CHAPTER 16 - New Routine and Caretaker

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PRESENT TIME, RECENT YEAR OF THE APOCALYPSE

It was two weeks later that has already gone and passed by, as Eden stirred in her slumber from a few light noises that she heard. She blinked blearily and rubbed her eyes, waking up before she opened them, alert and awake, and then she saw and watched the two children playing with the little puppy named Archer as it yapped and barked playfully and the kids gleefully laughed. Her lips twitched lightly in a fond grin at the sight, before she got off the bed from the tent she was sleeping in and went out to greet them in another good morning.

She brushed off any invisible dust or dirt on her, stretched herself to be fully awake, and after she's done that, she looked over and smiled widely on seeing them play happily on the rooftop with the adult mother wolf-dog watching over and guarding them. The mother dog, named Luna, turned her head to Eden and barked once before going back to watching the young ones.

Eden watched them play while she went to make breakfast for them, cooking their food and making a nutritious meal, before she finished and called them over.

The playful activities stopped and the two kids and the puppy excitedly ran to her with the adult dog slowly following behind as Eden finished setting up the table and chairs outdoors, served the meals on small plates, and hand them over gently to the children, which their names are Michael, the little seven-year-old boy, and Annie, the cute little six-year-old girl.

To the dogs Luna and Archer, she put down two bowls full of food for them, and all of them ate their breakfast contentedly.

Eden eats slowly as she watched with fond eyes the children happily eating their fill, despite that there are some vegetables or veggies mixed in which they don't like.

Fortunately, it looked like the kids aren't picky eaters. After they ate, Eden directed them to go downstairs and told the kids to clean up and they did, obeying her soft commands, with the dogs following after the little boy and girl, and then Eden was left behind to clean up the mess.

After she had done cleaning up and neatly tidying their spot up there on the rooftop, she went downstairs to follow up and check on the others. When she did, she smiled again upon the sight that the children have finished bathing themselves and were trying to wash the dogs as well.

Luna, the mother dog was calm and docile as Michael washed her, but the puppy Archer wasn't behaving well as Annie tried to stop its vigorous wriggling and squirming when she tried to rinse its soapy body with water.

Eden laughed a little over this and came forward to help out the little girl, holding the puppy firmly in her hands as it whined lightly with a complaint, and Annie poured water on the small dog quickly and carefully, finishing the task.

After cleaning and bathing the dogs, and then washing the kids and changing their clothes again when they got wet from their helpful chores, Eden led them to the same empty room where she had the kids sleep in when she saved them before. She made and refurnished a second bedroom for the children, dogs, and her.

Then she got the kids to lie down beside her on the big make-shift soft mattress covered with clean blankets and fluffy pillows, she had set up in there. After they did, she reached out and took a random book from a nearby shelf, that she had retrieved and gotten from one of the supply runs before, and read them a story.

The children, Michael and Annie, listened attentively to the dog's Luna and Archer, lying next beside the mattress with them. A few minutes later, when Eden was about to finish the short story from the book she was reading aloud, the two kids had fallen asleep, instantly tired and nuzzling against their adult guardian closely, happy and content.

Eden smiled at the sight, gently rubbing each of their little heads as they sleep with light snoring. Then she reached out to calm the puppy Archer when it jumped on the bed to lie in and wriggle in between the kids, whining a little when it nudged its little nose against their adorable faces like it wanted to play again, but it stopped sniffing and nuzzling when Eden rubbed it down firmly to stop and to not disturb them from their peaceful naps. Archer lies down obediently quiet in the middle of the two sleeping children, looking like it's going to sleep with them too.

After watching them silently for a few seconds, she reached out for her journal to write another entry about the thoughts she was thinking deeply of and needed to write and list down while watching over her sleeping little companions and two dogs lying around near her, and she didn't mind that Luna moved to lie beside her, the adult mother dog watching her with alert eyes and huffing a little like it's wondering what her human master is doing, as she wrote.

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

Hey, it's Eden again, still alive here and surviving.

Along with the four survivors I just rescued two weeks before and became my new house-mates here in Safe Haven.

The two dogs, adult mother Luna, and her little puppy Archer. And the two children, Michael and Annie.

