Chapter 7 teaser

"So what's that now?" He quickly bent forward, and swatted at the handle of the shovel hanging off my load-bearing vest. "That so you can dig a hole and hide in it when the zombies come?" His lunge toward me to touch the shovel nearly met a reflexive knee to the jaw, but I caught myself in time. Wait, why did I stop myself? I made a mental note to try not to catch myself next time. "It's not for digging. It makes puzzles." Chris scoffed, "What the hell does that mean? You talk in fucking puzzles, you don't make them." I unsnapped the shovel from its hanging sheath, and gripped it in my hand. "It's not that complicated. See this tree branch?" He looked at the branch as I pulled the shovel back, and chopped cleanly through a narrow section. "Now it's a puzzle. If you put it back together it'll be a branch, and if you make another move at me like that, I'll make you a puzzle." I pulled the shovel back again for effect, and Chris took a step back...