Time: 5:21PM
The road was broken here. Not by unnatural means, but by tree roots and a small sinkhole that had formed from years of neglect. Cady slowed her steps and gave the area a wide berth, pulling out a small, battered notebook and pen to briefly sketch the area and take note of the highway sign that still stood, though twisted slightly, on the side of the road.
26 It read. She marked it down and slipped the items back into the side pocket of her backpack.
She'd passed a town sign about half a mile back stating she was now in Graysville, Ohio. Population 110.
"Bullshit." She'd snorted slightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Maybe a decade or three ago it had been something like that. Small, peaceful town where they likely had town meetings, neighborhood watches, and all of those other trite things no one had given much thought about.
Until they were gone. Hadn't there been an old song that warned people about making sure they knew what they had before it wasn't there anymore? Yeah, she was almost sure.
The girl moved back into the brush along the side of the road and kept going. She knew not to go strolling down any street like she owned the place. Even though the Shield City south of Columbus was a couple of days travel in a direction mostly opposite from where she was heading, it wouldn't be wise to spend too long out in the open. Who knew what was out in this area and she didn't much want to run into unwanted company while she was alone.
Well, anytime, really.
She walked by the remnants of a fire, touching the ashes, and looking it over carefully. No signs of a struggle or a quick leave, but the ashes of the coals were cold to the core, and a small bit of meat left by it was all but destroyed by maggots. A week or more since someone used this fire. Just then, the slight sound of fast-approaching something was caught, a sound of breath. Her blue eyes scanned the grass and she crouched a moment, only to have a familiar shape break the nearest grassline. Oss tilted his somewhat squarish head and glanced her way. She returned to her normal posture, a tiny bit embarassed. But over-reacting to a situation and erring on the side of caution had saved both her and the dog's skin on more than one occasion.
She gestured for him to follow her, and the big dog obeyed, giving her about a ten to twelve foot head start as he sniffed out the camp behind her. They would be fine for another hour or so, then the late spring sun would fall to the treeline, and by then she needed to figure out where was home tonight. She'd yet to see a house, but had seen a few burned out shells of them. Not good enough. At night, a door, any door was better than nothing. A way to close things off, a wall to put her back against.
Needs had gotten much, much simpler in the past couple of years on the run. She had her pack, stocked full but of things she couldn't always find and needed. A rifle was strapped to her back, seldom used, but you wouldn't know by how well the old thing was kept. Her sneakers were not ideal footwear, but were mostly new, relatively speaking. Simple.
Cady continued on, aware of Oss at her back at a slight distance. It was good to keep him there. In a way it gave her a little break on checking things where he was. She could focus on picking out the path ahead and finding them a decent shelter while he brought up the rear guard. Worked for food, didn't talk back overly much, and for the most part never let her down. Better than most of the humans she'd ever teamed with.
After a few more minutes of walking, she saw some buildings that looked for the most part intact off the road further to the right than she was. It was the right direction, so she turned on her heel and moved from the relative non-safety of near the road to the heavy brush oddly safer, if only marginally. She moved slowly. The world outside the walled cities was nearly uninhabited by comparison, but that didn't mean it was empty and it didn't mean the buildings were either.
Lucky it seemed once she got close enough no one moved outside the buildings. There were four, three smaller sheds and a main looking house. She picked out a shed. They were about seven foot by seven by her guess, more than adequate for the night if need be. Oss had caught up by then and looked in the doorway at her briefly, but started sniffing around, then marked a bush a few feet away. She smirked a bit, knowing that meant he approved of the spot as a stopping spot for the night and wanted to let any animals and such in the area that it was his, and therefore hers. Cady set her pack down, storing it inside a crevice of the shed and rubbed the back of her neck a moment. She couldn't rest though. It was time to check out the house. She had to be sure it was empty too. Armed with her rifle on her back and her knife, the girl headed to the house, noticing two others down a rough looking dirt road out front. it looked like the road led off further, and had once been paved though not well.
She found an open window at ground level in the back and went inside the house, giving it a brief, but thourough inspection while Oss waited outside. Clear. Both floors, and it looked like the house had been ransacked, but not destroyed outright. Good. Nothing to really obtain here though, but at least it meant it wasn't terribly desireable to others. Cady left it like it was, and on the way out she did notice a can of some sort of ravioli crap in an open cupboard. Missed likely because it had rolled to the side. She'd almost missed it too, almost.
She palmed the can and went outside. She noticed a shell of an old car across the little road, but by now the light was starting to turn golden and the shadows grow. That would have to wait for tomorrow. She didn't want to risk losing track of time when she had so little left before dark. The downtown couldn't be more than another ten minutes walk if this place was small enough for only a hundred people or so to live in it. Tomorrow she'd see if there was a pharmacy, or a grocery store there too, and shore up her supplies.
Setting the can into the shed, she called Oss over to her and offered him some of the jerky she'd held in her pocket. While he snacked, she pulled a pair of small snare wires from her bag and set them up about a hundred feet away from where she was planning to rest. With the dog around, it had to be at least that far or she'd be setting them for nothing.
Once that was settled, she started working quietly to move a few things here and there. It was a way to give her some protection if an attack came from the road or the highway back behind her, and places to shoot from. Oss growled low and she paused, while he sniffed out one area, but whatever had been there maybe hadn't been much of a concern, so his fur went back from on edge and he relaxed to trot back over to her and sniff around the shed.
Cady sighed and rubbed her forehead. Damn, she was tired. Last night, the only shelter she'd found was in a copse of trees and she hadn't slept a wink. Mosquitoes were awful, even with the repellant she'd made.
Tonight, she'd have a roof over her head and hopefully a little bit of peace and quiet. She was feeling optimistic, but the reality of the situation was, if she got more than a couple of hours it would be a miracle.
She opted for no fire. It was warm enough, and as much as it might keep bugs and animals away, it might spook her rabbit quarry or worse, alert people or other things to her presence here. She pulled a thin blanket out of her pack and a small box of crackers and her water bottle, making the last of her preparations. The less noise they made here the better. Cady would just have to wait and see what night would bring here.