CHAPTER 43 - Winter Season Supplies

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It was three more days later that gone and passed by on the first week of the new month in Z-city.

And so far, it looks like everything is going fine, very well, and all good when Eden and her group have gathered the necessary and important supplies and stuff to get through the winter season. The children were still playing and enjoying themselves as Talia takes care of them and watches over them, while the others were busy sorting out all the goods and scavenged stuff into the storage units, as well as rationing wisely them all into what is needed and what are the ones that will be stored for the future ahead.

Nadia, Sahara, Ole Bessie, and Mother Ying sorted out the clothing, food, and water goods and supplies, while Mark and Homer sorted out the electronic and technological devices that can be recycled or reused for suitable use to increase their home security as well as modify and fix them to better use in the future or so. Finally, Eden, Ryu, and Daiyu are sorting out the weapons between putting them into storage and necessary use for the days ahead to defend and protect themselves from any dangers that might come at them, even as the winter season comes and passes in Z-city.

It didn't look like they went through many difficulties and hardships upon gathering the necessary and important supplies to get through the cold weather and winter season coming in, but then it appears that they have encountered and went through a few skirmishes of sorts, considering the fact how it's a little visible with Eden having some recent bandages on her person, as well as Sahara and Ryu having some small wrapped linen gauze and splints on each in the wrist and foot, looking like they have twisted sprains or broken appendages.

However, it looks like the injuries aren't very serious or major for them to be useless and disabled. Ryu and Sahara seemed to be fine and that they'll recover from their splinted and wrapped injuries very soon or so, even though it amused Ryu a bit when his brother Daiyu kept fussing over his girlfriend Sahara. That's also including Sahara's sister Nadia too when she also noticed this.

It was actually about two days ago that the incident happened that caused Eden, Ryu, and Sahara to get those bandaged and treated for injuries when they went out to grab and gather more supplies somewhere out there in Z-city, that's not in the Danger Zones this time, and they managed to successfully scavenge all the kinds of stuff they need to last them long enough throughout the winter season.

After grabbing another big pile of supplies and storing them all during the past three days, Eden and the whole group are relaxing peacefully as they can to get through the days ahead before the winter season finally comes, and it looks like nothing bad or something far worse has happened yet, much to all of their relief. But Eden and the others are not letting their guards down in case something does happen to them, either in a good or bad way unexpected or not.

Right now, Eden is currently relaxing back in her room without her two children present as Michael and Annie are enjoying themselves, learning another survival lesson or something from Talia teaching them and the other kids. The only companion with her in the room at the moment is Luna. But then it became a bit of a surprise when Ryu knocked to let her know of his presence and asked if he could join her inside the room.

Needless to say, Luna wasn't very pleased with this human male invading her master's private territory-of sorts, but Eden calmed her loyal dog down and allowed Ryu to come in, since she sees him as another trusted friend now, along with the two elderly women, Sahara, and Nadia, but for the remaining others, Eden is still assessing them or something like she's trying to ascertain their trust more, even their potential.

After Eden let Ryu in, she watched in small glances besides looking distant and thoughtful to herself and saw him working on carving a miniature sculpture or something when she noticed that he brought a very sharp knife and a hand-sized block of wood and he was neatly and expertly carving the wood into something very intricate and good, whatever kind of sculpture design he's making or something.

After watching him for a short moment, at the same time thinking of something deeply to herself, Eden seemed to be making up her mind or decision over something, reached out to grab her journal from its hiding place and then started writing a new entry into it, as she doesn't mind at all that she has other company with her since Ryu already knows about the journal and all of it. As she wrote the new entry for that day, Eden was slightly aware that Ryu was also glancing at her, watching her write in the journal about whatever events had happened before.

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JOURNAL ENTRY: DAY UNKNOWN, 11TH MONTH NOVEMBER, YEAR 2XXX

Hey, it's me Eden again.

So far, we've all been having good luck lately for the past three days that's gone and passed by already when we were scavenging and gathering many stuff and supplies to last us enough through the winter season and perhaps until the new year comes too.

We managed to gather and grab as much as we can with everything, and despite that there were no hardships or difficulties in doing so, in the end, I got a few cuts and some wounds that were treated and bandaged up already from two days ago when we went in a supply run with Ryu and Sahara, which they also suffered little injuries such as Sahara's slight twisted sprained foot and Ryu splinted lightly broken wrist.

And let me tell what happened on that supply run and how we come by to those particular injuries from the days before.

When Ryu, Sahara, and I went to the supply run as the only ones going there for a short quick trip to gather more supplies and other necessary items, the previous days ago and it was fortunate that the place we went to, wasn't part of the Danger Zones there, it didn't take us long enough to grab everything and get what we needed for all of us and bringing them back to Safe Haven.

At first, I thought that we were getting out of there, after grabbing the stuff, without any trouble or something, but then something unexpected happened to us but it wasn't worrying enough for us to be concerned, since the threat was minimal and we dispatched it without difficulty.

