CHAPTER 6 - Discoveries and Decisions

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A YEAR AGO BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE

Eden had turned her second day before the third and final day into a self-training ground inside her barricaded apartment.

Now on that third day, she is ready and prepared to leave the apartment and meet up with the two men, one of them being the former manager of her part-time job.

She dressed herself up in a simple shirt with a thick leather jacket and jeans and running shoes, she even has a hooded sweater underneath her leather jacket to cover the hood over her head and provide herself with thick clothing to ensure that any stray zombie out there that might bite on her arms, their teeth won't rip apart the thickness through the many-layered clothes. She even had a dark bandana around her neck inside her hood to cover her mouth and nose up to protect herself from breathing any toxic air if there was any spreading from outside.

She also had her backpack with her needed stuff ready along with her weapons which are the two spears she was holding tightly in one hand.

She looked around her apartment as if for the last time and sighed and then held the two spears in one hand in a tight grip while her free one removed the chair that was blocking the main door of her home with the heavy boxes already removed. She slowly opened it and looked back at her space one more time with a sad forlorn expression on her face which she had only lived in it for almost half a week when she moved into the city.

Eden sighed and then left, shutting the door behind her, leaving the empty apartment.

Time passed quickly and it was almost sundown when Eden came running back, bursting through her apartment door like an explosion, and she looked completely haggard and exhausted as if she went through a big wringer.

Then Eden sighed again like before as she let her backpack and weapons fall from her weak hands, along with the handgun that she somehow had gotten from somewhere.

She weakly but firmly barricaded her door again with the same chair as before, but the heavy boxes back on the chair, and then pushed her bag and weapons besides the chair.

Then she opened her backpack and took out her journal and pen to write what had happened as she walked tiredly to her desk, sat on her chair, and went on writing in it.

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JOURNAL ENTRY: 10TH DAY, 1ST MONTH JANUARY, YEAR 2XXX

Oh My God! I can't believe this had happened!

I mean, what are the chances once in a lifetime that such a twist of bad luck or fate would fall for them?

Sorry, I'm rambling on.

I'm writing like this because I couldn't believe what had just happened today when I thought that I would be meeting up with the people that will take me out of the city and get out of this nightmare.

Of course, something had to happen to mess that plan up.

Here I was, the third day that is scheduled for me to meet up with one of the guys who was my manager and boss from my former part-time job, and I was packed and ready to leave on that day after I finally decided to leave and get out.

My things and food were already prepared and packed in my slightly heavy backpack, along with the additions of knives, my journal, and a pen inside it.

I had one sharp long kitchen knife sheathed by the side pocket of my jeans and I was holding both of the two spears that I made.

I'm also dressed up in heavy thick clothes but not too much so that it would limit my movements on running and leaping and whatever I do. And also I do not like the idea that I'll be tripping over my own feet and fall because I'm wearing clothes that would restrict my body from moving fast and swiftly.

I don't know whether I look ridiculous or a real bad-ass when I looked at myself in the mirror before I left.

And so, I looked around my apartment for the last time in a short nostalgic moment before I finally walked out. As I walked down the stairs, I finally remembered the handgun I had dropped when I went running back to my apartment three days ago.

Surprisingly, the handgun was still there. I thought that anyone that had lived or rented in this apartment building would've noticed it and picked it up as they left. Still, then I remembered that the previous tenants that were staying in this building had stayed on the lower floors and I was the only one who was living on the upper ones.

I guess it's fortunate for me as I picked up the gun and then placed it in another pocket of my jeans, after flicking the safety switch on, and planned to use the gun as a backup weapon just in case.

I slowly went down the stairs, cautious in case any zombies had lurked into the building and were hiding somewhere inside.

I managed to reach down to the ground main floor and was about to go past the lobby and get out when I saw the manager of this apartment building. And he's dead.

And oh. That has got to hurt.

I'm not going to write this down on what happened because my building manager--God rest his soul--didn't have a very good ending when he got caught by the undead monsters.

Ugh, poor guy. At least I didn't eat much for breakfast.

Anyway, I was polite and kind enough to take a stray blanket that was there and covered his corpse up and then I quietly stepped out of the building and looked around my surroundings outside.

So far, the streets of the neighborhood that I'm in, are eerily silent and creepy quiet. But I can still hear the ongoing continued chaos that is breaking out still from far away in the city, including the sirens.

