Survivors

Home Sweet Compound

We pull up into a grand seemingly endless property overgrown with weeds, untamed grass and with tons of trees surrounding all areas except for a large area that we once used as a garden. We trigger an alarm at the bottom of the mile and a half long driveway. Zombie is waiting towards the top of the drive in his burgundy Jeep with a gun trained for split second decisions until he sees it's us, gladly lowering it. Zombie climbs out of his car as Devon and I stop and kill the engines. There's a loud thud of a body hitting metal as I see Autumn has tackled Zombie before I've halfway left the impala. I jam the keys in my pocket and run to hug Zombie, right behind Devon. Everyone is just sitting on the bus waiting in confusion. Zombie starts to walk to the bus with the three of us trailing his footsteps following quickly. He steps onto the bus says hello to Gunner, then he looks to everyone else catching all of their attention and begins to speak,

"Hello young ones, my name is Zombie, which is the reason we call the other things deads. By now you all know these three,"

He says pointing to Autumn, Devon and I.

"I trained all of them for this day. We are the Z team, and it is our job. Or more precisely was our job to kill deads so they never made it in the barrier. Now it is our job to train you all to stop the spreading before it consumes the world. There are three states that are infected, well maybe more now."

Zombie pauses for a minute to think about the possible damage. This is the first time I have ever seen him so unsure of himself or of what we can accomplish. I keep staring as he picks up where he left off.

"The other states have barriers that humans can cross. Somehow the Colorado barrier broke this morning after we had checked it, which means we are now infected. The house is clear but you will all wait in the entryway until we give instructions. You will all sleep in the basement of the house in a bunker for safety so no one on the team has to stay up and watch over all of you. We know this is a lot to take in at once but in this world you have to learn on your toes or you're on your ass. Go inside and wait for us but don't eat anything, we have to figure out rations for everyone before you eat. Tomorrow we start training at six o'clock."

Zombie turns on his heel and looks at Autumn, Devon and I telling us,

"We need to set up the small barrier. Athena you can go get the trainees set up for showers upstairs, I don't want them in the bunker until we give them the rules. Oh and you three will be up by four sharp."

None of us complain with the order and just nod. Zombie leaves the bus before we follow behind him with the trainees close behind us. The rest of the Z team heads to the shed to get the quads and the barrier as the trainees head to the house behind me. I get the trainees inside and make quick announcements in order to get back to barrier duty with the rest of my team.

"Go upstairs to the second floor and take turns showering or getting cleaned up. There's towels in the bathroom."

I don't wait for them to leave the entryway before I quickly make my way outside to a quad. The Z team leaves the house behind us and head out to the perimeter of the massive property. We had just finished setting up the barrier closest to the driveway and were heading back racing one another as always. Suddenly there is an ear piercing shrill coming from the house. I slam the throttle to go as fast as the quad can possibly go and practically break down the door with my gun in hand. Seeing no one on the first floor I run upstairs to see everyone standing in the hallway. I bark angrily,

"What is it?"

Alexis runs out and hugs me practically crying,

"There's a huge yellow snake in the bathtub!"

Zombie walks up beside me and says on a chuckle,

"Oh Bo-Bo? He's harmless, he must have liked the warmth from the running shower."