At first, I thought that rescuing them would bring me too much responsibility and trouble in caring for them. But I knew deep down in my heart and guts, that I can't turn them away and abandon them, no matter how much I think I want to.

It seemed selfish and heartless, but after that incident when I rescued them, it was already too late and you could say that my heart was stolen on that very day when the two dogs became attached to me as their new owner and master, as well as the children when they bonded to me as their new protector and guardian since their parents were killed and torn apart and feasted on by the zombies.

So that's what I realized then and there when I made my decision to keep them safe and let them stay in Safe Haven, I need to make up a new routine and list down the important tasks, and grab more necessities for my new charges.

Even though I have gathered and hoarded a lot the year before, and packed and got them all sorted here in Safe Haven, it is not enough now that I have a few more mouths to feed, and the length of time the supplies will be depleted easily from the recent additions into my space.

I also need to tighten and raise more security and safety measures to protect my small group and Safe Haven itself. Including the fact that I need to map out the entire area in Z-city, both inside and out, pinpoint the exact locations that are the most dangerous spots, and mark the streets and other places that have those dangers too, both the zombie and hostile-type survivor threats.

There are many chores and tasks to do, and it will be a lot for one surviving adult to do on their own, but I will be able to manage to complete and fulfill these missions and ensure the safety and survival of my group.

I know very well for granted that it will be difficult, but I have the right motivation to do this because the children and I will be responsible for them.

I also know deep down inside me, that in the later future, I will be forced to train these kids, besides the dogs that I won't have any problems with, and teach them how to survive through this harsh and horrific zombie apocalypse that we're now in.

It will be hard and heartless to have their childhood broken up like that, but I have known for a long while that little Michael and Annie have lost their innocence already, their lives changed abruptly and for the worse, ever since the zombie outbreak happened, the whole world had broken down from the apocalypse, and their parents have been taken away from them by cruel fates and such.

Hopefully, that time won't come, even at the last desperate resort that is needed. But it looks like only time will tell, and I'll have to wait and see when that time comes, which I pray and hope that it won't.

I know I won't have any difficulty with house training and preparing the two dogs to face this apocalypse with its zombie threats. As they easily accepted me as their master when I first rescued them, it won't be a problem for me to train them to fight and obey my commands swiftly and quickly, before I might decide to teach and train the children. Granted, I know that the puppy Archer is the only one I might have a long way to go in training him well, but I'm sure with its mother Luna, it will be easy to break them into obedience and follow under my lead.

First things first, which is the matter that I need to deal with, and that is training and teaching the dogs to look after the kids first, because there is the important necessity that I need to go out and hoard and gather more supplies for all of us to survive and stay and live in Z-city safely for a longer length of time there.

As well as mapping out the entire area in the zombie-infested city, marking out spots that have dangers and threats in them, increasing more security measures for our safety in Safe Haven, and finally, pinpoint safe and secure escape routes for us to leave through and out of Z-city, when the time comes if needed or not.

With the list of chores and necessary tasks in mind, all I have to do is just move and take action right then and there and fulfill my mission of completing them.

I don't know how long it will take me to write again, but I'll make sure to note here in this journal what's going on while I'm busy doing these tasks, as well as write down whatever has happened during that time.

Until the next time then. This is Eden, signing off.

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Eden finished writing the entry, just as Luna huffed again at her like it was telling her to rest now so that she'll wake up at the same time as the children in the later hours.

The woman chuckled warmly at her dog's motherly-like antics and rubbed her head affectionately before she settled herself to lie down and sleep in the bed with the children, that are still sleeping and dreaming contently beside her.

She put her journal away and placed the battery-operated baby monitor right beside her so that she'll hear anything noticeable from outside that might be an intrusion or a threat, as she is a light sleeper. Even though Luna will be the guard dog watching over them, Eden thought that an additional safety measure is necessary so she had the monitor close next to her and turned on.

Before she closed her eyes and go to sleep, Eden looked like she's has her mind thinking deeply over the new kind of routine and tasks she needs to complete, as well as going over the new responsibility as a guardian and caretaker of her new-found charges, that are the children.

She didn't know that in the latter days of the future ahead of her, there will be many surprises and other stuff that will come at her and her new family as the time passes by with her small group, trying to stay alive and survive in Z-city.

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