The Home
Three survivors are in desperate need of medication needed for one of their number to survive. Having tried and failed to locate it at pharmacies and medical facilities¸ they turn to the one place left to them¸ an assisted living facility. Knowing that before the rise of the undead¸ the facility took care of several patients with the same need¸ the survivors decide to risk everything on this one last chance. Will they find the medicine that they need? Will they find other survivors? What happened to the patients during the outbreak? The Home offers a different side to the Zombie Apocalypse. In a world where the strong survive¸ compassion provide the hope needed to overcome many obstacles. This book is the result of a conversation between friends during a summer writers challenge. I was in the middle of attempting to get my mother into a memory care facility. My friends were both sympathetic to what I was going through¸ but also helped me to laugh. The second helped me more than I will ever know. Given that two of the authors that I was conversing with having written books in the zombie genre¸ comparisons between some memory care facilities and the genre arose. I can appreciate dark humor at time and this was one of them. A parting comment at the end of the discussion resonated with me¸ "this could make a great scene in a story." It took a couple of weeks but the story did indeed come out of that conversation. The thoughts that drove it were what would happen to people that need essential services once a major catastrophe like a zombie apocalypse occurred? What would happen to diabetics that were dependent on their medicines? What would happen to the elderly that are not able to help themselves any more? Furthermore¸ the story had to have its lighter moments. I have visited many nursing and retirement homes. One of the authors described one of the funnier moments he had while visiting a home. All of these elements started to congeal and this short story just flowed out from it. This may not appeal to hardcore fans of the zombie genre. There is little in the way of the typical blood and gore. I had honestly hoped to have it included in a collection of stories but it took on a life of its own. So here it is. There are many worlds that already exist for zombie stories. There are more flavors of them than Baskin Robbins has ice cream flavors. I decided to adopt a world to base mine in. Philip McClimon's Nicole's Odyssey: A Journey Through The Zombie Apocalypse and its prequel¸ Substation: The Last Stand of Gary Sykes are the basis of the world in which this story resides. I hope that you enjoy this short story and will take a look at some of my other works.