Free Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Sanctuary by Joshua Jared Scott Page B

little more than a kid, and I remember how bad field
rations were.”
    “I’m
pretty sure they’ve improved since then. Either way, no point in letting them
go to waste. You’ll want them come winter.”
    “This winter
will be a tough one,” admitted Edwin. “We’ll have to start gathering wood in
the fall to get ready. The houses all have fireplaces, so that’ll help with
heating.”
    “Getting
the electricity running would be even better.”
    He
laughed. “I get that same comment at least twenty times a day from twenty
different people. We’re looking into it. Might have air conditioning and lights
someday.”
    “Shame
we can’t open up all the windows and try to get a decent breeze. That’d help in
the meantime. Damn zombies.”
    “Know
what you mean Jacob. I fall asleep every night coated in sweat. Reminds me of
the jungle, but at least the walking ones are stupid.”
    “But
determined, and they don’t give up and probably won’t ever go away.”
    “They
may not be rotting,” he began. Everyone was now firmly convinced that the
zombies were in no way decaying, not past the first day or two which did little
other than ensure they looked dead and maybe messed up their coordination even
more. “Winter, ah, that’ll be different I think. It gets really cold here, and
perhaps they’ll freeze up. If so, it will be easy to thin em out.”
    “Would
be nice,” I replied. All thoughts of eliminating the monstrous pests were
pleasant.
    “So are
you and Briana going to settle down with us?” he asked, shifting the subject.
“We got another three last night who said they would join up.”
    “Oh,
from where?”
    “These
came in from the Oklahoma City area, a far out suburb. Their story was a bit
like yours. They were pretty much next to the rural areas and had no trouble
getting out and running. They stayed in the house longer than you, only left
when they ran out of food. College kids renting a place.”
    “That
would explain having only a few days food on hand,” I laughed. “Good that they
got out.”
    “Had
some disturbing stories though.”
    “Such
as?”
    “Gangs
rampaging about, really vicious ones. They saw one go by in the late afternoon,
dragging some bodies behind their bikes. A few were zombies, but others were
dead and had likely been alive before they were chained up.”
    I
swallowed hard. You just knew there was going to be somebody having that sort
of twisted fun.
    “And
what about you? You going to stay as well?”
    I looked
Edwin in the eye. “Briana and I are moving on.”
    “You
talked to her about this?”
    “Yes,” I
replied, not liking his insinuations but understanding them. “She’s in total
agreement.”
    “You
think you can do better somewhere else or you think we’re not going to last?”
    “Edwin,
I think this place is fine now, but I don’t see you making it past Christmas. I
hope I’m wrong. I really do, but, no, I can’t see you lasting. And if you do
make it to next year, I see you going hungry.”
    “Lots of
stores and houses to get food from and few mouths that need to be fed.”
    “That’ll
run out eventually. Hell, you know all the stored food in the world will run
out or go bad at some point.” This was a core part of my beliefs about staying
alive long term. “You have to plant crops. You have to grow your own. The
climate here is lousy for that. Too little rain and too much heat in the
summer.”
    “The
Indians did it, and we’ve always had farms.”
    “They
spent more time hunting than farming, and while I’m no historian, I’m pretty
sure this was a sparsely populated area even for the natives, at least till the
government began dumping tribe after tribe here. And those were provided for,
sort of, in an inefficient, screwing them over sort of way.”
    “We have
a Choctaw in our town. Was visiting an in-law when the change happened. He used
to work in one of their casinos, not all that useful really. Tries hard
enough.”
    “To