“We knew it was just a matter of time. It’s started.”
“I’m just thankful my cabin is off grid. I guess we don’t need these anymore,” he said and tossed his cellphone to the porch floor. Zahara grinned and tossed hers beside his. Rose came out with the large book and handed it to Xander. He laid it out in his lap and turned to a clean sheet in the notebook. He paused a moment when he heard the soft humming from Zahara and he didn’t dare look at her. His eyes teared up because he’d never heard her do that. Not once. It struck him that she was happy, truly happy. The wild woman, Flea, Agent Zed, and werewolf was actually happy and she wasn’t even killing anyone. He felt his heart squeeze and he went back to plotting their route.
The rooster was crowing and it wasn’t light out. The children were still asleep but the adults were all down in the kitchen as Rose made breakfast for them. They’d be heading out soon and it would be a long day. By Xander’s route, it would take them two days to get home, if they didn’t run into too many roadblocks or hordes of zombies. Rose was also making extra biscuits for them to take along. For now, it was biscuits and gravy with fried eggs. Zahara was helping her, she wanted to learn how to make the flaky biscuits because she’d become addicted to them. Rose had also written down several other recipes, just in case.
After breakfast, they would go to the coop and select five hens and a rooster. There was a large dog kennel in the back of the Chevy with straw and a water bottle suspended from the kennel door. The chickens could peck at the water to drink. There were several metal trashcans with grain and feed for the chickens as well. The clothing and little belongings had been packed last night. There was also a cooler with a special weapon they had made. Napalm, which Reggie had produced with a bit of acetone and Styrofoam. It was for large gatherings of zombies. This way, they could be killed with a direct hit. It was brutal but it would save them ammunition and it would also save others.
Xander sipped his coffee and was glad that Rose had filled a thermos for them. They would need it. Zahara had started a list in the spiral notebook Rose had given them. It was a list of things they would need to gather for their end of the world shopping spree. Coffee was at the top of the list, along with more ammo, meds, medical supplies and so on. She’d already filled up three pages and he thought that perhaps one of the first things he would do once they got back to the cabin was to build a barn. Either that or see if he could commandeer a big-rig with container. He could park the thing on his property and store nonperishable goods, such as clothing, hardware and so on.
He figured they had roughly six months to a year to go out and gather what they needed and store away. He was giving the power grid less time and he’d have to see about fuel and fuel treatment to extend the life and his ability to be mobile. There was a lot to think about. If it were only himself and Zahara, he’d not worry about it, but they had Shay now. They would need educational supplies along with clothing that she could grow into. So much to think about and they’d not even left yet. He sighed again and caught Zahara’s eye. She smiled serenely and his heart beat a little slower. They had this. They could do it and both were killers. In a few years, Shay would be as well and wouldn’t be as vulnerable.
Reggie and Ethan would follow them out and they would head for the stores to begin taking all the supplies they could. With the loss of their cellphone service, they had talked about what needed to be done before the grid across the country went down. Rose had tried her phone as well and it had been the same for her. No service nor internet. She checked on the television in the den and there was nothing but static on it now. No news stations, nothing was being broadcast. He was glad to see that the two men were getting along and there was no kind of animosity between the two. They were all they had now and it was an odd feeling to know that when he and Zahara left, they would be on their own as well. It was like being on a never-ending mission but with no extraction.
When Reggie and Ethan came back late the evening before, they relayed the situation at the other farm. The woman, Rachel Abila, had been trapped in the house over a week. Her husband, Johnathan, had been turned, along with two neighbors and her best friend who’d been staying with them. She’d tried to defend them, but they’d run out of ammunition. It would seem that the weapon she’d pointed at them had been empty. Neither Ethan nor Reggie mentioned the werewolves and Rachel had said that she’d seen two wolf creatures in the yard, but that they had killed the zombies so she thought they might have been okay. Xander’s mouth twitched at that.
Ethan and Reggie had set the pile of zombies on fire and cleared out the barn of the dead animals with her tractor. When they’d come home, they’d been filthy and stunk. They would swing by there again today and help Rachel with whatever she needed doing. At least they
