Bricks of Ash and Blood

Chapter 9: Leaf

SIMON

I ate breakfast in the canteen. Everyone was there, the entire school. There were thirty-one of us, not including the six scavengers who were still missing. It was a rare occasion that everyone was gathered, but there was going to be some big changes coming. Everyone ate breakfast before the meeting, but it was a weak meal. There was no more fresh meat, or fresh vegetables. Instead, in my bowl was a mix of baked beans and canned carrots. Not tasty, but we were rationing food now. I spooned the food into my mouth, then scraped at the bowl, for every last morsel. I would waste nothing. I had gone hungry for weeks at a time when the zombies had first come. I knew true hunger, I would stave it off as long as I could.

At the end of the meal, I stood and walked to the front of the canteen, standing before the rows of tables, where thirty-one people sat

"As you all know, the fire was devastating. We have lost our farm, and the reserve has been destroyed. I first want to say, excellent work. You all worked as hard as you could, and because of your efforts, we are alive today. The struggle is not over though; we still have work to do if we are to survive. Finding food is now a big problem, and we will need to change some things around here. For starters, we are going to ration. More importantly, we will need more people scavenging for food. Of the thirty-seven people living here, fourteen people leave the school to find food, every day. We will be upping that number to twenty-five."

Murmuring throughout the tables. "Simon!" someone exclaimed. "Who has to leave the school to go scavenge? There are zombies out there! Even the normal scavengers have been gone for days! They're probably dead already!"

"I know. No one wants to leave the school every day, it's safe here. But it's not so dangerous out there anymore. Alex tells me zombies are rare. The scavengers will be back soon; they are definitely not dead. If you stay in groups, you'll be fine. The hunters can back me up." I hoped I wasn't lying, and the scavengers actually were coming back.

All eyes turned to Flynn, leader of the hunting group. He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, occasionally we see a zombie, but nothing like we used too. One per week or so. Hell, I think they're even slower than they used to be."

I exhaled. That was a good response. "We will be splitting the twenty-five into five groups of five. Each will search a new area every day. We are not just looking for cans of food and bottled water though." I paused to let it sink in. "We will be looking for renewable foods, plants, animals, I don't know. But we'll look. We can't survive on what food we have left. Guards, cooks, doctors, they'll all stay here in the school. Everyone else, I've written up a list of teams."

I pulled a piece of folded paper from my pocket, and straightened it out. I read off names, dividing people into teams, and giving each team a leader. Everyone seemed happy with their team, I'd tried to make sure people would be working with friends.

"Starting today, every team will leave the school and explore, looking for food. Oh, and one last thing, before we get to work. On the day of the fire, David was on guard duty. He was asleep. If anyone is ever caught sleeping on the job, or stealing food, there will be punishment. David, you're pulling double guard shifts for two weeks."

I saw him sitting at a table in the back. I stared at him, but he didn't meet my gaze. Double shifts meant he would be working 16 hours every day. It wouldn't be fun. I wished everyone good luck, and left the canteen. Before I did, I pointed to Flynn. He caught my eye, and followed me out.

"Hey Flynn. Most teams will be going south into the city, or searching through the reserve. I want your team to go North. There used to be farmland up there, and there might be survivors there still. If there are, that means farm animals and crops. It's a long shot, that someone managed to keep a proper farm going, but it's worth a look."