Bruce awoke with a start. His dreams were nightmares of being swarmed by the undead, but the worst involved the ones where he survived but was unable to save his family. Sweat glistened on his forehead, and he brushed it off with a shaky hand.

"Sweetie?" Celine asked softly as she propped herself up on one elbow.

Bruce laid back down, breathing hard. The sleeping bag they'd brought from their house felt uncomfortably warm at the moment, so Bruce threw back the top and climbed out. Momentarily leaving his wife, Bruce stepped over to the window. It was still dark outside, but he knew the streets were thick with crowds of undead.

"Just a bad dream," he muttered.

Climbing out of the extra large sleeping bag, Celine came over and put her arms around her husband from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"You managed to create an island for us," Celine whispered in his ear. "You also saved another family in the process. It's dark now, but the dawn's coming."

After imparting her words of encouragement, Celine went silent, sharing the moment with Bruce and letting him think about the things he'd accomplished against incredible odds.

***

When morning came, Bruce and Dillion started their long and intensive search of the upper floors. They were forced to look everywhere, inside closets, under desks, even inside the cabinets of an office break room. If even one zombie were hiding in a place they failed to check, it could easily cost them the life of a loved one. They were relentless in their task, but it started to wear on their nerves, forcing them to rest a moment after clearing a floor and before they started the next.

Bruce felt as if he were flipping over stones while searching for a poisonous snake. The rooms he'd checked so far were uninhabited, but any one of those still to be searched might have something ready to lash out at him. Every door and every darkened hallway might hold death behind it. He wondered if a man could go prematurely gray in a single afternoon.

The twelfth floor was empty of all threats, so Bruce and Dillion breathed deeply for a few moments before exiting onto the roof. The bright sunlight stung their eyes and temporarily blinded them after being inside the building with its tinted windows. The sun hovered in the west, telling Bruce how long their search had taken.

Not entirely finished, Bruce and Dillion breathed deeply the fresh air of outside and began looking behind the massive air conditioners for any zombies who might be around. Thankfully, the roof was blessedly empty of all threats. The two men paused a moment to rest before heading back downstairs to check on their families and see how progress was coming along on their other projects.

While Bruce and Dillion were checking the building, Celine and Zora had been setting up the initial stages of their food production system. Using the supplies procured from the garden shop Bruce had raided, the two women had filled containers with potting soil, fertilizer, and seeds.

During their exploration of the ravaged grocery store, Dillion and Zora had managed to load their van with a few cases of water they'd found buried under spilled boxes. Kept hidden, the water had gone unseen by looters. Zora had been allotted a portion of the water for tending to the plants until their own water system was established.

The city water supply was still functioning, but Bruce didn't want to risk it as so many things might have happened to taint the water at its source or anywhere along the way. It would be a tragedy if the two families survived everything up to this point only to be infected from drinking water.

The stairwell door opened, and the returning men were welcomed enthusiastically by their wives. Relief at their safe return made their embraces last longer than usual as everyone was grateful to be alive and safe.

"The building is clear," Bruce reported. "Unless anyone else shows up, we own the place."

"We've managed to set up a number of planters around," Celine told him.

"Good," he praised. "Dillion and I are going to relax for a little while before we get started on the next phase. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."

"I think we could all use a rest period," Dillion put in.

With no one arguing the point, the two families took seats around the conference table. Dillion and Zora produced some vacuum sealed meals suitable for packing in a child's school lunch.

"Where did you get those?" Bruce asked.

"We had them at our house and took them along when we evacuated," Dillion explained. "I'm sorry we don't have more."

"It's alright," Celine accepted. "We have some food from our house too."

Pulling a backpack up onto the table where she could dig around in it easier, Celine found and produced several items from inside. A loaf of bread, partially smashed by having been crammed into the backpack, a half eaten jar of peanut butter, some plastic cups, and a few utensils were pulled out and set on the table.

"Would you please bring me the cooler over there?" Celine asked her girls, and they happily retrieved the insulated box for her.

A bag of ice inside the cooler was the only nonelectrical method they had to keep the cold items at the proper temperature. Celine took out a gallon of milk and a jar of strawberry preserves.

"Would you like some?" Celine offered, holding up one of the plastic cups after she filled it with milk. "We need to drink it before it goes bad."

"Thanks," Dillion said, accepting the offered drink.

