Disclaimer: I just own the idea of this story, nothing else!
Chapter 3: Doubt
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Souta and Chouko stared at him in disbelief. That couldn't be right, they heard that they CDC building was a mini fortress!
Souta was the first to break out of his stupor. "What? How did it go up in to flames!? We were told that it was a safe haven!"
Dale winced at the boy. "We though it was too, but the remaining guy there informed us that the building was set to explode after a certain time to keep all the viruses being help there from getting out into the world." He explained.
"Tch, 'lotta good that did us. Pretty damn sure we are in this whole mess because some ass got careless and let this zombie virus out into the world."
All three turned towards Greg who was leaning against a truck by them. Souta and Chouko nodded agreeing with him.
Dale wasn't so sure though.
"I don't think that is the case to be honest."
Greg raised an eyebrow at him and stared at him with his baby blue eye's. After a moment he ran a hand through his shaggy mane of hair and sighed, turning his back to them. "Keep thinkin' that old man." He said over his shoulder before he walked back over towards Kagome who was putting new gauze on T-Dog's wound.
Watching the man go, Dale decided that it was best he didn't argue with him. He was probably right anyway.
He didn't know what to think about this group. While he was grateful that they were helping T-Dog, he couldn't help but be a little nervous. It wouldn't take much for them to overpower him and even less to overpower T-Dog and ransack all their belongings for themselves. He wasn't so worried about Kagome, Souta or Chouko, they didn't seem to have a mean bone in their body. Wade and Greg on the other hand... He wasn't so trustful of them. More so with Wade, he reminded him of Shane too much. Oh, and then there was that monster of a dog with them.
Then again, it could all be from stress. They weren't living in the same world they were in four months ago after all.
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After Kagome finished dressing T-Dog's wound (The poor guy was still passed out), she went to place her hand on his forehead, but stopped half way. She heard a gun shot.
Looking to Wade and Greg she saw them both looking out towards the woods, Both had their guns out. Remy had his hackles raised and was staring out in to the woods too. "You guys heard it too?"
Both men nodded.
Wade backed up to where she was and whispered to her. "Can you tell if anything is out there?"
Shaking her head she pulled out her bow and notched an arrow. "No, it was too far away. The shot could attract walkers though. Since I can't really sense them well yet, it would be best if we were on our guard."
Nodding his head once, Wade looked over to see Dale, Souta, and Chouko walking up to them.
"What did you guy's hear?"
Kagome was the one to answer them. "A gun shot. It was far off though, I barely heard it."
Souta and Chouko gasped and immediately got their own weapons out and started looking around cautiously. Souta stood beside Kagome.
Wade looked at Dale out of the corner of his eye. "Dale, are their more in you're group?" After seeing the older man wince slightly, Wade narrowed his eye's at him. "Well?"
"In total there is 11 of us. Most of our group is looking for a little girl that got scared by a hoard of walkers that came through and ran off. There are six males, three women, and two children."
"You are relieving this information really easily."
Making eye contact with the sniper, Dale shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I know when I am out gunned, I am also more willing than others in my group to try and get a long with people. Even those who are not apart of ours. Besides, you all have been more than helpful and kind to my friend and I."
"Repay kindness with kindness?"
Nodding at the younger male, Dale remembered something. "Which reminds me, you didn't happen to see a girl while driving did you? She is about 13 years old and has short dirty blond hair."
Kagome shook her head and smiled sadly at him. "We didn't, I'm sorry."
Dale smiled back at her. "It's alright. I'm sure the rest of my group will find her soon."
Everyone stopped what they were doing when Remy started growling. He was looking down in the direction Kagome's group had originally come from. From around the corner a lone walker was walking down the road.
It lifted its head up and caught sight of the small group and quickened its pace slightly. It groaned and had a small piece of flesh hanging from it's mouth.
"It's spotted us." Dale said and aimed his rifle at it. Before he pulled the trigger though, a small hand was placed on the barrel of his gun. Looking at the petite woman Dale gave her a questioning look.
"It was probably attracted by the shot from earlier. Let me handle it, would be much quieter." Kagome explained and held up her bow for him to see.
Lowering his gun, Dale nodded to the young Asian woman. "You're right."
Smiling at him, Kagome re-notched her arrow and aimed at the walker. It was only forty yards or so away from them now. After a moment, Kagome let her arrow fly and it hit the walker in the middle of it's head. It immediately stumbled and fell backwards to the ground with one last groan.
