The sun blazed high above our frozen corner of the planet as we navigated through the parking lot. It was relatively safe, as anything dead that came within range of the military trucks was shot down with great enthusiasm. Directly above us, a young man blasted away deafeningly with his machinegun, shouting madly. "Oh, look at that! That took the fucker down didn't it! What's that? You're getting up? Fuck you zombie! Fuck you!" His partner attempted to calm him down. "Hey, ease up on that. You don't know how long we're going to rely on this ammo for."

"Oh come on, man! I've been waiting for this shit my whole life! Hey, you! I already told you twice!" The shots whizzed over our heads, shattering a nearby windshield and riddling the body with more holes as it collapsed once again. Sam attempted to plug her ears, which was made difficult by the cat carrier. Hobbes was silent, probably scared stiff by all the noise.

"Alright, that does it," said Rob. "As soon as I get my citizenship, I'm joining the army. That shit's brilliant."

Joanna shook her head disapprovingly. "Robert..."

"Oh come on, it'd be great! You could be up on one of those trucks with me, blasting away, saving the world..."

"But that involves you actually being fit."

"And I've got that down, now don't I? Just look at this! Two hundred ten pounds of pure muscle." He raised the arm containing the shotgun and flexed his bicep, rather pathetically.

We stepped over the hood of an inconveniently placed car, which had somehow placed itself perpendicular to the others. I decided to hop from roof to roof which was made surprisingly easy by their close proximity, but was promptly told to get down by my dad. Once we had reached the bottom of the ramp to the underground parking lot, we were greeted by several soldiers sitting in the truck loading bay. Its metal door had been rolled wide open, probably indicating that the danger level in that area was not very high.

Come to think of it, I was amazed that they had been able to set this whole thing up so quickly. This was probably their exact plan for an attack on home soil, but I had expected some denial of the true situation before action. While it was incredibly improbable, it could be possible that they had prepared for this situation. But regardless of how they did it, they did, and many people were saved because of this. Now if only the US army had viewed us as a nation that needed help instead of a threat, we could have gotten out of it earlier.

An officer with a deep voice, gray hair and a clipboard greeted us. "Nice to see you guys, I'm major Victor. Hey, now how did you hurt your arm there?" he said, pointing to Robert's wrapped limb.

"Don't worry about it. I just cut it with my knife, it's alright. Take a look." He unwrapped his dressings, to reveal a clean, but long cut that had stopped bleeding. All the blood had been soaked up by the bandage.

"Alright sir, but just as a safety precaution you're going to have to stay under observation for an hour or two."

"Of course."

"Good. Now if I could ask you all to step right in here we can make sure the rest of you are undamaged. Oh, and you'll have to leave those guns with us. We'll take care of them until this is all sorted out."

"Well, these two," said Dad, pointing at Robert and Joanna "are staying. We've just come to pick some people up."

"And then where are you off to?"

"We're going to go meet up with some family in Mississauga."

"Sir, I'd strongly advise against that. It would be impossible to drive; the roads are all blocked."

"We're walking."

"Now you're sure you want to try that?"

"Quite sure."

"Alright, suit yourselves. Now, would you two please step over there and strip down to your underwear. And if you don't feel comfortable doing that," he said looking at Joanna, "Captain Brady can take you off in to the other room." Captain Brady smiled and waved from her seat on a crate further back in the room. She was a small woman in her mid-forties. "I think I will, thank you," said Joanna. Robert took off his shirt and pants, and was looked over by a young corporal. Once he was satisfied that Rob didn't have any other bites, he told him to get back into his clothes. Shortly afterwards, Joanna emerged from the other room with Captain Brady, who spoke to her and Rob. "Perfect. Now if you two will just go through that hallway, one of our men will arrange your living quarters and give you the tour. Welcome to the Oakville Place Survival Shelter." Rob turned back to us. "Well, it's been great meeting you guys. Good luck."

"You too," Dad replied.

"Happy shopping," said the corporal.

"Now about those people you were meeting up with," said Major Victor. "Are they individuals or a family?"

"A family," said Alex.

"They yours?"

"Yeah."

"Perfect. Last name?"

"Galea."

"Alright. We'll call them over the intercom."

"And Shao," said Dad. Xiran looked over at him with an expression that said he didn't need to humor him.

"What, so are there two families?"

"There should be," said Dad.

"Alright. Corporal! Galea and Shao. Go get 'em."

"Yes sir."

"You guys can take a seat while you wait." We sat down on some nearby crates. He looked over at me. "Nice combats there, son. You in the cadets?"

"Yeah."

"And do you think that's helped you at all with this mess?"

"Well... a bit. The extra weapons experience helps, but apart from that not really."

"That's interesting. And how about you, young lady? How are you doing through all this?"

"Okay" she said, looking at Hobbes. "Dad, can I let him out for a bit?"

"No, Sammy. You don't want him to get eaten, do you?"

"Alex! I'm so glad you're okay!" She ran up and hugged him tightly, nearly smothering him.

"Yeah mom... Hi."