Death of Innocence (Surviving the Fall 4)

“Clearly we still have some issues with security around the place.”

Mark giggled before trying to turn his expression serious. “Er, yeah. Sorry.”

Dianne smiled and shook her head. “No, you’re right to laugh. Of all the things we prepared for and got ready I never thought to secure the easiest way into the house. There’s no excuse for it.” Dianne’s smile faded. “That could have been a lot worse than it was.”

“I saw you were out at the barn when I got up. Did you find enough boards and stuff to close up the windows?”

“Yep, everything’s down there. We just have to bring it all up.” Dianne shook her head again. “We really need to get the aquaponics rolling down in the basement. Adding some nice leafy greens to our diets would be good. Today’s not that day, though, I guess.”

Over the next few hours Mark, Jacob, Josie and Dianne worked to move the lumber from the barn to the back porch of the house. The sun was bright and the temperature warmer than Dianne had expected which resulted in the snow starting to vanish before their very eyes. Trudging across the wet grass and dirt wasn’t that much more pleasant than going through the snow, though, and before long each of the four had mud streaking across their shoes, pants and—in Josie’s case—face.

Mark worked a small handsaw to cut misshapen boards to size while Jacob carried them back and forth to Dianne. Josie was in charge of handing Dianne the nails, four of which were used on each board. Dianne cringed at the first few boards she pounded into place across the beautiful siding of her house, but she knew that the actions were necessary to help ensure her family’s survival. Besides, she thought, it’ll add extra character for when Rick gets back.

It was mid-afternoon by the time they were done boarding up all of the windows. Dianne sat them all down on the back porch and went inside to heat up an early dinner while Mark sketched out a design for the covering on the rear sliding door. Dianne hadn’t realized how much darker the house was going to be with the windows boarded up, but she tried to keep a positive attitude despite the darkness. With soup in hand she headed out to the back patio and passed around bowls before sitting down to see what Mark had drawn.

“I think if we put the boards up vertically on the left side of the door like this, then add in a couple of horizontal ones for stability, we can just mount the hinges directly onto the horizontal boards.”

Dianne turned around to look at the sliding door and nodded. “I think that’s the best idea, yeah. Then we’ll just have the same setup on the right side, except it won’t get nailed in.”

“Yeah and I think we could mount some sort of hook on the inside doorframe to loop a rope or chain around. The only problem with that is the glass door won’t be able to shut all the way.”

“Hm. Well, with the hinges mounted so far out there’s going to be a gap there between the wood door and the sliding one. What if we just put an actual lock onto the doorframe in between the two doors. Just a slide lock or maybe a hook lock. We could put a couple of those on there, one at the top and one at the bottom.”

“I think we

have some of those in the barn somewhere. At least I think we do.”

“Yep, I think you’re right. That would be from Jacob’s six-month obsession with all types of locks.” Dianne smiled and tussled her younger son’s hair as she stood up. “All right, this sounds like a plan. Jacob, how about you and your sister get things cleaned up while Mark and I get started on this? Turn on an extra light in there, though. It’s pretty dark.”

With a few grumbles Josie and Jacob got to work as requested. While they washed and put away the bowls and pot Dianne started hammering in the vertical boards to the left outer side of the sliding doorframe. Mark ran down to the barn while she worked and dug around in old boxes until he found a plastic baggie filled with locks of various types and levels of rust and brought them back to the porch along with three heavy-duty hinges from a workbench.

“Think these’ll work?”

Dianne glanced at the baggie as she plucked a nail from between her lips and rested it against a board. “Yup. Perfect.”

In the span of two hours the finished section covering the left side of the glass door was completed and the right side was preassembled on the floor of the patio and ready to be put into place. Inside, on the couch, Dianne listened as Josie and Jacob watched a recorded TV show before glancing at the tablet propped up on a chair that showed the view of the security cameras. “Everything’s been really quiet today. No sign of that guy.”

“Maybe he won’t come back?” Mark offered the suggestion half-heartedly, believing in it about as much as Dianne did.

“I doubt that. But maybe. Okay, come on. Let’s lift this up and get it attached.” The solid iron hinges were one of the weak points of the back door, but Dianne knew full well that all of the wooden barricades around the windows and back door would mean nothing to someone who was determined to break in. They were designed to both obscure views inside the house from trespassers as well as offer Dianne and the children a few extra precious seconds to prepare a defense should an invasion become imminent. Someone could just as easily use a crowbar and elbow grease to pry off the boards from one of the windows as they could remove the hinges from the door.

“Up we go!” Dianne lifted the door up and Mark hammered in a couple of temporary nails through the hinges into the door to keep it in place. When he was done Dianne let go of the door slowly and helped him screw it to the hinges.

After another hour of adjusting hinges, adding more reinforcements and a pair of locks that attached to the frame of the sliding glass door, Jacob and Josie stood on the porch holding flashlights up as Mark and Dianne drove in the final nails and screws. When they were done, Dianne and Mark stepped back to admire what they built.

“All right, Jacob. Head inside, pull the door shut and lock it.” Dianne watched as Jacob did as she asked. The makeshift door covered the entirety of the sliding glass door and a small handle mounted on the inside of the wood made pulling it closed easy. A few seconds later, once both locks were engaged, Dianne stepped forward and began prying at the door to test how well it would hold. Even after jamming a screwdriver into the cracks between the boards to gain leverage she still couldn’t do more than pry the door out by a millimeter or two. Satisfied that the door would do she released it and stepped back.

“Okay, looks good from out here. Open it up again.” Jacob opened the locks and pushed the door open and Dianne nudged Mark and smiled at him.

“Well done, kiddo. We did a good job today.”

Mark nodded and smiled back as he looked at the door. “It’s not the best looking thing in the world, is it?”

“Nah, but that’s okay. It works and that’s what matters.” Dianne patted Mark on the back. “Come on, let’s get inside. I’m beat.”

After sending Josie and Jacob upstairs to get themselves ready for bed Dianne and Mark cleaned up the tools from the back porch and stacked the spare lumber along the side. There was enough left between what was on the porch and what she didn’t pull from the barn that she started thinking about shoring up more of the tunnel beneath the house. That, however, would be a project for a different day.

Chapter 11