Our colony has been busy as a beehive the past few weeks! Last week I was on a scouting mission with Mr. K, Mr. Wade (a former engineer and our group’s main handyman) and Mr. Caputo to find a new safe haven for our survivor group since we determined our current one is dangerously close to a zed hotbed. I don’t want to brag, but I was handpicked to accompany the gentleman on the initial scouting mission. This is not because of my women’s touch, but because of my scouting and map-making skills that I discussed previously in my handbook entry on raiding.

Searching for real estate is never easy!

One of the little silver linings of this current situation is that you no longer have to worry about boring paperwork, bank loans or pesky credit checks. You find a place, your rid the home of ghouls and it is yours to decorate! 

Then again, finding a suitable place for 23 survivors with competing needs is no easy task. Of course, you can’t please everyone but to help us focus our efforts we have come up with a short list of our minimum requirements for property.

• Remote – One thing that has not changed since the panic, the most important thing in real estate is location, location, location. A suitable shelter should be far away from all major roads. Remember that you aren’t only trying to avoid zeds, you’re also trying to avoid cannibals and marauders.
• Fertile soil for outdoor and indoor gardening.
• A large enough kitchen for all of the ladyfolk. (You know how territorial we women can be!)
• A well or other easy source of water.
• Natural defenses that we can build upon (such as a fence).
• At least five bedrooms (one for the Governor and First Lady, one for orphaned children and single women, one for men, two for couples).
• Close to a stream or forest for hunting and fishing.

We checked out an abandoned motel which would have been perfect, if it had been more removed from a major road. We also found a near perfect location in an old tobacco plantation house—but given the human bones we found (which were cracked open to get at the marrow) we felt it was too risky to live in an old cannibal lair. Even though we did not find a suitable home this trip, we did find ammo, food and toiletries left in a few shelters by less fortunate survivor groups, so I can’t call the trip a failure.

But that’s how the real estate market goes, I suppose. For now, I am back at our survival shelter and ready for a long nap!

Happy House (and Husband) Hunting!

Miss E