A/N-
I am spoiling you with these updates! I have spent today proofreading and fact checking what I have already so thought now would be a good time to give you chapter four, Just to let you know you can expect a mysterious blonde haired person in the next chapter, for those of you eagerly awaiting Arizona, but what kind of shape will she be in. You remember me mentioning Seattle Grace on the news? how on earth did she escape that madness? I guess you will have to read and review to find out haha.
Had a job interview today, im feeing quite hopeful about it, while ive been off sick ive had alot of time to think about how toxic my workplace has gotten since the new manager started and on top of that this new manager has been a pain in the ass while i have been unwell which hasnt sat right with me so i had to get up out of my sickbed and put on my sunday best today and now im absolutely beat from it, so please cross your fingers for me!]
Thanks to those who are reviewing, I see some names I recognise from some of my other fics, its always nice to see people reviewing but its nice to see some old 'friends' too. Please if you can, take a moment to leave a review, i literally sit refreshing the page like a loser until one comes through!
Also if you havent read The Race yet, head over there and take a look, the author updated recently and is winding the story down to finish it and i trust that after 2 years of posting she is committed to finishing it. Golf isnt my cup of tea, but the way she writes it has me on board.
Thats it from me, take care and please enjoy this chapter (for those who have read my other fics will know from my AN's that Axel is in fact my pooch, he had to make an appearance somehow)
AL
xx
-oOo-
Day three started slowly as Callie went through her new morning routine of checking the house for infected before sitting down to eat breakfast. A bowl of fresh fruit from the fridge was on the menu today as Callie looked over the photos of the estate and marked where she had put the car walls yesterday on the printed-out maps. As she ate, she studied the maps quietly, there was about twenty houses in her section, then a second section of another twenty houses then a final third section which had around thirty-five houses.
She decided today she would do a drive through the three areas to look for infected on the streets before focussing on the houses in her area. It was a slow morning as she drove through the deserted streets, up and down cul-de-sacs, down dead ends and endless destruction surrounding her, the further she moved from her own house the worse the destruction got. Front doors busted open with bloody hand prints smeared across the surface.
The more destruction she saw the more the hairs on the back of her neck raised. It was eerie and worrying. She drove slowly and kept her eyes peeled for any more infected people to reappear. After driving around for about an hour and a half, she finally headed back towards home. She still had a couple of hours before lunch time and so she set to searching the houses around her own in hopes that she could feel comfortable and safe enough to sleep in her own bed tonight.
She started off with her neighbour's house, Callie lived in the second house in the street so decided to start at the corner and make her way down the road. The first house on her street was a breeze to clear as none of her neighbours were home but the door was unlocked and left ajar, she questioned whether the infected were cognitive enough to open an unlocked door which made her worry. She would have to remember to keep her doors locked when she wasn't in the house just in case. Like her own home, the corner house was a single story with four bedrooms. She checked each room vigilantly and saw no signs of distress or destruction, just the gaping wide front door, checking around the hall she found a key hook on the wall which housed two car keys which she assumed were for the vehicle that was in the garage.
She knew the neighbours to say 'hello' to but had no idea of what their names were. They had a larger car, a Hyundai Tucson if she remembered correctly, which was normally parked in the drive but was absent. The family also had two young children which were absent as well. She hoped that wherever the family had gone too that they had arrived and were safe and well. She locked the front door and pocketed the key before thinking about it and removing it, opening her own garage she grabbed a black sharpie pen and wrote the house number on the single keyring, so if she needed to gain entrance to the house she would know which key belonged to which house.
Whilst in the garage she grabbed a black day pack which she used for walking and threw the key in it before placing it on her back. She locked the garage once again and made her way to the house on the other side of her own and tried the front door to find it locked. She debated breaking the window to gain access but didn't want to make too much noise. Instead she knocked on the window, first quietly then a few moments later a little louder. She had the idea that if there was any infected loose inside the house they would hear the noise and come to investigate it, she waited five long moments but heard nothing. Rounding the house she entered the double gate which her neighbours used to drive their camper van in to store it at the side of the house.
Again the camper van was missing, but she had access to the back yard. She glanced around the yard with a shake of the head, it was scruffy looking but well maintained, obviously the family that lived here did not share her passion for outdoor spaces. She turned to exit the garden when a noise in the silent garden caught her attention. She spun around, hefting her axe up quickly ready to strike but there was nothing and no one there. She entered the garden further and upon turning the corner found a black and white dog cowering in a wooden kennel on the patio.
