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But, at least, we won't be right in the middle of a well populated zombie apocalypse.” They all just listened to her. Renee wondered where this place was that Chloe had in mind. But, because she was trying to keep together, she didn't reply. Jose turned back towards the window. Ben and Chloe went to the sofa and sat next to each other. Ben had his arm around Chloe and she leaned on him, as he comforted her. Chloe was visibly in deep thought. Ben looked worried. Renee assumed that he was worried about his parents. He still comforted Chloe. Renee stood there Jose, and watched the creepy-living-dead parade. As the mob of zombies moved slowly down the street, and into the yards of neighbors, they said nothing. Occasionally, they would hear screams that sounded like they were coming from a neighbors home. Some of the screams sounded muffled. Every time that they heard new screams, they all cringed with fear. But still, said nothing. Finally, Renee went to check the back doors and windows. She said, “ I am going to check the back. Stay quiet. No lights.” She went to the back door. She looked out through the kitchen window. She was looking for movement. If any of those things got over the fence, they would be right outside in the back yard. She took a glass from the cabinet. She turned on the water and filled her glass. She drank some of the water. She stood there, in front of the sink. She thought about the days' events. She was still in shock. She tried to stay focused on what she needed to do to keep them all safe. And not that, in one day, she had lost her husband, her daughter had lost her father both boys had lost their parents, and they were now living in an apocalypse. And that, she had to keep the three teenagers safe. She started to cry. She didn't want the kids to see her. She said, “Have to focus. Keep it together, Renee.” She thought about the water. “ I have to get the pitchers out, and fill them.” She started to pull her pitchers out of the cabinets. She started to fill them with water. She had three of them. “This won't last us one day, if they cut the water.” She looked around for other containers that she use to fill with water. She knew that if the whole city was shut down that they would only have a day or two left for power and water to stay on. Marcus had spoken about this. He had been looking into property outside of town. But, never bought anything. Chloe came into the kitchen. “ Mom. What are you doing?” She saw her mother looking through cabinets. She saw the pitchers of water sitting on the counter top. She said, “ Dad has a big water container out in the garage. He showed it to me before he went to the hospital. He has some other stuff, too. Some military guys are out front.” They exchanged a look. Renee ran to the front window, again. She peeked through the slat on the blinds. She could see a large truck. The zombies were mostly gone, now, There were three men, one in a smaller vehicle, and two in the large truck. They jumped from their vehicles and started to shoot the zombies. They were starting to get attacked from all sides, they suddenly, rushed to the smaller vehicle, and left. The truck was still running. Renee said, “ Boys, we need help in the garage.” The boys followed Renee and Chloe to the garage. Renee said, “ We need to get water tank in here. What else does he have out there, Chloe?” She walked through the kitchen, and into the hallway that led to the door going into the garage. She opened the door, turned the light on. The others followed. She pointed to a large white container the size of a large doghouse. Renee turned around and grabbed her daughter. She gave her a tight hug. “Okay, Boys. Let's get this inside.” Ben said, “Mrs. G. It won't fit through the door.” He pointed to the doorway. Renee said, “ Okay. Jose said, “ A hose. We can attach a hose to the faucet. Do you have one?” Renee said, “Good idea, Jose.” She turned to her daughter. ”Chloe, anything else that can help us, here? I don't know what this is... Out there.....
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And, I am terrified, too. Especially, for you kids. But, we are going to get through this. We need to get it close to the door. I will look through your Dad's things and get a hose out. He has all kinds of gadgets in here. Look. There is one, right there ” She pointed to a bin, placed under a work bench. It had a long green hose rolled up, and laying on top. Chloe looked over at it. Then, rolled her eyes. “Mom. What are you going to do? We need to be watching out front. What if any of those things get's close to the house?” Renee answered, “ Jose, can you watch through the blinds? If any of them get over the fence, come and quietly get us. If it is too much, I'll go and you can help Ben with this.” Jose agreed, “ No. You are right. We need to keep an eye on them. I'll do it.” He headed for the living-room. Renee said, “Okay. We will be back there in a few moments.” Jose replied from behind the wall, “ I'll be watching.” She turned to Ben and Chloe, “ We need to tie a hose to the faucet. I'll have to run it through the doorway and into the kitchen. We need to start collecting water, now. This is what Daddy always talked about. Being ready. We were not ready for what is out there, but we can be ready for what will happen when the people working for the Water company can't go to work, anymore.” Chloe asked, “ Do you really think they will shut our water off?” Renee said, “ They won't shut it off. It will run out, just as soon as no one can run the filtration plant. We should also figure out how much food we will need to stretch. Just in case we are stuck here for a longer period of time than we think we will be.” Chloe thought about this, her father always spoke about being ready. He had shown her where he had hidden some guns, in case there was an emergency, and the other place. He was not there to protect her and her mother. He also said that there would be instructions. She thought about this. She wanted to tell her mother. She hesitated, “Mom.” She paused, and looked down at her feet. Renee replied, “What? “ Chloe said, “ I should show you something.” Renee could see that her daughter was not sure if she should continue. “Chloe? What?”