And that unexpected little skirmish I'm writing about right here, is when we nearly got ourselves caught off-guard by some Omega-Z zombie types roaming about, as well as two--no, wait, rather three Alpha-Z that were scouting the area for a new nesting ground or searching for more living prey to feed their pack.

Sahara and I managed to deal with the Omega-Z quickly like lightning, but then Sahara got caught by surprise and that's how she got her sprained foot when she got tackled from behind by one of the Alpha-Z that was lurking about and somehow found us. But Ryu quickly intervened before it tried to kill her, swiftly decapitating the Alpha-Z off of its head, and then he turned around and went to help me when I tried to turn and run away from the last two Alpha-Z that were attempting to ambush me.

Fortunately, these two Alpha-Z were so focused on chasing me and got distracted from the other prey, that is Ryu, when he gained the advantage of that and swiftly killed the remaining Alpha-Z from behind and cut off their heads with one expert swing of his katana sword, right on time when they were about to jump onto me from the back.

I was relieved that Ryu was very good as a martial-arts fighter, even though Sahara and I were also good too as fighters but only at a mediocre level still, but then I became concerned for Ryu when I noticed instantly that he was favoring his left wrist a bit like he pulled a muscle or something. And despite that he tries to hide it, I can see the pained look in his eyes so it was a good thing I brought a first-aid kit along in case of unexpected or surprising situations such as these.

I handed over some bandages to Sahara so she can carefully wrap her twisted foot around and I helped Ryu with his injured wrist, upon feeling it was only a broken sprain a bit so I was careful into wrapping the bandages and gauze around his wrist and also made a make-shift splint for him so that he wouldn't strain his wrist and injuring it more badly.

After I had done that, I went and put some bandages on myself, when I didn't realize that upon trying to run away and sometimes stumbling or tripping clumsily from the Alpha-Z, I somehow got into shock and didn't feel the slight stinging pain from the scratches and bruises I got upon falling down the ground until it was over and I finally felt it.

Sahara and Ryu were grateful for me helping them and I nodded back in return for their thanks, then I swiftly help them back to our ride, which is a car we've been using, as they come first and then the supplies last since they needed to be a priority to safety instead of the supplies, as I value lives before materials. After I ensured that Ryu and Sahara were inside safe and secure in the car, I went back for the supplies that we had scavenged and gathered, and I didn't have any difficulties upon bringing them to our getaway vehicle and took over driving to get us back home to Safe Haven.

Once we returned home, and nearly scared our group by worrying and fussing over us upon seeing our state of condition, but we reassured them that we were fine and alright, and it didn't take long for the others to sort out the stuff we had gathered, putting them into the storage units as well as dividing the materials and supplies that we need and ration them wisely for the time ahead in the future when the cold weather breezes in soon.

It wasn't hard to sort them out as we all worked together into doing it, while Mark and Homer worked on fixing and improvising more with the added new devices to increase the security more for the safety of our whole group staying here in Safe Haven, along with me helping along since I believe that we need to fortify the building more to fight against the very cold weather once the winter season comes into Z-city, and I knew better not to underestimate the weather if it breezes in whether good or the worst kinds.

And that's all there is to it, that's happened. The next time for another new entry into this journal, it might be about the winter season finally coming in and through Z-city and I'll be writing about whether it's a good or worst type of cold weather that we're prepared to face through it and ready to see this through. Granted, I know that there are many possibilities of surprising shocks as well as unexpected situations that might happen, but I'm sure that we'll see this through and survive it alive and well.

Anyway, I'm rambling on. I'm ending this right here as I'll continue helping the others sort more with the winter season supplies and be done and finished with it once we do. Next time, when the winter season time comes in, I hope and pray that all of us make it through this and last long enough to survive through it for the future ahead of us.

Until then, this is Eden signing off.

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After Eden finished writing the new entry, she put the journal back in its hiding place and then turned to Ryu if he was finished with his wooden sculpture or not. She's a little surprised that Ryu was already finished with it a few minutes ago, and she nearly blushed with embarrassment when he handed it over to her and found that the sculpture he made, was her own figure, poised in fighting battle mode with her favored sniper rifle aimed ready to shoot and there's her other favored weapon of longbow and quiver of arrows strap behind her back.

Eden smiled at the cute sight of the little figurine of herself in 'survivor' mode and she had to admit, the small sculpture looked almost a little real, it's like she's been shrunk or something. Then she shook that thought away and thanked Ryu for the wooden sculpture and he nodded back to her before he left her alone in the room with her loyal pet dog Luna, who kept watching Ryu the whole time when she was writing in her journal, like its guarding her master against the male human that the canine seemed to dislike him for some reason.

Once Ryu finally left her alone in the room with her dog, Eden seemed to be wondering what was in store for her and her group in the future ahead once the winter season arrives soon in the latter days and she wondered how it was going to turn out for them and whatever might happen in the future time when it does. And Eden also hoped and internally prayed in her mind that they'll be ready to face it when it comes into Z-city or something.

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