Unsurprisingly, with our little extra talk, we were the last ones out. Spotting Jen, I make a mental note to keep her away from the coffee here or at least limit her to one cup. Shuffling beside Bella, I lean over whispering in her ear, "Our nurse was an angel."

Bella glances behind us towards the nurse in question she nods "That she is." 

"Huh?" I glance over to Nichole and then back to Bella "How did you know so fast?"

Bella's lips tilt up ever so slightly "You'll get better at noticing the difference between a human and a supernatural in time."

I slump "I thought I was good already. Why is it so hard to tell the difference?" I whine.

Bella laughs under her breath "It will take some more practice, Kaindra. You haven't been around many angels, so noticing the difference as quickly as you did is quite impressive."

"I'm 17" I grumble. Glancing at the guards lining the walls as we begin to walk out. Two large guards stand on either side of a heavily reinforced door that has an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on it.

"But a 1-year-old vampire," Bella says. 

I continue to grumble as we head towards the hall. A nurse's voice floats into my ears in the quiet room "Looks like you have a bruised lung, dear. Trevor? Can you please take her to the specialist?" I glance over my shoulder as one of the guards standing by goes forward "Please follow me." He leads her through the Authorized Personnel Only door.  I glance at the nurse before we round the corner; she has a sad look in her eyes. 

A woman in uniform, who must have been waiting by the door, approaches us. "Welcome. I'm Janet. We like to give everyone a tour so they have an idea of the layout. Since it is close to lunch, I figure we can stop at the mess hall first." We all nod vigorously, the promise of food fueling our weary group.

She guides us to the lunch room, while discussing landmarks and pointing out things on our maps. She also goes over the pretty standard rules, which are a little stricter than expected. Here, anyone who wants to stay here has to put in effort to work for their keep. Same as what we had at Ikea: if you don't work, you don't eat - unless you are sick or someone gave an exception beforehand. It's a bit more rigid, but effective in ensuring everyone contributes. 

Finally, we make it to the lunch room. I gaze around in interest. The room is set up like a buffet, though the food is plain. I spot some peas, potatoes, bread, and some other food from what looks like cans, a freezer, or a military MRE ration. 

We quickly fill our plates with a respectful helping for our empty stomachs. Once we start eating, Janet continues speaking. "Well, pull out your schedules. We can take a peek at what the receptionists have lined up for you. Most of your schedule will be the same every day of the week, although there is one block of time that will vary to allow for additional training."  

Bella leans forward "Do we work all day?"

Janet glances at our schedules as she replies "Normally, you work about eight or ten hours a day, depending on the type of work. The rest of the time is yours, although any additional help is welcome. For those taking care of kids you might have some additional time off once or twice a week but rarely is it more than a few hours."

She glances at Liam, Sam, and mine's schedules "Wow, never seen young ones like you put on such heavy duties right away."

"We have some experience in these fields already," I say.

She nods "We'll take anyone willing to leave the safety of the fence so freely, guards especially night ones are also very welcome. Due to your age, you'll probably be put closer to the children for an easier time instead of around supplies after your training. These are just basic training schedules; as you get more training they will change a bit."

The schedule reminds me of our high school one, each section of the day is divided into blocks on time. I examine my paper more thoroughly. My day begins at nine in the morning, my day was filled primarily with "Position Training" until 5:30, although I had time set aside for lunch. 

As we eat, the food offers a bit of comfort, despite being plain. The warmth of the meal is a small reprieve from the tension of our arrival. 

After dinner, there was an sixty-minute block of time called additional training. That class varied every day as it covered first aid, field training, zombie training, survival training, people skills, and other types of training. Apparently, my job requires lots of training against zombies and basic survival. Once a week my day starts at ten instead of nine probably for additional time with Enya.

Enya's schedule is similar to mine time-wise. Her day starts at nine with school going till 5:30. After that she has similar classes for basic zombie training, first aid, people skills, and chore time. 

