Daphne woofed her displeasure at still being smushed and Jake reprimanded her. “You need to keep her quiet. Her barking is like ringing a dinner bell, and we’re the main course.” I pressed my lips into the fur behind her ears and began whispering to her. She liked that for some reason; it relaxed her. Of course, I followed it up with kisses so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why she enjoyed it.
The neighborhood became more active as we stood there wasting time. If we didn’t move fast, we would have some unwanted company in minutes. Jake took my free hand and pulled me through the nearest lawn. “We need to find a different street,” he said. “One where the natives don’t already know we’re here.”
We crept behind the row of houses and into a new subdivision. The rain continued to come down in torrents. The area on the street looked untouched by debris though. With our backs to the wall of a nearby house, we poked our head around the corner to check for any undead, and simultaneously scanned for potential places to hide for the night.
One house in particular stood out as a possibility. Unlike neighboring houses, this one had no cars in the driveway. Since there was no garage, we didn’t have to worry about one hidden away. A weeks’ worth of newspapers were piled at the front door and the mailbox, its broken door hanging limp, was filled with mail. A six-foot privacy fence bordered the backyard, gate intact.
“I don’t think we’re going to find anything better. We need to move before we’re noticed. On three, we’ll run to the back gate. Stay low and stay quiet. Ready?”
I nodded my head and prepared to run.
Daphne started to growl again and Jake whipped around. “You need to shut her up. This is the last time I’m going to tell you. Noise equals death. If you can’t keep her quiet, then you can’t keep her.”
I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut and the wind knocked out of me. I wrapped both arms around her protectively. “Excuse me? Did I just hear you right? Did you just threaten to get rid of my dog?”
“Like I said to Alicia. Bites are a death sentence. I will protect myself, and you, from that at all costs. If that means making the hard choices, then yes; the dog will go in order to keep you alive. Now let’s go. One. Two. Three.”
Jake’s momentum spurred me into action, and I hauled ass across the street and to the fence. In our one and only lucky moment of the day, we found the gate unlocked and the backyard blissfully empty. We slipped in and closed the latch quietly behind us. I put Daphne down on the grass as we inspected the yard. She immediately began sniffing the lawn and peed once she found a sweet spot.
I watched her dart across the yard finding what would be the home for her little brown package and was rewarded with the cute little dance she did before dropping her bombs. She circled an area, honed in on a location, then spun in circles before making her deposit. I marked the area in my head for future note so as not to step in it. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice… well, you know how it goes. The simple act of watching the dog take a shit grounded me with a semblance of normalcy. She spent a few seconds kicking dirt onto her new pile and I covered my mouth to avoid an escaping giggle.
The shades were drawn on the windows facing the yard. We examined them for signs of movement before we crept to the back door. Vertical blinds covered both glass panels of the slider. They were opened just enough for us to see into the empty living room. After a few minutes of detecting no activity, Jake tried the door. Locked. We had locked ourselves out a time or two before, and Jake had some experience with getting through our back door.
He lifted the handle and the locking slide lifted out of the catch enough that it made the lock ineffective. Holding the door up, he silently slid it open about six inches, then waited. When no sound escaped the house, he inched the door open just wide enough for us to fit through. Pulling back the blinds, we peered in at the empty house. It was eerily quiet and it took me a second to figure out why. The electricity was off. There were no sounds of the air conditioning running or the buzz of a refrigerator.
The last remnants of air conditioning lingered in the air; the power must have gone out recently. Lit by only the dark sky filtering through the shades, the corners and doorways remained murky and ominous. My mind reeled with thoughts of monsters waiting in the shadows. Jake hefted the crowbar in a defensive hold and we entered a house that was laid out similar to ours. From our entry point we could see into the breakfast nook and straight through to the kitchen and laundry room beyond. To our right was the living room. Sparsely furnished with a single sofa and a television leaning precariously on an old end table near the wall. Daphne weaved between our legs and Jake stumbled over her, causing him to reach out for the back of a kitchen chair to avoid falling. I grimaced as the chair skidded loudly in the quiet home, and Jake looked up at me with anger.
We stood frozen waiting for something to come at us, but there was nothing. I exhaled in relief, but the look Jake had given me made me nervous about the argument that would surely follow. Systematically—room by room—we cleared the house like we were a pair of commandos. Jake’s time in the Army was coming in handy. We were alone in the house. The adrenaline I had been running on all day wore off now that we were safe, and I slumped down on the sofa. My tank was on empty and my body ached all over from my exertions in the car. Jake sat down next to me, body rigid. We were soaked to the skin from rain.
“This is as safe as it’s going to get. I looked out the blinds; we’re not alone. They haven’t noticed us yet, but we can’t get too comfortable. We need to search the house for food, weapons, and dry clothes.”
My body protested as I forced myself to stand. I opened the refrigerator in hopes of finding it stocked with goodies, and the still cold appliance cemented my theory on the recent power failure. I was rewarded with a gallon of milk four days past its use by date, a package of bologna, bottled water, and a jar of fancy mustard. This house definitely belonged to a man. I found a loaf of bread on the counter and made us some bologna mustard sandwiches while Jake went on the hunt for clothes. Our selection of drinks were limited to water and, well, water. I grabbed a bottle for each of us and put the remaining four bottles on the counter for later.
He came out of the bedroom draped in a tee shirt, at least four sizes too big, and a pair of baggy sweatpants. I smiled at the image and he smirked back at me. “You think this is bad? Wait until you try to find something in your size.” My smile faded as I looked down at my petite frame. At a slender one-twenty, Jake dwarfed me.
I peeled off my wet clothes and hung them over the shower rod to dry. Ever try to wiggle out of wet skinny jeans? It’s not an easy task, I assure you. Winded from the mini workout the jeans provided, I began rooting through the closet in the master bedroom. Jake wasn’t kidding; the smallest shirt I found was a four-X. The fact that it went down past my knees at least meant that I didn’t have to look for pants. The Nine Inch Nails logo was its only saving grace.
Jake was stuffing the last of his bologna sandwich in his mouth when I came out. Mustard stained the corners of his mouth and a dollop had fallen onto his new digs. I rummaged through the cabinets for bowls and filled one with water for Daphne. I set down the water, and began feeding her pieces of bologna, which she gobbled up greedily.
The sun had gone down and the lack of natural light made it impossible to see. I used the flashlight feature on my phone and rifled through the kitchen drawers in hopes of finding a candle. Coming up empty, I moved into the second bedroom and discovered a closet occupied by a freestanding toolbox. I was so happy; I nearly kissed the box. I found one of those industrial flashlights and turned off my phone light to save battery. “Jake, look what I found,” I whispered.