I Am Zombie Bait

Chapter 21

I underestimated my work load. Clearing one building of all its zoms was hard enough. But four buildings worth? That was turning out to be a daunting task. The zoms haven't really been the biggest problem with this. Sure, taking them down was the whole point, but apartments rarely had more than one or two people in them. Occasionally a floor would have a bunch wandering around the halls, but it wasn't anything I haven't been able to handle with a few good swings of my bat. I loved that bat. But no, the thing that was kicking my butt was how exhausting it was. My lock picking had improved, so getting into the apartments wasn't as bad, thank the lock picking gods. But still, taking a zom down took a lot of energy. Even with all my working out and strengthening up, I couldn't run forever. Also, my diet hadn't been the greatest either. I get plenty of fruits from cans, mostly. But proteins and veggies, not so much. My endurance took the hit for that one.

But, of course, I couldn't give up. This was about more than my survival now. It was about the possibility of finding people in the future. And if I couldn't make this place safe, there would be almost no point in it at all. Even if it was a stupidly huge task. I was a stubborn girl, though, I could handle it. I convinced the panthers not to eat me, clearing out a few buildings should be easy. Who was I kidding? This was going to be really hard.

On to other things. I spent a night looking through that science project book. The one with the potato gun. And while flipping through the pages I found something else very appealing. Smoke bombs. Sure, real bombs would be nice, but I didn't know the first thing about making them. And, with my luck, I'd end up blowing myself up before I even got anywhere with it. Smoke bombs though, were considerably safer. In fact, the chemical recipe for one was shockingly... easy. And a little weird actually. There are three ingredients, sugar, baking soda, and potassium nitrate. So, the first two would be easy to find because... baking, I guess? I wasn't expecting to take a trip to the grocery store for smoke bomb supplies. As for that last one... I had no clue. What the heck is potassium nitrate anyway? I wasn't gonna find it in the baking aisle... probably. If I could figure this out it could be a huge advantage for me. Not only with zoms or even people, if it came down to that, but with Bubba too. For my plan to work best, he needs to stand still in a certain spot. A smoke bomb might be just the thing I need to keep him there. Sadly, the potato cannon wasn't gonna be much use to me. Which means I had to scrap it. I was really looking forward to blasting zoms in the face with potatoes too. Ah, would've been a waste of food anyway.

Another new thing that started happening, because that's what I'm all about, has to do with the Pride. The panthers have begun playing with me. That... did not sound right. Whatever. They have started wanting to wrestle and run and chase string like things around. It was kinda cute, until I tried out the laser pointer. Pro tip, don't play with panthers in your living room. Things will break. I did get them a bunch of soccer balls that I threw out in the yard. They really seemed to enjoy those.

There was also... well, one day I was working in the yard when I felt something tackle me from behind and pin me to the ground. For a second I though it was a zom, which didn't make sense. I turned my head to see one of my furry roommates on my back. "Panther!" I yelled at him. This motherfudger had a bad habit of tackling... everything. Which included me. He knew he was a jerk too because he'd stare at you with that twinkle of mischief in his eyes. He had that same look as he started down at me, his tail flicking back and forth as he got nice and comfy on my back. Now there was a secret to getting out from under a panther. I didn't know what it was, but I'm sure there was one. I placed my hands firmly on the ground and pushed us both up, only groaning a little. I spun my body to the side, making Panther lose his balance and partially fall off me. I took advantage of my... advantage and pushed him off completely. I stood fully, panting from the effort. And them something else tackled me from the side, sending me to the ground. I looked over to see Cat standing next to Panther, her tail flicking back and forth as well.