Straight through the head of a zombie dog, Charlie couldn't have gotten a luckier escape. Life threatened at the muzzle of a dog no longer itself. She took a brief moment to catch her breath before she shoved the zombie dog off her and to the side, leaving herself on the ground for a moment.
"Nice one Charles," Leon said. Charles. A little joke nickname he had for Charlie.
"Thanks Leo," she replied. She took her knife out of the head of the zombie dog, wiping away the blood against her trousers. Leon offered a hand to her and helped her up once she took it. Back on her own two feet. Looking around, there was nothing else in view that could harm them in the moment. That zombie dog seemed to be the last threat in the area.
Whatever caused this outbreak, Leon and Charlie knew they had their work cut out for them. So much for an easy start for the police force.
"We're going to need," she said, "A day off after all this shit is dealt with."
"If it gets dealt with," Leon replied, "And watch your language."
"Never," she responded, chuckling a little. That chuckle. That damn chuckle. The one that drew Leon to her when they did their training for the police force. Every time he heard her chuckle, his heart would flutter.
Just seeing her lighten up, despite the serious situation, made him smitten. But couldn't say anything. It would be unprofessional, especially as a rookie. Or at least he viewed it as unprofessional.
The bark of another zombie dog caused their heads to snap in the direction. One bark. Two barks. Soon to become too many barks to count. What seemed to be a pack of zombie dogs were running towards them. Too many take on by themselves, even with the guns they had on hand and in the open.
"Quick, run," Leon said. Without hesitation, Charlie sprinted in the opposite direction, Leon running right beside her.
"We need to get to a safe place," he said, "That way, we can kill these things but also keep ourselves safe." All this was meant to be was a simple job. A single, simple job. But, here they were, in the midst of something horrific. Past buildings and houses, the two of them ran and ran. One open door was all it took for them to run inside, Charlie being the one to slam the door shut and shoved the first thing in front of it.
She backed away from the door and shoved her knife back into the satchel, quick to pull out her hand gun. The barks grew louder and louder as the zombie dogs approached the building, only a bang at the door confirming the zombie dogs were outside the building. Leon, repeating what Charlie had done, got his hand gun out of his holster, slowly backing away from the door.
On the other hand, Charlie stood her ground. She stayed in the same spot.
"What are you doing?" he asked, "You'll be killed if you stayed there."
"The risk I'm willing to take," she said, "That's what you do as an officer."
"Well, I'll remain behind you," he replied, "Quite literally." He stopped a few feet away from her, occasionally glancing over at her just to make sure she was doing ok. Not once did she jump at the bang of the door, yet it was hard to tell what she was internally feeling.
With one final bang, the zombie dogs broke through the barricaded door and straight for the door.
Out of reflect, they began to shoot, aiming for between the eyes. Those damn dogs didn't go down easy. Each and individual one of them, out of the possible ten that was there, didn't give up a fight. It took a hell of a lot to get rid of one.
By the time some of the zombie dogs were getting too close, Charlie switched back to her knife and placed her hand gun back into its holster. With the closest zombie dog, she stabbed her sharp object through the chest. The dog struggled for a moment and tried to snap at her arm, but became limp before it could do so.
Charlie repeated the same action with multiple other zombie dogs, Leon still there, shooting to keep them at a safe distance for her to stab. One after the other, the final zombie dog was put out of its misery with the knife through its head.
"Fucking finally," she said, as she took the knife out. The carbon steel blade of the knife was covered in dark red blood of the multiple zombie dogs she killed. She placed her hands on her knees as she took the opportunity to catch her breath. Leon, staying where he was, watched her carefully.
As concern as he was for her, he let her catch breath in peace. Now wasn't the time to bombard her with questions. Silence fell between them.
"Are you ok, Leo?" Charlie asked, after a few minutes. She looked over at him, seriousness in her eyes. Now wasn't the time to joke.
"Yeah, I'm ok," he answered, "The real question is, are you ok? You were in close combat with them."
"I'm fine, yeah," she said, "I'm sure we'll come into combat with worse things in the future." She straightened herself up, cleaned the blood off on her trousers and once again, put it in the satchel.
"I'm just going to check this place out," she continued, "Just to make sure we are truly safe."
"I'll come with you," Leon responded, a little too quickly.
"Thanks Leon," she said, "But I can handle a quick scope of the place. I'll call out to you if there is danger." She gently patted his shoulder as she walked past. Whenever she called him 'Leon', he knew that she was serious. Charlie walked further and further away into the building, losing sight of her rookie police partner as she walked up the stairs. While she was a rookie herself, she felt like she could handle a single scope out by herself.
Reaching the first floor, Charlie had a look around. Every corner, every possible hiding place, every room. Nothing. Nothing dangerous of any sort. Another stair case. Every step she took, the stairs creaked slightly underneath her. Second floor, from what she could tell so far, it looked almost identical to the first and ground floor, only with minor differences.
One step and she didn't even get to see the rest of the floor. Her mouth and nose was covered with a cloth and every breath she took, a weird smell took over her nose. Her screams were muffled by the same cloth. Being a few floors up, she doubted Leon would be able to hear her muffled screams.
Every breath in from a muffled scream, the more faint she felt. Only a matter of time before she fell into unconsciousness.
Leon, on the other hand on the ground floor, looked around the ground floor, not aware of what was happening two floors above. He trusted Charlie to do fine on her own with the floors above. So, he roamed around the ground floor, looking at some of the more hidden parts and finding some items he thought would be helpful.
Anything useful was instantly put into his pockets. A mental note was made to tell Charlie whenever she came back from the upper floors. He looked over at the numerous dead zombie dogs at the front door. It was surprising how many zombie dogs had come running after them. If that many zombie dogs came after them, how many more are there have they not encountered yet?
Not wanting to think of how many dogs have succumbed to the t-virus, Leon walked over to the set of stairs, but didn't walk up them.
"Charles, are you ok up there?" he called out, hoping he was loud enough for her to hear. No answer. Not a single word.
"Charles?" he called out again. Once again, no answer.
"Charlie," he said, as he began rapid ascend up the first set of stairs. Leon, in a rush, looked around the room. No sign of Charlie, not in the obvious places, not even the potential small places she could fit in. Not on that floor. Up to the next floor. Same thing, couldn't find her in the obvious places or in places where she could fit.
"Charlie!" he yelled. No matter how much he called out or looked, he couldn't find Charlie. Rapid breathing took over and panic ran over his mind. She was nowhere to be found. His own rookie police partner, gone. Gone in thin air. How was he going to tell other members of the police force?
His vision went in and out blackness as panic set in fully, backing up into the wall and sliding down it until he sat on the floor. As soon as he sat down on the floor, his vision went completely black.
Opening his eyes, Leon found himself in the back seat of a police car. Nightmare. The same nightmare he had over the past six years. The day Charlie went missing without a trace. And all because he didn't insist on going with her to the upper levels of the floor.
"You're finally awake. About time. You seemed to be asleep for a while." Leon looked down at his watch. An hour. He had been asleep for an hour. Not responding, he placed his elbow on the window sill and leaned his hand against his fist.
"What were you dreaming about?" one officer asked, "You seemed to be stressing about something." All Leon did was glare at the officer. He was never ready to speak of the situation that happened and the nightmares that were caused by it.