Miles wiped his arm across his brow. The mid day sun was beating down. Kylie stood guard in the former grain silo. They had repair and guard duty today, Kylie was the better shot so it was a no brainer who would be reinforcing this section of fencing. Watching her , he saw her come to attention as a moaning could suddenly be heard.
It was always a worry that the hammering would attract the dead, but it had to be done.
It still took getting used too, this new world. The past three years had been a nightmare in most respects. Miles still had bad dreams about the first time a corpse came back and attacked the person working on it. He watched as Kylie took aim, and heard the shot. She lowered the gun and nodded at him, her blonde hair shimmering in the sun. Figuring that was his signal to get back to workwork he checked the section he'd been working on before moving a few feet further down.
He could hear the fall of hammers from across the fields and thought he could just make out Levi Miller, part of another work detail.
His mind started to wander as he worked , remembering how he had come here.
He and a group of four others had been holed up inside one of the dorms at The College of Wooster. They had been living off supplies they'd raided from the campus kitchens. Although they were sick of canned fruit, they knew enough to be grateful for what they had. Miles was originally from Columbus and while the distance had been nothing in the pre-dead days, it seemed a improbable journey now. The highways were clogged with stalled vehicles and full of deaders. Kylie had been in that group too, she was from a small town called Kidron and had been trying for weeks to convince the others to make the move off campus.
They all realised it was only a matter of time before the power gave out completely and the deaders trapped in the tennis courts were likely to break out anyday.
She had been telling them about her Amish neighbors, how a lot of them had solar power and if any of them had fought back, were probably alot better off than they were. Jana, a petite brunette, had agreed with her, as had a Indian exchange student named Karan. Miles and his dormmate Matt had been the major holdouts , but now they were considering it. The promise of heat in the winter was tempting.
"Look, I've lived around here my entire life. Its safer to stay in a familiar area. We find a farm with solar panels, check all the neighboring places and we should make it through the winter. Hopefully the cold will slow the dead down so we can keep raiding all winter. If we're really lucky the warehouses for Lehman's wont be depleted that much. "
Kanar spoke next,"Before the world went to hell I visited her home. I agree its our best hope. We should try to contact the other dorms and see if there are still others here. If we take one of the short buses we can load up what we can from the kitchens and take others with us. As long as we stick to side roads we can be there early in the day. "
Matt pulled Miles to the side," I dont know man, what do you think? I mean, its only a matter of time before the militmilitary or someone comes looking for us right? Jana's family is loaded they must be getting a rescue squad ready."
Miles stood there silently, " Dude, have you not been paying attention? That world is gone. If help was coming, it would have."
His friend looked troubled. "Look Matt I cant tell you what to do, but this sounds like the best plan. If it doesnt seem sound when we get there we can come back." Patting his friend on the back he turned to the others.
" Okay, I'm in. How do you plan to contact others?"
Kylie grinned," We have a few ideas."