I woke up with Maria’s hair in my mouth. I was the big spoon to her little spoon, but it meant I had a face full of her hair. I didn’t know what time it was, but that might have been the best sleep since coming back in time. I got up to shower, but her shower didn’t work. I couldn’t make breakfast either because she had no power, and she would be far too sore to do anything fun this early in the morning.

I crawled off the destroyed bed. I think that might have been another reason I slept so well here compared to the mansion. The mansion was so comfortable that it felt strange to me. Either way, I at least had the supplies to make something halfway decent. I pulled out a little propane single-burner stove you’d take with you on camping trips and heated up a pot of coffee before putting on some pancakes for breakfast.

Preparing things, waiting for the fresh coffee smell to wake her up, instead of her leaving the bedroom, she called out. “Ummm… Can you come help me up? I can’t seem to walk.” Taking her into the bathroom was most likely embarrassing for her, but the alternative was pissing all over her bed. I waited outside while she did her business before she asked again. “Can you grab the buckets of water from outside the window to flush these toilets?”

I handled our basic morning activities before asking what she was going to do today. “What do you mean? I’m going to need the entire day to recover. Why, you got something you want to do?” Cutting up my pancakes into single bites, I asked her. “Do you want to move in with me at the mansion? I know it’s weird to have more than one girlfriend, but things would be easier to coordinate with the police if we had a spokesperson with them.”

She thought about it, I talked about our situation there before we had sex, she knew I was with multiple women before she fucked me. I think she knew my excuse was shoddy and that I only wanted her there at the house. Acting like she was doing me a favor, she breathed out before agreeing. We made our way outside, and I just remembered, I left the long-nailed zombie in the rain on one of the inflatable rafts.

The raft was halfway submerged, the rainwater filling it halfway up so that in just another hour or so, his weight would push it under the water. We made our way home. It was another person living in a mansion that I didn’t own, but at this point, I doubted anyone would stop me even if I brought back two dozen more. I was getting close to the limit, though, as we were running out of rooms.

I went inside, and Victor was already waiting for me. “Welcome home, boss. We got work to do.” He did something I didn’t think of doing. He went along and checked every single mansion in the area before finding out there was one that had no people living in it. It meant we could bring more people here, and converting it into a hub for the police was our best bet.

I didn’t doubt we would have to fight for this land, especially once the majority of people finally realized that the government wasn’t going to help. Having another source of protection for the area and people who can help keep it safe was something I had to do before it got too bad. They would also be far less likely to betray me and try to take the area for themselves, but I'd have to put up with their righteousness until they realized the world had changed.

I would help where I could, but soon it would be us against them. If we help everyone unconditionally, we’ll drown before we can help even a fraction of them. That was something I needed to protect against. It was something I wouldn’t doubt Victor for trying to do, but it would doom the people who lived here. We needed a soft hand in the form of Victor and a hard fist in the form of me, with the police a happy middle ground to keep the base from skewing too much in one direction. 

Victor had a list of areas that needed to be checked. The list included places where people might have been stranded and caches of items that would be useful for after the rain stopped. I was going to handle the caches while leaving the people to him. “Alright then, I’ll go to this car park and check to see if there aren’t any buses above the water line. You go check the football stadium, here’s a few extra boats. Remember, you don’t have to save everyone, it’s not your job. Don’t take any big risks.”

It was too early for ambush groups to form, but I was trying to get him in the right headspace to not trust every person he came across. He was too good for his own good. I made my way toward the car park, hoping I’d find some buses or campers stored there.

…

Ester’s Point of View

We were running low on food, and soon, we’d need to make a trip outside. At least I would. Darcy was more than capable of getting food for herself by offering herself to men to get them to bring her food. What a crazy change, she went from being a virgin a month ago to spite fucking every man she could because her boyfriend cheated on her. I was sick of not having any internet and only having books to read. I could read books anywhere, but Darcy bringing over different men every single night was getting annoying. I might just swim back home until this flood goes away.

It was talks at first, I heard whispers from the other girls in the dorm that something had happened. Most of the girls who went to visit the boys' dorm didn’t come back last night. It was enough to weird me out, and I was ready to flee before things got even worse. That was when we heard it. Someone was breaking down doors, I could hear the screams of the girls in the dormitory pick up before the sound of men yelling at them to shut up.

I knew where this was going. Men had lost all reason already and were now taking the women to do unspeakable things to them. I pushed the couch to block the door. I ran over to Darcy’s room before knocking. I whispered loud enough for her to hear, but quiet enough that no one could hear us from outside our dorm. “Darcy! Open the door, people are going from room to room breaking in, we need to leave!”

I heard her finally waking up. If she’d gone to the boy’s dorm, I wouldn’t have had to sleep on the couch and might not have heard the men. I knocked even louder, and one of the guys opened the door for me. I looked around. She was still sprawled out on the bed, her body draped over the other man she had slept with last night. I didn’t care anymore. I warned them and was now in fight or flight, focusing heavily on flight.

“People are breaking into the rooms. This is your last warning; wake up, or you won't get to defend yourselves.” I yelled loud enough for them to hear while I loaded things into a backpack. I finished loading up all the food I could carry and some of the books I refused to leave with me, along with a few sets of clothes. Just as I lifted up the backpack, I heard them kicking all the door.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* “Open this fucking door right now or you’ll regret it!” I didn’t think anymore, my sole focus was on escape as I opened the window of the room before jumping into the water below. I gave them a chance, it was up to them how to use it because I was gone.