Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Sanctuary Read Free Page A

upstairs and barricaded the bedroom
door with a dresser. I could just barely hear the occasional faint cry, but
those didn’t last long. He was gone come morning. I felt some shame at refusing
to help, more for thinking so poorly of them. Still, they were the type that
we, the survivors of this ongoing nightmare, are better off without. It was the
right call.
     
    *
* *
     
    I woke
the next morning to discover the water was out. Being miserably hot and sticky,
a shower would have been so very nice. Instead, I used a damp wash cloth to
wipe the sweat away, not nearly as satisfying. Fortunately, the gas was still
working, and I decided to use up the last of my eggs. After stuffing myself, I
grilled two more steaks. Those could survive several days in the cooler. Then I
went ahead and made all of them. I might as well have something good to eat
before I left.
    You see,
I was determined to abandon my home and go someplace safe, or at least safer.
My house, pleasant and comfortable though it was, was not secure and couldn’t
be made so. I had large picture windows, and the rear doors were mostly glass
allowing one to see into the yard. It would take sheets and sheets of plywood
to get it closed up, lumber I did not have and could not obtain. Worse, I
didn’t have the necessary supplies, specifically food and water, to last more
than a month, maybe two. Finally, there was the steadily increasing number of
zombies passing by to consider.
    Yes, I
had a plan. Good for me. Unfortunately, I lacked the resources to gather the
information needed to properly develop it. There was no more Internet, at least
that I could access. Power was out, so no television. Nothing on the radio. The
stations were either shut down with the staff gone or dead or their power was
also out, maybe both. Therefore, I had to make decisions based on my gut and
the little I did know.
    The
first thing I did was enter the garage and very, very quietly take the back
seat out of my Jeep Wrangler – it was the big four door variety. That took
longer than I expected. I spent a good half hour just reading the manual and
examining the bolts, but I managed to remove it in the end. With the seat gone,
the storage space in the Jeep increased dramatically.
    Then I
began sorting through my belongings and boxing stuff up. I won’t list
everything I packed since that would be a bit obsessive compulsive, even for
me, and more than a little tedious for the reader. I did take my laptop and the
external hard drive to my desktop, along with adaptors so I could use and
charge the computer in the car. This meant I had my digital pictures, quite a
few movies, tons of music, some of which was even downloaded legally, and a
bunch of random videos I’d found on the web over the past few years. I also
packed my family photo albums and scrapbooks. I needed something to remind me
of my past. As far as personal items go, I kept it light after that. I took
some of my favorite books, mostly autographed or otherwise rare and valuable,
at least to me, and a few knick knacks from my childhood. I also included an
old antique oil lamp. I had no fuel for it, but that can be made from all sorts
of things including fat from animals, disgusting though the process was. It
might be useful at some point.
    For
practical gear, there was clothing. I decided it was prudent to wear long
sleeves, despite the heat, and a denim jacket and jeans at all times when
outside. I was pretty sure a zombie would have trouble biting through fabric
that thick. I packed some gloves as well for the same reason. Of course there
were my guns. I had my Beretta .40 caliber on my hip. I had my Glock .45 in the
slot on the driver’s side door of the Jeep. The other pistols I put in a bag
with extra clips and ammunition, keeping them in the passenger seat. My .22
rifle and 16 gauge double barrel shotgun followed suit. All the bottled water
was taken, along with every can of high calorie, nutritious food in my pantry.
I packed up