Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen - An Abandoned Village

The village in which Nathan's home was located within had several large properties with large grounds, but it also had a few streets with smaller three bedroom homes and thatched roof cottages, mostly situated down a road just off of the main one through the village.Zombies were not numerous on the streets, in fact there were surprisingly few and those discovered were usually former animals, such as pet cats and pigeons.Such as the rooster.

The rooster shrieked loudly as the men happened to wander into its territory, flapping its featherless wings as it ran towards them, only for it's skinny neck to be removed from its rotting body with a sharp blade of air.

Tyler concluded that many of the zombies had probably left the village in search of living bodies, while those that remained were picked off by the vines that lie in deadly wait at several points in Nathan's garden."If we find zombies anywhere, it'll probably be inside properties."

"There is still those zombie cows," Harry reminded him, to which he agreed with a curt nod.None of them could forget that herd.They had heard the grunts and endless mooing sounds after the sun had descended a few nights ago.The herd had approached the village, but had moved on, it seemed as they had not heard anything from it for a while.

"Well, boys," Dexter said after they had mapped out the village."Where'd you wanna start?"

"The smaller properties will have less resources, but less zombies per household as well," Patrick mentioned, pointing down the street from where they were located.

"The bigger homes and mansions would likely have more stuff we can use," Tyler pointed out."And there were only five zombies in Nathan's house.Easily dealt with."

Dexter rubbed his stubbled chin in thought."I'm with Pat on this one," he decided."We can't be sure certain that one of those mansions doesn't have a whole slew of zombies lurking inside.Better start out small.There ain't many of us and I'd rather not risk it."Tyler reluctantly agreed, along with the others.

"Some of the properties are bound to be abandoned," Patrick added."We can start with those!"

In fact, the first property on the side road, a cottage rendered cream with a tiled roof, had been abandoned; the front door was shut, but not locked and the inside furnishings were coated in a layer of dust.There wasn't much to find in the kitchen either, as if the last occupant had grabbed some of the food from the cupboards just before they fled.All that remained were a couple of dented tins of fruit, haphazardly thrown at some point on the floor.There were some kitchen products, bleach and such like.But they were not exactly lacking in that department.They decided to throw it all in the truck anyway, Dexter and Harry having gone to grab it when they had decided upon their destination.Better to store it somewhere safe and close by than have to come find it again.

The second property contained zombies, Ren Zexian could feel their presence via his poison core, the squad did not even need to attempt their old methods of listening and peering through windows in order to check.So, as was their old practice, they sprayed an 'x' upon the door and moved on to the detached cottages next door.The property next to it had a large mutated plant in it's front garden.Not wanting to risk whatever type of plant it turned out to be, they gave this one a wide berth.

They made their way slowly down the street, finding a handful of properties like the first with scattered goods as if occupants had all cleverly thought first about their stomachs before leaving their homes and others containing zombies.In the fourth abandoned property, a semi-detached, brick built house, Paul noticed large paw prints within the layer of dust upon the dark lamenant flooring.

"A dog?" Harry asked.

"It'd be a pretty large dog," Patrick exclaimed.It's pads would form a paw the size of a large man's fist.

"Nathan claimed he heard a dog barking in the village last night," Ren Zexian mentioned, causing the men to glance amongst each other.

Dexter drew withdrew his gun."Keep an eye out, the mutt could be a zombie.And that will not be good."

With more caution, they approached the property next door, which Ren Zexian confirmed did not contain the walking dead of any type.The lock had to be picked; it seemed this owner had been more conscientious than others or... perhaps it was still occupied?

Noises from the kitchen seemed to confirm this as they heard objects being tossed onto the floor as well as the smash of glass.The men slowly made their way through the hall, but clearly, they were not as stealthy as they would have liked.A rumbling growl filled the inner room and a loud bark followed.Dexter leapt into action, pointing his gun into the kitchen as he confronted a very large, very angry looking black dog.The beast growled once more taking a defensive stance as it did and the men could not help but noticed that something was attached to its back.But before they could get a good look, the animal jumped towards the back door, dissipating into smoke as it did and seeping through the cracks!

The men were astounded!Harry unlocked the door with the key still within the keyhole and opened it to reveal a small courtyard garden, where the dog was running towards the fence to one side.Again as it leapt, it morphed into black smoke, easily assailing the fence."A child!" Harry exclaimed as he turned to his squad-mates, indicating that they should head to the front door once more."It had a child on its back!"

"What the fuck?" Dexter swore and followed the larger man, but they could only catch sight of the mutant dog fleeing towards the heart of the village.In almost tactic agreement, they jumped aboard the truck, Winston in the driver's seat as they made their way after the animal and thought to be child.But as they turned the corner onto the main road, they realised that they had lost sight of it altogether.Not only that, all the noise had attracted the herd, which had decided to wander back across the field in hunt.The men quickly retreated back to their new haven.

Their excursion couldn't be called a complete failure, but it hadn't been much of a success.Ren Zexian had not been able to find the items than Nathan had requested and he felt pained and apologetic for that.As the other men unloaded what little supplies they had discovered, Ren Zexian went to find Nathan in the garden.

However, instead he discovered a large, black dog and small child curled up and fast asleep upon the grass.