Free Zombies in Paradise (Love in the Age of Zombies Book 2) by James K. Evans

survival backpack, shouldered his hunting rifle, and headed out. He’d already drawn a map to Kevin’s house. It looked to be about fifteen miles. He walked at a brisk pace. Unless he ran into problems, he’d be at their place by mid-afternoon.
    He’d already walked six or seven miles when he realized he left the gas can behind. It would have made more sense to find a garden hose, siphon some gas, and drive the rest of the way. But to return to the Jeep, get the gas can and retrace his steps would waste several more hours. He decided it made more sense to continue on foot.
    Approaching Dexter, he had to scramble to escape a handful of zombies shuffling about on top of the bridge over Mill Creek. Fortunately the creek was not deep, and Doc elected to wade through the river. The cold water made his legs ache.
    He did his best to stay out of the open and moved with as much stealth as possible. Even so, zombies noticed him and began to follow him; he zigzagged his way through a small business park to get them off his trail. Several hours later he was on the outskirts of Ann Arbor.
    “  .  .  .  I stayed away from houses and buildings as much as possible and had no trouble. There’s not much else to tell.”
    Doc wrapped up the story and grew silent. He’d been talking non-stop for nearly an hour. When they finished their breakfast Michelle offered to do the dishes while the men tended the plants.
     
     
    Chapter Six
    Once Doc moved in, they settled into their new roles as roommates. They spent a hours deep in conversation and playing card games, getting to know each other. They enjoyed each other’s company.
    “So what are your plans?” Doc asked.
    “Long-range? I’m not sure. We have a great setup here, but it’s not sustainable. At some point we’ll run out of food. Then what?”
    “So you don’t really have any plans.”
    “No, I guess I’m having a hard time accepting this as a permanent reality. What are your plans?”
    “Oh, about as vague as yours. I planned to sit back and ride out the storm in my cabin. I could still fish my pond, had a nicely-stocked pantry, and never once saw a zombie. I knew I could weather the storm. But this storm isn’t going to pass. We’ll have to figure out a way to survive when the food’s gone.”
    “I never had to stock a pantry for survival,” Kevin said, “I’m not sure how long it will take to run out of food. But we have plenty. Even though it’s been seven months since we moved down here, we haven’t used even a quarter of our supplies. Maybe together we can figure out how long the food will last.”
    Doc agreed, and the three of them went over the supplies. The inventory Michelle took earlier was very helpful in not having to count everything again by hand. Everyone agreed they needed an efficient way to manage their food.
    “We should figure out the caloric needs of each of us and use that to determine the servings we get,” Michelle suggested. But after talking about it they agreed it would be overly complicated. They would just use the serving information on the label. They spent some time adding up the numbers and finally Michelle announced they had enough food to last seven months. “And what will we do then?” she asked, looking from man to man. Neither had an answer.
     
    Doc continued to be fascinated by the hydroponics, saying he’d read about it but had never seen it in practice. Kevin brought out his collection of hydroponics books and Doc spent several days just reading and discussing the science of it with Kevin. He was a quick learner and asked if Kevin would let him take a crop from start to finish. It was time for another wave of lettuce to be harvested, which meant it was also time to germinate a new batch of seeds. Doc put the seeds in Rockwool cubes then placed them in the root cellar to germinate in the cool air. Within three days he had sprouts to obsess over.
    The other sprout he was interested in was the one gestating