What does Home mean?

Gaslighting.

After the visitor left, Brent and I sealed up the whole house.

Since the ventilation intake pipe openings are almost 500 yards from the house and the exhaust vents are five feet away, they'll be wasting their time trying to gas us.

Even if they found the intakes, we put new charcoal and gas filters in the intake cannisters.

It doesn't matter if it's hydrogen disulpher, mustard gas, chlorine gas or something else.

It will never reach the interior of the home.

Brent was... how did he say it? A prepper, or something?

Anyway, before he died and the abuse he'd been through as a kid, he was extremely paranoid.

I'm glad he was, but I'm just as glad that he isn't anymore.

If that makes any sense.

He built the house in such a way that it could be near completely sealed and still bring in fresh air.

The grow lights were for the bunker, which was also going to double as a greenhouse.

I still say we should make that happen.

A personal indoor garden? It would almost be like what dad has in the center of his home, except his has no roof overhead.

Brent said that he'd start preparing for it.

He covered the entire floor with black plastic sheet and went two feet up the walls.

We used my dump truck to move a bunch of dirt and gravel near the iris door.

Oh, you thought the mulch and gravel business didn't work out?

No, it has been going very well.

It's just boring business stuff and, honestly, who wants to hear about it except Brent?

He always asks how my day went and he's so sincere about it.

I love that man...

Anyway, I found out that the stairs to the iris door can be raised and moved to the side, completely out of the way.

Doing so triggers a safety to engage and raises a railing around the topside.

The past two days haven't been anything too worrying.

Brent shovels soil over the railing and into the bunker.

While wearing his armor suit.

The cloak uses even more power the further it's stretched but, honestly, he's able to work more efficiently and ended up nearly finished with the twenty-six tons of soil.

The suit's cloak can mask the shovel but not the soil.

All good things must end, though at least this time, we had three day's warning.

Brent saw the message center flash threat detected and radioed for me to close the iris door.

Putting the shovel down, he reaches for the automatic B.B.G shotgun on his back.

I just realized that the name, Bastard Brainchild Gun, is an acronym for BB gun...

What lunatic made that thing?

Anyway, he radioed me to close the iris door, which I'd done.

His perspective might be more helpful here.

Babe?

I got it, love.

The men came up toward the iris door and saw the soil and shovel.