One-year ellipse.

The farm gradually becomes a day-care center for surviving children. We take in orphans found by the survivor exfiltration teams, and adults are tolerated if they are parents, relatives of the children or hand-picked teachers. The farm is a special kind of school. A huge amusement park. Even adults come here for short stays to rediscover their childlike souls. We serve as a model for the social reintegration of children worldwide.

It took several months before the kids asked us for a paintball field, but they finally went back to their childhood games. They are gradually overcoming this double war and forgetting the images of zombies and fighting. We're getting them back into school and providing them with courses adapted to their age, character and weaknesses. Gradually, they return to a normal or even higher level of schooling.

The youngest children, those under eight before the war, made the most spectacular progress. In less than a year, most of them had swallowed an astronomical amount of knowledge, as if they'd missed school. Mélia thinks that circumstances have made them realize the importance of knowledge. Fleur believes that having a superheroine in their class (i.e. our group of girlfriends) encourages them to listen more. Personally, I think that our rather special school, which adapts to each child and above all has time for each of them, allows them to blossom without stress.

It's obvious that we won't be able to keep so many children and teenagers with us for long. After a period of readjustment, we'll have to let them go and return to a more conventional, less caring system. Professor Noguerra is setting up a kind of large-scale tutoring system. Adult volunteers take in orphaned children in stable, secure environments. A few teenagers test the project and come back from time to time to give us their feedback.

Eventually, we'll keep only the youngest or most traumatized. The young pregnant woman I rescued has teamed up with the electrician from the initial group of boys. They took two young boys with them, two brothers, who got on wonderfully with the man and were attentive to the baby. This is the first "host family" in our tutoring program, and the two boys behave normally - they just get into a lot of mischief.

The bacterium has been virtually eradicated from the face of the earth. Uninfected humans were able to avoid further contamination. The remaining animals found shelter. Food became scarce for the bacterium, especially when humans trapped and burned it on a global scale. As a result, small healthy islands grew up and joined together. Eventually, large, safe, healthy areas protected humans and their animals. Humans maintained the sanitary state. They prevented re-contamination. They gradually pushed back the infected. Humans surrounded and isolated the infected without food. Leaving the bacteria to die a slow death, or a fiery one.

Infected or suspected areas remain. Humans have been rescued, along with as many healthy domestic and wild animals as possible. We are keeping a very close eye on the danger zones. These are large expanses of land that cannot be used by man. Old deserts. New ones too, for lack of human beings. The borders with these zones are carefully controlled. Huge buffer zones border them. As soon as one of the zones sees an increase in trapping, this triggers increased surveillance until the situation returns to normal, and interventions to reduce the number of people affected. For the time being, the numbers are actually falling.

Experts believe that the bacterium will be extinct within five years. We have stopped rat killing to prevent selection and mutation of the bacterium. Trapping and observations are carried out regularly to better understand this bacterium. Above all, scientists are making sure that the bacterium is not evolving or adapting. They are also trying to understand where it comes from and who created it. It is not natural, at least according to them. It didn't appear in the forest at my ex-high school as I thought.

Military archives have been released. On localized cases in several countries. Cases apparently under control. Infected or supposedly infected rats escaped from private laboratories. In each case, the animal was found and slaughtered before infecting another living creature. The cases date back five years to the first attack I suffered. They are thousands of kilometers apart. Scientists are trying to understand why one of these rats could have arrived in the forest and contaminated humans.

It took them several months to find out. Genetic analysis of the first humans revealed their identity. One of the five zombies who attacked me in the forest was a former employee of one of the laboratories, fired for lack of professionalism. The other four humanoids were his wife and children. He had been bitten before he was fired and didn't report it. He lived in the infested building. He contaminated his family and neighbors.

Our government didn't know about the bacteria before this attack. It didn't think the threat was as serious at first. They were wrong. The damage was done. The country was contaminated. So were other countries. By the time they realized the threat, it was too late. The bacterium had spread all over the planet, via those pesky rats that bit migratory birds. The birds were eaten by other rat bastards. The laboratories had no means of control other than slaughter. The number of contaminated living beings was too great.

