A Family

PART THREE

  The zombies are gone, but the world is completely different. And a new threat has emerged.

  Even though it just lasted two years, the world had still been greatly affected by the zombie outbreak, it made a lot of destruction, to bigger cities especially, and killed off most of the worlds human population. Many people had to suddenly run for their lives and turned into zombies when they were in the middle of doing something. When those things were unattended for, it caught on fire, crashed or blew up. Planes for example crashed all over and made a lot of destruction when they hit populated areas. And the lack of maintenance has led to most things are now unusable.

  Realising the zombie threat was passing, survivors somewhat close to each other have found and gathered. They left their empty shelters, and created new cities of sorts. They made homes for themselves and a market. Money is worthless so trading values is the currency. There are other smaller communities here and there. But most stay in the cities. It's safer than what's outside the cities.

...

  From the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, no one really noticed how the animals were slowly changing. You had thought about it a few times, after noticing the animals had become more aggressive than what was usual for the different species you encountered. You assumed it was because they were desperate for food too. When humans became zombies, the wilderness life far away from civilisation grew from the absence of humans hunting them.

  Prey animals aren't affected the same way, but all predator animals have gone crazy. It's not like rabies, and they aren't like zombie animals, they're just slightly disfigured and bigger, evolving and a lot more aggressive. And the predators that used to be far away from civilisation has become bolder and moved away from their usual areas.

  You have found out that gunshots, the kind of noise it makes when firing a gun, have shown to attract those animals. More so than vehicle engine while driving for example. (I know, I know, probably doesn't make sense, but it's the only way some of the scenes I made in my head can make sense for now.) So Ethan has put away all guns, and gone back to the basics. Turns out you're pretty good with a bow and arrow. Ethan preferred the two sword he had on holsters in a cross on his back.

...

  On the road, you've met a few new people and eventually it has become a group travelling with you. You went by your first safe place on the way. Jason and Molly had then joined you on your journey from there.

  Your group has been on the road for a while now and work well together. They all have different skills that they teach the others. One has taught you sign language, to be able to communicate in silence. She wasn't deaf but had grown up with a deaf sister. It has been useful on many occasions, especially when meeting strangers, hunting or just instead of shouting in certain situations.

  Some areas regularly experience harsh weather, it's mostly dust storms in the part of the world you are at the moment. Before the apocalypse these places were already harshly affected by the weather, but it's gotten worse. If the apocalypse never happened, the people living there would've probably adjusted to it, but it's become deserted places.

  Very few dare to travel, since it's too dangerous to without the proper precautions and safety measures, much less to take a shot at living there. And the way of getting themselves those things are limited now.

...

  The few cities around the world are not all doing very well. The access to food isn't good. Most cities are very poor and people are struggling to make ends meet. But still very few dare to leave and take the dangerous journey to another city in other countries.

  There are a few places in the world where the people have access to working aircraft's and boats. Those are the places doing better than others now, but they don't just take in anyone. They also have access to valuable resources and deliver it to cities, and sell on the market.

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