CHAPTER 21 - More Dangers But New Tricks

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It's been another week that's gone and passed by, almost so fast like a blur--or rather in slow motion and such, that Eden seemed to be prepared for something else, which was more dangerous and tensely body-wrecking enough that she must deal with.

For whatever it is that she's preparing for and ready to face and fight against, it turns out to be more new dangers that she encountered during the days from the last week, and it looked like Eden had been learning, training, and preparing herself with new skills and tricks that she's ready to fight it on against her enemies and such.

In addition, to make sure of her preparations on equipping herself with the Holt re-curve long-bow, quiver of sharp piercing arrows, a Gator machete, silenced rifle-gun, hand-guns, and other new kinds of necessities and arsenal onto her person, on her planning and preparing for another day out on a run into the streets of Z-city in the future, it looks like Eden had gotten a few new scars or injuries that she went through the harrowing heart-wracking incidents from the new dangers she encountered the previous week.

So far and fortunately only for Eden, her kids Michael and Annie didn't notice anything amiss or something, whenever she returned home to Safe Haven with bruises, injuries, and such, because they were hidden beneath her clothes and not visible to them, which the woman didn't let them see it if there were.

It helps that Archer the puppy keeps the children distracted as they play with it but Luna was worried and upset for her master when it sensed and noticed the woman's hidden injuries and attempted to comfort her hurts, as Eden tried to stop the female dog from nuzzling its nose or rubbing its snout against her hands and feet so that the little ones won't notice it.

On the end of the seventh day of that last week, Eden stayed there in Safe Haven, preparing and training herself to be ready for the next days in the future to go out into the city streets once more, and it looks like she's very determined to do so, despite the new threats and dangers she discovered over there because she needed to gather more materials and supplies to provide for her group, ensure more safety and security measures into Safe Haven, and be fully prepared for the next months to come upon staying and living in Z-city in the later future.

But as of right now, Eden decided to stick around and stay in Safe Haven for about three days or so, following one of her survival rules, to wait for the chaotic incidents or noisy happenings to die down until she deemed it safe and the right time to go out on another run again.

Eden was busy making dinner for the kids, pet dogs, and herself, and it didn't take long for the nighttime meal to finish, as she called out for them to come and eat and they come running to her upon hearing her call. As they are eating their fill of the nutritious dinner they're having and then finished, Eden told the two children about her plans that she'll be staying for a while after the week she's been out almost half a day time then, and Michael and Annie were both delighted and happy upon hearing the news like they knew Eden might teach them more lessons on defending themselves, how to survive, watch out for any dangers outside Safe Haven, and other things like that.

As it turns out, Eden made sure that she always got the free spare time to teach her growing kids how to survive and live through this zombie-infested apocalypse and such, so that they'll be readily prepared to face and fight against anything that will come at them if the time or moment ever comes.

Even though Eden knows that it is cruel and harsh to teach the kids at their very young age how to survive in a horrific apocalypse such as the state they are in now, she had long decided back then that she needs to do this so that there is no worry or concern about her children being vulnerable and defenseless whenever she's gone away from them.

After Eden told her plans for staying in Safe Haven for a few days and promising that she'll continue with the children's survival lessons and such, the two kids were overly excited and eager about it, that they almost stayed up to a very late time at that night but they manage to go to sleep after eating dinner, washing up, and then settling into bed when Eden told them a good story softly and it was like a very nice lullaby that easily lulled them to sleep.

Once Eden sees that the children are in a deep slumber, she moved to sit upright lying next to them gently, and then reached out to light up a candle, giving off a low dim light in the room, which is enough for the woman to see a bit as she reached to get her journal and went on writing another new entry into it.

Archer had just jumped in and wriggled around a bit to squeeze itself to lie and cuddle between the two kids, before it settled down to sleep with them, while Luna took her usual spot, lying beside Eden's side and alertly awake like it was going to take its usual duty as a guard dog for another whole night. Eden smiled at this, and rub Luna's head affectionately before she went on writing.

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JOURNAL ENTRY: DAY UNKNOWN, 9TH MONTH SEPTEMBER, YEAR 2XXX

Hey, this is Eden again.

It's been only one week since my last journal entry, and let me tell you straight up right here--it's been a surprisingly hectic yet ground-breaking experience for me as I have encountered and gone through some serious heart-thrilling and exhausting incidents that happened during the previous days of that very week.

You're wondering why I said as much, something like that, written into this journal?

Here are the very reasons why.

From the first to the third day of last week, I was rolling along and driving down the streets of Z-city on my motorcycle, trying to find more useful spots and places, where I can gather more materials and supplies for my group and fortify Safe Haven more. That was when I spotted a newly-built super-big building, which is a large new shopping mall that was supposed to open to the city's public, but it didn't have the chance to do so, because the zombie outbreak happened and the beginning of the apocalypse broke out.

