Chapter 10

I decided to get out of our gate. I didn't put the padlock on but I made sure I properly closed the gate. I both have my weapons with me, my SPE on my left and my iron kali on right. I decided to walk around the neighborhood to observe a little bit. I made sure to walk far from open doors. I noticed that not all houses are open. I'm hoping that these closed houses have survivors in them. While walking, I also noticed stiff corpses of pets. They remind me of the human zombies during night time, stiff as a statue. I have this impulse to smash their heads but I can't risk making any noise. I'm alone and I'm just wearing flip flops, loose tank top, and shorts. I'm just walking around quietly observing. After walking around the neighborhood, I decided to return back home. So far, the neighborhood is quite. I didn't walk away from the street. We must have killed all the zombies in the Horseshoe Drive street. But as I walk, I still see roaming zombies at the street next to ours. Good thing I'm quite a distance away from them that they didn't notice me. I almost didn't breath trying to pass by, they were quite the number too. I'm not sure though if there were zombies hiding in the empty lot. It's got tall grass and muddy waters. But it did have a man path because the entire neighborhood use it as a shortcut. I'm not that stupid to try and check, but I sure can speculate and be cautious. We should avoid this empty lot/path for now. While walking back, I heard something faintly.

"Psst! Hey!"

I turn my head to the sound. I saw an old lady peering from a gate.

"Pheene? Is that you?" the lady whispered.

I nodded and she called out on me with her hand. The old lady recognise me but I don't recognise her...so much for not coming out of the house often.

"I can't believe it, we aren't the only survivors in this neighborhood. How are you and your family?"

"We're doing fine, thanks. What about you? Are you still complete? Are all of you healthy?"

"We're complete but... healthy...not really. We're starving here."

I could just frown.

"Come with me, we have food at home."

"But...what about those crazy cannibals?"

"Don't worry, there are no more zombies roaming around on the streets. You can come out but you still have to exercise caution."

The old lady was hesitant but she said it herself, they were starving. She went back inside their house and I waited. Soon, a family of 6 people came out. 2 of them were kids, 3 were adults, 1 an elderly. They were all so weak, especially the kids.

"Alright, just be quite, be cautious cause look." I pointed at the other street pass the empty lot where there were zombies roaming aimlessly.

They all looked scared. "Follow me." I ushered.

We all walk to my house. Few minutes and we are standing right in front of our gate. I opened the gate as quietly as I possibly can and let them all in. After then, I told them to go straight in the front door while I lock the gate with a pad lock. Then I followed them inside. When I entered they were all just standing in the living room. I told them to just sit for a while and I head to the kitchen. I told my mom about them and she quickly made more breakfast. She then told me to wake everyone up. After I wake up my family, they all sluggishly got up and went to the dining table. When my brother saw them, he recognised them.

"Mrs. Gledna?"

"Fordery! Oh my goodness, you're here and your family! Oh I'm so glad there's more people that are still sane and alive."

Mom then served plates and silverware. She then served breakfast on the dining table. And then she invited everyone one to eat and not be shy. Everyone then took a plate of their own and silverware. We let Mrs. Gledna's household eat most of the food Mom served considering it's been 3 days when they last had anything to eat. Mom then offered them my help...yes, my Mom offered them my help to scavenge some food for them. Their entire family looked at me pleadingly.

"Hold on a sec...that doesn't sound quite right," I said with my hands up.

"Come on, Pheene." Mom pleaded me. "They must be weakened after 3 days not eating while you were able to exercise daily."

Frodery looked at me as if telling me refusing is not an option. I sighed in annoyance and defeat. But before I made any action, I remembered I was contemplating something.

"Oh yeah, earlier I went out and walked around the neighborhood. That's how Mrs. Gledna caught my attention. I was just thinking since our street is circular, maybe we can secure it and turn it into a safe haven. What do you guys think? Plausible, right?"

Frod held his chin, contemplating the idea.

"I mean look, we only close the man-path; put up a gate at the entrance of the street and viola! We have closed secure area."

"Yeah but how do we do that? Where do we get the materials needed for construction?" asked Frodery.

I stopped for a second. He's not wrong, it's not like we can go to some hardware store. We need hollow blocks and cement for wall building. We need metal and welding machine for the gates.

"Umm...can I suggest something?" Mrs. Gledna's son, Kerson spoke.

We all looked at Kerson quizzically.

"I'm a board passer Engineer..."

"And?" Frod snorted.

Oh here we go again.

"I...umm... We can use metal gates from inhabited houses. All we really needed are welding machine and metal cutting saws."

Again, Frodery contemplated this idea. "That could work but we don't have electricity."

"We can use car battery, for that matter," I butted in. I felt smug after coming up with that. "We can take the car battery of cars with no owners anymore... actually we can also disassemble those cars too if we need more materials. What do you think, Kerson? Think that'll work?"

Kerson nodded at me.

But then, one more to consider is that there's not a lot of us. We aren't sure how many people are still in the neighborhood. It's not safe to work at either day or night.

In few moments pass and Etil came downstairs with her Aunt Mel. They just woke up. Good thing my mom cared to save them a portion so they were able to eat breakfast. While they were eating, I asked Etil if she can help me scavenge at the breached sari-sari store. I know we just had a little fight last night but she agreed to help and accompany me. After she had her breakfast, both of us went upstairs to change into our makeshift gear. While we were preparing, I offered her the remaining old magazines and I helped her tape it on her jacket's forearm and on her pants' legs. I then gave her my nailed wooden chairleg, I personally think it's better than her teflon pan. We can still use that. Also I gave her a a kitchen knife, we got three of those here anyway. And then we both wore our backpacks. Before we head out, we agreed that I'd carry the canned goods and non-food-items while she carry all food items.

Etil and I steps out of our house, Frodery closed the gate behind us without putting the padlock. We then walked as quiet as possible. My grip on my metal kali tightened as we walk. In less than a minute we're in front of the house's gate. We silently entered the house, we found the corpse of the old lady lying stiff on the ground. The smell stunk so much that Etil gagged. She covered her nose with her hand and tried not to puke.

"Hey, we gotta move so we can leave soon. Just...hang in there, aight?"

She was looking pale but she managed to nod.

We continued in the house until we made it in the store. There's still plenty of supplies but not enough for our group to last for a week. We might need to find other places to scavenge soon. We filled our bags and left the house as soon as possible. Walking back, we didn't encounter any problems, just Etil feeling sick with the stench of the decaying corpse. When we return, I dropped the bags and spoke to the group.

"I was just thinking, earlier when I scouted the street, I saw stiff corpses of animals. I'm assuming that in daylight, they are immobile. Just like how the human zombies are immovable during nighttime."

"Hmm, interesting." Frodery nodded.

"How about we go around and smash their heads?" I suggested.

"We could do that."

"Or maybe we should scout the neighborhood, knock on houses with closed doors to see if there's still people in there?" I rested my hands on my hips.

"That's... brilliant, more people, more hands to help. But what about if the house actually have zombies?"

"Let's avoid the ones with open doors. You know, obvious red flags," I said with my fingers quoting.