New Orleans - February 28th, 2022

6 days, 5 hours, and 45 minutes had passes since the moment a strange force wiped out the majority of Earth's human inhabitants. Equipped with a brand new platinum Rolex wristwatch, which Dom took from one of the stores, he felt that time might be now the only thing of true value left. Even the 20,000$ Rolex itself wasn't worth much now, even though it was something Dom wanted to own ever since he was a kid. But time...time was everything. Luckily, the batteries remained unaffected, and since the stores were full of them, there was no worries that they couldn't keep their watches ticking, and thus losing track of time. In the case of days, however, Dom cared to carry along a diary, where he put the notes for every single day that he spent still breathing on this God's forsaken land. He was very meticulous about it, which was something that no one would really expect from him.

Dom was just sitting on the rooftop of a medium sized two-story mall, enjoying his sixth cigarette in a row, when he spotted a moving figure on a street not too far away. He immediately grabbed his newly owned binoculars in order to get a clearer picture on the strange newcomer. Staring through the lens he managed to distinguish a man accompanied by two dogs, who seemed to be headed exactly toward his mall. Yes, his mall. He was the first one there, and he claimed it by spraying a beware, danger! symbol all over the entrance door. He might appeared a bit nuts, but since the day of his arrival he already managed to make friends with a few people, who stumbled upon his 'fortress'. One of those guys was Rory, who turned out to be quite an eater. That could indeed be a problem, since the food had to be used sparingly, but Dom liked him nontheless, and was glad to keep him around.

The man with two dogs by its side was now getting closer to the front of a mall, and by the looks on his face, he didn't quite understand the point of a skull and crossed bones all over the entrance gates. ''Oy!'' Dom screamed at him from the top of the roof. ''Don't go any further. Identify yourself!''

Josh was in trouble. He knew when he took it out of the freezer the meat wouldn't last long, so he forced himself and his dogs to eat as much as they could stomach before it rotted. Two days ago it had. Since then all he had to eat was granola bar and a handful of trailmix. He still had some dog food and a rather large rat Lucy had caught, but he was burning a lot of energy lugging around the K9 suit in his rucksack. He needed food and a place to stay. Of course he saw the warning signs in front of the mall, but typically people who set those up were all bark and no bite just trying to scare timid city folk of their land. Both Lucy's and Bishops hackles rose as a man on the roof shouted down at them. It was that guy from the police station! He seemed better of then Josh. "Josh Parker, a hungry and lost guy with two extra mouths to feed! Why don't you let me in so we can get acquainted?" Josh shouted back up.

Nevermind.

Dom looked down on him warily. Usually, seeing a member of a police force would send him running, but this were no ordinary circumstances. The guy seemed genuinly desperate, and in need of a more human company, which wasn't at all strange. Dom didn't recognize his face, although it could be very well possible, that Josh had once had something to do with one of his many arrests. Anyway, it would be insensitive to send him away, just because they were once on a opposite side of the law. But Dom still needed to be careful.

''Alright, we can talk. But you will leave your dogs outside for the moment, will ya?'' he shouted back, knowing that these dogs could be quite dangerous if their owner would want them to be. He then moved away from the roof fence, and through the door that led back inside the mall. It took him a while to get to the entrance gate, since he had to first descend to the ground floor, and then continue his way to the front. Since the main door could only open with electricity on, Dom strode toward the emergency exit to the side, which could be locked with the good old key. After unlocking, he opened the door widely, and beckoned Josh to come in.

Even before the purge Josh hated leaving his dogs alone in the open. Though both were very well trained and loyal to each other and him. "Bishop Lucy stay!" He said sternly. As a show of good faith Josh deliberately took out his rifle and and pulled out the magazine. Just because the power was out and everyone was gone didn't mean manners should too. Still the stranger didn't need to know about the bullet in the chamber, manners or no Josh wasn't stupid.

As if he was approaching a hound not used to him he entered the mall.

Once inside he smiled, overreaching his hand he said "Josh. Yourself?"

Rory arrived at the mall earlier that day. He pleaded his case and this man in the mall, Dom, heard him out. His first impression was that he had a decent sized group, when he let Rory in he saw that he was wrong. Rory spent most of the day exploring the mall, he never was one to go shopping at the mall The only store he had ever been in was the fitness store which was once a long while ago.

As he was familiarizing himself with the mall he saw Dom coming down some stairs and headed towards the same entrance at which he arrived. With a light jog Rory caught up to Dom at the door where he was greeting someone. Rory wasn't much of a people person and decided to keep quiet for the moment and stand behind dom. Standing 6'4 and weighing in the vacinity of 250 Rory looked like Dom's security. Which could be a good thing. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We would have to work together in order to survive