{"id":497,"date":"2015-08-10T02:38:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T02:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=497"},"modified":"2015-08-10T02:38:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T02:38:40","slug":"chapter-115","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-115\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 115"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 115<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Who would have guessed that I \u2013 a hemophiliac with no wilderness survival skills whatsoever \u2013 would be one of the sole survivors of the zombie apocalypse? \u00a0Certainly not me. \u00a0If I had crunched the numbers back in the beginning, I would have said the probability of someone like me surviving long-term would be slim to none. \u00a0The odds were stacked against me, yet here I am, still alive. \u00a0Somehow, I survived.<\/em><\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been easy. \u00a0There have been close calls, too many to count, but the fact that most of our original group has made it ten years speaks to our strength, in every sense of the word. \u00a0We <\/em>are strong \u2013 physically, mentally, emotionally, and collectively. \u00a0As a group, we\u2019ve never been stronger.<\/em><\/p>\n

Slowly, we\u2019ve started to rebuild and reestablish society. \u00a0Our goal now is not just to survive, but to plan for the future, so that mankind can continue to survive long after we are gone. \u00a0For too long, we were living in the moment, fighting for our lives every second, but finally, we can move forward. \u00a0Even as we look back on the last ten years, we are also looking ahead at the decades to come.<\/em><\/p>\n

I know there\u2019s no guarantee we\u2019ll all be around to see what the future brings. \u00a0The world is still a dangerous place, especially for someone like me. \u00a0But life is a gift, and I don\u2019t want to waste one day of the time I have left.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wednesday, April 13, 2022<\/strong>
\nTen years after Infernal Friday<\/em><\/p>\n

Howie sat in the supply room of the base infirmary. \u00a0He examined his fingernails curiously as he wound a strip of fabric around his finger. \u00a0They were overgrown and grimy-looking, with gray gunk embedded beneath the once-white crescents projecting past his fingertips.<\/p>\n

There was a time – over ten years ago now, he realized – when he had kept his nails clean and impeccably trimmed. \u00a0Once a week, he\u2019d paid for a professional manicure and hand massage at the finest Vietnamese nail salon in Orlando. \u00a0His hands had been almost baby-soft and so very smooth. \u00a0Now they were rough with calluses that had built up over a decade of doing the kind of manual labor he had once detested. \u00a0No amount of soap seemed to be able to remove the dirt from underneath his nails now, yet he rarely clipped them, knowing even a hangnail could cause him to bleed or contract an infection. \u00a0He couldn\u2019t be too careful, now that all of their antibiotics and clotting drugs were long past their expiration dates. \u00a0Selena had been experimenting with making her own herbal remedies out of plants and fungi, but Howie wasn\u2019t about to become her lab rat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s another one,\u201d said Selena, tossing him a fresh wad of fabric from the t-shirt she was shredding to make bandages. \u00a0Howie finished rolling his first, tucking the end neatly into the wrapped bandage before adding it to the stock on the shelf in front of him, then started on his second.<\/p>\n

For a while after the dead had stopped walking, the survivors had enjoyed a surplus of medical supplies, but as the decade wore on and more babies were born, their stock had started to diminish. \u00a0It helped to have homemade bandages on hand now that there were five little kids bumping around the base. \u00a0Skinned knees and scraped elbows occurred almost daily, but on that day, it was one of the overgrown kids who needed patching up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAJ!\u201d Howie heard Selena gasp, and he looked up to see her husband being half-carried, half-dragged into the infirmary by Kevin and Gabby. \u00a0\u201cWhat in the bloody hell\u2019s happened to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie followed her into the next room, where AJ, grimacing in pain, hobbled to the examining table and hoisted himself on. \u00a0\u201cGot ambushed by a gator on my hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selena, who was usually so hard to rattle, gasped again. \u00a0\u201cDid it get you? \u00a0Did it bite you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d \u00a0AJ smirked. \u00a0\u201cI<\/em> got it<\/em>,\u201d he replied grimly, pulling back on an imaginary bowstring. \u00a0\u201cArrow through the eye. \u00a0But… I jacked up my bum leg again in the process.\u201d \u00a0He gritted his teeth as Selena gingerly rolled up his left pant leg, revealing an ankle that had swollen to double its normal size.<\/p>\n

Howie blanched at the sight of it, imagining how much it must hurt. \u00a0\u201cHey, at least you still have it,\u201d he joked, earning a weak chuckle out of AJ. \u00a0They both remembered how close he had come to losing that leg after his fall from the tree. \u00a0He would always walk with a limp, but at least his broken leg had healed without becoming infected. \u00a0Between that and the zombie bite that had also failed to infect him, Howie was starting to believe AJ was invincible. \u00a0The trouble was, AJ seemed to believe it, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to start being more careful,\u201d Selena scolded, as she prodded his inflamed ankle. \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re a father now; you can\u2019t keep going out and almost getting yourself killed. \u00a0Imagine if I had to explain to our daughter how her dad\u2019s been eaten by a bloody alligator!\u201d<\/p>\n

She was being serious, but Howie couldn\u2019t help it; he started to laugh and was quickly joined by Kevin, Gabby, and even AJ himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelax, babe. \u00a0The only one getting eaten is that alligator. \u00a0By us. \u00a0Tonight.\u201d \u00a0AJ grinned triumphantly. \u00a0\u201cKev here hauled his carcass into the plane before he and Gabs flew me back – you can thank them for finding me, by the way. \u00a0I figured Gretchen could fry him up for our feast tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUgh, gross,\u201d said Gabby, wrinkling her nose.<\/p>\n

Selena sighed in exasperation. \u00a0\u201cWiggle your toes for me?\u201d \u00a0AJ complied, wincing again as she gently rotated his foot from side to side. \u00a0\u201cWell, looks like you got lucky again – it seems to be sprained, but not broken. \u00a0I\u2019d better wrap it.\u201d \u00a0She looked over her shoulder at Howie. \u00a0\u201cGuess we\u2019ll be needing those bandages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie shook his head. \u00a0\u201cI swear, you\u2019ve got more lives than a cat, AJ,\u201d he said, as he went back into the supply room to fetch some freshly-rolled strips of fabric.<\/p>\n

AJ laughed, as Selena set about immobilizing his ankle. \u00a0\u201cIt ain\u2019t just me, bro. \u00a0I think we all do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie had to agree.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Chapter 115 \u00a0Who would have guessed that I \u2013 a hemophiliac with no wilderness survival skills whatsoever \u2013 would be one of the sole survivors of the zombie apocalypse? \u00a0Certainly not me. \u00a0If I had crunched the numbers back in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/497"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/497\/revisions\/498"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}