5. START AFRESH

“Good morning, zombie fuckers, wherever you are!”

Silence was followed by Chloe's laugh.

She rolled over on her side and stared at the canned goods stacked along the wall. Inventory is necessary, she thought to herself. But first things first. She has to do something about her wretched appearance. She didn’t have a mirror (her looks were the last thing on her mind, after all), but she was pretty sure that if someone saw her, she’d either get shot or would cause some old lady a heart attack. That would only mean one more zombie to worry about.

She went through her backpack and found the baby wipes she was looking for. No use wasting water on cleaning herself. It’s a precious supply these days.

She started rubbing her face with one of the wipes. It was hard work because there was lots of blood all over her cheeks and eyebrows. As she scraped at her jaw, she wondered whose blood it was. Was she getting rid of evidence that could put her away for life?  Was she actually dreaming or hallucinating? It felt pretty real to her and she decided to think ahead, not about the past. After an hour of hard work, she finally felt clean. She stood there in her underwear. Her bra had some blood on it and she had brought only one extra.

“Thank fuck that both of them are black.” She said aloud. Then, she smiled as she remembered that it didn’t matter anymore.

She swapped the old, bloody bra for the clean one and started going through her change of clothes. Her options were limited, so she would have to figure out how to clean them. She could probably find more as she goes along, but she had to find a place to settle at before she acquires more baggage. She decided to wear her army style, black roomy trousers, System of a Down t-shirt (she couldn’t leave it behind) and a black hoody. She wondered whether Serj Tankian had a place to hide. She wondered whether he was still alive.

Dressed for combat, she took one of her A5 format copies, a pen and sat down near her supplies. Time for inventory.

The list of food:

·         5 cans of juice – 2 grapefruit, 2 red grape, 1 orange
·         3 cans of pasta – 1 spaghetti, 2 regular
·         8 cans of meats – 3 chicken, 2 bacon, 2 turkey, 1 tuna
·         10 cans of fruit – 3 peach, 3 pineapple, 2 tomatoes, 2 *unreadable*
·         12 cans of vegetables – 12 nomnoms
·         4 cans of black beans
·         6 packs of low-sodium crackers
·         14 packets of low-sodium soup (chicken & veg)
·         3 large bags of rice & grains
·         1 kg of oatmeal
·         25 energy bars
·         8 large jars of instant coffee (thank fuck)
·         2 boxes of tea – 1 regular, 1 mint
·         5 packs of mixed nuts
·         1 jar of set honey (seriously?!)
·         1 kg of salt (need an explanation)
·         1 kg of sugar (need way more)
·         3 packets of mixed spices (hell yeah!)

She stared at the list. Something’s wrong. No, she was not talking about the fact that she had more coffee than meat, or that she had taken a whole kilogram of slat with her. Something very important was missing. She gasped. Where was her rice pudding?! She had had at least 5 cans. She wiped away a tear. Someone will pay, she thought.

She was in no mood to continue going through the supplies. She hadn’t had anything to eat yet and all that food was making her tummy rumble.
She took an energy bar, a handful of the nuts and washed it all down with two mouthfuls of water. She had to be very cautious, as she was unsure about the world outside the small room. She would eat as little as possible until she figured things out.

She went over to the pet carrier and opened the little doors when she noticed both of her babies were there to greet her. Having them there would obviously complicate a lot of things, she knew. But it did not matter – they were everything to her and vice versa. She gave a drink of water from the water bottle while they took turns to explore their surrounding. She made sure they didn’t drink that much, because she couldn’t bear seeing them thirsty later on. She took their dish with some of the rat food she had taken with her and placed it near their home.

Even though it was summer, the nights tended to be cold in Ireland. The constant rain and wind didn’t help either. She had to figure out something to ensure enough warmth for her rats. She could never put them in harms way, even if it meant suffering for her.