I send a message to Richard. Then I help Damien to calm Naya who is becoming hysterical. A good slap quickly brings her back to her senses. She and Damien are fine. Neither are the horses. Musclor is dead. He's been eaten to the bone. I take pictures at full speed and hurry to send them to my friend. I count fifteen humanoid creatures by the number of skulls. The police and then the military arrive in less than a quarter of an hour and commandeer my phone. Another medical examination. Another disinfectant shower. Naya wears the army clothes very well.

The horses will have to undergo the same treatment while we are being questioned. You can't tell that to two stallions who are already ill-tempered and nervous under adrenaline. Fortunately, one of the soldiers recognises me. So I can make a suggestion to him to avoid an unfortunate hoof strike. He agrees to have the horses cleaned by a civilian under his supervision. Naya's father and Mélia, who had come along, took care of Prince and Grognon. Grognon would have unscrewed the head of the undesirable if someone else had approached him. Mélia knows how to find the right gestures to soothe him in my absence.

The next morning, Richard is there. My friend tells me to join Melia and to pack my bags. He takes us to his house, where we grew up. His sources tell him that there have been several attacks in the last few days. In the building next to the university, at least a hundred humanoids have been found. Richard and his friends count not three, but thirty outbreaks across the city, and more across the country. New ones every day. He doesn't care that he has no parental authority. He wants to keep Mélia and me safe. This is the beginning of a pandemic. The original home is this town.

I head for room 326. Melia can tell by the look on my face that something is wrong. I briefly explain the situation to her, in our secret twin language. We decide to tell our friends anyway. Not everyone, just Fleur, Lilou, Sarah, Blaise and Thibaut. They are not the type to panic and it is important for both of us to tell them the truth. As Melia asks the guys to join us in the room, Maltez and Naya come in. They too have decided to disobey and tell about the attacks.

Clarissa and Petunia, Professor Noguerra, the riding teacher and the two other basketball players including Alex join us. Richard tells them everything he knows. He offers to take them along, but they all refuse. I give them our numbers and our new address. We hug, including Maltez and me. Blaise and Thibaut have trouble letting go of me and give me a thousand recommendations. I beg them to be careful. Mélia and I know how to defend ourselves. We are going to a secure place, full of soldiers, in an area where no attack has taken place yet.

They are in the middle of the attack zone. They don't know how to defend themselves. The school and the college are sieves from a security point of view. There are hardly any soldiers around. I am afraid for my friends. I'm worried about everyone, including Petunia and Clarissa. I photocopy Papinou's guide for them. I lend Sarah my switchblade knife and make her promise to give it back to me. Melia and I join Richard at the stables. In the night, with the help of the riding teacher, we run away with Grumpy and Star, to a place where we will be the only two teenagers. I feel like a coward who runs away from danger by abandoning the others. My love life and my morale are far from being in good shape.

A six-month ellipse.

Richard took us back to his house. Several hundred kilometres from our school. He lives in an old farmhouse with a beautiful courtyard. There are about fifteen of us. Two girls, two teenagers. Thanks to Maltez's father, and some money from my parents' already empty account, Richard was allowed to take care of us. He became our guardian.

The team consists of several military personnel, a doctor, a biology professor, and me and my sister. Officially, we are just a kind of survivalist cult. We organise our daily lives according to each other's abilities. We all learn to shoot, fight, heal, take care of animals, use tractors, etc. Survival training. Survival is about being prepared.

Richard is our leader. He is the highest ranking and most experienced. He supervises everything and distributes the tasks. He is the most knowledgeable about everything. He is respected and listened to by all. He is obeyed without flinching, including the doctor and the teacher who are civilians. Richard has always been a pedagogue and patiently teaches everything he can. Papinou's manual has become a kind of bible for our group. Everyone has their own role and they stick to it without worry. Everyone has a replacement in case of failure.

Mélia is often with the doctor or the teacher preparing the medical aspects. We store medicines and bandages. Mélia tries to grow different medicinal plants. The two men deepen her knowledge. She becomes a good nurse. The doctor even teaches her the basics of some surgical procedures, such as amputation, just in case. She also takes part in the care of animals or in domestic tasks such as cleaning or cooking. Her gentleness, patience, thoroughness and above all her kindness soothe us all. Everyone adores her and pampers her.

The pigsty has been converted into a "prison infirmary". Small independent rooms, but closed, with two comfortable beds per room. A beautiful washbasin with mirror and a small shower complete the room. Small decorative objects are scattered around to make the place more welcoming, along with a few books and a television. Hotel rooms, with large and beautiful windows with solid bars, are installed. You can see the light from outside, but you can't get out or in. To welcome future patients and check if they are infected without letting them escape and endangering us. Cameras to monitor the five rooms. No communication between them except through a microphone and loudspeakers. Entrance doors lockable from the inside or outside depending on where the danger comes from.

I hang out with Richard a lot. The whole group respects me and treats me like Richard's second in command, like General Farmer's little girl. They see me as a person with great strategic skills, but who still needs to learn diplomacy. With Richard's help and that of a few compatriots, we have finished securing the house. Bars were put on the windows. The big door has been armoured. The roof has been fitted with skylights for distant shooting and floodlights to illuminate the surroundings. The roofs of each building have solar panels to produce hot water and electricity.

Richard was inspired by and improved upon medieval fortifications. A wall over five metres high with no climbing holds was built to secure a large area of land, enough to feed fifteen people. It is a small fortified medieval village. At the top of the wall is a walkway with floodlights behind large gates. The surroundings can be seen in 360 degrees. You can only enter the path from the inside. On the ground, a deep ditch filled with water.

I know that carnivorous creatures swim in it, I don't know which ones. Richard and the biologist keep me on my toes. One time it's catfish. Another time, pike, snakes, leeches, piranhas, crocodiles. I've eliminated crocodiles and snakes since they could run away or attack the neighbours, which Richard would never allow. I'm leaning towards catfish or pike as they can be eaten. I'm not going to dive in to check. I expect the worst with their mischievous faces.

Food, water, equipment, weapons and medicine are stored. A petrol tanker and a water tanker are neatly stored. We also have several generators. The barn has also been improved. It houses the horses and their food. Two other connecting sections have been added to store stock and vehicles. Each section can be locked and sealed. So, if the farmhouse falls, you can take refuge in all three segments. If the barn falls, the horses can be evacuated.

A secure henhouse is also installed, mixing laying hens and geese. The other part of this building is the new home for pigs. A pond allows the animals within the farmhouse to quench their thirst and serves as a fish farm for carp and trout. A borehole is drilled in the middle of the inner courtyard, and another is used to irrigate the land adjacent to the farmhouse, drawing from two underground water tables that are protected from contamination.

Two large greenhouses are set up in the protected enclosure. They will allow us to produce vegetables and fruit all year round. With the vegetable gardens and the animals, we can last a long time in case of a siege. Just with what's inside the fortress. There are several orchards in the vicinity of the farmhouse, on land we own. A mini hydro dam is made on the nearby river that runs through our land. For the moment, the electricity produced is sent to the public grid. But a simple switch can send it to the farm.

A detailed map of the area has been put up on the wall of the large room. Strategic locations such as food shops, petrol stations, weapons wholesalers and water points are indicated. Weapons are stored in three different places in case of attacks. We have three CB radios. We all learn how to use them. One of the men shows us how to record and broadcast a message over the air. We locate the antennas and local radio stations.