Chapter 14.2

There was a crash and they spun around.

“Hurry up! We’ve got company!” Neil yelled.

Randy grabbed Rosemarie’s arm. “Move!”

“The dog food!” she yelled.  

“Leave it!”

“I can’t!” She jerked away.

Chapter 14: On To The Petstore

The scavenger party’s car swerved and sped around obstacles. In and out of neighborhoods and down back roads they flew, until finally making it back to the shopping area of Tuscaloosa.

Rosemarie looked through the car window at the deserted roads and parking lots. The sight of abandoned cars with the doors left open, sent shivers down her spine.

“Don’t you think it’s odd that their aren’t any...you knows around here,” said Rosemarie.

Chapter 13.4

         “Get in!” yelled Neil, diving into the driver’s seat.

         Rosemarie climbed into the car as fast as she could.

“Where’s Randy?” she asked frantically.

“He was right behind me,” he said.

She watched the door of the drug store. Moments passed and no Randy. Neil was starting the car when Randy ran out of the store. He wrenched open the door and jumped into the passenger seat.

Chapter 13.3

Randy finally pulled onto a road with a lot of businesses on it. He spotted a drug store. After maneuvering around abandoned cars and piles of debris, he made it into the parking lot. The front door and windows of the building were smashed.

“Uh, I doubt there’s much in there,” said Neil, hesitantly.

“We came all this way,” said Rosemarie, her voice sounding much more determined than she felt. “We’re going to check.”

Chapter 13.2

“We need to find a pharmacy,” said Rosemarie urgently.

Randy was driving the car down the little backwoods road towards Tuscaloosa. “Where do you suggest we look for one?” he asked, gruffly.

“There is one on just about every street corner in the populated areas. But there will be populations,” said Neil, twisting in his seat to look at Rosemarie. “I hope you are prepared for what you’ll see.”

Chapter 13: Outing

“She needs medicine,” said the small voice of Alex. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. “Please,” she pleaded with the adults.

“Of course, we’ll get some,” said a worried Randy.

Alex looked up at Rosemarie.

Chapter 12.2

“I think we should put up as many shelves as we can along here,” said Georgi, pointing to one of the long walls of the cabin.

Georgi began coughing. She did her best to stop the tickle in her throat.

“Are you sure you want to do this today?” asked Rosemarie. “You look like you might fall down.”

“It’ll be fine,” said Georgi, clearing her throat. “Let’s get to work.”

Chapter 12: Uh Oh

The next morning, Rosemarie woke up to Georgi blowing her nose.

“Morning,” Rosemarie said. “Are you ok?”

“Sorry,” Georgi said from her blankets. “I didn’t mean to wake you. My allergies are actin’ up.” She wiped her nose.

“Do we have any allergy medicine?” Rosemarie asked.

Chapter 11.3

Georgi drove the truck back to the cabin. Away from the city seemed so peaceful. So quiet. If it wasn’t for the abandoned houses and businesses, the whole zombie thing could have been something they had imagined.

“Too bad we didn’t find much in the way of medicine,” said Rosemarie.

“We did get a few boxes of bandaids,” said Georgi.

“Momma,” said Alex. “A library.” She was pointing to a small unassuming building. It was a tiny white structure with a little sign.

Chapter 11.2

The women, little girl and dog finally climbed out of the truck and walked to the house. Rosemarie noticed the manicured flower bed near the front porch. Weeds were growing among the irises and daffodils. She reached down to pluck a few.

Chapter 11: Necessary Evil

The majority of the group decided to take the truck with the trailer. Rosemarie didn’t want to have to go out too much to retrieve things if they could do one big shopping trip.

She and Alex were still leery about getting out of the treehouse. With a lot of encouragement, they ran down the stairs and jumped in the truck. Georgi, Alex, and Rosemarie with a wriggly dog rode in the front. Neil and Randy took up position in the bed of the truck.

Chapter 10.3

Three days passed without zombies finding them. Alex and Rosemarie spent time working on creating a hanging garden and dreaming up plans for a garden on the ground. Of course, they were still worried about setting foot on the ground. Georgi didn’t blame them and wished that she didn’t have to set foot on it either.

