Zomb-Pocalypse 4

Chapter Thirteen

By eight am, I've vowed to never complain about chopping wood ever again. I pull my hands out of the burning hot dish water and adjust my horrible hair net for the hundredth time- for the zombie apocalypse; these people sure have a lot of rules about sanitation in their kitchen. Although I guess that could also be BECAUSE of the zombie apocalypse.

I didn't mind the prep work that started at five am, even though I probably only managed three hours of sleep. Dad and I arrived on time after I hugged both Silas and Ryan goodbye and told them to be careful on their day spent outside the cities fortified walls looking for supplies. I hate the idea of us getting split up, but I guess it's the price we have to pay if we want to try and find a vaccine; we can't exactly leave without Jack, and these people aren't exactly letting us catch a break.

We've been kept busy washing eggs, boiling oats, and I was even put in charge of flipping the pancakes, which turns out wasn't that big of an honor- it was pretty easy work. People started trickling in around seven and Dad and I were put to work in the serving line handing out our pancakes, with a limit of two per customer.

Next came the not so fun part, the clean up. Everything has to be hand washed, and that isn't easy when you've just served over two hundred and fifty people. "We need to have everything gleaming for the next shift." A deceptively matronly looking woman, whose been bossing me around all morning shouts out to all of us workers. I haven't seen her actually lift a finger all day though and it causes my annoyance level to increase ten-fold.

"Just keep your head down." My Dad murmurs in my ear and I glance up in surprise, and he smiles at me. "You think I don't know you?" He demands and despite my annoyance I have to smile back.

"Less talking, more working." The boss lady shouts in our direction and Dad and I wipe the smiles off of our faces and get back to work. My mind wanders as I finish up the dishes and I can't help but wonder what Silas and Ryan are doing right now? Unless it's being chased by a hoard of zombies, it's got to be better than this! I should've put up a fuss when we all got assigned to different jobs- if nothing else we should stay together. I stare around the kitchen; with the exception of my Dad everyone in here is female. It's totally sexist I fume to myself, wondering if the zombie virus somehow transported us all back to the early nineteen hundreds?

Since the kitchen doesn't serve lunch, we are released at one pm when the next shift arrives to start preparing for supper. I step out in the chilly air and suck in a deep breath. My hands are all pruned up from the dishwater, so I shove them into the pocket of my coat as we walk.

We are walking down the middle of what most people have been calling Main Street, when I see Dr. Ruppert up ahead in the crowd. I elbow my Dad and point her out before I take off jogging to catch up with her. "Dr. Ruppert." I call and she turns around in confusion. "Hi." I say, when she just stares at me blankly, not saying a word. "I was wondering about my friend Jack?" I ask her and recognition finally flickers in her eyes.

"I met you yesterday." She tells me and I nod.

"How's Jack doing?" I ask again. "He didn't come back to us last night." I press.

Dr. Ruppert's expression becomes shuttered. "He decided to stay in one of the dorm rooms near the lab. It's much more convenient for when we need to draw blood and tissue samples." She says with a sweet smile, but something about it makes me suspicious.

"Can we see him?" I ask and she nods.

"Of course, very soon." She promises.

"How about right now?" I ask, pushing her, and Dr. Ruppert frowns at me.