge bank accounts.
He does prepare for societal breakdown - as one man with an adopted daughter living in an apartment and without the major resources to buy a cabin in the woods where they could survive off-grid for years.
He does hit the internet hard and do a mass printing of resources he will need ahead of the breakdown of the internet.
He does buy a number of guns as well as solar lamps and other supplies using his limited budget wisely. This does not include silencers which are typically not needed for home defense of a small apartment If Jack could even afford one, given what priorities he has for his spending.
One guy - an office worker without real backup - and one girl - bandit's future entertainment - do not make a pact with the bandits, they try to stay off their radar - which is what he/they did.
A study of the behavior of the infected... He read what was available on the internet before it went down but the government, always happy to play the censorship game, hid what was happening to prevent panic which, when it got out of control, resulted in greater panic.
The MC did not have access to a fully staffed CDC/NIH lab, well provisioned and protected by a well-led and extensive military force, all to lead the continued research efforts into infected behavior and feeding habits.
He learned about the infected the hard way - observation, including close encounters where he/Carol and Naomi were threatened by some of those infected and cases where they Had to fight - which made noise - which attracted the attention of more infected and the possible notice of bandits.
Now and Then is a great story about the collapse of society against the weight of something we do not understand until it is too late. We get a tiny slice of the world as it changes by accompanying Jack Brooks, Kinderfeld's everyman, trying to protect his adopted daughter and eventually other women he knows or meets along the way. We start out in an apartment surviving on the remnants of the old world that is well on its way to dying.
Our journey is not just a physical journey to a new place that will become home; not just a journey from surviving to living. It is also an emotional/developmental journey for Jack and the women accompanying him. It is a tragic and dangerous way for Carol and Naomi to grow into adulthood, and the wounds they carry because the transition into this dangerous new world is not an easy or safe one. It is recognizing how hope can lead to making bad choices - Sydney waiting for her family at the school - and Hana waiting for someone from her family to join her - with both pretending that if they wait long enough, somehow, family will find them. It is a tale of friendship and how two women respond to harsh times in very different ways - with Missy taking her own life while Julie fights on, determined to save her son and find a way to survive.
Finally, I see this story as a powerful reminder that society is comprised of the people who we can depend on and who can depend on us. Jack goes from wanting to make sure that he and Carol survive to knowing that they must leave and make a new Life for themselves. He invites others to take this journey with he and Carol, adding Naomi, then Alice and, based on choices made, potentially adding Sydney, Julie and even Hana. When they finally make a new home for themselves, it is not a home for just Jack and Carol, it is the home for an extended family that would not have been acceptable in the old world but is perfectly fine in the new, led by Jack Brooks as the Patriarch.
Not too bad for an everyman office worker and his adopted daughter!