Chapter 11 - Chapter 10

"My name is Carter" I said as we pushed both carts out the door. Turning around I make sure to lock it tight before I begin the walk home. Unfortunately, "What do you think caused this?" "Have you tried calling the national guard office?" "How do you know there isn't somebody trying to evacuate people?"..... She doesn't seem to comprehend the meaning of "shhhhhh". I turn to her before saying quietly, "you really need to shut up. There may not be any around right now but that doesnt mean we are safe. Hold your damn questions until we get back to my place or turn around and leave now. I'm not willing to risk my ass unnecessarily because you can't understand the danger we are in." Her face curls with a frown but before she can begin arguing I raise my hand. *shhhh *shhhh *shhhh *shhhh *shhhh. Her eyes widen as I roll the cart off the road and begin looking around. "Whammmfg" I cover her mouth with my hand and ahake my head glaring at her. Fuck. How in the hell did she survive this long? I gesture for her to hide under a nearby car as I hear the shuffling coming closer. After letting go she begins to slide under a car while I stand on top of one to see what I can make out. I see 10 zombies shuffling our way. I jump down and take off my bag setting it next to the carts before I slide beneath a car nearby and begin to wait. It only takes a few minutes for me to be able to see feet shuffling past the hiding places we are in. Looking at Penelope I can see she is shaking and has tears in her eyes. By some grace of god she at least hasnt made any noise. It doesn't take long for them to pass by and move on but I have to gesture at Penelope to stay put since as soon as she couldnt see feet she tried to leave her spot. After waiting a few more minutes just to be safe I slide out gesturing for her to do the same. We grab our carts and begin the silent walk home. She doesnt make a peep the rest of the trip and we finally make it to the house around an hour later. I begin loading everything inside as I do I hear the chirping of chicks and rustling of rabbits wanting food. "Will you go feed the chickens and rabbits for me? One cup of food for each cage." I say before heading outside to bring the next cartload in. After I finish putting everything up I sit down and tell Penelope "Ask anything you like now. We are safe here since there's not alot of noise leak in this place.". "Who are you?" she says. "I told you. My names Carter." She looks at me like I'm an idiot. "No. I mean what did you do? where did you go to school? where are you from?" "Ah." I scratch my head. "I used to work in the factory up the road. I was a unit manager and I went to school here in cloudstone. No college. I'm from cloudstone." "I dont recognize you though?" she says looking at me strangely. Sighing I get up and walk upstairs while saying, "Well for the last 2 years I've been working night shifts and I didnt spend alot of time in school either since i was in the alternative education Department." I come back into the common area carrying a yearbook from my last year in high school. "See?" I say showing my picture. "Ah. Sorry. I just didnt recognize you." she says while looking down." " Its fine. So anything else?" She thinks for a minute before she says "How are you so calm about this? If what you say is true than how are you not worried?" I look at her with my eye twitching. "What do you mean?" "I mean what about your family how can you be so calm about all of this?" ah. I see what she means but. "My dad died when I was younger and I lost my mom 3 years ago due to complications from a heart stint." She looks like someone kicked her dog. "I'm sorry" she mumbles. "Dont be." I said waving my hand, "Not your fault". She is quiet for a minute before she says "Why havent you tried to call someone?" I shake my head before getting up and handing her my phone. "You are welcome to try but so far I haven't gotten anything. I'm gonna make some food. Would you like some?" She nods as she begins dialing every number she can think of as I get some water boiling on the stove. 15 minutes later she walks in with her head hung in defeat. Setting the phone down she looks at me, "Nothing. No one is answering or it goes straight to voicemail..." I nod. "That's what I got as well." I add the noodles to the water before I hand her the spare key to the apartment across the hall from my own. "There should be some clothes upstairs in 3 that will fit you. Get a shower and change. By the time your done dinner will be ready." She looks at me not understanding my words until she looks down noticing she is filthy and needs a bath. She grabs the key and runs upstairs. I chuckle a bit at this before I begin making the sauce for the noodles. Thankfully it only takes her about 20 minutes to finish before she comes downstairs with wet hair in some clean clothes. I make her a plate of food before I make mine then I sit down on the couch and begin checking the tv. Blue screen. I eat meal in relative peace while she asks a few questions that I answer the best I can. "What do you plan to do from now on?" she asked "I'm preparing to start a garden in the backyard for now. And while I wait a few days for the zombies down by the farm store to clear out I'll be emptying everything out of the dollar store as well." "But shouldnt you leave some for others just in case? I mean what if someone else needs that food" I sigh before stating, "We are going to need it as well. At best the garden may be able to get us some food by october but even then it wont be a lot. If someone needs help we will try to help them but I'm not going to just leave stuff we could use laying around. Today we can get to it but what about tomorrow? Who's to say that tomorrow the store isnt surrounded and we cant get back inside? Theres no guarantee either way so we just habe to grab what we can when we can. This isnt about being greedy. It's about whether or not we survive." Her face drops as she realizes I'm right. I pat her shoulder before standing up. "It's getting late" I gesture out the window where the orange sky of dusk can be seen. "Make sure to lock your door and get some sleep." "Wht should I lock my door?" she asks, "Just in case something manages to break into the house you'll have extra time thabks to the deadbolt" I say before walking up to my room and locking the door. I strip down and set my wrench on the nightstand before looking out over the town. She may be a pain in the ass, however, at least I'm not alone anymore.