Celine portioned out two more for Zora and her son Timothy. Filling a cup for herself, Bruce, and each of her own children, Celine finished and capped the milk before replacing it in the cooler. She closed the lid to keep the cold air inside the insulated box.

"To new friends, and to a safe haven surrounded by our enemies," Bruce said, raising his plastic cup in a toast.

Dillion, Zora, and Celine followed suit, raising their own cups, and the children mimicked the action without understanding what it was for.

The meal was a quiet time. The conference room overlooked the parking lot and the zombies filling it to capacity. Despite being above the heads of the undead, having them crowding around the building in plain sight of the humans taking shelter inside was an unnerving experience. It wasn't everyday the people ate their meals in the presence of things who would turn the humans into food if they had the opportunity.

After they finished, Dillion and Bruce set about establishing the irrigation they'd require for their plants. Since they couldn't depend on the purity of the city's tap water, Bruce had decided on a rain collection system.

Dillion and Bruce each took an armful of gutters and drainpipes from the supplies Bruce had previously retrieved from the home center. They carried them downstairs and set them near the windows on the second floor.

"Is it really necessary to break the windows down here?" Dillion asked when Bruce pulled a hammer out from his belt. "Can't we simply put the rain buckets on the roof?"

"We'll be putting some on the roof, but we'll need the majority of the space up there for other things," Bruce explained. He lowered the hammer while continuing. "We have a number of fruit tree seedlings, and when they grow to full size, keeping them indoors simply wouldn't be feasible. Additionally, we may need the extra room up there for transportation purposes."

"What are you talking about?" Dillion inquired.

"The reason so many things went bad in the world during the outbreak was because only singular plans were made," Bruce explained. "When the first zombies started appearing, the government established quarantine zones to evacuate the uninfected, but they had no contingency plans for the processing centers being overrun. If you have a virulent disease affecting only a small potion of the population, what will happen if the people are crammed together in hospitals and evacuation centers?"

"The confined space will let it spread like crazy," Dillion answered in horror as he realized it was exactly what had occurred.

"Quite right," Bruce confirmed. "The police, military, and medical personnel were not focused on the containment or elimination of the infected. What was their primary concern?"

"Evacuation and treating the injured," Dillion stated.

"Because they didn't have a contingency plan in place, they weren't ready for a full out assault on their forces," Bruce continued. "Furthermore, the loss of those processing centers would have a secondary impact in the deaths of the police and military forces stationed there. How can you fight the undead without a military? The best people for waging this conflict were the first to go."

"So, we need backup plans for everything," Dillion concluded, swallowing hard.

"Yes," Bruce stated. "Although this place is secure, and should stay safe for the foreseeable future, we cannot afford to be negligent in our preparations. We need to plan for the possibility of this building being compromised. If something were to happen, where would we go, and what could we do?"

"You're right," Dillion conceded. "All of our preparations and supplies are here. If this building's defenses fail, we'd either die here or while trying to escape."

"This is why we need to establish a few safe houses in the city," Bruce said as he pointed to a tall building across the street. "I have a harpoon gun. Imagine, if you will, a cable stretched from the building over there to the roof of ours. We could use it for a zip line and traverse the distance between structures while remaining out of reach of the zombies."

"To get from here to there, we would only need a different cable going from our roof to one of the other building's lower floors," Dillion reasoned as he followed along with Bruce's thinking. "The sharper the angle, the faster the ride."

"Exactly," Bruce concurred. "We could have several very steep angles for rapid evacuation in the event of an emergency."

"It sounds good, but even if we managed to get across to the other building without being killed or infected, how could we secure it as you did here?"

"I'm glad you asked," Bruce responded with a knowing smile. He pointed to the small building in the parking lot, surrounded by the undead. "The demolition company I worked for kept their explosives in there. Since the undead are filling the parking lot, we'll have to go across by zip line and break in through the roof."

"Exactly when do you want to do this?" Dillion asked nervously. He was lest than enthusiastic about sliding on a cable across a parking lot full of undead and trying to get into a building full of explosives while the zombies would be trying to do the same thing for a different reason.

"As soon as we're finished setting up our gutters and rain barrels, we can head out," Bruce suggested. He checked the position of the sun. "However, depending on how late it gets, we may have to wait until tomorrow. I don't think I want to try this in the dark."

"Good thinking," Dillion breathed in relief.