Lockey vs. the Apocalypse | Book 1 | No More Heroes [Adrian's Undead Diary Novel] Meadows, Carl (book recommendations for teens TXT) 📖

before all this crap, the wife of the farmer that lived nearby to Bancroft’s home. Why did Bancroft’s animals not just murder this woman? Well, luckily for her, one of Bancroft’s men who actually had something resembling a brain, noticed the expansive herb and vegetable garden that Norah tended on her property. Recognising the value of those skills, she was brought back to Castle Bancroftstein to do the same.

Win for us. Norah’s already bringing Grace and Theo’s old garden back to life, and she does it with a smile on her face now. Turns out, this woman wouldn’t have been out of place in the frontier wild west. I mean, she can do everything. Sew, crochet, knit, makes clothes, knows how to can foods and make preserves, cooks, bakes, agriculture, animal husbandry… shit, the woman can even kill and butcher pigs, cows and chickens. The level of skill and knowledge this woman possesses absolutely boggles my mind. If there is one person you want for your post-apocalyptic homestead, Norah Hardy is queen. She’s like everybody’s grandma, constantly checking everyone is okay, well fed, warm enough, cool enough, have you had enough to drink, etc. I already love her to bits. I never had the experience of grandparents, but Norah makes me feel like I’ve got a grandma now. She absolutely adores Charlie as well, spoiling him like he was her own grandson, constantly getting hugs off the little dude. Charlie clearly adores her as well, but then, who wouldn’t? She’s freaking amazing.

So, there’s all the positives. Mark, Charlie, Isaac, Maria, and Norah. All happy as pigs in shit now their slave labour is done. They all have a shared experience as well, a tight bond from enduring the past couple of months and finding strength and comfort in each other.

It’s not the same for Alicia and Laura.

Alicia Grey and Laura Mayfield are both early twenties, good looking girls without a care in the pre-apocalypse world. Not so much anymore.

I’m not going to dwell on what they’ve been through. These two had to endure being sex slaves for two months, then had the terror of watching ten of their group be dragged outside and executed by Bancroft, wondering if they’re next. Jesus, what an ordeal on every level from beginning to end.

They seem to have gone in different directions emotionally. Alicia is a brunette, Laura a blonde, and they’re just as opposite in how they’re handling this new change. Alicia, in my opinion, is making herself hard and cold, surrounding herself in emotional armour to crush the trauma by forging herself into a warrior. She keeps banging on at Nate, wanting firearms and self-defence training, determined to never let herself or anyone else suffer what she and Laura have survived. Nate understands, but he’s said it’s too early, confiding in private to me that he won’t train anyone with that much fury in them as it will make her reckless.

I can see both their arguments, supporting both points of view, which leaves me in a really difficult position. Nate is the best person to judge if someone is in the right frame of mind for weapons training; earning his trust, however, is a difficult thing. Freya and I have it, but we’ve been together a little while and Nate and I have been in the trenches. I’m a complete dickhead at times who frustrates him, but the old dog knows that when the shit hits the fan, I am one hundred percent at his back and will go where he points if it gets the job done. Alicia doesn’t have that trust yet, and Nate will want to feel the situation out a little more before he makes a decision.

From her point of view, hell yeah. If I’d been through what she has, I’d want all the fucking guns, but if I’m honest, I know I would be reckless as shit. As much as I empathise with Alicia’s need to do something, I think Nate is right for now. Alicia needs to settle in, show a little patience, get comfortable with everyone, then Nate might think about it. We can’t live forever with just Nate and I being our only shooters (and I’m still a rank amateur), and we’re actually pretty fat on weapons and ammo now after clearing out Bancroft’s armoury. It’ll come, but it’s too early.

The one I’m really worried about is Laura. She has this… haunted… air about her. I mean, fair enough, right? But I’m genuinely worried about her. She’s just 22 (says the sagely and wise 26-year old) and has been through a head-smashing trauma for an extended period of time, and I’m not sure she knows how to deal with it. She was snatched off the street the day after the apocalypse started and has been in torment ever since. She has no idea about the fates of friends and family, has been thrust with a new bunch of strangers but now that she has a modicum of safety, all of that physical, emotional, and psychological trauma has space to be processed. She’s not sat there waiting for the door to be opened and be dragged off to the house, or into the yard to be executed, so her mind now has time to work through all the trauma and I’m worried about how she’s going to handle it. Time will tell, but once again, Freya steps up to the plate.

She’s taken Laura under her wing, because she’s got such a lovely way about her. Easy going, softly spoken, smile to light up the darkest sky; she’s just awesome. I remember how much she helped me when I was processing all that horror after the block of flats, and she has a gift of knowing when she needs to say something supportive, or when someone needs quiet, but still wants someone there. She’s really good at just being present and available, with no intrusions, all the space you need, but there if you need her.

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