Kenji warned us before we had set out on our journey that we’d need to avoid the towns. And he was right. Most of the towns we’d come across so far had been full of infected people. Way too dangerous to risk for a few cans of peaches or baked beans.

We sat around the table in the kitchen. The map was still spread out. Someone had drawn a line in red ink from the farmhouse to the nearest town of Hunter. The town was circled. There was a little arrow pointing to a hill where we would be able to observe the town from a safe distance, before we ventured in.

“It would be good if we could stay here for a few days longer,” Daniel said. “We need the rest.”

“But if we want to stay here, then we need to raid this town for supplies,” Kenji said, pointing to the map. “According to this, there’s a town not far from here. It’s only small. But it should have a general store or a supermarket or something.”

“Are we all going?” I asked.

“I think Maria should stay here,” Jack said.

“No way,” Maria argued. “You are not leaving me here in the creepy, Texas Chainsaw Massacre house.”

“Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss,” Daniel said. “We need to plan this raid and execute it before we all get too dehydrated. Once that happens, we won’t be able to think straight.”

“I vote we stick together,” I said. “I mean, what if something happens? Like you told me before Kenji, we’re stronger as a group.”

Jack shook his head. “No. No way. Maria stays here. It’s safe in this house. Especially now that Daniel has boarded up the place. We can leave Maria here with a couple of rifles just in case. She’ll be safe.”

Maria did not like that idea at all. She looked at Jack with a kind of angry disbelief. “You really think leaving me here by myself is a good idea? Did you suddenly forget about what happened at the SCG? Do you really think I’ll be safe? I’m a terrible shot. You know I’m a terrible shot.”

“Yeah, but chances are you won’t even need to use the guns. We’re in the middle of nowhere. You’re safe in this house. The infected can’t get you. Out there, they can get you. You’re not safe outside.”

“What about the note?” I said.

“What note?”

“Yeah, she’s right,” Daniel said.

“About what?” Jack asked.

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“About the gangs,” Daniel continued. “The note said they were moving out of the cities, looking for places to camp. This house is prime real estate. What if a gang of some not very nice people saw this place?”

“They would want it for themselves,” I said.

“That’s right. They would take it by force if necessary. Maria can’t stay here.”

Jack pictured a worst case scenario inside his head. He suddenly realized there was no way we could leave Maria by herself.

“Fine,” he said. “We all go.”

Kenji pointed to the map again. “We can follow this creek all the way to the town.”

The creek ran through the property all the way to the town of Hunter, where it wrapped around the town like a snake.

I looked out the kitchen window. You could see the trees that lined the creek. According to Daniel, the trees were called ‘river gums’. Apparently they are a kind of gum tree or eucalyptus tree that are found along the banks of rivers and waterways. Hopefully they would provide good concealment for us as we moved through the creek.

“The creek is probably dry,” Kenji said. “So it should be easy enough to walk through. It will provide a good hiding spot as well. If we need to hide.”

“We may as well get some other stuff while we’re there,” Jack suggested. “Like if anyone sees a computer store let me know. We might be able to get a replacement battery for Doctor Hunter’s computer.”

Ever since we found Doctor Hunter’s computer, Jack had carried it around everywhere. He barely lets it out of sight. The reason? On that computer is the whereabouts of his sister. So ever since the battery died, Jack has been on the lookout for a replacement. The computer had all the answers.

The rest of our list was a bit more practical. At the top were baked beans, even though we were all sick of them. Any canned food was also a top priority.

We also wanted clean clothes. Socks. Undies. Sunscreen. And of course, bottled water.

Surprisingly, writing out the list had made me tired. I guess it forced us to think ahead, think of everything that we would need. Which in turn forced us to think about everything that could go wrong. After we’d finished the list we were all kind of depressed.

Daniel snapped us out of our funk and brought us back to reality. He was good at keeping us on our toes. Keeping us scared enough not to get complacent.

“Use of guns,” he said.

I had my head resting on the table but when he mentioned ‘guns’, I sat up. “Huh? Guns?”

“Loud noises are bad,” he continued. “In the city we had no choice. We had to use fire power. But out here, we need to be in stealth mode. This is essentially a raid, a supply run. We can’t afford to draw any attention to ourselves. We can’t afford to get into a fire fight. Or get surrounded. We need to get in and out before anyone or anything knows we were even there.”

Kenji nodded. “It’s like Bruce Lee used to say, ‘it’s the art of fighting without fighting’.”

Kenji liked to say that whenever he got the chance. He would even imitate Bruce Lee’s voice and his mannerisms and everything.

“We need to be invisible,” Daniel continued. “Only use the guns if we absolutely need to. If you have no other choice.”

Like I said before, in a war, or any situation for survival, you constantly weigh up the risk and the reward.

Is the reward worth risking your life?

If the answer is yes; you better hold on.

I was terrified. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t get them to stop.

We were about to risk our lives.

We were about to raid the nearby town of Hunter. We knew it would be dangerous. We knew there would be infected in there, hiding, waiting for us. But we had no choice. We needed food. We needed water.