ZombiePalooza - Anthology

#TeamEcrivain Pt. VII - @AngusEcrivain's "Meanwhile, at the Abbey"

It was into that courtyard the newcomers had herded the undead, thankfully with minimal losses to their own number. They had then sealed the gates and torched the entire thing.

The shame of it was, those houses and the courtyard they surrounded would have been ideal but the opportunity to wipe a few dozen zombies from the face of the Earth had been far too good upon which to pass.

Having left the island, complete with its resident chickens and birds behind, Anthony alighted the rowing boat and made his way up the narrow path towards the gravel road.

The north bank had once been clear but over the last year, roughly fifty percent of unforested land had been planted with some crop or other, the idea being that within five years or so the community would be entirely self-sufficient. It was most definitely a tall order, but most agreed it was the way to go. The remainder of the land was used as pasture. In their possession the community had several horses, a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle, not to mention the pigs and of course, the poultry.

As Anthony made his way along the gravel road, he smiled at the flock of sheep, fenced in as they were upon the large area of lawn upon which he presumed pic-nics and the like used to occur, directly in front of the ruined abbey for which the community was named.

It made him chuckle, things like that. The fact that several centuries ago, the area of grass upon which the community's flock of sheep were currently grazing was most likely used as an area upon which sheep were free to graze.

"Throwbacks, man..." he muttered, chuckling as he did so.

At that point he branched left and headed towards the waterfall, where water from the upper lake dropped and ran beneath the road, feeding the lower lake.

Just as he did almost every time he passed it, he placed the cool box to the ground and rested his arms upon the wooden rail, letting his his vision unfocus as he watched the water tumble.

It did so with considerable power, a surprising amount of force given what, for all intents and purposes, was not that long a drop, and a thin mist hung perpetually atop it.

After a few moments he turned away from the waterfall, catching a glimpse of whomever was on watch atop the ruined abbey.

Anthony gave a quick wave which was reciprocated, and then with the cool box in hand he turned once again and headed for the woodland path that meandered its way along the bank of the lake, to the fort.

Several houses - no more than garden buildings, really - had been erected along the path. Obviously, trees had required clearing for such a thing to happen but not as many as one might think.

There were no signs of life, but then again the hour was still early. It was not yet five am and the only members of the community who were up and about were those on watch, and Anthony.

He soon reached the fort. Much like the island and the ruins of the abbey, there was not much to it at all. There had only ever been the outer wall, the walkway atop it and the pillars holding the latter in place. Anthony loved it though and quite often, when he had time to do so, he would sit up there overlooking the lake, imagining hordes of orcs were attacking whilst he was in the company of an elf and a dwarf in constant competition with each other.

The space beneath the walkway, constantly cool and dark, shielded from the heat of the day at all times by the thick woodland surrounding the fort, was as perfect a place as one was likely to find to make use of as a foodstore and the fact it was used as such was the main reason, above all others, that the community made it its focal point. There was invariably someone around to watch over it, to ensure wild animals did not get into the foodstore unless they were to be added to the pile, and to keep a weather eye out for raiders.