Zavier jogged across the cul-de-sac to a house with a three-car garage and long driveway. He slowed when he hit the driveway and walked past a family van, two daily driver sedans known affectionately in Wisconsin as "Beaters with heaters", a restored Jeep, a restored 1966 Chevy Crew Cab with an extended bed, an old Mercedes that Zavier didn't know the year of but knew it was probably older than him, and a white and baby blue tow-behind that said "Shasta Airflyte" on the side. He could hear the sound of a table saw running inside the garage so he moved to the side door and walked in without knocking. He and Owen had graduated from the same engineering school, Zavier with Industrial Engineering and Owen with Mechanical Engineering. Zavier had gone on to business school after but Owen never wanted to be anything more than a mad scientist and engineer.
Owen "Crazy Canuck" Bouchard looked up and gave him a head nod before looking back down at the saw. He was pushing lengths of this plywood through it, stacking them neatly on a roller table behind. Zavier walked over the plastic pitcher of beer that was always available when Owen was working and poured some of the dark porter into a plastic cup from the stack next to it. The thing about coming to visit Owen is that you could treat the place like your own. Grab tools, use his equipment, grab some beer. What was his was yours, but you were expected to clean up after yourself and replace anything you used the last of. He never asked for anything to use what he had, but if you got a text that asked you to make a stop at the hardware, grocery, or liquor store on the way over you just did it. It was a fair exchange for using a garage that was equipped with everything you'd need, from car repair to cabinetry. Zavier lit a cigar and sat there puffing it and drinking the beer until Owen had finished.
"What'cha got der?" Zavier asked, mocking Owen's Canadian accent.
Owen grunted and gave a small shrug. "Apocalypse, ya know. Gotta cover the windows," Zavier eyed the thick plywood and knew that nothing was breaking through that once it was up.
"I picked up a bunch myself. Mind if I use your garage today or tomorrow?"
"Ya know the code." Owen nodded to the keypad just outside the door. "Clean up after yerself."
Zavier nodded in return. "You need help with anything?"
"Help me get these up on the windows if ya don't mind," he said, but sat down to light up a pipe himself. With Owen things didn't start when you thought they would, you always had a little extra time.
"So," Zavier said. "you have to kill anything?"
"No, and I hope not to. Nothing wrong with taking care of vermin but I figure that the battle is won outside the castle walls. If ya gotta kill something you let it get too close in the first place."
"Huh. How are you going to survive when they start coming? Because you know they will."
"Oh, we'll kill em when they come. But first things first. I always wanted a doomsday compound, I figure this is as good a time as any to build one. Might even do some ramparts - always wanted some of those."
"You think you'll be able to ride out the monsters when they start getting stronger?"
Owen looked deep in thought for a minute then shrugged. "In the beginning, fer sure. Maybe those squirrel things might get over a short wall or fence, but for the first little bit we'll be a'ight. After that… I think we'll need to start working on some defenses. It seems like killin' the creatures is going to be the main way to gain levels like you all did, but I don't think that's for me and mine. I don't mind the killin', don't get me wrong. You know I hunt a few times a year, but there's gotta be other ways of survivin.'"
Zavier took a sip then responded. "There are. I have been scanning the internet and it looks like you can advance from skills too. A lot of people have mentioned gaining levels from doing crafts, building things, creating things - stuff like that. Seems like 'crafter' or 'engineer' is going to be a real thing in this new world. It makes sense, since no society can survive off only the fighting class."
"Welp, I'll be okay then. Let's get to this." and with that he slapped his knees and stood up. Zavier got up to help him hang the boards over the windows.
Zavier and Owen looked at the ground floor windows that had been covered up, hands on hips. Owen looked over to Zavier's place. "Need help getting yours up?"
"It's a good idea and definitely yes, but we don't have much time until the safe period is over. Think we can get one over the broken window and do the rest if things seem calm enough after?"
They walked over and propped a sheet of plywood over the window and screwed it straight into the wall through the siding. "My home value is going to suck after this," he chuckled.
Owen chuckled too. "Wasn't worth much before this so it's all good." They both laughed and looked at the other windows. "We got time to put a few more up if you want it."
In the end they put the boards halfway up the remaining windows. Zavier didn't want them fully covered so that they could still see out of them, but this would at least prevent anything bigger than a foot or two tall from jumping through. Owen gave him a silent nod then walked back to his place, seemingly without a care in the world. Zavier just shook his head at the unflappable nature of one of his oldest friends.