Heartland Junk Part I: The End: A ZOMBIE Apocalypse Serial Read Online Free PDF

too high for
me."
    "Murphy's Law,"
pointed out Rivet. He seemed to be in a daze.
    "Could be," I
agreed. "Whatever can go wrong, will. One thing derails, and
suddenly it feels like everything is. But let's be logical here.
We've got food. Power's still on. Last we checked, the water was
still on. Even if it turns out to be something serious, we're good
here for awhile."
    "For awhile,
sure." Rivet seemed to snap back from wherever he'd been. "But for
how long?"
    I gave him an
appreciative glance. He caught it. With enough time to think, Rivet
always came around on the right side of things. He was smarter than
the junk ever gave him a chance to show.
    "What do you
suggest?" I asked, deferring the decision to him.
    "First we're going
to fill everything we can find with water. Cups, bottles, buckets.
The bathtub." He snapped his fingers. He wasn't looking at anyone,
just gazing intently at the wall as he spoke. "Definitely the
bathtub; get it full. Just in case we lose water later, you
know."
    "Good thinking,"
Jennie said. "A person can only live without water for three
days."
    "Where'd you hear
that?" Rivet looked at her sharply.
    "I don't know,
Facebook I think."
    "In three days
you'll be alive, yeah, if you're pretty healthy, which we're not.
But at the end of two you'll be as good as useless. Even the first
day you'll be feeling like hell."
    "What's with the
sudden enthusiasm?" I asked.
    "Just thinking, you know. Covering our bases. If this does turn out to be, well,
serious, the last way I want to go is dying of thirst."
    "Agreed." Jen and
I said it at the same time. We looked at each other and smiled.
Rivet looked annoyed.
    " Then ,"
Rivet said, "we'll go pay a visit to your Old Lady Winters." He was
taking charge, which was the only way he'd be happy about any plan
right now. But it was better than fighting, and I was okay with
letting him lead.
    "Sounds good to
me," I said. "Jen?"
    She nodded.
    "Alright," I said.
"But I'm not going out there without a weapon."
    "For the last
time," Rivet's voice was exasperated. "There aren't any zo–"
    "I'm with Ray on
this one," Jennie cut him off. "It'll at least make me feel
safer."
    Rivet looked back
and forth between us and was about to say something, then seemed to
change his mind. "Okay," he finally said. "Nothing wrong with a
little security."
    "Great then," I
said, clapping my hands and standing up. I felt invigorated now
that we had a plan. Anything was better than languishing in my
doubts. I was still riding pretty high, but the edge had worn off
and the heavy feeling was definitely sloping away. It was a perfect
time to get started.
    "I'll scrounge for
bottles," I said. "Recycling wasn't supposed to come until next
week; there should be some around."
    "I'll get upstairs
and clean the tub out." Jen was following my lead. "I've seen how
Ray lives, and I'm not drinking any water from that without a
bleach scrub first."
    We were turning to
leave when we noticed that Rivet hadn't moved.
    "You helping out
with this master plan of yours?" I asked.
    "Of course, but
first things first." He held out the little brown baggie. "Who's
hungry?"
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    "I FEEL like an
idiot."
    Rivet slapped me
on the shoulder. "You'll be fine, bub. You look like John
Wayne."
    We were standing
on the front porch of my house waiting for Jennie to join us. We'd
taken it easy with the dope this time. Just a tiny pinch for each
of us. Maintenance doses, Rivet was already calling it. Even so,
water collection had gotten sloppy. Jennie'd gone upstairs and
scrubbed about a quarter of the tub before giving up and turning on
the faucet, then she'd come back down to help the rest of us fill
every glass, bowl, and coffee mug in my kitchen. Rivet had gotten
this idea to, and I quote, "save counter space" by building a
pyramid out of the filled drinking glasses.
    "There," he'd
turned toward us, smile radiant and eyes glassy. "We can just take
what we need from the top and work our way down." But when