Chloe said, “ Well. Dad hid some more stuff. “Renee asked, “ What stuff?”
Chloe continued, “He said that, if something happened where he could not be here to protect us, that I should show you something. And, I am supposed to give you this. I held it for him. He said not to tell anyone, unless it was a real emergency.” Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. She handed it to her mother. Renee asked, “ What does this unlock?” Chloe said, “ Follow me.” Renee asked Ben, “Ben, can you connect the hose to start to fill the container, please?” Ben said, “ Sure, Mrs. G.” He started to get to work. Renee walked back into the kitchen. She peeked into the living room. Jose was watching out the window. She said, “ Thank you, Jose.” Jose turned, “ No problem.” The two Gallo women walked past Jose. As they did, Chloe said, “It will just be a few minutes, Jose.” He said, “ Okay, Chloe.” Chloe and Renee walked out of the room. When they made it into the family room, Chloe walked over to a shelf that was built into the wall. She turned to her mother and said, “ Dad didn't want to tell you, because he thought that you would freak.” Renee, gave her an “excuse me” look. But, at this point, was more curious than anything else. She replied, “ Okay....tell me. What?” Chloe exhaled. She turned, and reached up to the top shelf. She pushed something, Renee could not see what it was The shelf popped open. It separated from the wall. They both stepped back. Renee's mouth dropped open. She looked at Chloe. “What is this?” Chloe said, “ Come on.” She walked into a room. The room was small, but had a sofa and monitoring system put in. From the monitors, you could see all sides of the property. It even gave a view down the street. Chloe said, “ There is more. I need your key. I left mine upstairs.” Renee handed her the key.
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Renee watched, as her daughter walked to the wall to left. She noticed that Chloe reached up and pushed on one of the panels. A large section of the wall opened up. Renee was dumb-founded. Behind it, was another door. A steel door. It had a dead bolt on it. Chloe unlocked it and opened it. They walked inside, as Chloe turned the lights on. It was another living room. It looked much like their own, only there was different furniture. On the bookshelf against the wall, was one picture of all of them together, before Johnny died. She watched in awe, as Chloe led her to some stairs. She followed her down the s
tairs. As they came to the bottom, they walked through a doorway and entered another room. When Chloe turned on the lights, Renee saw a whole other home. It was an underground home, she thought to herself. Chloe turned to her mother, “Dad, actually, found this place. That's what he told me. He said that, when he put the sink and bathroom in the garage last year, he found a trap door, or something. Anyway, it led to this area. Then, he made it a safe room. He started talking about some one telling him about an epidemic that was going to bring on the end of the world. Some government guy that he built a bunker for. After he met the man, he came down here and fixed it up. He was going to put a hot tub in one of the bathrooms for you guys. Then, he was going to show you. There is a back door. It goes up to the garage.” Renee did not know what to say. She looked around. Chloe said, “ I was thinking that , if ew had to hide from those things, or from the military people, we might have to hide down here. And, there is another surprise for you, but he didn't finish it. Don't get mad. Okay?” She went to a door. Renee said, “ Okay. I won't.” Marcus always did things by surprise. Renee knew that it was the truth, when her daughter told her that her husband would eventually show her his latest project. She watched, as Chloe went to a closet. She pushed something to the side and another door opened. It was a hidden gun cabinet. Inside, were not only firearms, but an envelope. Chloe took it out, leaving the guns inside. She looked at her mother, “ Mom, Dad said that if anything ever happened to him before he could finish the place, to show this to you.” She handed the envelope to her mother. Renee took it, and opened it. It was a letter, written by Marcus. It read; Renee, if you are reading this, then it means that I am not with you and Chloe, anymore. I wanted to make sure the two of you will be alright after I am gone. I left money in my hiding spot. And there are some guns and ammo and some other things that I hope that you will never need to use to protect you and Chloe. But, if you do, I wanted to make sure you had it. I hope that by the time that you do read this, that we had gotten old and gray together. But, if not, know that, I will always love you and Chloe.
Love, Marcus.
Renee started to cry. Chloe hugged her mother. Renee stopped crying, and wiped her eyes. She said, “Your Dad wanted to make sure that we were okay.” Chloe answered, “ I know, Mom. There's more. You should probably look through everything that he left.” Renee went to hidden closet and looked inside. There was the guns, and a duffel bag. She saw an odd item on the floor. It was a bucket. On top, lay a bucket wrench. She pulled the bucket closer to her. She took the wrench and opened the bucket. It was packed with seeds. Renee and Chloe exchanged a look. Chloe said, “ He kept talking about what that man told him. He said that there would be no more grocery stores, or police. He said, “do not trust anyone”.
