CHAPTER 25 - Friendly or Enemy

*****

It was now the first days of the first week of the new month in Z-city, and Eden still seemed to be busy doing her new routine of teaching and training herself to be a better fighter and survivor to go through this zombie apocalypse by keeping and staying alive, safe, and being well and sound.

Eden marked those days in the Calendar room since she first set it up, to scratch down the exact days so that she won't forget. After she did that, she did her routine and continued to teach her children and train the two dogs so that they'll learn a lot of useful knowledge and everything, to ensure their survival in the future.

It has been only five days on that very first week of the new month, that has gone and passed by at the time, and Eden's small group seems to be peacefully content and living well, despite the abandoned apocalyptic-state city they are in is mostly zombie-infested but Eden already marked off the exact zones on where the undead threats are.

Besides the Calendar room, Eden had also decided and worked on another empty room beside it, and then newly set it up as a 'Map' room, which in all four wall sides of the room and the room floor itself is designed to look like the entire yet almost exact scale and diagram of the map of Z-city itself. The design of this Map room was also made up to look like a big room-like compass with Safe Haven as the center and the wall facing the Map room's door as the North point.

Unlike the Calendar room's color design, the Map room was drawn and colored in intricate various colored marks, paints, lines, waves, and almost everything else to show off the entire map of Z-city but most of the city map had many bright blaring colors that marked off the danger zones and spots of all three zombie types, that nearly blocked off or in the path of any possible escape route out of the zombie-infested city they are staying and living in.

Eden doesn't look to be worried or concerned at all that they don't have any clear escape route out of the city, in case they need to when the time comes or so. Because it looks like she had already planned more runs into Z-city to look, mark, and check out any more possible escape routes if there are any for the future.

As for the Calendar room, it is only painted with two colors white as the entire background of the room and black as the marking 'tallies' of the dates, time, and little notes that were added next to the dates to mark or show off the events and incidents that happened during those days, times or something.

After Eden was done marking the date and time tally in the Calendar room, she breathed out a sigh and went to check on her children in their room to see if they want an early lunch or something before she goes up on the rooftop to do her usual new routine on studying knowledgeable books and physical training more, until the time or situation came that she needed to go out on the run into Z-city for other tasks or goals she needs to do.

When Michael and Annie instantly agreed with Eden's inquiries about having an early lunch, she instantly cooked it up and set up their meals, and once they were done eating all of it, Eden left the children to themselves to play any more games they have in storage with the puppy Archer joining them, and the kids' guardian went upstairs to the roof to do her studies and exercises.

But as Eden was doing and working on them up on the roof and the time had now passed on to the middle of the afternoon, something happened that suddenly caught her attention and broke her focus and concentration in reading and training in an instant when she noticed it.

At first, Eden thought that the soft-sounding music playing on the boombox beside her, as she was doing push-ups while reading at the same time with the book open and lying right in front of her face, had gotten static sounds interfering in between. However, she stops instantly in a frozen upright position upon finally realizing that the static didn't come from the music boombox--but from the linked baby monitor that serves as her 'intruder' or incoming threat/enemy alarm.

Eden instantly moved to a normal position grabbed the monitor and then placed it almost very close to the right side of her head to hear any other sounds clearly beside the static ones. It didn't take long for Eden to hear what her right ear can pick up clear as it can after the static noises ceased and she listened intently to whatever is going on on the other end of the other monitor quietly until it was over.

It wasn't loud or distinguishable enough but it looks like whatever Eden had heard from the monitor she can hear it all clearly to know what was on the other end, what was going on, and all that. After she heard everything as clear and understandable as she can get enough of something, she put down the monitor and turned it off like she was making sure that no noise on her end won't transfer back or bring any attention to the other side, as she thought deeply over what to do about this next and the plans that she needs to make up and take action.

Eden turned her head in the direction of the East side of the roof from her sitting position, where the monitor sounds had come directly from there, and she had a thoughtful look on her whole face like she was thinking intently about this very thoroughly. It was about a minute or two that she stopped thinking deeply and went to grab the journal that she brought with her again on the roof, to write another entry into it.

