Free The Reanimates (Book 3): The Escape by J. Rudolph

again today. I was actually hopeful over seeing another person again. Trent seemed to be interested too, because he slowed down when the roof came into view. It was a different person this time. He, like the last man, held a shotgun tightly, and kept a wary eye on us. Trent acknowledged the man with a slight nod and continued driving.
    We were going to have neighbors. The second man on the porch had me convinced that my theory of this being a security outpost was right. I wondered if we were ever going to be able to meet our neighbors, or if they were always going to be known as 'those people over there' to us. I had visions of being able to trade stuff with them, but wondered if there would ever be a time of trusting people enough to interact with strangers. I wondered if the world of marauders and zombies was enough to turn everyone else into isolationists.
    My brain twisted around these thoughts of meeting other people. Part of me was so excited about the knowledge that we weren't alone in the world. Yeah, I knew that we weren't the only people left no matter how much it felt like we were. I knew that there were little pockets of other people, there was no way we already came across everyone, but at the same time, I was afraid that the people that were left were like the people in Heartsvale. I remembered those television shows where people were preparing for the end of the world and created these bug out zones that were heavily armed. I wondered what would happen if we stumbled on one of those places.
    I was still afraid of another marauders scenario. I was afraid that there were militias wandering around, roving bandits straight out of a Hollywood movie. Trent thought that the bulk of the marauders would probably have died out as the people that they took advantage of were less available. I had my doubts. I had visions of little bands of the morons banding together to form larger groups. I pictured a swarm of locusts going from crop to crop.
    Sometimes, when I slept, I had dreams of them. The dream usually started with me on watch, and in it, I saw them on the horizon heading our way. In my dreams Alexus always led the pack and they went house to house looking for us. I thought it was interesting that in my worst dreams, I dreamed of the living. I held that fear close, not telling anyone that I preferred to deal with the zombies.
    I must have fallen asleep for a moment, because before I knew it, we were bouncing on the dirt road and approaching the house. The gates yawned open to let the truck rumble through. Drew ran down the porch and across the patches of grass that refused to die. Louise waved from the door to the back yard, relief etched on her face at seeing her son alive. Trent slid the transmission into park and set the parking brake. I swung the door open and slid off the seat. By the time my boots hit the dirt, Drew wrapped his arms around my waist. I hugged him back and put my chin on the top of his head.
    "Did you kill a lot of zombies? Are we gonna live in the town? Is it safe?" Drew fired his questions off in almost a single sentence. He pulled away from me and looked up at me with shining eyes. His face was lit from inside with joy and hope. His enthusiasm gave me renewed energy. I ran my hand through his hair, playfully messing up his hair. Trent walked around the front of the truck to join us. He leaned against the filthy fender and chuckled softly.
    "Yeah, we're going to live there. We have to build the wall and make sure that the place is still clear after, but this is going to be awesome. There is even a school and you have about a year of missed homework to do."
    Drew's eyes opened wide in mock horror. "I did do my homework, but a zombie ate it."
    Trent laughed and opened the door to the back of the extended cab and hefted the cooler out. He took it to the house and into the kitchen. I heard a squeal from the kitchen and knew Louise found out what Trent took inside. We picked some vegetables in the