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He said; “That people would rob and kill us, just for some bread and water...” He was really starting to freak me out. Maybe, he thought you were going to take up farming?” Renee remembered Marcus speaking about a government client. But, that was last year. She too, remembered Marcus talking about a terrible epidemic coming. He spoke about it, as though, it would be a flu. Not a zombie apocalypse. Could this be what Marcus was preparing for? She asked herself. Renee covered the bucket back up. She started to sift through some documents on a shelf. She saw a big, yellow envelope, titled; ANNIVERSARY. She opened it and pulled out some documents. Her eyes opened wide. Chloe said, “That's the other part...” Renee took the papers and walked out of the hidden closet, then over to a sofa. She sat down and started to sift through the documents. She was reading one of them. It looked like a legal document. “Mom, Dad was fixing a plce up for you.”
Renee said, “ We have an orchard, somewhere outside of town. I think this is the one off of Route 30.” Chloe said, “ Mom. We can't leave here. Look at what is just outside.” Renee said, “ Right now, we can't.” She paused. “What else is down here?” Chloe shrugged,” I don't know. He has other stuff there. But, I didn't ask him about it. It was supposed to be a surprise for you.” Renee stood up and went back to the closet. She started to sift through things. She counted six guns in all. All, different sizes. As she rummaged through the boxes, she uncovered a trunk. She opened it. It was filled with ammunition. On one side of the trunk, she saw a box. She opened that, too. It contained a hunting knife and a long steel rope with two handles on each side. Renee picked it up. As she examined the steel rope, Chloe blurted out, “It's a camping saw, Mom.” Renee said, “ Oh, Okay.” She sifted through some more things. Then, she saw another duffle. She opened it, it was a medical supply kit. Marcus had thought of everything. He even taped notes to the bottles. He had pain medication, and fish mox. He even had a splint inside. She felt a little better. She wished that he was here, so that she could see him one more time.
She said to Chloe, “We need to go upstairs, and have a sit down with the boys. If we don't get a plan put in place now, we won't get out of this.” Chloe agreed. They went back up into the main part of the house. When they went into the living room, Jose was still watching out through the window. He turned, and said, “They are starting to disappear. I hope they keep going. Some one is flashing a light across the street.” Renee and Chloe both went to the blinds. They started to peek through the slits. Renee said, “ That is Mrs. S. Oh, I hope that she stays inside. Even if those things keep going, there will be more of them. Stragglers. We have to be quiet. We'll keep the windows covered at night, bide our time. I want to speak to you all in the back. In the family room, around ten minutes. There is less of a chance of those things hearing or seeing anything we do back there.” She ran and grabbed a flashlight. She put the lens of the flashlight in the window. She turned it on and off a few times. Then, she waited. She saw a flicker. She smiled. “ Mrs. S. is okay. As soon as I get a shot, I'm going over there.” The teens stared at her. Ben said, “ Mrs. G., I don't think that it is safe.” Renee said, “ they move slow, Ben. If my neighbor is alone, I will bring her here. I have not seen Aidan. She must be terrified over there, all by herself.” Renee walked out, she made sandwiches and a pitcher of iced tea. She grabbed four glasses. She carried everything to the family room. She placed everything onto the top of a card table. She called Gypsy. She said, “ Come on, Gypsy.” The dog came to her new owner. They all followed her to the family room. She said,” Okay, everyone. Before we eat, we are going to say Grace. Bow your heads. ” Awkwardly...they all complied. Ben and Jose, exchanged a confused glance. They didn't know that Mrs. Gallo did this. They looked down at their feet, as she thanked God for the food.
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They all secretly prayed for protection for their families and themselves. She stopped. Then, placed sandwiches on a plate for each person. They all looked on in shock, as she did the same for Gypsy. The dog scarfed hers down. Then, she lay down at Renee's feet, as they ate and spoke. Renee did not realize that she had saved a trained service dog, whose trainer resembled herself. She would be her loyal friend for life, now. As they ate their sandwiches, Renee spoke. She said, “Kids. We have to be alert to what is going on, right outside the windows, from now on. I will stay up at night and keep watch. I will need help from all of you throughout the daytime. Ben, Jose, as soon as we can get a clear shot, we will go and check on your homes. Jose, if things go back to normal, maybe there will be some help for your Mom. Ben, maybe, we can catch your parents at home, soon. Chloe and I have something to show you both, just in case things get worse. If things do get worse, if any of those things get inside, or any dangerous people get in here, we have to be ready to hide. After we eat, we will show you how we can do that.” Ben asked, “ I hate to be a joy kill, but those things are not going to get better. I have been online. So have they...” He nodded towards Jose and Chloe. “It's the end.” Chloe and Jose stopped eating. They said nothing. He said, “We have to fight those things. We have to kill them through the brain. Rose Fox shows us on her videos.”
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