CHAPTER 15 - First Survivors, New House-mates

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PRESENT TIME, RECENT YEAR OF THE APOCALYPSE

It was the recent present time of the zombie apocalypse in the city.

It was the sunrise of another new morning, a year later, that woke Eden up and she shook her head to shake off the bleariness from her eyes and feebly rubbed them with one hand before she became fully alert and then noticed her journal that is open to where she was finished reading the past entries from a year ago before.

Eden sighed and then sat up and stretched herself before she got out of the tent to gaze at another new dawn rising over the apocalyptic city.

Then she went down to clean herself up in the 'bathhouse' rooms to get ready and prepare herself to go at another run to replenish the supply stocks and something else.

Eden seemed to realize something when she looked at herself in the mirror and lightly fingered a lock of her long hair that is now the length half-down her chest level. She stared at herself for a moment before she closed the door of the bathroom and went to take it.

When she emerged out a little later after cleaning and taking her bath, her hair had been cut and it's now very short, styled like a boy's hair cut with a few long hair bangs slightly over one side of her eyes. She went to change into dark clothes just like before and ready herself to brave another trip into the zombie-infested streets of the city below.

She double-checked on her indoor crops, stroking the grown plants and stalks tenderly in careful caresses, and made sure that everything in the abandoned apartment is secure before she leaves. It took her about another week to go out and come back to Safe Haven with the stocks of supplies needed and more food and water she had found and brought back to her hidden and safe sanctuary.

That was when one day, weeks later, Eden had come back into the building and looked like she was lifting something else into the roof, even though she had already done her tasks on the replenished stocks of supplies and stuff she needed to survive in the Safe Haven.

It turns out that the ones that she's lifting were two living dogs. Czech mixed-breed wolf dogs. One is an adult female and the second is a little male puppy.

Eden had them strapped around a harness wrap and ropes to lift them to the roof and then gently unstrapped them when she got them to the top, and instantly the puppy bounced and ran around eagerly to explore its new home while its adult mother sniffed cautiously as if scenting for any dangers.

Eden looked like she didn't want to bring these kinds of living survivors at first to her home, but then she seemed to be fond of them so she got them there.

And then it was another few days later after she had the dogs, Eden had rescued more living survivors. And this time it is children. There are two of them, a boy and a girl, and both are so young between the ages of 6-7 years old.

Eden sighed tiredly after bringing them to Safe Haven, and then she smiled when she watched the two kids she saved, went to pet and play with the wolf dogs, both the calm adult mother and the excited playful puppy.

She gestured and led them downstairs in the building to get them food and water and they obediently followed her. After they had eaten and drink with the children's tummies full and the dogs are happy and content, and then Eden helped them bathe in the bathing units and changed them into their new clothes, she tucked them into bed where they immediately fell asleep, tired and content that they're in a safe place away from danger.

Eden smiled at the sight as she settled them in on a spare empty room for a while which she had set up early while the children were eating then she decided to stay by their side, and sat on a chair and took out her journal to write about how she had found these survivors and what had happened.

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JOURNAL ENTRY: DAY UNKNOWN, 8TH MONTH AUGUST, YEAR 2XXX

Hey, it's Eden again.

It's amazing how a year just passed by with me alone surviving in a zombie-infested apocalyptic city.

Though I admit that it was a little lonely and depressing, being all alone and the only survivor here, thanks to my journal, my sanity has not gone nor have I gone crazy from my solitude.

With the writing on this and a usual routine on doing supply runs, growing my healthy fruits and vegetables, zombie watch, self-training, maintaining diet, exercise, and everything else. I'm living alive and surviving well in the Safe Haven of the city I'm in.

And also I have decided to dub and call this metropolitan area 'Z-city' from now on.

Anyway, here's what's happening right now.

I had gone on another run to replenish my supplies, food, and water, and then I encountered more living survivors in Z-city.

Only these are not the hostile kinds that I would have expected the year before I had seen and encountered.

The first survivors are just dogs. A mother got injured by trying to protect and defend her one and only puppy from three slow Beta zombies that were about to snack on them, but then I interrupted them and saved them from being eaten as I killed the Betas.

At first, the mother dog didn't trust me for a moment but then decided that I'm friendly when I offered water and meat jerky food to the pup since it needed it more than its parent.

The mother seemed to devote her loyalty to me and I brought the two to the Safe Haven and got them there safe and sound.

The next survivors I rescued and saved were two children, one boy, and one girl, between the young ages of 6-7 years old. And this is how it happened then.

While I was making sure and checking that I didn't need any more supplies or anything else on another run I'm on, I encountered a small group of survivors trying to defend themselves and they looked to be urgently reaching to their car as if trying to escape from the Omega zombies that were attacking them.

It was a couple and they looked frantic to reach their car to flee but they had failed as the Omegas overwhelmed them and started to feast on them.

I was hidden out of sight and flinched to myself for not being able to save them but then I was shocked when I thought I heard a small cry coming from the car the couple tried to get to.

I carefully sneaked around the eating Omegas and went to the car and much more to my shock I saw the two children that were locked inside the vehicle. It didn't take me long to figure out that the couple who had died and were being eaten were the children's parents and it was a sudden decision for me as I didn't hesitate to come and rescue them before the Omegas finish their meal and soon notice their nearby prey.

I knocked lightly on the car window on their other side to get their attention and then when the two kids looked at me, I gestured for them to open it but the boy was distrusting of me at first until his sister seemed to talk him into trusting me and then he grudgingly went to open the door on the side where I'm standing in front of.

As the door opened, I gently grabbed the two of them and carried them effortlessly with great strength and then ran like hell-hounds are chasing behind me, away from the Omega zombies that are still distracted and weren't aware of us.

It wasn't hard for me to bring the kids safely back to Safe Haven, and then the dogs were happy enough to have added company to their pack, even if it was kids. The kids as well were delighted to meet the dogs too and then after I had given them food and water, bathed them clean, given them new clothes, and then set them to bed. The two orphaned kids seemed to have accepted me as their new foster parent and caregiver to keep them safe from the dangers in the city.

That's all there is to it.

I'll end this here and write more soon over my new kind of routine I'll be having with my new house-mates in the future.

This is Eden, signing off.

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As Eden finished writing in her journal, she turned to check on the sleeping kids and smiled when she saw that the two canines had chosen to sleep with them. Luna the adult was curled up and sleeping beside their sleeping bags as if guarding over them and Archer the puppy had wriggled into sleep inside the bag with the little girl in it.

The little girl didn't wake up but her arm moved to wrap around the puppy as if it were her new teddy bear. The puppy didn't whine at the tight grip from the little arm and just laid down and slept happily with its new friend.

Eden watched them for a silent moment before she decided to sleep with them instead of on the rooftop and hurriedly went to get her sleeping bag from the tent and bring it to the room to rest beside the kids and dogs.

Eden closed her eyes, instantly falling asleep for another day, only this time her routine and her solitary life might be changing with her new survivors and house-mates in Safe Haven.

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