Head Full of Ghosts

Chapter 2 - Better Place, Better Time

As the morning sunlight streamed through the window, Zahra stretched and scrunched in place, trying to shake the sleepiness from her body while grabbing as much of the warmth from the light as she could get. Mornings were always so cold, since they weren't allowed to run any electricity overnight, but she had taken a great deal of time and care in positioning her bed for maximum exposure to the early morning sunlight from the earliest possible point.

It was pretty annoying when she learned that the sun changed position in the sky as the year went on, meaning she had to move her bed every so often or else lose catching those earliest rays, but the extra little warmth it brought always made the effort feel worth it. 

Feeling warmed and limber enough, she finally rose and went about her normal morning routine. Great pains had been taken to return some normalcy to their lives, so they all had running water and electricity, which meant she was actually able to take a nice, hot shower in the mornings.

There were still things missing, like radio, movies, tv, places to go with your friends on a Saturday night... but for the most part it wasn't too bad. There were still plenty of old movies, tv shows, and music that had already been made, and Zahra was able to find plenty of those. So many, in fact, that she was becoming convinced that she could find a new one of each every day for the rest of her life, and still never find them all.

Finally ready, Zahra took a deep breath, adjusted her backpack, and pushed out into the porch. 

The chilly autumn air cut at her like razor blades as she moved to the collapsible ladder and extended it to the ground below. 

This was always the part she hated the most - being forced outside to get downstairs. But there wasn't really any way around it. The whole community lived upstairs now. Ever since that night almost two years ago when some zombies broke through a hole in their still weak defenses in the middle of the night and stumbled into town. They managed to break into old Mr. Wesker's house and start feeding on him before he even managed to get out of bed. 

After that, everyone moved upstairs and blocked off all easy access to the second floor. By now, almost everyone had managed to either wall up the stairway, or remove them completely for extra living space.

So Zahra's morning routine now included this run outside and down a ladder into her own backyard. She had positioned the ladder close to the fence where she would know nothing could sneak up behind her so she could climb down facing the house, checking for any signs that something broke in during the night. As she neared the bottom, she readied the one weapon she'd been allowed to have: a short but sturdy walking stick with its tip sharpened to a long, menacing point. 

Nothing seemed amiss about the house, but she made a quick search through every room just to be sure.

Finally satisfied, she quickly got to work brewing coffee from several coffee machines she had recovered. Loaded down with two trays full of cups, she headed off into the town. 

A few others were also up and off about their business this early. Some she greeted with a nod or a "Hello!" Others she handed off a cup of coffee to.

She came up to a gate house and slowed to a stop. Turning, as she did every morning, she looked out past the small park and down to the old rec center, which had become a senior center, but now, since the outbreak, was neither. The doorway was dark, like always, and with the early morning sun not reaching it yet, the gaping maw of its entrance seemed to stretch forever on into an endless dark expanse. 

Something touched her shoulder and she jumped a little, letting out a sharp yelp.

"Woah, there, Zahra, take it easy."