Prep

Her sons arrived less than an hour later, having fought their way from the heart and outer edge of the city, determined to fortify the house and keep her safe (moving in to defend her, if necessary). She laughed and mimed clapping as they arrived in a DIY-armored caravan with their wives and a couple of random in-laws; they marveled that she had already covered the windows - not with plywood, but soldered rebar with a “pocket door” metal plate that could be slammed into place and locked down from the inside. Catherine had been baking to use up everything that couldn’t be dehydrated or canned for use later, so the whole place smelled like cookies. “Best hustle on in,” she told them. “The Hendersons (just three doors up) turned last night from the sounds of it.” They concentrated and accelerated, completing the transfer of people and material goods in two trips. “Mom, what the … ,” Wayne started, staring at the patio door that had been replaced with bullet- and shatterproof plexiglass (inches thick), fronted with a metal spike array and complete with a slide back gun sight and mount at head height. “Too much HGTV!” she laughed and hugged him. “Truth to tell, I’ve been waiting for something like this,” she continued, “what with the world going straight down the toidy and all; been picking up construction freebies on Craigslist for two years and went black market early to get powdered eggs and milk from the doomsday preppers in the South. I’d take zombies over viruses any day, though.” Wayne nodded, shrugging at Kevin and the others.“Solar panels on the roof connect to generators and storage cells in the attic; don’t go up there without the goggles and the mask I hung next to the ladder or you’ll be breathing in fiberglass from the new insulation.” In shock with a healthy bit of awe, Kevin half-whispered, “Do you have an arsenal in the back bedroom?” “No, I do not,” his mother replied. “I’ve never held a gun let alone fired one. My job is and has always been provisions and safety - hearth and home.” Kevin tripped over himself in the hallway and Catherine caught him by the elbow to steady him (just as she did when he was a boy).