Bill worked in technology as a computer programmer, but he was always spouting off about "Armageddon" and being prepared for whatever life threw at you. He was heavy into Boy Scouts of America as well, his oldest son had made Eagle Scout a year early and his other boys were involved in camping, hunting and fishing all year round. The only complaint Sarah had about Bill was that he seemed way more focused on the boys of the family than the girls. On more than one occasion she had heard Bill say he took care of the boys and his wife, Trisha, took care of the girls.

Max felt, in some way, Bill would be more ready for the storm of zombies than he ever would be. He knew with the financial markets fluctuating so badly over the past few years that Bill had been planting large gardens on his land, learning how to preserve meat by drying it out and teaching the boys to hunt and fish as more than a hobby. Max was hoping his perception was not off and that his friend would be the rock in the storm that he needed him to be right now. Somewhere in the back of Max's mind there was a little nagging thought that things might not go as planned, Bill could get fickle when his families welfare was on the line, would he treat Max as family or as a drain on the family resources? It was a small disturbing thought and Max resolved to show up to Bill's house with as many resources as he could cram into the van, if that meant driving seven hundred miles with gas cans on the top of the car, then that was what he would do.

Chapter 2

‘Just another day at work’, Bill thought to himself as he crawled into his old Ford Ranger. Of course it was not ‘just another day’ anymore. The news had mentioned all sorts of problems lately, riots, drug crazed terrorist attacks, power outages. The worst of it was the power outages, nothing like losing your air conditioning in July in Iowa to make you appreciate the wonder of electricity.