Chapter 23

The house had a small entryway that opened up to a living room, and there was a full-sized kitchen behind that. There was a staircase that led up to the second floor, and there was a hallway in between the living room and the staircase. The hallway led to a bathroom, and the back door out to the backyard. The carpet was blue and the walls were white except for the kitchen.

In the kitchen, the walls were a cream color, and the floor was light brown tile. Upstairs there were two bedrooms across the hall from one another, a storage closet, and a much larger bathroom than the one downstairs. It seemed to be the perfect home to buy for a single-child family.

“Well, let me or anyone know if you guys need anything. Mine and Travis’ house is just down the road. So, just call if you need us,” said Rachel, and Amanda, Megan, Joe, and Josh looked at her in disbelief.

For a moment, Rachel looked at them thoughtfully, and then she realized what she had just said, as she laughed.

“No, I mean just yell,” she laughed, and then she left.

Amanda looked around the house, and then she looked at everyone as she sighed.

“So, what do we do now? I mean we don’t even have our weapons on us just in case we need to defend ourselves,” sighed Megan, as she sank down on the brown, stuffed couch.

“Well, they are locked in our vehicles, and when Melanie talks to us tomorrow, I will talk to her, but for right now, I think we should take showers and get out of these nasty clothes,” suggested Amanda, and Megan only nodded.

“Look, we will figure this all out, but for now…”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Joe walked over and answered it. A young girl looked up at Joe, and her cheeks flushed.

“Hi. I’m Tara, your neighbor, and I brought you guys a house-warming gift,” she said, shyly, and handed him a large basket of baked goods.

Joe smiled politely, as he took the basket, and she smiled back at him.

“You know, I used to cut hair back before the world went crazy. Why don’t you come by sometime, and I can fix you up?” she asked, as she looked at his messy bun.

Curiously, Amanda walked over to the door, and she heard Joe chuckle.

“No, thank you. I like my hair just the way it is,” he said, and Amanda saw the girl smile at him.

“Oh, okay. Well, maybe you can just come by then,” said Tara, and Amanda poked her head around him.

“Hi!” said Amanda in a cheery tone, and the girl looked at her.

“Hi. I’m Tara. I am your neighbor, and I was just bringing over a welcome to the community gift. I was telling your friend here that I cut hair,” she stated, and Amanda looked up at Joe.

“You want a haircut, and cut off all of those beautiful locks you have?” she teased, and Roman laughed, as he shook his head.

“You guys look good together,” said Tara, and Joe smiled at her.

“Really, I don’t know,” said Amanda, as she put her hand to her chin, and looked Joe over.

“He’s so tall, and I am so short,” she said, and Joe busted out laughing.

Tara laughed, as she watched Joe pull Amanda close to him.

“But you know that you cannot resist me,” he said in a fake vampire accent, and Amanda giggled, as she pushed him away.

Quickly, Tara glanced over at her house, and then she looked back at Joe and Amanda.

“Well, I hope you all like it here, and I will see you all tomorrow,” she said, quickly, and then she walked away.

Joe and Amanda thought that was a little odd, but they dismissed their thoughts, and shut the door. They brought the basket back into the living room where Josh and Megan were waiting for them, and Megan looked at the basket.

“I’m not eating any of that,” she said, as she looked at the baked goods dreadfully, and Josh laughed.

“Yeah. I don’t want to wake up in someone’s basement, tied and gagged,” he laughed, and Megan smiled at him weakly.

“Alright. Let’s go get cleaned up and get some shut-eye,” said Joe, and everyone nodded.

*****************

Slowly, Amanda opened her eyes, and she saw that Joe was still asleep next to her. She sat up and stretched, as she looked out of the window. Strangely, she saw a different colored hamper sitting on the porch. The laundry hamper that they had put out the night before was a lime-green color, and the one that was sitting on the porch was light blue.

Evidently, they had moved the living room furniture, and they grabbed all of the pillows and blankets they could find. They made a soft pallet in the middle of the living room floor, and slept on it. They didn’t feel comfortable being in separate rooms just yet. Just in case something were to happen, but surprisingly, nothing happened during the night.

Amanda got to her feet and she walked over to the front door, opened it, and immediately stopped when she saw a woman standing on the stairs. Confused, Amanda looked at her, and she scratched her head.

“Good morning. We have washed your clothing, and after you all wake up and eat something, Melanie would like to see you in the common house,” said the auburn-haired woman, and Amanda looked at her oddly.

“What’s the common house?”

The woman smiled as she pointed to a building that looked like an old court house, in the center of town.

“Thank you. So, where would we go to eat?” she asked, and the woman looked at her strangely.

