Along came Reid

1. In a World

It was a longshot, but the effort was worth it. Jamie Fischer excitedly raided the pantry of an abandoned Chinese restaurant, ignoring the putrid smells of rotting food from the sealed freezer across the room.

Some of the items looked highly questionable, but Jamie chalked that up to being unfamiliar with the cultural groceries. Her dog Barron, eagerly shoved his salivating snout into her knapsack as she carefully stacked the small boxes and jars within it.

"Easy boy." Jamie grinned, scratching the soft fur between his ever alert ears; glancing at his wispy tail that wagged so enthusiastically that his hindquarters bounced side to side in his excitement. Barron gave a barely audible whine of joy and Jamie rewarded him with some kind of dark jellied egg. For all the dogs she could have had, Jamie was grateful Barron was the one. The german shepherd-esque mutt was extremely intelligent, knowing just how to alert her without making more than a breathy woof. An attribute that was highly prized considering the shopping plaza was crawling with the corpse like deaders.

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded in the parking lot and Jamie swore sharply under her breath. Barron's tail wagging ceased instantly as his ears swiveled in the direction of the lot, his body going rigid. Apparently she hadn't been the only one lurking around the abandoned shopping plaza despite its deserted appearance. Barron nudged her arm with his snout before pressing his side against hers acting as a barrier between her and the swinging doors on the far side of the room.

"Alright buddy. Let's get out of here." Jamie nodded as she stuffed a few dingy rags between the jars to keep them from clinking. Deaders possessed extremely sensitive hearing, and Jamie didn't doubt that the sucker who fired the gun would be dead within the hour. She just had to make sure that neither she nor Barron suffered from that idiot's mistake. Picking up her trusty hacksaw, Jamie carefully swung her pack over her shoulder and pointed towards the door.

Barron quietly padded in front of her, his ears swiveling as they made their way towards the kitchen exit. Jamie followed, partially hunched over, using the tall metal counters as cover. Just as she was about to push against the door, Barron gave a whisper like bark and pressed his torso against her leg. Jamie immediately dropped to a crouch, putting a hand on his back. Leaning her ear towards the door, Jamie could make out the faint shuffle of feet, followed by low unintelligible groans and the stench of putrid flesh.

Jamie put her sleeve to her nose, and Barron quietly snorted a few times, both trying to keep the awful stench from abusing their senses. From the small gap under the doors, several shadows passed as they made their way to the parking lot to the gun happy dead man. Jamie owned a gun, but anyone with a brain knew that guns while lethal, would ultimately do more harm than good when fighting deaders. It was her resolve to only use her weapon as a last resort or for a mercy killing for either her or Barron.

With a twist of her wrist Jamie checked her electronic wristwatch, it was 4pm; several hours before sundown. Jamie grimaced and glanced to the floor, hoping the flood of shadows would end. The last place she wanted was to be stuck in was a stuffy kitchen with no protection at night when the deaders came 'alive'. Preparing for the worst, Jamie quickly surveyed her surroundings.

The freezer had a secure door, but spending a night with rotting food didn't seem the least bit appealing. There was the pantry, which at least was partially blocked off by an extended wall, but there wasn't a door on it. While it would at least provide visual cover, it'd be no good if a deader got curious and peeked around the corner. If that happened she'd be a goner.

Jamie cursed whatever architect designed this place and it's lack of a fire exit. She was sure this establishment violated some type of fire code. A nudge against her palm disrupted her emergency planning and Jamie glanced down to look at Barron who softly scraped the door with his paw.  The sea of shadows were gone leaving only a clear thin line of light.