AGE OF INSANITY

Chapter 31: Forever home

We arrived at the ranch an hour later. Marcus led our caravan followed by my friends and I, then Leon and Loice and at the end was Charles. Marcus's voice came through the speakers before any of us could alight from our trucks.

"I need everyone one to stay put. There's are lights on in the farm which could mean other people here. Charles and I will go check it out. The rest of you wait for further directions." He cut the connection leaving us dwindling our thumbs in our respective trucks. They disappeared for over thirty minutes before reappearing. From my truck I could see four men, when only two went in. It was still dark and the lights from the farm offered no illumination at the gate. I released the safety of my gun ready to blow anyone who wasn't familiar if they tried to get to my truck.

One of the figures pulled out something from their pocket, putting me further on edge. He turned on what turned out to be a touch to illuminate his face. From our truck it was difficult to tell who it was but the light illuminated the familiar hazmat suits. I asked the others to wait in the truck and cover me incase we needed to make a hasty exit. I approached the four men and apon closer inspection realised one of then was a woman. I did not lower my gun as I approached causing the two strangers to surrender, hands at the air.

'Great work and all but it's really us and we need to move it." Charles voice called out from his suit. I lowered my gun with a sigh of relief.

"We've already briefed them on what is going on. Luckily we won't need to make anymore stops. The ranch was planning on getting into large scale cultivation so they have more than enough seeds to sustain us. They have organic seeds which will give us more seeds so whatever they have should be enough. They have over a hundred thousand cattle, they have a few thousand sheeps, goats and chickens. There are also pigs and fish ponds as well." Marcus joined in.

There are a total of fifteen people in the farm. They are going to help us out with the loading Charles called out heading for his truck. I got back into my truck and followed Charles. Marcus and Leon's truck remained outside as they were already filled with our bounty from they hydroponics factory.

Leon and Loice, whose presence Marcus had yet to comment on, were assigned to look out duty. Loading the animals into the trucks turned out to be easier than we anticipated. With the help of the farmers, the animals basically walked themselves into the trucks. Two one thousand liter tanks were converted into a fish tanks. By midnight everyone was packed and everything was loaded.We all squeezed into our respective trucks creating spaces for the new comers.

The drive back was spent silence. Nobody spoke a word each person taking in thier last view of a life they had once taken for granted. The underground shelter could be our new home or it could end up being our graves. Saying everyone had a lot to think about would be an understatement.

We arrived at the bungalow at the break of dawn. Kevin was waiting for us at the gate an automatic gun in hand. Marcus must have called prior of our arrival. My friends, Loice and the farmers were led by Charles to the shelter for a first look at their new homes. Phillip and the rest of the men were woken up to help with getting things into the shelter. Kevin informed us that houses had already been allocated. Irene was tasked with doing so and as such would be the one to assign the additional members their homes.

I found Irene with the new members. Irene informed me that the shelter had a hundred and fifty self-contained homes. In addittion to the strangers we were going to be a total of sixty four people in the shelter. There was more than enough room for everyone to live on their own. However, the younger members opted to live with their parents. There were also some people who had coupled up, while we were away. She handed me the key to my house, stating that if I wanted to share I would bring the names of my roommates.

My house was located ten houses from the center hub. It was far away enough from the main action which was all i could ask for. The apartment was furnished with a minimalistic decor. It had all the basic necessities arranged in an effecient manner. I had no qualms with the interior design of the apartment. Pre apocalypse Melissa would never have agreed to exist, let alone live in such a basic house. Those days were long gone and that version of me no longer had room to exist if I were to survive. My bags had been dropped inside, the only things that seemed out of place in the cream and grey house. I picked up an unfamiliar printed leaflet on one of my bags.

It was an designation sheet. It seems while we were away, different roles had been assigned to everyone. My name was written against inventory management. It did not take a genius to know the enormity of the role. This assignment had my mother written all over it. It was her way of punishing me while still gaining power in our new home. I took a shower, pleasantly surprised that we had working plumbing. It did not take long before I drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Not more than an hour later some soon to be dead individual knocked violently on my door. My first thought was a breach, that we were under some kind of attack. I went for my gun, keeping a vantage distance I used a mop to turn the lock.