“We all eat in our homes. There is food in the cupboards and the refrigerator,” she said, and Amanda looked at her with wide eyes.

“It’s not much, but there is cold water, and goat's milk, and there are non-perishables in the cupboards,” she added, and then she waved as she walked away.

Amanda watched as the woman walked away as she grabbed the basket of clean clothes, and she brought it into the house. She set the basket down, and then she ran over to the kitchen. She opened the fridge, and she saw a few fruits and vegetables, a couple of gallons of water, and a small container of goat’s milk.

Quickly, she shut the fridge, and then she opened the cupboards. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There were all kinds of stuff to bake with, and canned food stocked in the cupboards as well. Quietly, she began pulling stuff out of the cupboards, and she began making breakfast for everyone.

******************

Slowly, Megan opened her eyes, as the smell of fresh baked bread and oranges filled her nostrils. Quickly, she picked her head up, and she saw Amanda sitting on the couch, stuffing her face.

“Morning,” she said with a mouthful, and Megan looked at her oddly, as she got to her feet.

“Morning. What are you eating?” she asked, and Amanda smiled at her.

“I made breakfast. There is food in the cupboards, and the fridge.”

“Really?”

Amanda nodded.

“And we now have clean clothes,” added Amanda, as she pointed to the laundry hamper.

“Well, maybe that was their way of thanking us for saving their people,” said Megan with a smile, and then she ran to the kitchen.

Amanda had baked a loaf of bread, cut up a few apples and oranges, and she smashed half of the container of raspberries into a jam.

“Wow, this is like a five-star restaurant right in the middle of the apocalypse,” she said, happily, and Amanda laughed.

“Wow! We need to do something with all of that hair,” said Megan, as she noticed her friend’s hair was all over the place.

“I like it,” mumbled Joe, as he sat up, and Amanda smiled at him.

“I smell food!” said Josh, as he sat up, and Amanda gestured to the kitchen.

“We also have clean clothes. Eat up, because we have to go meet with Melanie after we are done,” she added, and Megan, Joe, and Josh nodded.

*******************

DJ, Christie, Dale, Robert, and Steve loaded what supplies they could find, and then they left the farmhouse. They traveled down a country road for a while, and they were headed west. For hours they drove, keeping their eyes peeled for any of their missing crew, but there was no sign of them.

A few hours later, they had found an old industrial building with a high security fence surrounding the place. It seemed to be abandoned except for a few stray mutants staggering around. Cautiously, DJ pulled the truck up to the gate, and it was chained shut with a lock on it.

“What do you think?” he asked, as he looked at Christie.

Curiously, she looked around, and then she looked back at him.

“Looks like a good place to start over. There are tractor trailers against the fence, giving it a little more reinforcements, and there are more in the back we could use to secure the rest of the place,” she said, as she pointed, and DJ smiled at her.

“Good girl,” he said, and then he got out of the truck.

Christie got out of the passenger’s side, and Dale, Robert, and Steve climbed out of the bed.

“Boss?” asked Dale, and DJ turned to him.

“We should clear out all the walkers first, before we plan to make our home,” said DJ, and Dale nodded, as he turned to Robert and Steve.

“Christie and I will check the perimeter, and you guys lure all the creatures to that side of the fence line,” said DJ, as he pointed, and everyone nodded.

****************

The three men lured the straggling creatures to the fence line, and DJ and Christie used their knives to kill them. They all did a full perimeter sweep to make sure the place was cleared and protected by the fence line, and then they regrouped at the truck.

“Perimeter is secure,” said Robert, and DJ nodded.

“Do we happen to have any bolt cutters?” Dale asked Steve, and Steve thought for a moment.

“Actually, I grabbed a pair. Thought they might come in handy one day,” said Robert, and Steve walked over to the bed of the truck.

He rummaged through the duffle bags, found what he was looking for, and then he walked back over to the others.

“Here you go,” he said, as he handed the bolt cutters to DJ, and DJ took them, as he nodded.

DJ walked over to the gate, and he cut the lock off of the chain. Easily, the chain and lock slid to the ground, and he pushed the gate open. Christie jumped into the truck, and she drove through the gate, as Robert, Dale, and Steve jogged through after her.

Swiftly, DJ closed the gate behind them, picked up the chain, and he used a few zip ties to secure the chain until he could find another way to lock it. For the time being, they would park one of the tractor trailers in front of the gate.

“Alright. Let’s go check this place out,” said Christie, as she got out of the truck, and everyone nodded.

Cautiously, the five of them made their way inside of the building, and suddenly, Christie inhaled sharply.