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bottle, he took a peek over the side of the overpass. Sure enough, the horde was headed his way. He ducked back down, not sure how acute their vision might be.
    He glanced at Valarie and his eyes began to water involu ntarily. Images of his little sister flooded his mind before he could slam the lid shut on the box that they were carefully stored in.
     
    ***
     
    “Yes, I’ve seen the news, Mom,” Kevin said as he moved from room to room in his home. He was pretty sure that everything he might need had already been packed when he’d first made his ‘bug out’ bags.
    “Don’t get that tone with me Kevin Wal ter Dreon,” his mother snapped in his ear.
    Great, she’s pulling out the middle name while the whole freaking world is about to come apart , he thought.
    “Mom, I’m not trying to get any tone with you,” Kevin tried to sound contrite. He was never very good at it, especially when he was agitated. “But you need to listen to me. The news is not just over-blowing something. This is not a plot by the crazy li berals to divert the American people from the issues. What you are seeing on television is real. You and Sara need to head to the cabin and stay there.”
    “But zombies, Kevin?” his mother said with practiced ske pticism.
    Seriously, was she not watching the same television news stories that had been running on a constant loop the past several hours? Hell, reporters from CNN and Fox News were working together and sharing footage. That had to be a sign of the end of the world.
    The media could call it “Blue Death” or whatever clever little slogan they wanted to use for their banners, but this was going to end bad for humanity. That was something that Kevin was certain of as he glanced at the television to see that CDC doctor, Linda Singh, come on and deny that there was a problem for the hundredth time in the past few hours.
    “I’ll show you adolescent fantasy,” Kevin grumbled.
    “What!” his mother’s voice was shrill in his ear.
    “Nothing, Mom. Just do what I tell you on this one.”
    “Also, your sister is here. Maybe you could talk to her.”
    He recognized the tone. That meant that Sara was having what his mother referred to as “one of her episodes.” The reality was that she simply did not know how to deal with the girl. In fact, it was sort of ironic that Sara and Kevin had bonded so completely after the way he had initially acted when she was brought home.
    “What is she doing?” Kevin asked with genuine concern.
    “Actually…it is what she won’t do. She won’t talk, she won’t eat. And if I try to touch her she throws herself on the floor and holds her breath until she passes out.”
    Kevin tried to keep the smile out of his voice. On his last visit, Sara told him that she saw a boy in a store do that until his mom bought him a toy. Not thinking, he had said, “Well, next time Mom is not listening to you…try it.”
    People tended to think that just because Sara had Down’s that she was stupid. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, what she lacked in her ability with what you might consider “traditional” school learning, she more than made up for in sheer cleverness.
    “Put her on the phone.”
    He heard his mother cover the receiver and call for his sister. There was a pause, then some muffled conversation before he heard her voice in his ear.
    “Kevvy?” She had always had problems with the “in” part of his name for some reason.
    “You okay, Sara?” he asked in a voice that he used on nobody else but his little sister.
    “Mama won’t let me watch the television. She says it is broken , but I hear it every single time I go in my room. I wanna watch my cartoons.”
    “Tell ya what,” Kevin made his voice sound like he was about to deliver a big secret. “I will talk to Mom, but I want you to do me a very big favor.”
    “Okay, Kevvy,” Sara agreed.
    “You and Mom are gonna take a long drive. I want you to be really good for her. And