Thread: puppies and kittens // virginia greene & sixlikesgore.

The Beachside Maritime Museum had stood strong since 1975, and into the zombie apocalypse. The brick and steel building had a flat roof, now covered in soil for planting and the foods they harvested there. The United States flag that was out front had been pulled down, replaced with a white one, dirty and a little yellowed from the sun, with a set of lines, painted in black. A banner still hung, faded and droopy, declaring Viking Exhibit, Open Now , with the date that it was supposed to cut off from the bottom. It was home base. It was where they slept, farmed, hid from the outside world. The exhibits didnt provide a lot of entertainment on their own anymore, but they occasionally went into the little town for things. There was plenty of room for kids to run, lots of things to cover the windows with, and theyd managed to learn a thing or two about the ocean and how to use it to their advantage. There were only two boats out today. Eight people, four per boat. That was the best way. Walls had been built up about a foot higher to protect from the grabbing hands of the floating undead, with slits in the wood for paddles to go through. The paddlers were trained, moved in perfect time. They cut swiftly through the water on the command of someone from each boat, pushing towards the debris from the explosion. Handle zombies as usual. Usual meant one of the boats occupants looping them and holding them steady while another speared the undead. Then they got tossed in a fishing net that hung along behind, and taken back to land to be burned. Didnt need the fish eating them. Willa Monroe and her brother always went out, but only one of them. The other stayed behind, with the group. That way, there was always someone in charge with everyone. It wasnt that they didnt trust their people, it was just easier sometimes, to have the two of them. They followed the same rules, tended to have the same ideas. If Willa was out, she knew Henry would make the best choices if something went wrong in the museum, and vice versa. Well, maybe Henry wouldn't have decided to go right to an explosion to investigate, but she had always been the slightly more curious of the two. Well, that's what she would call it. Others might say impulsive, but she didn't feel like that really captured her personality quite right. I see something. A stocky woman with a stiff loop on a pole gestured, and then stood shading her eyes for a moment. Yeah. Head over. It was quick work to get there, oar commands called out loud and sharp. On the front left, Willa leaned over and then let out a soft guys, hes alive. Marcus Ill cover you, get him in the boat. It was a little bit of a struggle because of the wood, but eventually the soggy teen was on the floor of the boat. Shit, hes injured. Signal. That far out, the best they could do was use flags. Red, white, and black. White meant medical emergency. There was always someone on the roof when they were out with binoculars, keeping an eye out. While the flag went up, Willa knelt down, yanked off her scarf, and pressed it to the wound. Hey, she said softly, hang in there. We got some good people. A few minutes passed as they started to paddle back, and then flags up, they saw us. The other boat had neared by that point, and a muscular man with salt and pepper hair leaned over a little to speak across to them. Whats up? What happened? We found a guy. Im taking him back, I want you to move to the usual space and fish for about an hour more. With the gun. The one gun they had for the two groups. The boats moved a little closer and someone passed the weapon off, and then it was back towards land. They hadnt gotten very many fish, but theyd killed the few zombies they could find and that was good. Hopefully the others would clean up, and once she got the new guy on land shed send the boat back out. Having one boat stressed her out a little, they were alone in the water. Too many things could go wrong, too fast. I figure if 10k doesnt wake up in the boat hell get a mattress on the floor with some water next to him, bandaged up and with Willa a few feet away