A glance at the others' schedules shows a similar layout. A few of our extra classes after dinner we had together, which was a relief. It looks like the four kids will be spending a lot more time together. According to their schedules, they are in the same class but broken up into sections, probably for age. Their evening classes and chore time are together. Hopefully, that keeps them occupied for the day. Josh, Everly, and Jaylin still haven't said a word since we left Ikea, it's starting to make me worried. 

Gently rubbing my stinging eyes, I finish the little bits of food on my plate as I put away Enya's and mine's schedules into my bag. 

"Do you have any news about what caused this?" Liam's quiet question pulls me from my food.

Janet sighs as she responds "Not really, just rumors and hearsay. We have radio contact with several other forts and bases across Canada, and they have further relayed news out and down to the US. It's not good. Several bases have stopped broadcasting over the past couple of months. The big cities were hit hard. Abandoned cars caused a complete gridlock, and with so many zombies and new infected in small areas...as far as we have been able to find out, the casualties are catastrophic."

I glance at the others, their faces grim. The room feels heavier, Janet's words echo in my mind.

"We had wooden boards covering our fence at our old place to stop zombies from grabbing at the fence. Can your chain link fence keep zombies out? What do you do about them when they get to the fence?" Kaitlyn asks, her voice laced with concern.

"A section of chain link fence can hold off a dozen zombies if needed. I'll tell my superiors about the wood on the fence to see if we could do something similar. We did get word that the faster zombies, hastes as we call them, can climb but it takes them a while and are at least two times stronger than the normal zombies. Many of our hopes have been dampened over the past months as the zombies show no signs of decomposing or slowing down due to the cold." Janet finishes, her voice heavy with the weight of the grim reality.

Things quiet down as we continue to finish our food. I push my plate away gently patting Enya's back beside me as she leans into my side, her food finished. Things don't seem to be looking up. Jordan had also hoped time or the cold would help deter the zombies, but so far, the only thing slowing them down is the waist-high snow - but that also slows us down. Oh, Jordan what am I supposed to do?

After everyone finishes their meal, Janet continues the tour of the Shilo Military Base. This refuge was larger than I expected, huge changes are planned once the snow melts. 

Several expanded buildings take the place of the once smaller barracks. Many people on snowmobiles lure zombies away from the packed snow near the fence into the trees. "We found it easier to slowly lure several zombies away on quads in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter until we can no longer see the Base" Janet explains. "Once out of sight they pick up speed and circle back. There is a pattern; we lead them out in almost any direction but only come back along one track. This stops us from luring too many zombies back."

That makes sense, but how much longer can they do that with gas getting depleted every day? What if the snowmobile breaks down? 

Janet leads us into what I assume to be a newer building from summer and up a flight of stairs. As we walk down the hallway, we can see that almost all the rooms have bunk beds to make the best use of space.

The sound of our footsteps echo softly as we move through the building, I can't shake the sense of foreboding.

"Men and women are typically separated into different rooms, to reduce... unfavorable incidents that might occur with these small rooms. Family or friends are welcome to stay together. There are limited options with so few buildings but new ones will be added in the summer. We tried to keep you together. Liam and Josh your schedule shows that you're sharing one of the smaller rooms...Ah, here it is."

She opens the door. The room must have been an old storage room, as the smell of dust still lingers. The room is barely big enough to hold one bunk bends and two small-sized dressers stacked on top of each other. It does have a window in the corner, which is a bonus. We are on the second floor, so I don't feel too bad about something climbing through. 

Janet leads us down the hall to another door with four bunk beds and two large dressers. "This is the room for the ladies. This is the closest we could get you."

Bella nods "This is plenty close thank you." Janet smiles. Bella asks, "Josh will you be okay with Liam or do you want one of us to switch with you?"

Josh hugs Liam's leg "I'll be okay Mom. I can always come over. We'll see each other during the day. The rooms are just for sleeping." 

Bella smiles, kissing Josh's forehead "What a big boy you are, Josh. Liam, please take care of Josh." 

Liam nods "I will, Bella. Please feel free to come over whenever you want." 

Bella nods, waving as Liam guides Josh to their room to look around. I'm so relieved to hear Josh speak, even more so to see him make a friend in Liam.  It's nice to be down the hall from each other and to have most of us in the same room without strangers. Be it a little cramped. Janet stays outside of the room as we each pick a bed. I choose the bed closets to the door taking the bottom bunk well Enya takes the top. 

