Read Finding Home - A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 2) for Free Online

was clear after what had happened to them, I wasn’t a doctor. Not even close.
    “I’m more than ready. Let’s start this way,” he said pointing near the stream. I didn’t have any reason to argue. His guess was as good as mine. Maybe even better since he had lived in Alaska.
    “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
     
     
    * * *
     
     
    When the sun had risen over the horizon, I woke abruptly as if an alarm had gone off in my head. I was beyond excited to get back out and start looking for my friends again. Since Penn had arrived I’d missed out on a lot of searching time, not only because of him, but mostly because of the snow. Every day I hadn’t searched for them was a day I got further away from finding them. If they were even still at HOME.
    I changed my clothes and went downstairs where I found two backpacks already packed sitting by the front door. Penn was sitting on the couch waiting for me with his jacket on. I couldn’t help but laugh. Perhaps he was going crazy from being trapped in this small space with me, or maybe he was actually excited to start this adventure. Do something. Have a purpose.
    “Ready?” he asked anxiously with a smile on his face.
    “Did you even sleep?”
    “Some…. I tried really hard though.” He was almost a completely different person than the one that had fallen at my doorstep weeks ago. This guy was brave, motivated and strong. Definitely something positive for me to be around. After I first found this place, I felt all those same things. But with each passing day I became even more weary than the day before, and things seemed even more bleak. I inched back to my old weak self.
    “Let’s go,” I said, as I slipped into my jacket.
    He pulled on his winter hat and stood next to me. After he took a quick glance at me as if making sure I met some kind of standard he was looking for in a travel companion, he bent down and picked up the packs. He handed one to me and put the other over his shoulder.
    “What’s with all the stuff?” I asked feeling like my pack was far too heavy. I reached around my hip to make sure my gun was placed securely in my waistband right where I liked it.
    “Just in case we’d get lost, or something happened. I want to be prepared.”
    “We won’t get lost,” I said as I turned to collect my notebook. But before I could even take a step, I was hit lightly in the chest with my notebook.
    “Probably not,” he said, “But better safe than sorry. After what I’ve been through… this is smart.”
    I wasn’t exactly sure what he’d meant by that since what he had been through with his dad and his sister wasn’t really something someone could have been prepared for. He had managed those situations pretty well if you asked me. Better than most would have.
    We walked out the front door and locked it behind us. I tucked the key inside my jacket pocket and then tripled checked that I had actually put it there. I taped a small piece of paper at the top of the door where it met the frame. Every time I left the house I did the same thing as an extra measure of security. It was my version of a burglar alarm. That way if someone from HOME came looking for me, I’d know it. It would tear the paper or pull the tape off.
    The look on Penn’s face after I had finished my little trap showed he was impressed. It made me feel good to see that he seemed to think it was a good idea instead of thinking I was crazy, paranoid, or both. Then again, in this new world, I thought we were all paranoid to some extent. Maybe we had to be. I, thanks to HOME, was extra paranoid.
    We spent the afternoon traveling along the stream. Taking care to map out the new unexplored area accurately. We were organized and efficient. I easily covered twice as much area with Penn than I did when I was alone, but still we hadn’t found HOME. After several hours and probably several miles, we decided to turn back to make sure we were at the cabin before nightfall. Neither