53

"Hi, my name is Kitty" a pretty young woman smiled at them "That maniac over there is my partner Freddy. Don't worry, he almost has it installed. Best not help him, he has to learn how to change those puppies out."

Winters glanced over at the young man who was kneeling by what looked like a bank of … batteries? "Are those car batteries?"

"Solar powered" Kitty explained as she nodded then motioned with her arm "But that's not our first conversation to be having now, is it?"

Here we go. Interrogation time.

"Let me show you the most important part of this house. Security." Kitty said calmly, starting to walk from the kitchen and Winters followed her into the living room, taken with the normalcy of it. Just a house. A normal house that even had a bloody TV set. Lot of good that was. Crazy. Lamps … small clump of books and some toys.

"This house has three exits. Come, let me show you" Kitty walked confidently through the house and pointed as he spoke "That's bedroom one, two, three, bathroom, bedroom four … back door. We came in the front, you now know two. If the security grill is in place and you need to get out the code is 1234. Nothing fancy, in a panic it will always be that. Ok?"

"OK" Winters frowned "Er… what security grill?"

"OK, you no doubt noticed the light switches in all the rooms also had a red switch. This is the panic button, accessible from every room in the house as well as the shed outside and we can remotely trigger it from the village. If you are outside, the code will naturally still let you in before rearming." Kitty reached out and pushed the trigger, the house making a huge booming noise as out of nowhere large bars slammed up from the windowsills and gates she had not noticed swing to close over the doors.

"Three. You said three."

"Well done!" Kitty grinned, hoping this woman was as quick as she looked "The third is in case the house is breached. Not just biters out there ... other people are a problem too. If you are overrun or someone is trying to get in, you don't feel safe or don't think we are going to get to you in time to defend … you go to the basement through the trap doors in both the kitchen and the living room. Come on."

Winters followed the girl into the living room and the young man stood, turning towards them "I almost didn't have it connected then darling. You could have warned me!"

"You heard me" she replied "Come on Freddy. Show her the trap door."

It was only as he started to walk to the mantelpiece that it occurred to Winters that the young man was blind. Holy shit. He touched the mantle and said calmly "Twist this candlestick and … there."

The trap door opened.

"That basement is actually a tunnel. It will take you where you need to go … to a shed about three miles south. There are also security measures there but it is far enough that a snarl would not be there as well and you can use the dirt bikes to travel." Kitty explained "I would recommend a go-bag at all times. Even in the village we have one, just for drills but you never know. Never say never, right?"

"Babe. I can hear Uncle Ianto calling you" Freddy said softly and Kitty kissed his cheek before she took off yelling that she was coming.

Freddy turned and Winters could have sworn he looked directly at her "The power grid is not out this far so you have solar power instead. Those batteries will renew with the panels in the roof so I would recommend not having every light on in the house on at once but … if you only have one or two at a time you can run the TV and DVD player for an old movie or something at night."

"What?"

"You know … power."

Winters looked around then saw no lanterns the candlestick holder was empty and there was clearly power as something had to work those bars, right? She snorted softly as she nodded.

"Are you nodding?"

"God, sorry. Yes. Thank you" she laughed at herself "I forgot you are blind."

"Don't worry, we all do, me included. Just remember … we all have worth in this brave new world Ma'am and above all … we are all lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Hold onto that" Freddy walked from the room and she flopped onto the sofa to look at the room with interest.

Then she heard a soft cry and rose, rushing to find her child in the bedroom that was clearly for a child given the toys. God, more than they could ever carry. More than she knew had ever been seen by her son as most toy stores had been cleaned out years ago.

Well … the ones she had visited.

Clearly… these people had more.

Had she finally found a home?