20 Years Later (Plance)

Chapter 27

HOPE YOU ENJOY

PLEASE VOTE

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They reached Romelle campsite that was an old high school, the old fences were repaired with sheets of metal, keeping the undead out. The school gate that lead into the school was tightly closed up with repairs done and broken tables nailed on, making the gate hold a bigger defence. A side gate was left locked by a mere chain and padlock, being the way they entered. 

Entering by the front office, even as other school buildings stood around the grounds. A large car park sat before the building that held the front office and files sat at the far end of the grounds, behind all the buildings and was being used to grow food. 

Once they entered the office building, they had to hand over their weapons, watching as they were picked up and carried into the old principle office. Lance and Keith sharing a look since they both had bitter memories that involved a school principle office, even if they didn't hold many memories due to the end of the world happening with the dead coming back to life. 

None of the guards stood with weapons and the keys to the principle office was placed in a basket within the main office, left out in the open for easy access if weapons were needed but someone was always left in the office to make sure no one would simply take the keys for their own gain. 

"We've got working showers. They're in the pe changing rooms, two showers set up in each of the changing rooms. We've got the disable shower in the disable bathroom working as well but we use it for those who come back from outside the camp and got a bit messy when dealing with the infected. It stops risk of any zombie blood being left uncleansed and one of my people getting infected that way. After each and every use of the disable bathroom, we do a deep clean. So, don't use it unless you are covered in zombie blood or had to deal with any of the undead up close. For now, I'll have some of my people lead you all to the old changing rooms to shower up and we'll pass over some fresh, washed clothing. We will need to wash your clothing since we don't know if you have or have not been in contact with the undead and it's best we cleanse it now. Don't worry, we'll make sure to add clean underwear to you all as well. We'll simply read the labels on your clothing to see your sizes and we won't speak over the size" Romelle spoke as she stood to the side of the waiting area beside the main office, keeping the small group out of the way of other's who were walking past and or those who were outside with her passing their own weapons over. 

"Can we use the showers at any time while in the camp or is there a certain time frame to use them" Lance asked, feeling a bit excited over having a shower but wondering if they had a time frame to use them or had a time limit during the shower. The Dog Isle camp had a five minute limit to shower in when they first arrived before the limit was removed once they had more people in the camp. 

"The changing rooms got two entrances. One from the outside and one from inside this building. We've kept the outside doors locked, forcing the doors inside to be the only entrance and exit point of the room. But a key has been left in the changing rooms to unlock the outside doors .. in emergency's only. But yes, the showers are open all day and night long. Water runs to them none stop and anyone can shower at any time they want. We only have fix times over meals and we do often have left overs. Those who took the roles of being our cooks will cook in a large amount for the camp and anything left over will be used for our tea with whatever left overs are left the next day as well. So, don't expect the meals to all taste great. We also have some rules to follow and some areas are kept closed at certain points. For example, if you want to take a walk during the middle of the night or once it gets dark,  you can only wonder about in the grassy area behind the E block or the small picnic area by F block" Romelle replied as she explained it all and added on other bits they'd need to know in case they don't have time to explain all the rules by night. She knew not everyone could sleep on the first night and might go outside for some air and she didn't want them getting in trouble by being in the wrong place by accident. 

"E and F block?" Shay repeated in pure confusion over her face while she held Masina on her hip, wanting her daughter close why they took in everything around them. 

"We'll show you the small map over the school. Each of these school buildings are filled with classrooms labelled by letters. For example, art is in the H block and are the classrooms H-1,H-2, H-3 and so on. E block and F Block outside area is safe and made more friendly and relaxing areas. We know you'll all be safe there and tucked out of the way over the night watch patrol. We'll ask you to walk through the buildings to get to the outside areas instead of going along the outside of the buildings since the night watch patrol takes the long route around all buildings to check for anyone sneaking about or any signs of trouble" Romelle calmly replied with a reassuring smile as she knew it a few weeks to learn over all the buildings and rooms by heart. They kept a few of the students maps in one of the other offices for newcomers to look at and get use to the school buildings. 

"Okay, we'll follow along with the rules as well as we can" Hunk reassured with his own smile, giving a nervous nod as he knew that no one would try breaking the rules on purpose. Not unless they had too. 

"Good. We've also thrown out all the desks, chairs and other bits in all the classrooms to make them into shared rooms. Some tables were left tucked in to be used as beds while most have blankets or sleeping bags as their beds on the floor. We try to keep families and already formed groups together in the same room, keeping everyone together. But for those who came alone or didn't want to be grouped together, we've got gender rooms. One for girls only, one for boys only and we've got genderless rooms as well for those who .. well, we like to keep as many human rights as we can here. We've kept some classrooms as they were, using them to teach any children we've got and give them a small bit of education that we can give them. Adults can join too, I know most of us adults had lost our rights to school once the world went to hell and if you want to learn over the bits that we couldn't .. you can join the classes and learn" Romelle mumbled back, passing on the basics over what they've done to classrooms and how they've made the high school into a home like place instead. 

"How about water and food?" Keith asked next, wondering how a camp like this was surviving so well in one place. They had to have a supply of food or water close by to carry on like they have been.

"We mostly grow our own stuff, hence our meals are limited in favour. But, we do search for canned food and use them but .. I don't have many members willing to outside the safety of our campsite. For water, we've set up a well near the farming area but we've also found a steam behind all the housing in front and we've kinda made our own plumbing to have some of the steam water flow into our campsite. We've got clean and fresh water as long as the stream doesn't dry up. But we do collect rain water, hence buckets on every roof and we save that rainwater to use on the farm and the small bits that need watcher that doesn't have to be our drinking water" Romelle happily answered as she's already guess this group wasn't just the normal type of civilians saviours. She's met the normal kind and these people, they gave her a different feelings. Well, most of them at least did. 

"The numbers in the camp?" Pidge asked curious, she hasn't seen many so far but she's felt some watching them through windows of the other buildings. The group .. it's done rather well for it's basic defence and rules. Normally, a camp like this .. won't be working so .. well, not this openly well at least. 

"I can't give that out to newcomers. While you don't seem like the dangerous type, it's still a risk. You could be tricked into repeating the number to the wrong people or, someone in your group might already be with one of our enemies and sent in as a spy" Romelle answered with a worried frown as she knew better than to openly give out such information to new arrivals. She knew they'd learn as they stay in camp but for now, she can't personally give out that intel. 

"Understandable. We would be in your shoes if things were swapped round. And not long ago, we were in your shoes" Lance replied with a smile of his own, a knowing look in his eyes as he use to have the same gag orders long ago. 

"I saw your gun .. guns. They are given to soldiers. Are any of you soldiers or did you steal them from soldiers?" Romelle admitted, her voice quiet as she knew better than to announce such a thing out loud but she wanted to understand if they were or not. 

"McClain and I are soldiers. Gunderson is as well but she's not gun trained like the two of us. We no longer belong to any unit or camp and we can't say anything more than that. So, we understand why you can't tell us certain things either" Shiro admitted in a small voice, stepping closer so only Romelle and his own group would hear.