I looked around a bit more, both hands holding my two spears at the ready in case something suddenly comes at me, and then I remember the address on the note given to me as I memorized it before I tucked the piece of paper into my jeans pocket. The location wasn't very far from where I am, and I started moving at a slightly fast jog in the direction where I need to go.

I was a bit surprised again when I didn't encounter any more zombies on the way, but I knew better than to get my hopes up and was vigilant to be on the lookout with all of my senses sharp as can be.

However, that was when I encountered something that got all of my hopes dashed and my plans on leaving the city all went down to pieces.

There was a truck that slammed itself and crashed against the glass front of another store building and when I was about to run past it, I heard familiar growling and munching sounds from inside the truck in the front seats.

I stopped and realized to myself that I didn't get any real practice in using my makeshift spears as weapons against the monsters outside in the field. I figured I could use the trapped beings inside the truck as target practice in a confirmed case of experience.

I slowly tiptoed towards the truck and was quiet enough as I went closer to the messed-up vehicle.

When I am now near it and can see through the window in the front, I dropped one of my spears and my right hand moved swiftly to cover my open mouth and my eyes widened in shock and horror at what I'm seeing.

It was the two men I'm supposed to meet with and one of them who was my manager, was dead from the car crash by blunt-force head trauma, and his corpse is being eaten by his zombie-turned friend.

I didn't know what had happened that got these two to go out and do something until they got themselves killed by the car crash. But I can tell the cause of it might be from my manager's friend suddenly turning into a zombie and then attacking him. For I can see that this was only recent earlier today it had happened.

I was very much horrified and devastated that the plan of meeting up with them has failed because of this site I'm staring at right now. Then I snapped out of it when I noticed something that was there still on the back of the truck bed.

I looked closer to see what it is and my eyes widened again in shock as I'm stunned to see that it was the rucksack filled with guns and weapons inside it they had before, still bulging up and out of the brim of it, you can see some guns sticking out of the open zipper.

I'm going to have to throw away my chance on doing practice with zombies and take a new one by getting a new load for myself with this bag of guns. As I climbed up on the truck and grab for the gun bag, the zombie inside was still eating and munching on his dead meal as I tried to drag and carry it out from the truck.

The bag of guns was really heavy and I knew there was no way I'd be able to carry it back to my apartment without collapsing and falling over from the weight unless I got myself a car or something.

I knew that I'll have to find a way another time to get it back to my place as I hurriedly dragged the heavy bag from the straps and pulled it across the street and into a dark alleyway where there is a large garbage bin on the side. The reason why I dragged it all the way there is because I knew that no one else would even think of finding weapons in a soon-to-be zombie apocalypse inside a closed garbage container.

I pushed the garbage bin a bit more inside the dark alleyway for good measure to hide it more and then I opened the lid and moved some of the garbage and stinky mess inside so that I'll insert and hide the bag of weapons inside until I come back and get it.

Once I did and I closed the lids, I turned back to the direction where I had come from and went running back and leaving behind the truck with the trapped zombie still inside it.

It didn't take long for me to get back to my apartment, running past the blanket-covered corpse still in the lobby and climbing up the stairs and I'm now back and inside my apartment again.

I barricaded again and double-checked to see if everything was secure and tight and I didn't realize that it almost took me half a day when I left and came back here when I noticed that it was sundown.

But right now, I pretty much have to focus on what I need to do now for the next day and prepare and plan on what to do, now that I suddenly realize that I'm stuck in the city with no way out that is possible for me alone.

I'll have to stop and rest up so that I'll be able to think clearly about what I needed to do. Hopefully and with prayers to God, I'll be able to have some ideas on how to do that.

This is Eden, writing off. So to speak.

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Eden gave out a tired sigh as she rubbed her neck after finished writing another entry in her journal and then she sluggishly went to her bedroom to lie down on her bed and rest, skipping dinner as she felt exhausted from what she had gone through today and hoped that something else might become better for her on the next day.

She didn't change her clothes as she took out the sheathed knife and handgun from her jean pockets and then placed them beside her pillow as she lies down and sleeps.

Before her eyes closed, Eden hoped to herself that the discoveries she had encountered before might give her some ideas on her mind to make plans and decisions for the next day.

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