the district as well, and come away with enough food and bottled water to last me for a few weeks, with some careful rationing.
Even more exciting, I found a small automotive workshop fully equipped with machinery, and a few cars that I thought I could salvage with enough time and determination. Not that I planned to go anywhere, but if I needed to get out of town in a hurry, then having a functioning vehicle made it so much easier. Plus, with a vehicle I would be able to visit the outlying farms more easily, and see what treasures waited for me there.
I was feeling rather buoyant and pleased with my morning's work. The pantry was filling up nicely and I even found a few treats along the way. I was practically salivating at the thought of the large tin of peaches I found in the back room of the cafe. They were long past their ‘best before’ date, but a girl could still hope.
As a reward, I decided to stop for lunch and crack open the peaches. To my delight, I found that they were still good. They tasted a little metallic, but I couldn’t complain; it was rare to find fruit that was still edible in the towns these days. I did hope to find a local orchard that might have some fruit growing wild, but it would be a few days before I was prepared to go that far out of town.
In the meantime... ah, I could practically taste the vitamin C. De-lish!
Peaches in one hand and fork in the other, I wandered back down the stairs. In front of the store was a battered bench, left for people passing by to sit and rest their feet; now it was my turn. Like everything else, the bench had seen better days, but in my imagination I could picture this as Benny’s favourite place to sit and watch the evenings go by. It was mine now, and I gave silent thanks to the poor old fellow for his foresight.
All in all, I was feeling pretty relaxed by that stage. I had almost finished securing the town and seen none of the tell-tale signs of danger, so I felt more or less at ease. I let my guard down for a moment, to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the simple human pleasure of eating.
Needless to say, the ambush took me completely by surprise.
I was so startled that I almost dropped my food when the tiny kitten suddenly leapt from the bushes onto the seat beside me.
" Mew?" The kitten queried, its little face canted at a curious angle as it watched me eat.
Some ambush. Beware the fuzzy terror.
Still, the kitten's arrival was completely unexpected, and its fearlessness struck me as peculiar. I immediately worried that it might be diseased, but it showed no signs of any illness that I was familiar with. Rabies had been eliminated from my country decades before Ebola-X decimated us, and this tiny cat showed none of the telltale symptoms of carrying either of those diseases. Its eyes were alert, and... well, it was quite vocal. The walking dead are not.
" Mew?" It cried again, inching closer to me on cautious paws, not quite confident enough to touch me but too inquisitive to back away. Likewise, I was too curious to shoo it off, but too wary to try to touch it.
I put another slice of delicious peach in my mouth and chewed thoughtfully, which drew yet another demanding cry from the kitten. I blinked and held the tin down low enough for it to smell the contents, and it immediately lost interest.
" Yeah. You don't eat peaches, kitty," I told it dryly, and resumed eating them myself. Mmm, tasty.
Rebuked, the kitten sat down and started grooming its little paws with intense concentration, pretending that it didn't see me at all. My heart softened. It seemed hungry, with the way it was crying at me, and it was so young – no more than six weeks old. Maybe its mother was dead, like mine?
Damn it. What am I, made of stone?
" Stay here, kitty." I sighed and rose carefully so as not to disturb the fluffball, then headed upstairs to find that dreaded cat food. Well, at least if I fed
Even more exciting, I found a small automotive workshop fully equipped with machinery, and a few cars that I thought I could salvage with enough time and determination. Not that I planned to go anywhere, but if I needed to get out of town in a hurry, then having a functioning vehicle made it so much easier. Plus, with a vehicle I would be able to visit the outlying farms more easily, and see what treasures waited for me there.
I was feeling rather buoyant and pleased with my morning's work. The pantry was filling up nicely and I even found a few treats along the way. I was practically salivating at the thought of the large tin of peaches I found in the back room of the cafe. They were long past their ‘best before’ date, but a girl could still hope.
As a reward, I decided to stop for lunch and crack open the peaches. To my delight, I found that they were still good. They tasted a little metallic, but I couldn’t complain; it was rare to find fruit that was still edible in the towns these days. I did hope to find a local orchard that might have some fruit growing wild, but it would be a few days before I was prepared to go that far out of town.
In the meantime... ah, I could practically taste the vitamin C. De-lish!
Peaches in one hand and fork in the other, I wandered back down the stairs. In front of the store was a battered bench, left for people passing by to sit and rest their feet; now it was my turn. Like everything else, the bench had seen better days, but in my imagination I could picture this as Benny’s favourite place to sit and watch the evenings go by. It was mine now, and I gave silent thanks to the poor old fellow for his foresight.
All in all, I was feeling pretty relaxed by that stage. I had almost finished securing the town and seen none of the tell-tale signs of danger, so I felt more or less at ease. I let my guard down for a moment, to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the simple human pleasure of eating.
Needless to say, the ambush took me completely by surprise.
I was so startled that I almost dropped my food when the tiny kitten suddenly leapt from the bushes onto the seat beside me.
" Mew?" The kitten queried, its little face canted at a curious angle as it watched me eat.
Some ambush. Beware the fuzzy terror.
Still, the kitten's arrival was completely unexpected, and its fearlessness struck me as peculiar. I immediately worried that it might be diseased, but it showed no signs of any illness that I was familiar with. Rabies had been eliminated from my country decades before Ebola-X decimated us, and this tiny cat showed none of the telltale symptoms of carrying either of those diseases. Its eyes were alert, and... well, it was quite vocal. The walking dead are not.
" Mew?" It cried again, inching closer to me on cautious paws, not quite confident enough to touch me but too inquisitive to back away. Likewise, I was too curious to shoo it off, but too wary to try to touch it.
I put another slice of delicious peach in my mouth and chewed thoughtfully, which drew yet another demanding cry from the kitten. I blinked and held the tin down low enough for it to smell the contents, and it immediately lost interest.
" Yeah. You don't eat peaches, kitty," I told it dryly, and resumed eating them myself. Mmm, tasty.
Rebuked, the kitten sat down and started grooming its little paws with intense concentration, pretending that it didn't see me at all. My heart softened. It seemed hungry, with the way it was crying at me, and it was so young – no more than six weeks old. Maybe its mother was dead, like mine?
Damn it. What am I, made of stone?
" Stay here, kitty." I sighed and rose carefully so as not to disturb the fluffball, then headed upstairs to find that dreaded cat food. Well, at least if I fed
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