The Fallen World Part 3 - Panic Strikes

Tania, Jack, and I sat in the break room watching an emergency news break, the national guard blocked the interstate borders and the president declares marshal law on mainland US and Alaska with help from Canada and Mexico. All interstate travel for civilians is suspended indefinitely as they build defenses in the rocky mountains called "The Rocky Line", great now those poor people uninfected are trapped. But with the speed this thing is spreading at, I really can't blame them. Tho the downside is now everyone is panicking east of the Rockies and the president now working out of Edwards Air Force Base the east coast is up in arms. "OK guys lets get back to work, Tania keep in eye on it and let me know anything big." I said breaking the awe invoked by the TV. "Right" she acknowledged and Jack and I went back to work.

The day went by surprisingly quickly and we even got an episode done, when we went home Jack told me that he has family in Chicago and that he may not work tomorrow. The word also came down from the studio to halt all production so there wasn't any work to do anyway. I told him good luck on contacting his family and went to my car. The drive home was surreal, hardly anyone on the roads besides the occasional HUMVEE enforcing the marshal law and prevent looting. Curfew is set at 11pm for civilians and check points setup on state boarders, ports, airports, and interstate rail lines as well as aerial patrol by Apache and Super Cobra gunships in case someone tries to hoof it in the bush.

When I got home Jonathan was under my stairs affixing home-made shape charges under each step, since my stairs were wooden they're also an offensive measure if any zombies breach the house. Also scattered in piles around my house were a pair of shotguns with 300 rounds, a 308 rife with sniper scopes also with 300 rounds, 3 foot by 3 foot steel plates, a pair of carbon-steel katanas with matching Wakashi short blades, HAM radio gear, eePC sub-laptop, propane tanks, solar panels, camping gear, industrial batteries with inverters, portable satellite broadband kit, gas powered generator, and enough gasoline canisters to last a year. "Got enough stuff?" i asked, "No actually, tomorrow we got to get food and water supplies" he replied without even looking. I sat on the couch and switched the TV on.

A few hours later my wife Leanne walked into the living room looking through the mail talking on the phone, the envelopes blocking her view. She hanged up shortly later and lowered the envelopes as if to toss them to me but stopped stunned at the mass of survival and electronic gear, "What the Hell!" I nearly broke out in laughter, "Oh, Hi baby! how was work?" she turned to me, "Don't change the subject! What the hell is all this junk, and what is it doing in the living room!" Jonathan peeked out from the crawl space beneath the stairs but quickly and quietly returned out of sight. "I told you about preparing for the zombies didn't I? I replied, she put her hand to her hip, "Yes, but why is it here? And I thought is was only food and water!""
"We are getting the food and water tomorrow, and this gear is for protecting the house and for us to be independent of utilities." She eased a bit, "Who's paying for all this?"
"Alot of it is left over from our home automation business, and the rest Jonathan got, and we are paying for the food and water. I got it under control babe." she softened, "OK baby, but I'm not cleaning this junk up!" I laughed, "Deal."