“We may end up at one of them.” Bart said politically. “We’ll just have to see how everything works out. It may be good to let the shelters fill up first then see how they pan out on the news before we leave the house unprotected to go jump in one. I see them as a last resort.”
“I bet I know what’ll drive people to the shelters faster than being hungry.” Yue said pointing at the screen. The bottom had a message scrolling across it saying that the infected had been spotted in Texas and California. A frazzled looking reporter appeared in a small room after the break. Commercials had been replaced by an endless loop of which shelter you should go to depending on your zip code and a list of what you were allowed to bring with you.
The reporter was showing footage of the infected from earlier in the day. They’d come running full speed across the desert from Mexico. The soldiers in the military style Hummer that the reporter had been riding in had gunned them down as they sprinted towards them. Once they’d killed them, they’d driven close enough to cover the bodies with gasoline and set them on fire. The reporter then stated he’d been told similar incidents had occurred at the border in California as well.
“We’re going to the shelter.” Nancy stated adamantly. She wanted to go somewhere they could be protected. Somewhere the government was standing by to help them weather this storm.
“I don’t think we make that call quite yet.” Bart said.
“Mom. Dad has a lot more experience with this kind of stuff than the rest of us. We should listen to him.” Yue said.
“Nobody has experience in this. Your dad included. What sounds good to me is solid walls and men with guns standing on them with big sets of stadium lights turned on all night!” Nancy said starting to get worked up.
“The only people left alive over in Europe are the ones who did it that way.” Drew said.
“The only ones the media’s showing anyway. It’s not like they embedded reporters in every neighborhood to go door to door and see how people are doing.” LeBron pointed out. Bart gave him an admiring look. The boy was always thinking. They were going to need him to keep that up.
“Here’s what I think.” Bart said. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t head for a shelter. I’m saying we wait and try to figure out the best shelter to head for. I know we can’t stay in the house forever. We have enough supplies for a couple of weeks though. The open road is going to be a very dangerous place to be very soon.”
“All the more reason to move now. Before it gets too dangerous.” Nancy responded.
Bart didn’t have an answer for that. Mostly because he knew she was right. He also knew that he was right. The problem was this wasn’t a situation anyone was trained for. They needed to do something though.
“Let’s load up the cars. I want each of you to get a go bag ready. Pack it with what you’d need to survive for three days. Water, food, ammunition and a change of underwear. You can only turn them inside out once or twice before it gets gross.” Bart joked.
“We leaving?” Drew asked.
“Not quite yet but you’re right honey. We need to be ready to leave at the drop of a hat. There’s no telling what may happen.” Bart answered.
They spent the next couple of hours loading up the cars and making sure they had everything they’d need. The bungalow home they’d purchased was on a walking trail with a large retention pond on one side of it. The garage was detached from the rest of the structure. They decided to load up Drews pickup and their parents Traverse. Those seemed to be the two best vehicles to take with them. They moved Yue’s little Corolla across the street and parked it there. Tired but feeling like they’d accomplished something they all went to sleep.
Chapter 6: A Rude Awakening
The burglar alarm went off with a high-pitched squeal around three in the morning. Bart was out of bed and in the hallway outside his bedroom within ten seconds of it going off. Nancy and Bart slept on the first floor in the master suite. The kids each had a room of their own upstairs. Yue had her own bathroom while Drew and LeBron had to share. Bart glanced out the back door towards the large retention pond and didn’t see anything suspicious. Pistol pointed at the floor he headed for the front of the house.
The stairs from the second floor ended by the front door. That’s where Drew, LeBron and Yue were all waiting for Bart to show up. Bart quietly ordered Yue and LeBron to stay on the stairs and cover him. He motioned for Drew to go over to the windows on the first floor to see if he could see anything. They had one of the video doorbells on the front door but nothing monitoring the space between the garage and the back door. Bart had meant to put one up, but they lived in a nice neighborhood, so it’d never been a high priority. For that same reason he was pretty much clueless as to how the alarm system worked. He could turn it on and off and that was about it.
He pointed at the flashing alarm panel and LeBron sidled in behind