Janet leads us back to the ground floor and grabs a large basket. "Okay, please take a basket. I will help you get some essentials like clothing and bedding from our storage rooms. If there is anything in the vehicles you came in that you need please say something now so that we can get it."

We each take a basket and follow Janet to the storage rooms. The hallway feels long, our footsteps echoing in the quiet. The tension from earlier lingers, but there's also a small sense of relief having a place to stay. 

"Do you need anything from the vehicles?" Janet asks again, her voice breaking the silence.

Bella thinks for a moment, shaking her head "No, I think we have everything we need for now."

We shake our heads each taking a basket. Janet leads us to another building. "This room has all the fabrics, like clothes and bedding. Only grab what you need you can always come back if you forgot something." 

Splitting up, we find the women's clothes, grabbing shirts, pants, underwear, sweaters, socks, and winter gear. I take Enya to find the children's section, quickly filling her basket with clothes. I take the bulky winter gear into my arms to lighten her load. Janet watches as we all slowly shuffle back to the door, then leads us to a room with simple toiletries like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and hairbrushes. 

After grabbing all the essentials from the stacks of assorted items in the storage rooms, we shuffle back to our respective rooms to unload our bulky baskets. We each split two drawers per person, hanging our jackets and ski pants on the side of the beds. 

Janet waved goodbye, telling us that we had the rest of the day to settle in, tomorrow we'll start our training. Jen waves to Janet as she closes the door "Haaa, so what do you want to do till dinner?"

Kaitlyn collapses onto her newly made bed "I'll be sleeping. Wake me up for dinner." Two seconds later, her breathing evens out as she falls asleep.

Jaylin and Everly huddle together on the bed with Bella's eyes already closed. Jen stretches, yawning "Okay then, I'm a take a nap as well." 

Everyone climbs into their respective beds, falling asleep seconds later. No one has had a proper sleep in days as we travelled, sleeping in the back of a cold truck in the middle of winter, never knowing if a zombie or more was going to show up, called for restless sleep. And restless sleep did we got. I follow suit, rubbing at my eyes as they slowly throb. My body must still be in shock.   

A knock at the door wakes up the few light sleepers. Opening the door, a blurry-eyed Liam holding a half-asleep Josh greets me. "Ready for dinner or do you guys want to sleep more?" Liam asks.

I look behind me, turning on the little overhead light chasing away the shadows, waking a few more people. "Ready for dinner?" I ask.

Bella wakes the two sleeping children, helping Enya down from the top bunk as she walks by. Blurry eyes greet me as everyone slowly puts on a sweater to hide from the cold. They have heat here, but not enough to warm the building to sweater-less tempters - warmer than the trucks, at least. 

Following the path we took earlier, we slowly file into the mess hall. It had been a long couple of days, and if we thought we were tired before eating, everyone was having a hard time remaining awake afterwards. Many slow blinks later, everyone is back in their beds, sleeping once again. I sigh, rubbing at my now burning eyes as I remember what Janet said before she left earlier: "There is a morning bell that sounds around 6:30. When it goes off, get up and grab breakfast before heading to your scheduled location. I will try to touch base with you sometime tomorrow to see how you are doing."

I lay in bed, rubbing my eyes as the pain grows through the night. The throbbing in my head is relentless, each pulse growing as the night goes one. I can hear the soft breathing of the others around me. The darkness of the room envelops us, I close my eyes, hoping for some rest before the morning bell signals the start of our new routine. 

 The night drags on, each minute feeling like an hour. Despite the discomfort, I find solace hearing there hearts beat and their breaths continue to silently fill the silence. 

With a sigh, I settle into my pillow, trying to focus of the steady rhythm of the breathing around me.

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We have entered the next arc. Some things will be slightly different but will line up as the arc continues. As we begin this new phase, I will be taking a month off to prepare for the upcoming, very lengthy arc. I hope everyone has a great start to the new year, and I look forward to seeing you again in March.