This Would Be Paradise (Book 2)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 4

When they started in, Roy turned to me.

"Stairs, eh?"

"Yep, they're dangerous. Should come with a surgeon general's warning."

"What was the good nurse's verdict?" he leaned in, his elbows resting on the scratched plastic surface.

"Chloe's arm is healing well and no permanent damage for me. Probably the best check-up I've ever had," I answered. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to call this place Hargrove would you?"

Roy grinned, "You heard the broadcasts too? No, we're not them, but some have been trying unsuccessfully to find this place. It's like a needle in a haystack."

So I guess we would still have to keep looking for our oasis in the desert. Luck was not on our side. But a stomach full of hot food was a decent consolation prize.

"Well not exactly. Chloe said she heard them with the others a while back. Apparently they liked to keep me out of the loop," I muttered, trying to keep the bitterness from my voice.

"Is that where you're trying to head to in the city?" I could hear the intense curiosity in his voice, giving away his aloof composure.

Maybe he wanted to find this place too. I had a hard time believing he would just pack up his daughter and leave this place, but I didn't know enough about him to make judgments. I weighed the options of telling him about John's gun store. We would need all the ammo and guns we could find and if they wanted to come with us, that would cut our haul down considerably. But if they did come with us, that would be extra bodies to watch our backs.

"Eventually yes, Hargrove is the goal," I admitted. "For now we're heading to a gun store that one of our friends owned."

"What makes you think it won't be picked over?"

"Its location."

"And where's that?"

I gave Roy an assessing look and leaned over the table, matching his stance. "Look, you seem like a nice guy, but I don't know you and I feel like keeping that information to myself is probably best."

He looked me in the eyes and then finally sighed, "I guess you have just as many trust issues as we do."

"Trust me, it's a recent development," I grinned at my bad pun and so did he.

"Well if you-"

"You guys! It's on!" an elderly woman yelled from the corner.

People all around the room started to get up and I cast Roy a questioning glance.

"I guess you will finally get to hear that recording," Roy said as he hefted himself from the folding chair.

We all walked over to the lady as she turned the radio knob and a hush fell over the room as the announcer's voice stole our attention:

"Have you been dreaming of a safe place? Some place that you wouldn't always have to sleep with one eye open? Hargrove is that place. Hargrove is more than just surviving; it's a return to civilization. We have shelter, food, protection, structure and leadership. All are welcome; all are greeted with open arms. All you need to do is seek and we will be there. Join the ranks of our medical practitioners, soldiers, teachers, agriculturists and you can call Hargrove home too."

Well, that was one hell of a sales pitch. I've heard more convincing ones from a used car salesman. Murmuring broke out all around us as people digested what we had just heard.

Chloe looked up at me, "That wasn't what it said last time."

"No announcements are the exact same. It's their way of letting us know that they are still alive," Roy said.

"No directions?" I raised an eyebrow.

"No, I guess not," Roy mused. "Now why would they not say where they were?"

My guess was that it had to do with a sales ploy. Give all the benefits, get all the hype. By the time the location is revealed, everyone will be so worked up having imagined this place in their heads over and over again, that they will run headlong to this community. Kind of like all the Disneyland commercials. All you see is magic and then when you get there, you realize it's all two hour wait times and guys in lice infested costumes. I guess you can call me a cynic, but it's true.

I could feel the buzz of excitement taking over the room. People were already guessing what this place was.

"Maybe it's a heavily guarded military base."

"Or a gated neighborhood."

"It could be a bunch of tents out in the middle of a field living like Gypsy's."

I rolled my eyes at that last one. But in the end it didn't matter what it was, it was the only lead I had in finding my friends. I had to find it. A yawn escaped me and I felt the heaviness in my eyelids, like hooks pulling them down. The room was slowly being lit by lanterns as the light outside started to fade.

"Come on, I'll show you to a guest room," Roy motioned for us to follow.

I gathered my backpack and Chloe. We followed Roy up the three sets of stairs, to the top floor and down the hall. It literally was the furthest into the building you could go and I had a feeling it was for a tactical reason rather than lack of space. If we decided to leave in the night or do something worse, the creaky floor and stairs would give us away.

He opened the door and revealed a sparsely furnished apartment. There was a sofa bed in the living room that was permanently left down and the rest of the furniture had been pushed off to the side. The kitchen table was propped up on its side, pressed against the bay window leaving only the corners for light to peek through.

"It's nothing fancy, but it's a clean bed to sleep in. There's a queen one in the bedroom. The bathroom and kitchen don't work. If you need to use the washroom, we hooked up a system in one of the first floor apartments."

"Thanks," I nodded as I placed my backpack down beside the sofa bed.

I noticed the mesh tote full of yarn and knitting needles on the floor beside the pull-out couch. If they thought I was spending my day making scarfs and itchy sweaters, they had another thing coming.

"Well, have a good night sleep ladies and I'll see you tomorrow," and with that, Roy shut the door behind him.

I walked up to the door, flipped the deadbolt and pulled the chain across, just to be on the safe side.

"Which bed are you takin'?" Chloe asked, rubbing at her eyes.

"You take the bedroom, I'll take out here."

She muttered something and then waded into the bedroom. I sat on the bed and laid my head down for the first peaceful sleep I've had in over a week.

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A/N: Hey guys so I hope you are liking the story so far! 

I just wanted to make a note (with a side of rant) here, please stop with the Walking Dead comparisons. It's really demeaning to the hard work I have put into writing this and the fact that this is an original story. The town is not Woodbury, the town is not Terminus, the town is not Alexandria. The Walking Dead was not the first to write civilized, makeshift towns into a zombie apocalypse and they won't be the last. Alright, rant over.