She inspected the house and found the patio doors to be shut with no sign of movement within the house. Callie crouched down and patted her leg softly in hopes to entice the dog out of its kennel but she could see it was trembling. She had two options, she could leave the dog with the gate open so it could escape, leaving it to fate to deal with, or she could approach the dog and try to befriend it. She chose the latter option after all she had been alone for almost forty-eight hours and a bit of company would be nice even if the company couldn't talk to her.
She stood up and approached the kennel slowly so not to spook the animal. When she was just a meter away from the kennel she crouched down again and smiled warmly towards the dog which she could now see was a border collie. She studied the sitting dog for a moment, watching as it whimpered and trembled in its wooden enclosure.
"Hey boy" she said in a calm voice and smiled as the dog's ears pricked up at the sound of her voice. "Come on out, its ok I promise I won't hurt you"
When the dog still didn't move, she decided the change tactic, she sat herself on the floor half turned away from the pooch and took a swig at the bottle of water she was carrying with her. She waited for fifteen long moments before the dog slowly approached her and nudged her elbow. With a triumphant smile she slowly lifted her arm and the dog snuggled into her side. She began to stroke it softly, again not wanting to spook the animal. As she reached its chest, she felt the cool metal of its name tag and tried to read the writing on it, but it was a phone number, she turned it over slowly and read the name out loud "Axel"
The dogs ears pricked up again at the sound of his name so Callie rubbed his head and told him he was a good boy. As she sat there in the silence, only the dogs panting could be heard, she studied the patio area and found its water bowl tipped over and bone dry. She raised to her feet and walked slowly towards the upturned bowl before pouring some of her water from the bottle into it. The dog quickly lapped up the moisture, the poor thing must have been thirsty as hell.
She spotted a hose pipe and moved towards it with the bowl in hand and filled it half full after placing it back on the ground. Axel lapped at the water hungrily until it was sated, he then sat and looked at Callie expectantly.
"Hungry boy?" Callie asked and the dogs tail wagged slightly underneath his butt.
Callie made her way to the patio doors and found them unlocked, she slid the door open and the dog rushed inside and towards a feeding station which held his food bowl and a huge plastic container which was filled with dog food. Callie opened the container to find a plastic scoop on top and filled it before depositing the food in the dog's bowl. The dog rushed to the food and wolfed it down, obviously starving.
As the dog ate, Callie inspected the house room by room. All rooms seemed normal apart from the master bedroom which was a mess with clothes strewn all over, obviously the family that lived here had left in a rush and had forgotten to take Axel with them. No worries, she would care for the dog now. The dog who scampered happily into the room behind her making her flinch and spin around with the axe in hand. The dog just watched her, almost with laughter in his eyes.
"Find that funny did you? Rule number one, no sneaking up on me" Callie scoffed at the dog who wagged its tail at the sound of her voice. She made her way into the hall and searched for a key hook on the wall but found none, she checked the garage too but nothing. As she walked back into the hall she noticed a bowl at the end of a table near the front door, thinking it wouldn't hurt to take two moments to check it she found a ring of several keys. She tried each one in the door until the fourth key slid into the locking mechanism and turned. Bingo.
She grabbed the sharpie and wrote the house number on the key which she had removed from the key ring. She tossed it and the pen into her backpack and moved towards the feeding station. She moved the heavy container of food onto the front porch then returned for the food and water bowl which she placed on top of the container. She would return for them later providing Axel didn't run off on her while she searched the rest of the houses on her street.
But Axel didn't run off, he followed her obediently as she searched the next four houses, finding only one more house unlocked. She checked both front and back doors. She knocked on both sides of the house to try and entice any infected into showing themselves but she, and Axel, seemed to be alone on the estate.
After checking her watch and finding that it was lunch time, she made her way home, Axel in tow, and made herself a sandwich finishing off the loaf of bread in the breadbin. Once her stomach was full, she gulped down a few glasses of water and refilled her bottle. She allowed the dog to have another drink then grabbed the print outs of the estate and carried them through to her office. She placed the maps on her light box and placed a large sheet of paper over them and traced around the houses that shone through. Labelling them up with house numbers she took a red sharpie and circled the ones she had checked, then from memory put a blue cross through the ones which had been locked.
For four days, Callie searched houses on the estate. Most houses were locked up tight with no movement inside. Three houses that had been unlocked had contained infected people which she had killed with her trusty axe, each time Axel had growled lowly as if sensing that an infected person was there. In the days that passed she was beginning to trust the dog and its senses. Instead of entering open houses now she would open the door and let Axel inside first, once he had sniffed around without growling, she would enter and complete her own search.
She had returned to Axel's house and had gotten more dog supplies on the first night, she now on her belt she carried a treat bag full of dog biscuits which she used to reward him for a job well done.