After spending a good thirty minutes sitting on the edge of the road, wallowing in sefl-pity and cursing like a sailor while picking the little stones out of the wounds on her hands and then, pulling out the first-aid-kit to rub them with ointment- they were still bleeding some so washing them out would be wrong and a waste of water-, and proceeded to bandage them thinly, not wanting to waste too many of the supplies she was sure she'd need someday, most likely soon and then, with painful grunts and burning in her eyes, put on a pair of latex-gloves overneath. As she had noticed earlier you never knew when some creature would splatter you with something disgusting and obviously infectous. With yet another sigh she got up, glancing at her watch to evaluate how much time she ahd left until it got dark and she'd had to be somewhere safe, and then went back to tracking down the road in direction of the suburbs.
When the first few houses got into sight in the distance, Takiko stopped and stepped into the forest again. Walking around out in the open was a bad idea and though she had no way of knowing anything exact she was pretty sure the creatures would increase with the former population density. Meaning that the suburbs would still be alright but the city she imagined to be full of them. A scene from 'The Walking Dead' entered her head, the main character getting chased, on horseback, through the streets of Atlanta by a horde of zombies. The zombies looked really friendly compared to the real deal now. Maybe she should get herself a horse.
Forcing herself back to attention, she slowly walked through the woods, trying to avoid stepping on too many dry leaves or twigs as much as possible as she grabbed her gun, just in case and not too intent on using it since it was already hurting her wounds just holding onto it, shooting would be much worse. It was silent, the eerie kind that made you sweat in dreadful anticipation and your heart beat so loud you had to force yourself to calm down to hear anything else besides it. The latter part had taken her some time to learn. She walked past the first house, its windows and doors gaping open, chaos inside, from what she could see. Not safe. She went on.
About an hour into her search, she was getting farther into the suburbs. More houses were around, more of them looking fine, but there were more creatures around as well and she wasn't about to go pick a fight over a house when she could just go on some more and fight another place. Preferably on her side of hte street, so that she wouldn't have to run through an open area. She'd had plenty of action today, her throbbing hands didn't let her forget that and she was growing tired, her back and neck still aching from the night she had spent rolled up in the backseat of a car, not properly resting at all.
Two houses down and she stopped, staying in the bushes for some minutes, listening and watching out for creatures around, but nothing seemed to be close. The house had a wide veranda out back, door closed, windows all intact with the shutters closed. There was nothing dead lying around as far as Takiko could see. She slowly left the forest, creeping up the steps and to the door, frantically crinching at ever thought she made. She tried the handle and, to her relieve it opened. She was pretty much unable to pick locks, a skill that had become necessary now, but it seemed she just didn't have the skills for it.
Stepping inside, she closed the door behind her, which fell shut properly. It was a little weird that it was working so well and she almost expected some survivor to show every time she peeked into a room. But the house was empty, it seemed. Barely any light made it through the shutters into the rooms, which were bare. No pictures on the walls, barely any furniture. It seemed the reason this house was in such good condition was thanks to it not having been inhabitated when the infection had spread. No poeple, no creatures. It made sense. It also meant she wouldn't find anything here, but her backpack was still packed full, so she wouldn't let herself worry about that now.
After a thourough search of the rooms, she was pretty sure the house was empty. Only one room was left. She didn't like going down into the basement, never had ever since she was a child. She wasn't comfortable with the dark, the cold temperature and the knowledge of being underground in such a small room. Now that feeling had only grown worse, but if she wanted to stay for at least one night, she would have to check. With resignation, she searche for her torchlight and, after a slight hesitation, opened the door, illuminating the stairs and as much of the room as possible from her angle. Nothing rushed at her to kill her, so she took some careful, silent steps inside, freezing at the sight of a huge lump on the basements right side. She heard a low moaning, and upon listening closer, she also heard what seemed to be shallow breathing. Immediatly making her think of the noisily breathing creature from before. But nothing was moving. And the loudest thing around was probably her heart trying to break out of her ribcage.
After glancing behind her out of pure paranoia, she held up both the gun and the torch, on top of each other, the way she'd seen it done on TV, slowly stepping closer, not ready to give up on her safe house so easily. Maybe it was already dead and she'd just have to ignore it lying there. Another moan, deep and pained reached her ears, a sound she knew from the weeks she had to do an internship at a hospital, back when she had still studied medicine.
Upon closer inspection she realizedit wasn't only one creature, it seemed to be two of them, on top of each other. But how would they ever end up like that? One of their heads moved ever so slightly and Takiko turned the spot of light at it, scowling at how human the thind was looking. Especially compared to the gray-skinned other one lyng on top. A moan followed. Was it still alive? She put the gun back in her waistband, reaching for her knife, determined to end it's sorrow and have the place to herself. She kneeled down beside them, carefully poking the one on top, ready to strike should it move. Which it didn't. She shook it. Nothing but a moan from underneath and her eyes glanced at the other ones face. It was a mans face, completly human, but smeared with dirt and blood and sweat. She scowled. Had he been bitten? She'd have to take a look.
It was hard to roll the big, bulky creature off of him, literally dead weight. Ans she was not exactly a weakling. In the end she had to full out shove it away with all her weight and even that only did the trick. Huffing from the exertion, she turned to the human-looking one, poking it as well to see whether it would attack, now that it was free.
