CHAPTER 45 - Surprising Encounters

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It was two days later that's already gone and passed by on the second week of the month at the time of year right then and later on. And the rough cold weather, as well as the snowy blizzards, have finally stopped and have become calm and peaceful in Z-city.

But it seems the peaceful time of that year supposedly, has become the calm before the storm of sorts, upon the tension radiating from Eden herself only. Even though the others haven't noticed her tenseness of her, it won't take long for a few of them to see her inner troubles, which the people sharp enough to notice are Ryu and Sahara respectively, since they consider themselves Eden's new trusted friends of sorts.

It just so happens that the reason why Eden has been acting like this is that she went out on a run alone, without anyone accompanying her since she sneaked out while they were all sleeping late at night at the time back then. Eden knew that it was a big mistake going out on her own but she got a little tense and angst too much upon being cooped up or something with the others and she seemed to have no time day of freedom all by herself.

It goes to show that she seemed to be used to being by herself since the zombie outbreak from the beginning until then she had rescued the kids and then the new group members here. So Eden thought that going on a short night stroll by herself would clear her thoughts about it and make her relax from her tensions.

It seems to be working during the late two nights she went out alone when the others are resting deeply and sleeping without being disturbed by anything during their slumber as Eden went out on her own.

But on the second night, just as Eden was returning to Safe Haven upon planning to go out into another night run, it seems that Eden must have seen or encountered something. Thus, it is the very reason why Eden looked anxious and tense by then. She tries to hide it as best she can without anyone in her group noticing it, including her loyal dog Luna, but then it will be a matter of time before the others finally noticed her strange behavior and such.

It was sometime at another late night on the third day that passed by, signaling the last time for the second week of the month that Eden is by herself on the rooftop, looking deeply thoughtful as she stands guard while taking the night-shift watch duty at the time then.

So far, no one else in the group has noticed her behavior yet that's been tense and strange from back then, but Eden knew better that it's going to happen sooner than later and she needs to admit and confess to them that she's been going out alone those previous late nights as well as what she had seen or encountered before.

Eden was looking through the telescope in its night-vision mode for a moment or so while being silent and thoughtful, being alone on the rooftop with a light snowy carpet on top and it's not cold enough to make her suffer from it as she's bundled in thick winter clothing types. After a few minutes or so, Eden took out the journal hidden in her person and went on writing a new entry into it to write down the events that have happened, including the parts of where she had been and what she had been doing during the late nights she went out alone in Z-city, as well as what she had seen or encountered.

Luna was still there, staying by her side as the loyal dog that the female canine is and Eden just patted it softly for comfort and reassurance before she went on writing the entry into the journal.

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

Hey, it's Eden again.

Do you ever feel like you get a little tense and anxious from getting 'cabin fever' or something of the sort?

Well, I did. And let me tell you--it is not a very pleasant feeling when I started getting them. And I can't just tell my new friends that I'm starting to feel this way and needed to go out on my own and have some fresh air to calm and relax my mind over it.

I knew that the others wouldn't agree and insisted on accompanying me during my runs. So without hesitation and second thoughts about it, I've been sneaking out for the last two nights, at a very late time when everyone fell deeply asleep in their slumber and I always double-checked whether they were sleeping or not.

Once I confirmed that I went out silently like a thief in the night, running around and exploring and prowling about in Z-city to clear my mind of the anxiety I'd been feeling and getting until it was done and over with. But I made sure that I was very careful and hyper-aware of my surroundings so that I won't get caught off-guard by any threats and dangers that might be lurking about, such as the zombie types and possible hostile survivors.

So far, it's been peaceful and quiet while I was out on my own alone in my late-night strolls but then on the last second--or was it the third night--I have seen and encountered something by surprise and I managed to hide behind some cover to watch and look over before they caught sight of me or something.

The things that I have seen and encountered…turned out to be more survivors than I saw at the time of my night stroll and I can't tell with some of my sharp senses upon seeing straight or hearing them as close as I can manage from my hiding place, whether they are good people or not.

It was shocking to see and encounter more living people who managed to survive through the zombie apocalypse without difficulty like my new group members, but then again, I knew better than to take such possible survivors for granted, since most of them turned out to be bad people of the sorts. And I know it first hand since the zombie outbreak when began at that time long ago. Along with a few encounters I have seen and looked from afar when these kinds of survivors walk or pass through Z-city.

From what I can see, they are looting or scavenging for more supplies for them to survive through the winter season here in Z-city, but it looks like their efforts are in vain, even though they're desperate to find, even one garbage bin that might still have something useful in it for them.

I had to hold back my choking sounds of disgust upon seeing them rummage around in the garbage waste bins for anything useful they could find or recycle for better use and I almost pitied such a sight upon seeing it, but I knew better not to let my guard down if these people turned out to be the bad kinds of survivors or something far worse than that.

I managed to sneak away from my hiding place, silent like a shadow and went running back to Safe Haven before they even realize that I was there. I made it just in time upon coming back and I was relieved to see that the others are still asleep in their rooms on their beds. I went into my room and started thinking deeply about what I should do or make up plans upon these surprising encounters that I witnessed and saw during my sneaky night strolls.

I knew that I need to tell the others about it but that will also force me to confess how I knew such things, thus I need to admit that I've been sneaking out late at night and going out alone on my own, just to ease and relax from my inner troubles and negative anxiety I've been feeling for myself. I know that the others will be disappointed with me that I didn't bother to share my problems with them, but they had enough to worry about since it's the winter season and I couldn't add more of their concerns if they found out anything else has happened and it might endanger our group.

I'll have to think on it more later in the next few days and decide whether I should tell them or not about the survivors, as well as discussing on what to do with them when it comes to that. The next entry for my journal will be about the group discussing and conversing over this subject that came up to us almost so unexpectedly, but I'm confident that we'll be ready to face it head-on when something comes at us without warning or something like that.

Hopefully, nothing bad or something like that is going to happen when it does.

Until then, this is Eden signing off.

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After Eden finished writing the entry in her journal, she put it back into hiding on her person and will be planning to put it into its hiding place later on after her night-shift watch duty ended. She looked through the night-vision mode telescope again like she was making sure she didn't miss anything lurking or hiding about in the darkness of the streets in Z-city that nighttime.

And once she confirmed that there was nothing else she could see, she relaxed back against her seat like she was trying to relax more of her chaotic thoughts that are running inside her head about what she was thinking about from the last encounter or scene she had witnessed in her lone night strolls before.

Eden seemed to be wondering how she is going to break this to her group upon the news of the possible survivors she had seen and the decisions they have to make together upon knowing what to do with them and how to confront them to know whether they are good people or not. She hoped internally to herself that there won't be any impending arguments or fights about it once they discuss this together and that it won't bring them any troubles if they ever decide to check on it and face them, despite that it might bring dangers towards them as well as it could be a trap or something bad like that.

Eden hoped that by the next few days, the decision will be made by the group in a very wise manner and choose smartly without being hasty about it.

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