We pulled ourselves together a few hours after we watched their plane leave the Pittsburgh airport. Our final plan we made was to survive and see our families again. That meant boarding up all of the windows and doors on our houses. From there, we decided to make our Headquarters at the RidgeField pool.

       Sorry. I forgot to mention. RidgeField is our town. It is a forty-five minute to an hour drive to downtown Pittsburgh. As our convoy of trucks and hummers drove into the parking lot, I noted the sign above the entrance. It said that it was home to the "RidgeField Riptides," Weird. It would make more sense if we were an animal, like a shark or something living. But still cool.

       The reason we wanted to set up shop here was because it was in the center of town. It was on a bit of a hill, and we could see the many miles of roads, highways, shops, and houses. Aaron, Joe, and I were swimmers, but the others sometimes met here in summer to swim and enjoy ice cream. Also another reason we came.

       When most of the country evacuated, there was nobody to run the power, so we had some generators hooked up to burn gasoline from an old propane tank out back. The building was huge, not including the Olympic sized pool, and it was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire. Strange, but helpful.

       Our first plan was to make a brick wall to support the fence. We got cement and bricks from a Dollar Store in construction.

        So much fun. That took maybe a week. The entrance was reinforced with plywood and nails. It was locked with a large Deadbolt lock. We had two storage rooms filled with food and water, not to mention the large freezer filled with Mint Choco, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate, Vanilla, and random flavors of ice cream. We had enough Coca-Cola for a year if we needed it. And my personal favorite: Forty. Pounds. Of. Sprinkles.