Chapter 10.2

They worked for the rest of the day building the platform. It was hot sweaty work. Georgi’s arms hurt, her head hurt and she wanted to stop. She was becoming more and more worried about the noise they were making. Neil was very encouraging so they continued until it was completed. It wasn’t the prettiest piece of construction, but it was sturdy.

“Something is coming,” called Alex. She was pointing into the woods.

Chapter 10: Building from a Barn

Neil led Georgi to a run down old barn. It once was a two story building with a staircase leading up the side of it. The wood had turned a shade of dark grey from weathering. An old wooden wagon sat decaying outside the barn. It was sad and beautiful at the same time.

“I see why no one told us about this,” Georgi said. “My brother and I would’ve been climbin’ all through this thing.”

“Yeah, pretty dangerous for kids,” said Neil. “You want to get some boards now?”

Chapter 9.3

“Uh...I don’t know what this means,” said Alex. She was holding up a seed packet. Instead of being labeled with the plant name there was a series of numbers.

51211.3-2

   

“Hmm...I’m sure we can figure out what will grow from it,” Rosemarie said. “Maybe not the variety. It will be a surprise.”

“A code?” asked Alex. She was looking at the packets with excitement.

“Looks like it,” said Georgi. “You get to break it.” She smiled warmly at her daughter.

Chapter 9.2

Murphy was barking in the distance. Rosemarie’s heart started pounding. Georgi scrambled up to look over the railing. She relaxed.

“It’s just Neil,” she said.

“Afternoon, ladies,” Neil called up to them.

Georgi let the stairs down so that he could climb up.

“What have you been up to?” Rosemarie asked.

“I was just checking the area. And looking for a good fishing spot,” he said.

His boots were muddy. His hair was plastered to his face. He sat down and dangled his feet off the side of the treehouse.

From the notebook of Georgiana: Composting Toilet

Chapter 9: Treehouse Living

All Rosemarie could think about was Mark. His dead eyes. His head exploding. Her stomach kept turning over and over. No one came to save him. No one was going to save them. She couldn’t eat. It would just come back up again.  

She laid in the treehouse looking up at the underside of the half finished top floor. She could hear Georgi and Alex talking, but she wasn’t paying attention until she heard Georgi say, “Bye Randy.”

“Where’s he going?” Rosemarie asked.

“Hunting,” Georgi said.

Chapter 8.4

On her way back, Randy and Neil appeared at the edge of the clearing. They gave her such a fright that she jerked backwards almost tripping over her own feet.

“Sorry,” said Neil. “We didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Just jumpy,” Georgi said. Her face started to burn.

Randy looked up at the treehouse.

“What are they doing?” he asked.

“They are restin’,” Georgi said, trying to edge past him.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. “Resting? They didn’t do anything,” he said.

Chapter 8.3

Randy and Neil dug a grave fifty yards to the east of camp while the the girls stayed huddled in the treehouse.

Once they moved the body, Georgi went down and removed as much of the blood as she could. It was amazing how little of it there was. Maybe it just seemed that way since most of her experience was from TV or movies. She swallowed down her nausea. After heating up some water, she scrubbed her hands and arms till they turned pink.

Breathing in shaky breaths, she sat down for a moment before beginning breakfast. Neither Rosemarie nor Alex came down.

Chapter 8.2

“Momma, momma wake up,” Georgi heard Alex whisper.

She peeled her eyes open. “What is it, sweetie?”

“Somethin’s wrong with Mr. Somerset,” she said. Her voice was shaking.

Georgi could hear Murphy’s low growl as she pushed herself up out of the blankets.

Mark was standing in the middle of the clearing. His head was tilted to the side.

Chapter 8: Life Will Never Be The Same

When Georgi handed Mark the notebook, he looked like he was getting worse. His skin was hot to the touch and he was shaking so badly that he couldn’t hold the pen.

“I’ll write the letter, if you’d like,” she said.

He tried to smile and nodded.

Georgi took down the names and addresses of a few of his family members as he struggled and failed to sit up.

“When we get the chance, we will get the letters to them,” she said.