meteor_by_brandonstricker-d6ai470 via DeviantArt.com

I made my mom comfortable in her room and went out into the living room. My sister-in-law, Ann, and her daughter, Casey, were sorting canned food supplies in the middle of the floor. Ann had a clipboard where she was keeping an inventory. My brother, Ned, was standing in the kitchen door, drinking a glass of water as he watched his wife and daughter.

“I’m headed to the airport.” I grabbed my purse from the credenza.

“Stay safe.” Ned emptied his glass.

“I have my nine mil.” I lifted my shirt tail to show the gun.

He nodded. “Barry comes in tonight, he’s got the kids. Joyce wouldn’t come.”

I sighed. I knew it would be a toss-up. Joyce and Barry had divorced a year ago. “I’m glad she let the kids come.

“Me too.”

I slid by my brother into the kitchen and out the door to the garage. I used the Prius. The back could hold a lot of stuff and it looked normal. The trucks attracted too much attention, even if we didn’t have the machine guns mounted in the back. Once on the road, I turned on the police scanner. I wanted to avoid any roadblocks. Also, any riots.

I was surprised, actually, when my daughter called me two days ago to tell me she and her ex were coming. I had thought he’d go to Texas to be with his family. I’d find out when he got here why he’d decided to come to upstate New York. In the meantime, I kept my eyes open for opportunities. That was life now. Grabbing any opportunity to stock up. No matter what the thing was. Last week I’d found a grocery store being looted. I joined in and scored dehydrated camping meals. They were in a back corner of the back room and most people were out on the main floor fighting over the last of the canned goods.

The trip didn’t reveal anything worthwhile and I arrived at the airport on time. I met my daughter, Zoe, and her ex, Matt, in the baggage area. I gave her a hug, Matt, too, and helped them bring their bags out to the car.

“We had to pay extra,” Zoe said on the ride home. We brought everything we thought would be helpful.”

“Guns, ammo?” I asked.

I could see Matt shake his head in the rear view.

“No. We couldn’t bring it on the plane no matter how we packed it. So we mailed it, four days ago. With luck, the boxes will be here today or tomorrow.”

“If the mail is still running.” Governmental services had become spotty, even the police, State Troopers, and Marshals. They had families to take care of too. “I was surprised you caught a plane.”

“Yeah.” Zoe pulled her hair out of the elastic. “It was the last one. It only flew because the pilot’s family lives here and he wanted to come home. There was no co-pilot and only one flight attendant.”

I nodded. “You able to bring anything else?”

“Gold,” Matt said.

“For real? Excellent.” We expected normal currency would be worthless soon. Gold, historically, would be more valuable.

“Is the wall up?” Matt asked.

“Most of it. Building a wall around the valley was a struggle.”

“I’ll bet. I can help get it finished.”

“Thanks.” One of the problems we’d faced when we started was that the valley was mostly populated with retirees and elderly. But once the crisis began, the kids, middle-aged, and grandkids, young adults, began coming back. We hadn’t been preppers, but the community came together, made a plan, and began implementing it. The wall was the major task. The valley was just off of the main highway going north and south. We expected hordes of survivors would leave the cities and head in every direction, including the Adirondacks, looking for food and shelter. We were sympathetic, we really were, but there was only so much food and shelter to go around. The community did have a plan to accept newcomers, but they’d have to have skills. There was no longer any free lunch.

Once home, it was a celebration. Venison was on the table, along with vegetables from my garden. We’d expanded it to cover half an acre. We were constructing a frame over it and were gathering old windows to make it into a greenhouse. That was going to be important for the future. The old barn on my parent’s adjoining property, held goats, mainly Pygora, for their fleece but some Kiko’s for their meat. Both breeds give milk but it wasn’t their main selling point. We had rabbits, too. In every regard we chose livestock that could be brought inside.

We turned the tv on after the kids were in bed. I waited impatiently through the pictures of rioting and cities on fire. The story we were looking for came on halfway through the broadcast.

The asteroid was three days out. Time was almost up. Scientists were still trying to predict where it would hit. Ocean or land, either one was bad though in differing ways. It didn’t matter. Life around the world was going to be decimated. Then the survivors would have to cope.

I went out onto the patio. We’d built this house as soon as we’d heard about the asteroid. It was underground. It was as energy efficient as we could make it. It had two sub-basements where we had all the supplies we could find in the last eighteen months. All of the animals would be brought into the special room we’d had built and this patio would be our greenhouse for the worst of the disaster. I just hoped even with all of the dust in the air, there’d be enough light to grow things.

My husband Liam came out and draped his arm over my shoulders. “We’re ready.”

I nodded. “As ready as we can be, I guess.”

Thank You!

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