Chapter Three - Hope of the New Era

A large man hovered over a drooling baby, his thick fingers fastening Velcro at the child's round belly. The baby giggled and the man whose expression had been one of care and concentration softened into blissful pride. He kissed the child's soft forehead before teasing him with the stubble on his square jaw. The little ones laughter filled the entire room and beyond, while an infant nearby began to stir for a moment before drifting back off to sleep.

Dexter leaned back to fasten up the baby vest and pull up the small short to cover the child's chubby thighs. He then picked up his baby son and chatted non sequential words to entertain the tot, while wondering in awe; who would have thought this was possible three and a half years ago...

Three and a half years ago, the world as they knew it ended, ushering a new and terrifying age. Human populations around the world reduced drastically and the recently deceased suddenly rose to begin feeding off of the people that had lived. Animal populations also suffered and billions of livestock, pets and wildlife all joined the ranks of the undead. To make matters worse, technology became mostly redundant, with electricity cut off along with other modern conveniences. Water, the liquid of all life, was found to be contaminated and a main cause for the sickness that turned billions into zombies. It was of no surprise that the people who lived through those first few weeks dubbed the suddenness of that change as the Apocalypse.

In those first few weeks, Dexter and several other survivors came together to form one of the earliest bases. That base did not pass over the first obstacles all survivors needed to face. He and his squad, who had been scavenging for food when the base fell, would never really know what happened to cause the small base to become infested with zombies, they could only guess. It was a stranger called Ren Zexian, who claimed to be a 'Cultivator', that saved them from joining their base's altered population.

After that, due to one reason or another, the squad of six men and one cultivator found themselves in an out of the way village and living on a several acre estate owned by a youth, who'd survived alone for several months due to blossoming talent and sheer luck. He had not been the only one to survive in the village, but that was another tale.

The estate became their new base, one they developed and which grew in population over time. They welcomed old friends as well as new, soldiers as well as civilians, people with powers as well as without.

And the Cultivator, Ren Zexian, took those people that had obtained magical powers after the End and taught them the secrets of cultivation, leading them to become stronger and better able to protect themselves and their loved ones. This meant that though they could never return to the reality that they had once known, they could fight for more than just survival. They could fight to create themselves a new home and a new way of living.

It had not been easy, the majority of them knew nothing about food apart from that you could buy it from the supermarket, knew nothing about clothes except that fashions changed every season and were used to being warmed by central heating and having endless supply of water on tap. Fortunately, landlord Nathan had been growing food and flowers within the extensive gardens of his parents estate for many years, having developed an obsessive love of it and the shy survivor Autumn had been a student in cooking in order to step into the culinary world as a career. Several of them were former construction workers and could build and repair structures and Patrick, from his own squad even had basic abilities in sewing, though on a very amateur, hobby level.

There were challenges; zombies did not rest, so neither could they, animals had mutated and many attacked humans as prey just as the undead, those with powers often had to exhaust themselves in order that everyone might live. Dexter's ability was lightening, he was one of the main defender's of their small community, throwing streaks of electricity at numerous enemies to halt their attacks. This was difficult enough, but Tyler had to do this as well as provide water for everyone's daily use, Cole checked and fixed the walls everyday with his earth abilities and Shaun created and shaped crossbow bolts, cross bows, metal shields, plates, roof tiles, knives...

And every so often, even though the moment seemed brief, there came a time like right now, where instead of throwing their all into defending the walls, into attacking invaders, moving wheelbarrows filled with compost, clearing out livestock pens, hand planting rows upon rows wheat and corn seed, he could take a breath and enjoy the rewards. He gazed sideways at the soiled cloth nappy beside him and thought; okay maybe not a deep breath. His son's excrement was heavily aromatic and not in a good way. He tossed it in the bucket of soapy water, suffocating the worst of it.

Little Devon was the second baby born to their base, but there were several children living here now ranging in age from less than a year all the way to sixteen. They weren't growing up in an easy environment, they couldn't go to school and they couldn't go to amusement parks or hang out in fast food restaurants. As soon as the child was sensible, they had to work along side others, growing food, cleaning up after themselves and the older ones learned to fight so that one day they could also defend their home. So naturally, the adults who pitied them spoiled them in small ways; they were always the first to eat the early strawberries off of the vines or use the bath tub to wash clean. The priority was given to them when it came to patching or mending clothes and no one said a word when they didn't go to bed on time.

Having children to indulge in their community was a kind of recognition, they were not just surviving in this new age, they were living.

"Daddy, I have the babies bottles!"

Dexter turned around to smile at one of the other treasures that he had gained since he'd formed the squad and led them here; his daughter Lucy. The pretty, blond haired child, the other last survivor of the deserted village outside of the walls came walking in holding the warmed bottle in hand. It was sheep's milk, the small herd that they had developed had grown once more in the spring and now numbered eight. They were a little concerned about the genetics of future generations, being that all of the sheep were related, but it wasn't something that could be helped; if animals had not zombified then they had likely mutated and were rarely docile anymore. Their herd had abilities related to the wind, were swift and could knock a man off his feet when approaching with sheers. If not for Lucy's ability to calm them, rearing them would be impossible.

In the beginning, it had mostly been vertebrae animals that had mutated or at the very least, it was that their mutations had been the most obvious. Perhaps due to the difference in structures, insects, molluscs and arachnids evolved much later or did not evolve at all, but cases had only begun to be noticed last year. Nathan had found a snail with a golden shell guarding their herb patch. This little creature was not malicious nor was the frighteningly large collective of giant millipedes that had infested a village halfway to the coast from here, however a spider was a spider no matter its size, weaving webs to collect prey and would naturally feed upon that which were trapped by them, whether they were a fly, a bird or a human.

"Thanks sweetheart," Dexter took one of the bottles from Lucy's small hands and held his son in order to feed him. The child smacked his lips before grabbing the bottle to stuff the teat into his mouth. Lucy giggled, gently poking her little brother's cheek. "What's your mum up to?"

"Mummy is making tomato sauce!" Lucy told him, spreading her arms out wide. "Lots and lots and lots of tomato sauce!" Dexter nodded. Along side growing food, they had to learn to preserve it for the winter and the winters these past few years had been harsh. It was almost like someone had hit a reset button for the environment and global warming really had become a myth. Although... summer temperatures could still reach some uncomfortable highs and the 'spring rains' could bring as much water in a day as used to get in a month. Dexter sighed; his nationality had always loved to complain about the unpredictable weather of the past, now he continued the tradition and inwardly complained about the much more predictable, but often challenging weather of the current time.

Devon let go of the bottle once he realised it was empty and would have tossed it aside were Dexter not holding the end of it. He burped loudly, having no need of his father's assistance in that regard and shuffled in the man's lap eager to get down. He hadn't liked staying in one place for too long since he had learned to walk. Dexter didn't put him down, instead, he got to his feet holding the child firmly. He checked upon the baby still sleeping in the other cot before heading to a large downstairs room where a young man was entertaining several small children; all boys but the youngest, a cute little bundle with thick black hair, ash brown skin and large, doe like eyes. Devon crawled over to her immediately and grabbed her hand. She pulled away as she had been playing with coloured blocks and needed both of them, thank you very much!

Dexter chuckled then he and Lucy, who was skipping alongside him went into the kitchen to see his remaining treasure, the once shy cook named Autumn, who'd later become his wife and mother to their children.