Monique and her father were fine. After the end of the world, things were hard to get used to. Monique was an 18 year old high school grad who’d been resting during the summer. She’d gotten her college acceptance letter and wanted to enjoy the summer. Eat delicious food and hang out with her friends. Throughout the week, she kept trying to call her friends or cousins. The phone lines were busy most of the time, but after a few days, they’d gone out completely. Eventually, her phone ran out of batteries as electricity was no longer available.  Food was decent for a first couple of days as they ate whatever was perishable, since the refrigerator was out. The house had a large cupboard of canned goods and foods, so they lived off of that. Monique became sick of them quickly. The water system was still on, until recently. So, going to the bathroom became difficult as they had to do their business outside.<br/><br/>She hated this. Every single night, she cried. She tried to cry quietly, but it was hard not to wake up her dad, since they slept together. Sometimes at night, she heard her dad cry as well. This was hard for the both of them. Each day, she and her dad would both work to try and repair the house. The windows needed the most attention as the two used boards from the garage floor panels and raw materials from the basement. They also brought out all the candles to light the place at night. The doors were also reinforced with some wood and metal scraps. Her father would carry around a hunting rifle for their protection. He also carried a side arm on his right thigh.<br/><br/>It was one week after the fall of human civilization. The house was nearly complete in their makeshift defenses, when a few heavy footsteps approached the doors of their fortified house. Her dad stood up with minor pain from his knee wound and took out his hunting rifle. He had planned to train Monique with the pistol later that week. “Monique. Behind the couch, honey.”, her dad whispered as he aimed his rifle at the doorway. She did as told and jumped over the couch with her eyes peeking over. Her heart beat furiously. Her father had instructed her to fall back to the closet if anything happened. He set up a closet door where it could lock from the inside. Much like a panic room. The closet was packed with extra canned rations, granola bars, 48 water bottles, and a thermal blanket.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>