"Bulls eye!"
Dale stared at the body. She was as good as Daryl it seemed, if not better.
"Good shot as always Darlin'!"
"Thanks!"
Wade walked up to her and smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Good job." He looked down at Remy who was at Kagome's feet and pointed to the body. "Check!"
Remy wagged his tail once and ran towards the downed walker. After walking around the body and sniffing it for a few moments he ran back to Wade and Kagome and sat down by their feet looking up at them.
"Good boy!" Kagome cooed and scratched him behind his ears. Souta and Chouko came over and petted him too.
Remy barked once and wagged his at the attention.
Turning his gaze from Kagome, Dale looked at Wade. "Why did you send the dog over there? She hit it in it's head."
Shrugging his shoulders Wade put his pistol away. "Its best to have him check to make sure the walker is down for good. Sometimes they try to get back up, if they do. Remy will finish the job. He has been trained to take down dangerous men. Alive and undead. You are looking at one of the most expensive and dangerous animals the national guard can get and train." He explained.
Dale looked at him with his mouth wide open. "Are you serious? I thought the dogs they trained weren't taught to kill."
Greg was the one to answer. "Maybe a police dog, they are trained to hold down, distract a target, or search for drugs. Military dogs are taught that and much more. It made them a prime target for terrorists. A dog like Remy can think on his own with out commands from Wade if he was out of ear shot. Your looking at an animal that cost the military about sixty thousand dollars."
"He cost the military sixty thousand dollars!?" Dale nearly yelled and pointed at the animal of discussion. "Thats insane!"
"Well believe it. There are probably not many dogs on the planet now like him. Many of them were sent out with their handlers when the infection started getting bad." Wade explained. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was happy to still have Remy with him. The dog had saved all their hides several times over the course of the last few months.
Dale looked at the dog in a new light. "I suppose you are right."
Souta looked at Dale sadly. "We had other dogs like him with us at the start. There was four more of them. We had Remy, two other German Shepherds and two Belgian Malinois. Three of them were lost within the first few weeks, and the last one. A German Shepherd named Buck died trying to protect Kagome and I from a hoard of walkers last month. We owe our lives to them."
Dale looked back and forth between the siblings, then to Wade and Greg who seemed to be avoided looking at everyone else. "Almost like they feel regret with what happened." Looking back at the siblings Dale sighed. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"We have all suffered, It is not your fault."
Kagome stood up and was about to go check on T-Dog when she stopped suddenly and looked back towards the woods.
Souta looked up at her and felt Remy tense up. "Uh, Sis, is there something out there?" Him and Chouko stood up and stood on either side of her.
Nodding Kagome looked at Dale who was giving her a questioning look. "You said eleven were in your group, right?" At his nod she looked at Greg and Wade who were staring at her. "A small group is heading this way."
Walking to edge of the road, Dale looked hard into the woods. "How can you tell? I don't hear anything."
"Call it a hunch."
"Can you tell how many there are?"
"Um, I'll say at least four. Do you think you're group split up?"
Dale shook his head. "It is highly unlikely unless something serious happened."
"It might be the people who fired that shot earlier." Souta chipped in.
Greg and Wade both nodded. "Its likely, we should be out of site in case they are unfriendlies." Wade said while pulling out a dog military vest from the back of the Rav4 and put it on Remy.
"Well now, let us make ourselves scarce, eh? Can ya climb on top of that RV you guys got?" Greg asked and walked to where T-Dog was leaning against the RV. "We need to get this dead weight out of sight too."
"Yeah, there is a ladder on the back you can use to climb up." Dale said while helping Greg get T-Dog inside the RV.
Kagome, Souta, and Chouko hid behind the Rav4 with Remy. Wade was laying on top of the RV and had his sniper rifle out. Dale and Greg were in the RV and looking out the window's.
They didn't expect what they saw next...
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And chapter 3 is done! This one was longer than I expected it to be!
Anyway, this chapter was partly dedicated to a retired Police Dog I use to own, His name was Buck. And he died after a battle with cancer and being hit by a car when I was about 5 years old. He died around this time of the year.
Anything said about Police and Military dogs in this chapter is pretty true. My facts might be a little stretched but for the most part it's right.
Please review!
