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Chapter 27
The house is mostly destroyed on the inside, and it's so dark it's impossible to move around in without flashlights. Whoever boarded up the windows did an amazing job, because absolutely no light gets through to the first floor. The darkness makes it impossible to see the blood soaked into the entryway carpet, or the bloody smears along the walls.
Ryder, Tobe, and I stay downstairs with Melissa while Reese and Naomi check the upstairs. Naomi comes back down with a handful of long, thin candles, and she distributes them to us. "Alright, how are we doing this?" she asks once the candles are lit. "Are we going to take turns guarding her?"
"I think we should lock her in the upstairs bedroom, and just check on her periodically," Reese says.
"I agree," Tobe says, startling me. She sees me watching her and shrugs, managing to look both proud and ashamed at the same time. "I've survived this long, Sam, and I'm sorry, but I'm not
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75 Days Chapter 28
Tobe's screams wake me in the morning. At first, I think it's remnants of a dream I can't remember, until I hear something clatter to the floor, and scrambling feet. Reese and I are downstairs near the couch, and we're on our feet in an instant, and we're racing for the stairs.Tobe is trying to shut the bedroom door, and I can see Melissa's fingers, which are curled into dangerous claws, digging at the wood. Tobe is still screaming, and is trying to slam the door shut again. I'm not sure why it's open in the first place, but I when I reach the top of the stairs, I lunge for the still open door.Before I can reach it, the door flies open, and a newly turned Melissa rushes out into the hallway. Of course, I was in too much of a hurry to grab my gun, and I'm completely weaponless. She doesn't go for me though. Instead, she turns and leaps at Tobe, knocking her to the ground. Tobe has time for one scream before Melissa has her teeth embedded in
75 Days Chapter 29
After lunch, I find Ryder and Reese both sitting on the couch in the living room, and I join them. Naomi is busy cleaning herself in the bathroom with a bucket of cold water, and the guys are both talking quietly. I take a seat on the couch next to Ryder, and he looks at me. "Hey.""Now that we're here, what are we gonna do about protection?" I ask. "Are we gonna try and build a fence around this place? Are we gonna build a sniper's nest or something?""There's a tree house about a hundred yards downhill from here. There's a rope ladder that can be pulled up in case of attack, and we can use that to shoot out of.""A tree house?""It's pretty basic. It's got four wooden walls, two of which have small openings for windows, and it's pretty sturdy. I'd like something better, but it'll do in case of an emergency.""Have either of you explored the area around the cabin yet?"No, I was gonna wait and see if you or Naomi wanted to come with me. Someone has to stay here with Ryder and keep hi
75 Days Chapter 30
Zombies are shuffling up the driveway. They're still a few minutes away, but that doesn't change the fact that there are over a dozen of them grouped together. "The car. They must have heard the engine and come running," Naomi says quietly."It would have been the only thing making noise for probably miles. There's no telling how many of them heard. There could be hundreds of them on their way here.""And we'll never reach the jeep in time," she says, looking at me. "Leave the fruit. We have to warn the guys."The two of us ignore the spilled fruit, and we race up the hill to the cabin. "Ryder!" I shout, hoping someone is paying attention. "Ryder!"Reese sticks his head out the door, spots the zombies, and swears. He ducks back inside, and I can see him rummaging around for the rifle with the scope. He takes a handful of ammo, grabs his stuff, and jumps out the front door. "Reese! Where are you going?" Naomi asks. She's panicking, and I don't blame her."Our sniper's nest."Ryder grab
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The sound of gunfire wakes me up from a horrid nightmare early in the morning. When I slowly open my eyes, I'm met by the same depressing view I've seen every morning for a while now: thin, dirty cots placed around the room with thin, dirty young woman lying on those cots. They all stare at the boarded up window in wide-eyed terror as the gunfire continues, but the sound doesn't bother me like it does some of the others.The guns go off at all times of the day, and we're used to it by now. More than seven months of death, constant fear, destruction, and hopelessness is enough to make anyone hard and insensitive. So even though the guns are loud and I can hear whimpering from my younger bunkmates, I don't really care enough to go reach out and comfort them. They should be used to the fear and gunfire by now.I dress for the day in mostly clean jeans and t-shirt-they're as clean as a washboard and hand scrubbing with very little laundry detergent can make them-and then I head out into t
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Daisy sighs. "What do you think we should do today once our chores are done?""Is there anything we can do but sit around and wait to die?" Rose says, casting a disgusted look at the rest of us. "I mean, it's not like there's any internet, texting, video games, or television to watch. We might as well just sit around waiting for the end, right?""There are books to read, games to play, and survivors to get to know," I say, silencing whatever she's about to say next. "We'll find something to do with our time. If none of those options amuse you, you are more than welcome to join the training sessions later. You might actually learn to do something other than bitch about our circumstances."She narrows her eyes at me again, and I mentally prepare myself for a fight. Surprisingly, Daisy intervenes. "Rose, let's go wash our clothes. That will give us something productive to do, and we can talk while we do it. Felicia, you're welcome to join us while Madison is at training."Felicia gathers
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I find Felicia working in one of the bottom-level classrooms that used to be some kind of agricultural class, judging by the built-on greenhouse attached to the back of the room. With her are Daisy, Rose, and a handful of other girls who are stuck with washing duty. Between the eight girls are three large metal tubs full of cold, soapy water and a handful of washboards. A few of them scrub the clothes as thoroughly as they can, before passing them off to be wrung out.A few lines of cord hung up in the greenhouse serve as makeshift clotheslines, where the clothes are hung up to dry in the sunlight. Beneath them are a few plastic trays of plants that are still in the process of growing, courtesy of the agricultural teacher that taught his students to grow things. Peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and cabbage are a few of the seed packets that were left behind, and we planted them a few weeks ago, though much hasn't grown yet. Aaron and I are afraid we waited too long to plant th
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"Hey, Madison," Aaron says, stopping me on my way back to my room after washing clothes. "I need a huge favor, and you're the only one I can trust.""What do you need?""I need someone to come into town with me on a supply run. I've got a few soldiers willing to help out, but I want someone that knows the area a little better than them. You survived here in town for a while on your own; I thought you might be able to help."Aaron gives me plenty of time to think over his question without rushing me, because he knows how serious this is. I haven't been outside the fenced-in perimeter since Aaron found me five month ago, and to be honest, I haven't had the slightest urge to leave the safety of this camp. Even though we desperately need supplies, many refuse to go on the supply runs; there are so many things that can go wrong, and they don't always come back. We've lost eight men and women on supply runs in the past three and a half weeks. Those that have come back in one piece claim tha
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The front door of the store has been barricaded with an empty shelf turned on its side, but the window has been broken out, probably by vandals some time ago. Aaron is the first to climb up and over the shattered glass, and he bends down to help lift me into the store. A shard of glass jutting out of the window frame snags my shirt sleeve and it tears, but thankfully it doesn't break the skin. The thump of my boots echoes in the empty store as I drop down from the window sill, landing in a crouch.The other two soldiers climb into the store after me, and they quickly draw their guns and spread out, trying to make this place as secure as possible. Aaron nudges me in one direction, and I quickly grab two red handheld baskets from a stack near the window, before following him down a nearby aisle. Like many stores in such a large city, there isn't much left in any one place. A lot of the remaining merchandise is scattered around the floor or turned on its side on its shelf, having been ov
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