Dead Chaos - Book 1 - Zombie Apocalypse

Dead Chaos - Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

I’d spent a majority of the day before helping in the garden. It was important for us to have successful crops if we were going to have enough produce for the following winter. We’d stockpiled rice and other products, but if we wanted some things we’d have to grow it ourselves. Thankfully, we had plenty of animals to butcher for meat. In the autumn we’d be busy canning whatever we could.

The guys had worked all day hauling the corpses from the night before and burning them and a house down to the ground. My dad had given a long lecture the previous morning to Alexi and Justin on the hazards of getting wasted when there was the possibility of danger. Neither Melanie nor Viktor tattled on me and Kyle, which we were grateful for.

In the evening, I’d helped Paulina prepare dinner while Melanie patiently watched Riley parade in and out of the living room, showing off her new clothes. Riley practiced strutting around the house in heels the past few months so she was a pro. I’d still be interested in watching her run from a gang of zombies in them. Well, if by some miracle civilization did return, she’d be prepared for prom.

Until then, I’d be sticking closer to the ground in boots and flats. Except for my wedding, I may don a pair of pretty heels for that. I still needed to find a dress, something simple and feminine. I was thinking the outlet mall in Silverthorne may have something. I’d have to get Melanie to check it out with me.

Alexi and Justin were tired from their work, and still a bit hung-over, so they’d gone to bed right after bathing and eating dinner. My dad had set about the task of figuring out what Zeke did and did not know academically. Mostly, it was the “did not know” category that filled up. He had his work cut out for him. The boy couldn’t read and the alphabet was meaningless symbols.

Kyle and I found alone time by sitting out on the deck, cuddling on the same chair. Talks of the future had changed since before the apocalypse. When we were in middle school, we’d often contemplated which college we’d go to or which profession we’d like to go into. I’d wanted to be something ambitious like a lawyer or an FBI agent. Kyle’s dreams were more easily attainable; he’d wanted to be a high school math teacher. Nowadays, our dreams were more down-to-earth. We talked about having a home of our own nearby and someday making a baby or two. I thought that someday was a day far away. Like when we were thirty. I was in no hurry to be responsible for keeping another person alive. Kyle had the “whatever happens, happens,” attitude. I’d stealthily be starting our own stockpile of condoms the next time we went on a supply run.

Having to get up early the next morning, we all went to bed at a decent time, Melanie and Viktor before everyone else. Paulina had simply shaken her head, complaining that there was a couple who needed to be getting married. Live and let live was my motto. There was no longer a society to judge and I figured someday that little fact would catch up with Paulina.

Today, we’d be on the road again. We left early after finishing loading up the vehicles with goods to trade. Eating the breakfast Paulina made us all for our journey, I wondered if she ever got tired of constantly cooking. I got the impression she found pleasure in providing nourishment for the rest of us, so maybe not.

We’d all been looking forward to today, having had good experiences in the past at this settlement. There was only one downside to going there and I wasn’t going to even acknowledge him. With any luck, he’d be on a supply run himself or otherwise occupied and out of my sight. I knew the guys were hoping to pick up new defensive techniques with regards to weapons or combat.

My dad and Paulina sought out the chance to socialize with their own age group. They didn’t have much in common with each other and were sometimes bored being surrounded in isolation by a group of youths. My dad had Mac to visit, but poor Paulina had no older women to converse with. Melanie was arguably more mature than me, so I think she on occasion filled that void, but was usually off with Viktor.