Cultivator in a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter Forty One - A Treasure that Blooms

It was a little less than two hours after sunrise when others began rising from their beds, the scent of bread and cinnamon rousing them from their dreams. Yawns and shuffling feet filled the air with sound as the curious padded down the stairs to figure out where the heavenly scents were coming from. In fact, as they crowded around the kitchen entrance, they noticed that the kitchen table had been covered in a cloth and several plates placed upon it. And upon those plates were slices of toast, some that smelled of cinnamon, sliced apple pieces and halved plums that were glistening, with heat rising from the rich flesh. There was also the pot of opened marmalade, a pot of coffee and another of tea.

Patrick was already sitting at the table gleefully looking over the spread, ready to eat, but refraining himself with difficulty. He had been here a while, wanting to grab a cup of coffee before Tyler could restrict the amount of sugar he added to the beverage. He'd found one of the two girl cousins, Autumn cooking and couldn't help but drool as the scent of roasting plums emanated from the oven. She'd worried over the fact she was using the kitchen without permission, but Patrick had dismissed her concerns. They were men bound by their stomachs and her food was about to fill them; there was no way they'd be upset and even if they were, judging from the heavenly aroma's, it would not be for long.

And so the pair had begun to chat about what Autumn was baking and the girl had expressed her wish to make cinnamon toast to go with the baked plums, but in the absence of butter was worried for the outcome. Thus they had mixed a little oil with the spice and sweetener, but it didn't spread upon the thin cut crust as well as she would like. Patrick had had an epiphany; what about the mutated apples? Not only was the contents of the Apple-shaped shell soft and oozed oil, it was a tad sweet in it's fresh ingredients flavour. They had struggled to open one, but one they did, Autumn was able to mash the oily fruit together with the sugar and cinnamon and produce something more familiar. Patrick couldn't wait to taste it.

Autumn, who was standing holding a bowl of toasted nuts to add to the table, glanced up and noticed all of the large, hungry eyed men currently staring at her, as well as a wide eyed teenager and the two other women. "Ah, I hope you don't mind," she said, paling a little. "I cooked breakfast..." the volume of her voice became smaller with every word as she wondered if she hadn't gotten carried away. After all, this was the food that Dexter and his men had gathered... although Patrick had encouraged her, even helped her... she had still used a good amount of the ingredients without permission.

The oriental man that the others called Ren gave her a slight smile, his eyes like crescent moons as he said; "I am going to call for Nathan. He and Lucy would like this breakfast, I believe."

"He's not in the house?" Autumn wondered aloud, but he had already disappeared from sight. The other newcomers were also curious; the house was large and secure, why live elsewhere?

"Nathan doesn't do well with lots of noise or people," Dexter said as he came in first to snag a piece of cinnamon toast. "He lives in a cottage in the gardens. Little Lucy took a shine to him, so she and the dog moved in with him."

"Oi!" Patrick complained as Dexter took a large bite of the toast. He'd been waiting the longest, he couldn't wait to taste the adapted toast recipe that he'd helped come up with, so why did Dexter get to eat first?

"Autumn, you... you can cook?" Jimmy stared wide eyed as other shuffled past him to grab a plate and pile it with food.

"Hey! At least wait for everyone!" Patrick pouted, but quickly placed a piece of toast onto his plate before it all vanished.

"I can make more," Autumn reassured him, thinking of the other loaf she had left aside. She had ended up baking two loaves of bread, thinking it could be saved for lunch and dinner. There were a lot of mouths to feed after all. However, she'd used more than half a bag of flour in producing them, which made her feel a bit guilty.