Post by Dixie Amhearst on Jul 25, 2016 18:42:01 GMT -5
Dixie wasn't sure how long she had been laying on the floor staring up at the unmoving ceiling fan but she was killing time counting the number of creases in the spackled wall above her head. She didn't know how many times she lost count as she started over and over again, using this moment to calm her mind before getting ready to go outside.
She had been alone now for a number of months and was wondering if she was starting to go insane. There were nights when no walkers or raiders were coming around that she could head to the roof of her apartment building, sit in her worn out lawn chair and look up to the sky. She managed to get her hands on a children's book of astronomy and look up to escape the rigors of daily life. She would spend hours, in the dark, on the roof, memorizing the movement of the stars and the different constellations that were mapped out in the book. Her favorite was finding the Great Square of Pegasus in the sky. The pure white winged horse was the stallion of Zeus and it reminded her of a need to escape this apartment building.
One by one her neighbors died. It started with a murder-suicide. A young couple who were trying to get pregnant before all this. They had tried and tried and she spoke to the wife, a girl in her 20s named Melissa who told her all the different things they were trying to have a baby. She's not sure why her husband Jeff killed her then himself...they were a strong-willed pair that couldn't cut it in this world. She remembered hearing the gunshots in the mid-afternoon and when all the neighbors went to see what was happening, they found them lifeless. If those two couldn't make it, she had no idea how she was going to cut it in this world.
Next was her neighbor directly next door. An elderly woman who often times made cookies for her and Archer. Her name was Mary and she knew what Archer was doing to her. She knew about the arguments, considering she lived right next door and when they spoke, Mary gave little tidbits of subtle advice as if she knew exactly what was going on behind closed doors. It was as if Mary had lived through that herself. Mary's husband Fred was lifelong Army and he died about ten years ago. She saw the pictures and the albums when she was invited over to Mary's house to have some tea or a sandwich.
The rest took more time to die and they stuck together as a group. Some ran off to find family or just get out of town as the hordes got closer and more dense in their little town. She spent most of her life hiding in those scenarios, letting the danger pass and figuring out ways to get out of her apartment safely. It took months of hunting for supplies and figuring out ways to escape before she concocted a zip line from the large oak tree next to her apartment to the building next door, down another tree and into a yard that connected to a subdivision behind the apartments. It gave her the freedom to zipline and run or just careen over walkers and into the neighborhood for supplies.
Today was a new day for supply hunting. She was running out of firewood and needed to find some dry tinder in some of the homes. She was also craving some sugar. Maybe she could find some old cookies, or twinkie or maybe some candy left behind.
She peeled herself up off the floor and sighed as she threw on a flannel shirt even though it was hot outside. She took the heavy work gloves and opened the window taking in the punch of warm, wet air that wrapped around her face when the stale room was exposed to the fresh air. She looked to the right and saw a field that used to be filled with kids flying kites or launching toy rockets on the weekends. It was just untouched property that she knew was about to be bought. The Crowe boys told her that. Beau, the cute one, told her about some empty lots that were about to be bought by their infamous mother around town. Those boys had made a name for themselves and at first, they scared her. She wasn't sure what they would do if Archer didn't pay rent on time, but after a while, she saw how they could handle him and he would cave. She admired that and she wished she could be strong like that.
Now the field was grown over with tall weeds that she was pretty sure could never be identified. Thankfully she didn't have to go that way. She had seen rats going in and out of the weeds scavenging for food ...just like she did.
She had been alone now for a number of months and was wondering if she was starting to go insane. There were nights when no walkers or raiders were coming around that she could head to the roof of her apartment building, sit in her worn out lawn chair and look up to the sky. She managed to get her hands on a children's book of astronomy and look up to escape the rigors of daily life. She would spend hours, in the dark, on the roof, memorizing the movement of the stars and the different constellations that were mapped out in the book. Her favorite was finding the Great Square of Pegasus in the sky. The pure white winged horse was the stallion of Zeus and it reminded her of a need to escape this apartment building.
One by one her neighbors died. It started with a murder-suicide. A young couple who were trying to get pregnant before all this. They had tried and tried and she spoke to the wife, a girl in her 20s named Melissa who told her all the different things they were trying to have a baby. She's not sure why her husband Jeff killed her then himself...they were a strong-willed pair that couldn't cut it in this world. She remembered hearing the gunshots in the mid-afternoon and when all the neighbors went to see what was happening, they found them lifeless. If those two couldn't make it, she had no idea how she was going to cut it in this world.
Next was her neighbor directly next door. An elderly woman who often times made cookies for her and Archer. Her name was Mary and she knew what Archer was doing to her. She knew about the arguments, considering she lived right next door and when they spoke, Mary gave little tidbits of subtle advice as if she knew exactly what was going on behind closed doors. It was as if Mary had lived through that herself. Mary's husband Fred was lifelong Army and he died about ten years ago. She saw the pictures and the albums when she was invited over to Mary's house to have some tea or a sandwich.
The rest took more time to die and they stuck together as a group. Some ran off to find family or just get out of town as the hordes got closer and more dense in their little town. She spent most of her life hiding in those scenarios, letting the danger pass and figuring out ways to get out of her apartment safely. It took months of hunting for supplies and figuring out ways to escape before she concocted a zip line from the large oak tree next to her apartment to the building next door, down another tree and into a yard that connected to a subdivision behind the apartments. It gave her the freedom to zipline and run or just careen over walkers and into the neighborhood for supplies.
Today was a new day for supply hunting. She was running out of firewood and needed to find some dry tinder in some of the homes. She was also craving some sugar. Maybe she could find some old cookies, or twinkie or maybe some candy left behind.
She peeled herself up off the floor and sighed as she threw on a flannel shirt even though it was hot outside. She took the heavy work gloves and opened the window taking in the punch of warm, wet air that wrapped around her face when the stale room was exposed to the fresh air. She looked to the right and saw a field that used to be filled with kids flying kites or launching toy rockets on the weekends. It was just untouched property that she knew was about to be bought. The Crowe boys told her that. Beau, the cute one, told her about some empty lots that were about to be bought by their infamous mother around town. Those boys had made a name for themselves and at first, they scared her. She wasn't sure what they would do if Archer didn't pay rent on time, but after a while, she saw how they could handle him and he would cave. She admired that and she wished she could be strong like that.
Now the field was grown over with tall weeds that she was pretty sure could never be identified. Thankfully she didn't have to go that way. She had seen rats going in and out of the weeds scavenging for food ...just like she did.