The bacteria were genetically modified to be resistant to conventional disinfectants and antibiotics. The laboratories wanted to test the bacteria's defense mechanisms in order to create a new disinfectant/antibiotic, to combat the resistance that was increasingly appearing in hospitals. Fortunately for us, they had left the low resistance to temperature and UV rays to facilitate the cleaning of their laboratories. They were unaware of the effect of rat poison and the high energy requirements. This ignorance saved us in the end. The scientists and leaders who created this monster all died under the bombs.

Most of the people who survived had peaceful intentions. We all ally ourselves when a group shows hostile intentions. Worldwide cooperation begins. Richard and his manual, and the whole original survivalist troupe, are hailed as global heroes. Mélia and I are the only two left. We're inundated with invitations, political proposals and marriage proposals. Mathilde helps us to keep our heads above water, and to stay on the farm with our children.

At last count, there were around one hundred million human survivors. Animal populations have also been decimated. Large mammalian predators have disappeared. A few cats, dogs and foxes survived. Large herbivores also left the land. Small and medium-sized deer, roe deer and especially rabbits are still alive.

Horses, cows and other livestock have been protected by humans. Small mammals, except rats, are reappearing and swarming. The good news is the eradication of those pesky rats. Reptiles, small birds, insects and marine animals are the only ones not to have suffered too many losses. Humans are busy assessing available resources and restoring infrastructure. We're banding together to make reconstruction easier.

Sarah and Fleur are still a couple. Their bond has grown stronger with the misfortunes and they're as close as ever. They are thinking of adopting one or two little girls. Naya and Damien finally got back together. They both needed time to digest the actions they had to take to survive and protect their friends, time to get to know each other again and to love each other differently, but just as much as before.

Thibaut and Lilou are trying to see if they're compatible. They're equally shy, and we've forced the issue a little so that they dare to declare their attraction to each other. They've just moved in together in Town, not too far from the farmhouse. Thibaut is one of our teachers, along with his father. Blaise is flirting with Mélia. My little darling is playing hard to get, just to get her dose of compliments. I know she'll fall for him. She's always had a soft spot for him and appreciates his hyper-tactility and cuddliness. What's more, they get on wonderfully with each other's sisters.

As for me, .... You're not going to believe this. Try to guess who I end up with.... I'm with Clarissa. She's so sweet and wonderful when you get to know her. I was surprised when I learned to live with her. Little by little, our silent guerrilla war calmed down. Clarissa finally understood what I'd done. She forgave me. I did the same. Slowly, we tamed each other. We discovered each other and gradually came to appreciate and love each other. I'm truly happy with her.

NONNNNN, I'm kidding. Clarissa got involved with someone else and moved away from the group. She moved to a faraway town and we cut ties. She needed a change of scenery, the vision of our group constantly reminding her of the death of her best friend. She still hasn't forgiven me and I don't think she ever will. I can understand her pain. I've used my connections to help her create a new life, serene and peaceful, hours away from us. She sometimes writes to Naya, a letter every two months or so, telling us about her daily life and asking for news. Her partner is a nice guy.

How are my love affairs going? Well, I'm with a girl who has the same sweet, peaceful character as me. Laëtitia. The one who put a gun to my head the day I met her. I'm crazy about her. We're always at each other's throats. Two old grumpy girls. We have tons in common. She's got Damien's nasty temper, Blaise's cuddly, tactile side, Thibaut's pedagogical side when she's not bitching and, above all, Naya's bouncy, muscular buttocks. She's one of the gang and a mother to the children we take in.

As for Katia, I watch her like milk on the fire. She tests boys and girls, much to my dismay. Alex hangs around her, but he's still afraid of me and I think he's too old. Mélia calls me a mother hen. I'm thinking of recreating the convents and locking Katia in. But knowing her, she'll know how to sneak out. Yes, she will. I survived the zombies, but I don't know if I could survive a teenager in crisis.