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toys and clothes were stacked in one corner of the basement. I hate clutter, but could never bring myself to throw away any of Kara’s things.
    “There should be a kite in that box.” I pointed to the box labeled ‘TOYS.’ Jared began searching through it. Both he and Danni had put on NBC masks and suits. I still couldn’t be sure what was going on outside, but wanted to be safe. I remembered something coming through the bus radio about an attack on cities, but found it hard to believe that any terrorist group could pull off something like this. Maybe a volcano had erupted or maybe Yellowstone finally blew? Those seemed more plausible than a terrorist attack. But with no TV or radio, we had no real information and any guess could be true.
    “So what are you going to do with this, Ben Franklin?” Jared asked as he handed me the kite. I could see him smiling behind his NBC mask. He was a good kid.
    I began putting the kite together. “Go get that thin spool of wire from the work bench over there.”
    “You’re not really going to try and catch a lightning bolt, are you?” Jared handed me the wire.
    “No,” I laughed. It had been a while since I heard the sound of my own laughter and it sounded clumsy and out of practice. There wasn’t much to laugh about in prison, unless of course you were a psychopath, in which case prison was hilarious. “That signal we picked up last night was weak. We need to find a way to boost our range. My HAM radio antenna is on the roof and I’d guess that all the ash that’s in the air is screwing up the signal. This might help us get a better one.”
    “You’re going to tie the wire to the antenna and try to fly the kite above some of the ash?” Jared studied the kite. “That’s a good idea.”
    The kid was smart, too. That’s probably how he managed to survive the string of losers that his mother brought home. I couldn’t blame Danni. Hell, I was a loser too, but I never would have hit Lisa or Kara.
    “Danni, you ready to go?” I asked. She walked out of the bunker. “You’re going to need to hold the ladder. Jared, you go about halfway up and feed me the wire as I let the kite out.”
    “I’m as ready as I’m ever gonna be.” Danni started up the stairs. I had offered to let her take one of my guns, something easy to use, like a .45, but she refused. Guns scared her. Besides, she had argued, everyone outside was dead, so what was the point of a gun? Jared volunteered to carry one. Danni looked like she wanted to kill him. I promised him I’d show him how to use one later.
    Outside of my house was silent. There was a light wind blowing ash down the street like ragged black ghosts, but I didn’t see any other people. They could have been holed up in their houses. They were probably dead.
    “There’s an extension ladder around the back,” I said and walked off the porch. Small clouds of ash puffed underneath my boots with each step. I found myself wishing for rain to wash away some of the crap that choked my yard and street.
    My ladder was underneath the back porch. Jared helped me pull it out and lean it against the gutters on the second story. I never was a fan of heights, but figured there were worse things to worry about these days. Danni held the bottom of the ladder as Jared and I climbed up.
    “Wait here,” I said to Jared when he was a little more than halfway up. I didn’t want the kid to slip. “Feed me the wire as I let the kite out, okay?” Jared nodded.
    Ash covered the roof of my house. It looked like Christmas in Hell. At any moment, I expected to see Satan flying by in a sled with skeletal reindeer and flames. He was evidently busy somewhere else. I was alone on the roof.
    The HAM radio antenna was bolted to the side of my house at the highest point of the roof. I made my way to the top and sat with one leg on each side of the roof. The wind felt stronger up here, but it could have just been my fear and imagination getting the better of me.
    I