I found a good spot in one of the taller buildings to look over the mall there and scope it out because I knew that the shopping mall has all the goods and stuff that my group and I need to live longer and survive in this zombie-infested city.

So far, the sharp and clear-looking binoculars I brought with me, showed me that there's nothing dangerous outside the mall and lurking about near it, but I know better that there might be hidden threats inside the building itself, and I just need to find out a way on how to draw them out, without damaging or breaking any useful goods that are stocked up inside that mall building.

I tried to think deeply over it and plan on how to do that, but then I realized that one simple and very obvious answer came to me in a flash, and I almost slapped myself on the head for not thinking it would come straight first into mind.

The only thing is that can draw out anything hidden or lurk about from the shadowy spots and dark corners themselves.

Sound. Specifically, loud noises.

With that idea in mind and a plan drawn and made up quickly in my head, I went to look around more to find the exact materials that I need, that can draw anything out, both the dangerous zombies and living hostiles if there are inside the building.

It took me about an hour or two to ride around with the motor-bike to find exactly what I was looking for and needed, and it's a good thing that the place I had spotted ahead in my sight, wasn't locked up tight just as a few stores or others similar like that were, with no back-doors to break-in through, when the outbreak first happened. The place I was talking about was an electronics store, and this one has what I need--which are large sound-blaring speakers that were used for concerts and the like, and boom-box music players that I can link and sync the kind of loud-beating music I need to make the loud noises and draw anything out from a building, such as the big mall-building I planning to raid into.

I made sure to look around more and see if any zombies or possible living survivors are roaming by, but I found nothing, much to my relief, and then broke into the store and started picking up the materials and stuff I needed for the raiding plan on the super-mall. However, when I was boxing them up and putting them into sturdy packages to carry around, I couldn't transport them with my bike and do return trips with the two-wheeled vehicle, so I decided to come back on another day, that is the fourth day, driving with a truck I'll try to find and scavenge for, for this return trip and transporting the load needed for this mission.

But before I'm going to do just that, I need to hide away the packed-up speakers and boom boxes in a secret place out of sight, so that they won't be taken away if ever possible until I come back for them. Once I did that at a fast pace, I drove around on my motorcycle to look around and scavenge more necessary supplies, such as useful new gadgets and weaponry that I can use for the upcoming planned raid I'll be preparing for.

Then I hit another spot of good luck when I found another hunting store or arms-supply shop with the exact things that I need. And I marked that off too for my return trip, same time with the music players and speakers on the next day, and I added a security measure into covering that shop too, in case any other survivors might stumble into it and raid the place empty, which I can't let that happen.

It didn't take long, as the time passed by like a fast blur of sorts when the fourth day of the last week came, and during that very day up to the seventh last day of the previous week, I managed to transport all the stuff that I found and needed and placed them into the exact positions nearby and around the mall, which will draw out all the hidden unknowns inside the big building and through all the various openings I made sure that there were exactly the ones in the way of the blaring loud noises for them to come out of the building and so.

After I set up the boom-box music players, and the speakers, and put them neatly placed in position, I gathered up the last of the stuff that I found from the arms weaponry-type shop and brought them home to Safe Haven so that I can learn to use them better and wield them expertly while training myself during my break-time days until the exact time and date came for me to do the raiding operation I'm planning to take action on the big shopping mall.

I know that I'll need to create and make up more new fighting skills and think of new tricks in case I might stumble into any more surprises and dangers, even if the first stage of the plan worked when I draw out the unwanted occupants inside the mall. So I need to man up my training to new kinds of levels and better myself so that I'll survive through the future raiding mission I'll be going through soon.

As I said, it was all hectic and exhausting, but this last week has been fruitful for me. So now I'm going to take a break for the next few days in Safe Haven, train and prepare myself for the upcoming mission after those days and be ready to face any obstacle that I'll be going against, both good or bad.

I'm not exactly sure when will be the next time I'll be writing my next entry. But I'm praying and hoping that the raiding mission will be a success when the time comes, and it will provide for my whole group for the future as we will live on and survive through this apocalypse.

Until then, this is Eden signing off.

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After Eden finished writing the entry, she put the journal away and then carefully extracted herself to get off the bed without disturbing the children and the puppy, sleeping comfortably and deeply beside her, and motioned with a hushing gesture to Luna to be quiet, before the woman and her dog quietly stepped out of the room and then went upstairs to the roof, where Eden will be staying up awake for the whole night and be the night guard and look out at that very time.

She grabbed her night-vision binoculars and the sniper rifle on her way to getting to the rooftop and even grabbed a thick jacket and blanket so that she and her dog won't suffer from the cold, that's breezily windy during the time of night.

After she settled herself into place on her watch-guard spot with her dog Luna lying beside her, Eden was on the lookout there in Safe Haven for the whole night, trying to relax and calm her mind from thinking about her plans for training and getting prepared for the raiding mission she'll be planning to do in the future so that her group will be fully-equipped and provided for with the new supplies and stuff that she'll be getting for them.

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