Luna whined a little like it seemed to sense the human's anxious emotions, as she stayed by her master's side as usual, and Eden comforted the dog sitting on its hind legs beside her to reassure it with a free hand reaching out to rub the female canine's head before she started writing calmly the new entry into the journal.

*****

JOURNAL ENTRY: DAY UNKNOWN, 10TH MONTH OCTOBER, YEAR 2XXX

Hey, it's me. Eden again.

Guess what?

It's now the new month already and I marked it off on the tally in the Calendar room I had set up so that I'll know the dates and times both at the same time with this journal-writing here, and that is an important task to do, even in the time of the apocalypse.

I also realized that I needed a bigger map and something solid that cannot be erased so that I'll know the marked-off spots, places, and danger zones of the entire Z-city, so I made and set up a new room that is now designated as the 'Map' room.

Unlike the Calendar room's design, however, it took me about four days to finish setting up, painting, and designing the Map room to completion in everything on Z-city, and almost exactly in its map scaling and diagrams, and then made it into positions like the compass with Safe Haven as the center painted on the floor and the North point marked off and painted onto the wall side facing right at the Map room's door.

But I managed to pull it off and finish it as fast and being exactly thorough in creating and fixing up the Map room.

Once I was done with that, I went off to do the usual routine of studying and exercising, after I made up lunch for my group and myself, and then went to the rooftop to do just that.

But sometime in the middle of noon-time at that point, I heard clear sounds of possible survivors coming from the direction on the East end of Z-city through the baby monitors I had set up long ago. I could hear them enough besides the static noises I was hearing and I listened intently to some sort of conversation from the living people I am hearing until their voices faded away when they walked off out of range from the monitor on the other end over there.

From what I could tell about the survivors, they seem friendly enough and sound like they are good kinds of people but I know better that I need to check it out first, up-close and personal, and see if they are truly friendly or they might turn out to be enemies.

So on the next day, I'm going to do just that, preparing myself to be donned with the complete set of dark-black clothing, equipment, weapons, and the important gear needed for this run and I need to check on the possible survivors whether they are truly friends or threats to my group.

Fortunately, from what I can gather from the survivors' voices and their talk, they are very far away from Safe Haven and they are not near to any danger zones where I can reach them and assess the situation as such.

As the survival rules go, RULE #13: Spot anything or anyone; watch, observe and evaluate first.

And RULE #15: Be prepared for anything.

In the next entry of this journal for the next time, I will be writing what discoveries or revelations I found about the survivors in Z-city on the East end, and I hoped whatever I find out over there, might turn out to be a good one or something.

Hopefully, nothing bad might happen or come at me when I go on the run over there but I know better than to think such things and I should not let my guard down in case bad things or something even worse is going to happen to me--or to the living survivors over there--when it does.

Until then, this is Eden signing off.

*****

After Eden finished writing the entry, she put the journal away and hid it on her person to bring it downstairs later. Then she stood up and stretched her body to ease off the numbness and cramps she had felt upon sitting that long for a few hours until sundown.

After she has done that, she went downstairs with Luna following beside her so that Eden will tell her children the news about the recent new developments that just happened in the new month, and tell them that she'll be going out to check it out, just in case if it's truly a threat or not and find out if it's a danger to their group.

Eden knows that her two kids won't be pleased with the fact that she'll be leaving to assess the new situation and find out more about the possible survivors but Michael and Annie seemed to be excited a little over the fact that the potential new group of survivors might have children like them and they'll be getting new friends and playmates if there were.

Eden knew better not to argue over this to dash their hopes like that but she's promising internally to herself that she must be very thorough in checking the survivors out before she decides whether she should bring them to Safe Haven or not.

Only the next day will tell when that very time comes as Eden will be leaving Safe Haven and then go out onto the streets of Z-city to check and observe the new living survivors.

*****

*****