The girls decided that going to the woods is a bad idea so we diverted to the city. The gate was wide open so we had one less obstacle. A student or two managed to latch on to the car. Some tried to open the door only to have a zombie lunge forward and bite them. In their pain they lost their grips. The doors were locked so no one got in. We stepped on the skinny pedal and sped away. X-ray vision helped me escape booby traps. It took us a day and a half to reach our city. We were happy to see familiar structures. We saw that the cars had thinned out and the place looked like it was haunted. Zombies were slowly roaming around looking for food. I told the girls to hide and make sure the doors locked. Everyone double checked and dove to the floor for good measure. I decided to take us to Irene and Sonja's place. We made it to the apartment complex. We happily ran to the elevator. The electricity died as we were on the third floor. I insert my nails in the thin line between the doors. I managed to shove my fingers without injury. A moment of pause before I took a deep breath and pushed the doors wide open. The girls cheered as they smelled fresh. The girls slipped out. When everyone got out I jumped out too. We climbed three flights of stairs and I checked every room on the floor. I made sure to inventory everything inside and we systematically remove every useful item. Canned goods, blankets, pillows, a grill, bags of flour, bags of charcoal, a few edible plants, a working CB radio, cleaning fluids, gloves, flash lights, batteries, several cartons of juice, cartons of milk, different cuts of meat and a variety of veggies.
We used the grill to turn the milk into cheese and began fermenting vegetables. The flour was turned into flat breads and noodles. We used the CB radio and kept turning till I heard mom's voice. The others came forth wanting to know if their relatives were present. The Daisy and Annie's mom were in the maximum security prison of all places. They want to send people to rescue us but I made it clear that we are not going there. I have heard from reliable sources that they were doing horrendous experiments on zombies. So we will only be there for a short time and then we will be on the run because they unleashed it to the world. Mom tried to argue. So I told her to look at the basement. She discovered that I was telling the truth so she and the other parents promised to chat with us once a day. If we don't respond two days in a row they will send a search party. I promised it will never come to it. After we were all satisfied I decided to search the other floors and collect everything else. They were kept in the apartment next door. Afterwards I placed furniture on the third floor stairs and shards of glass on the seventh floor corridor. This was to make sure we weren't going to get any surprises. We had to conserve food so I stopped eating human food and only drank blood once a week. The adjustment was painful but a necessity. I would stand guard while the others did chores. It was awful that we had no electricity. So I went out and collected car batteries and wires. I remember one of my donor was an engineer. He had a simple solution. I applied it and we had power. I made it clear that we use it for essentials only. There are raiders who kill those who have supplies and plunder everything. So after much debate. The refrigerator was one using electricity. The rest was switched off. Irene would tell me to eat in case we had to go with the army. They will get suspicious if I don't eat anything. I ate pasta for the first time in eight weeks and I threw up. My body had adjusted to blood so the food tasted horrible. I apologized and the others didn't seem frightened. They consoled me and I forced myself to eat the rest.
After dinner I settled by the window before making myself invisible. I saw humans walking the streets below they were searching for places where they can get anything useful so they can remain hidden. I made sure the lobby looked ransacked so no one in their right mind would ever think of looking here. They didn't see me. They looked everywhere for a sign of life then they moved on since one of them accidentally bumped into a zombie. He screamed in terror and the chase began. The other zombies in the neighborhood chased them away. As they vacated the area new ones moved in. So it was a neverending cycle of zombies. I stared at the street wondering if the idiots who created this pandemic were amongst the undead. Since that would be poetic justice. After a few minutes my stomach was aching so I went downstairs and vomited my dinner into a garbage can and then lit it on fire. This will attract more zombies and convince any raiders that this place was off limits. I quietly walked upstairs and stared out with vampire eyes. I made sure to look like a normal person so anyone who saw me would assume that I am nonthreatening and friendly. The telescopic vision was amazing. I got to see Molly and her father struggling as they moved their stuff to the military facility. The entire time she was asking for an upgrade that would help him. She was told that the military was watching them like a hawk. If he tried anything they would kill them and take the research notes to someone who understands and maybe even make improvements that would make hers look primitive.
On the other side the prison was having trouble since the zombie cells were filled to capacity and the soldiers predicted that there will be jailbreak and snack on the survivors situation in the next few days. So I quietly contacted mom and filled her in. She wasn't happy that I distrusted the army but I had been right about the specimen collection so she decided to investigate. I went back to guard duty. I used my super smell to detect the civilians and I can tell that someone was bleeding badly. I can hear gunfire from afar. So I focused on adjusting my hearing. I heard elevated heartbeats as though I was using a stethoscope on an actual patient. X-ray vision showed me that it was a confrontation between the army, the raiders and the zombies. The army was there for a routine specimen collection and the raiders were there for supplies and to find people who will join forces to their already reducing number. The zombies were out looking for a snack. Both sides ran out of ammunition and the military left in their vehicles while the raiders had to run for cover. They ran till they were out of breath. Then they hide in an abandoned restaurant. They duped the zombies and snuck out. Then they walked till they reached the woods. They came empty handed and they left with less personnel. I sat down and embraced my new life and watched as there were screams coming from the prison. I casually jumped down and sped off to get mom out of there. I then found the relatives of my friends and took them home too. Irene explained everything and no one complained. Not even mom. She stared at me like I had grown an extra head made of scales. I casually walked back to the window and stayed guarding.
Sonja asked me if I could get anything so the new arrivals can sleep. I zipped out and came back with sleeping bags, extra plates, water bottles and first aid kits. I moved stuff out of the next door apartment. The rules were simple. The place should look desolate or raiders will come and kill everyone and steal everything. I told them to look out the window. They got to see these monsters shoot down innocent people and grab their gear. Mom looked sad but she seemed resolved to stay alive. I shut the window and turned on the AC unit. Everyone settled down with a sigh. I went to the apartment next door and began cooking. I made roast chicken and flat bread. I laid out the table in the blink of an eye. Then everyone reached for the pickled vegetables and started loading up their plates. I sat by the window and watched as the raiders were chased away. I told everyone to stay here as I get more batteries so we can enjoy electricity. Irene waved me off but mom asked me to join them for lunch first. I gave her a small smile before I zipped out. I first pulled the batteries out of the garage not far from us. I came back and stacked them up before coming back upstairs with syringes and other medical equipment. Karolina was once a nurse so she drew blood and poured it into a paper cup. I drank it and felt my pupils dilate. I closed my eyes and viewed my donor's history. Afterwards I sat down and watched the sunset. I took a deep breath and became a bunch of bats and flew around till I found a strange old house. I had a donor who was a serious historian. I found a hand crank manual washer so I ripped it out and brought it over. I did the laundry and went looking for new clothes. I bought some for every season. Once I was satisfied I took everything upstairs. The roof was used to dry clothes and catch rainwater for drinking, cooking, cleaning and for the plants. I even got a telescope so we could view the stars. Mom patted me on the head as she was sad that I had renounced food so others could survive. I was about to say something when I smelled something horrible. I looked down to see a new variety of zombies roaming the street. They looked decaying but held some sense of intelligence.