The Last Blade Of Grass Read Online Free Page A

stables. Our land is a 120 acre parcel that we chose as our retreat location in case things fell apart the way we feared it might. It is far enough away from the Medford area not only in distance but with winding roads and turns to make it hard to find by car. And the hills and woods make it difficult to reach without concerted effort on foot. But it is still close enough that we weren’t too far away from the town to make regular or daily trips impractical. Even though it would have worked for us as our main residence, it was more practical to have this as our retreat home. We also used the location as a training facility for people, to teach, and learn about outdoor living and survival.
    The house where we actually lived before this disease started was right at the edge of Medford. I built a storefront on to it, so I could technically work from home, and have the kids nearby.
    We had to abandon that house at the start of the outbreak because it was too close to the city. Looking back, I doubt that we could have made it out of Medford and to our retreat property safely if we had stayed for even a day longer than we did. Things fell apart incredibly quick that first day. I’m thankful we had another place to escape to, but especially that it was our own stocked survival training center.
    There are multiple buildings and outbuildings on our property, but the main house now sits about one hundred yards from the fence. We chose to move the fence away from the buildings after a large attack by the infected hit us. We have a chain link fence surrounding about 30 acres of the property. This encloses the main house, the bunkhouse, two mobile homes, barn, stable, riding stable, storage buildings, and various smaller structures we put up to house extra survivors that came along.
    Around that fence, and twenty yards out from it, is another hodge-podge of fencing and obstacles that we put together to funnel any persons or infected interested in entering our property toward the front gate area. There are fruit trees and gardens on both the inside and outside of the fences, but we cleared the larger trees to about twenty-five yards beyond the fence line to prevent an easily concealed approach. There are some trenches, trees, and large rock piles on the inside of the fence to allow for defensive positions, in case someone was attacking our home.
    It is a decent setup as a prepper defending their homestead against a band of intruders or wandering infected. It is not so ideal when returning from a foraging outing to see someone you don’t recognize standing guard on the inside of the fence and no one you know in sight. And that is the obstacle and potential problem we are now faced with.
    “Simone, I don’t see Arthur, Greg, or anyone else on the property. Hannah, do you see anyone through your binoculars?”
    “No, Dad. I don’t see anyone but that man, and nothing is going on in the house either that I can see.”
    I decide to huddle with everyone and discuss our options. “The situation obviously isn’t perfect, but it isn’t necessarily a disaster either. The man we don’t recognize is pacing back and forth more than guarding, and seems rather distracted. There aren’t any signs of a fight or battle on this side of the house, and this is the easiest approach, so here’s what I think we should do. One person in each direction will hug the woods and circle the property to see if there are any signs of bodies or a gunfight. That guy is definitely not infected by how he looks and acts, so we know the place wasn’t overrun by the diseased. If this was a hostile takeover, there should be some sign of a firefight from our people. So that’s what we’ll be looking for, signs of a fight. Sound good?” I watch as they respond. “You’re all nodding so who wants to go?”
    Everyone offers to go except for Benjamin.
    “Simone and Olivia, you two should go. Simone, take William with you. It will be good practice for his stealth and