Chapter 33
Chapter 33
The zookeepers have been there since the beginning.
"We were looking after the animals when it all went down," Kimberly, the female zookeeper, says, tucking long blonde hair behind her ear.
"They told us to evac but it would've left the animals to fend for themselves and we couldnt do it," Josh, a man with wildly curly hair, adds.
"We couldnt just leave the animals to starve," Max says indignantly, "even if the cops thought we were stupid for staying.
We share some food and drinks with them, stuff from our cooler since they don't have much left. Shane takes another scoop of potato salad while scoffing, "Not like they did any better. They're all dead now."
"Yeah, the whole city got bombed," Josh agrees. "So it was a good thing we stayed here else we'd be dead too."
"But we got the entrance boarded up instead and the biters can't get in," Kimberly adds.
"If yall hadn't found us we would've had to start eating the animals, starting with the pigs," Shane says, throwing a teasing smile at Max who huffs back annoyed.
"We still need food," Josh tells us, "for us and the animals."
"What kind of food?" I ask, clarifying, "For the animals."
Max starts listing things but Josh shushes him, offering to write up a list. They pass us a brochure with words in sharpie scribbled all over it. We leave, promising to return soon.
The animals would not have survived without them. Even if the dead hadn't gotten in, the animals needed care and feeding. They've been sleeping in the office and doing rounds, just ignoring the dead beating at the door. It seems weird to leave them behind but as the animals need tending and they know how, it is the best place for them.
I explained magic and told them about the container wall which one of them had seen. That way they know that at least they won't be overrun. They are safe here though they are running low on supplies.
I transfigure one of the containers into a gate as we leave, casting a locking spell to be safe. We will need to check back tomorrow with some supplies for them and hit up an animal feed store to see what they have but they will be alright for a couple days at least.
Antonio isn't at the gate but the teen that was helping him this morning is waiting and let's us through. He waves us on, closing the gates behind us and jumping in the back of the truck to ride back with us.
"The others already back?" Daryl asks.
The teen nods, "Yeah, found survivors too."
"They find a lot?"
He shrugs, "A few. Some in weird pilgrim dresses."
Seven girls in long blue or green dresses sit around the table of our main house. The pilgrim dresses, as the teen gate guard called them, are long stiff dresses with high collars and long sleeves. They almost look like costumes, mostly because of how stiff they fit. The older two of the group are possibly in their twenties and the youngest three are about ten or eleven. The middle two are in their teens.
Chris stops us when we get inside, waving us into the front room. He ducks his head nervously but Maddie steps up beside him, saying plainly, "We had a problem today."
"What happened?"
Chris answers, "We went to the first farm on our list but people were already there."
"A cult," Maddie cuts in.
"It was some kind of compound," Chris corrects quietly, throwing concerned glances towards the kitchen. "The men were saying these girls are their wives."
"Bunch of pedos," Maddie snarls out, arms crossed angrily.
"We tried to be friendly but when we realized what was going on, we had to put a stop to it," Chris explains.
"They deserved it," Maddie hisses.
"Yall kill em?" Merle asks, turning so his back is to the kitchen.
"We had to," Chris answers defensively but Merle just waves him to calm down.
"No one is angry," I reasure them. "We just need to know if they're a threat to our group still or not."
"We killed the men," Chris admits, "but the gunshots attracted the biters to the farm and between them and the men, they took out four ladies and a kid before we could escape."
"Any of ours injured?" I ask.
"Augy and John got shot but they're okay," Maddie answers, puffing up a bit. "Debra's already looked them over and stitched them up."
Chris's group wasn't the only one to bring back survivors.
Ebon's group, which came back earlier, ran into a couple women and three kids. They found them in a van surrounded by dead biters. They killed the biters and brought the survivors back. Rather than bringing them to the main house, they already set them up in another house.
If this keeps up, we're going to have to extend our borders just to have a place for everyone to sleep.