- Comfort is the quickest way to die out here.

  - Resources run out. Water, food, safety—they all have an expiration date.

  - Think like a scavenger. If one place doesn’t have what you need, move to the next. And if none of them do? Change towns.

  ---

  I liked the place, at first.

  Two and a half weeks after the outbreak, I found this nice house.

  A Two-story house, windows mostly intact, kitchen only slightly ransacked. Backyard even had a garden—tomatoes, if you can believe it. I fixed up the fences, patched some gaps, and called it “Base Zero” in my journal like I was playing some post-apocalyptic version of Minecraft.

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  It lasted about a week.

  The problem with finding something nice is that everyone else is looking too.

  First came the animals. Raccoons. Rats. Then a couple of people, half-starved and skittish. I gave them some food. They left. Or I thought they did.

  Then came the zombies.

  Maybe they followed the noise. Maybe they smelled us. Maybe they just got lucky. But one night, I heard glass break in the living room, and I didn’t even hesitate—I bolted out the bathroom window and didn’t look back.

  It’s stupid, how fast “safe” turns into “run.”

  That was the night I learned the truth: you can’t get comfortable. Not anymore.

  Even when everything seems calm, you’re on a clock. Food runs out. Water gets weird. Your brain softens and tells you, “Hey, maybe we can stay here.”

  Don’t listen to it.

  You’re not looking for a forever home. You’re looking for enough—enough supplies, enough quiet, enough time to breathe before moving on.

  The world’s a Walmart now.

  If one aisle doesn’t have what you need, check another. If the whole store sucks, go to the next one. Or the next town.

  But whatever you do, don’t stop moving.

  That’s how they get you.