Induction

I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut and the wind knocked out of me. I wrapped both arms around her protectively. “Excuse me? Did I just hear you right? Did you just threaten to get rid of my dog?”

“Like I said to Alicia. Bites are a death sentence. I will protect myself, and you, from that at all costs. If that means making the hard choices, then yes; the dog will go in order to keep you alive. Now let’s go. One. Two. Three.”

Jake’s momentum spurred me into action, and I hauled ass across the street and to the fence. In our one and only lucky moment of the day, we found the gate unlocked and the backyard blissfully empty. We slipped in and closed the latch quietly behind us. I put Daphne down on the grass as we inspected the yard. She immediately began sniffing the lawn and peed once she found a sweet spot.

I watched her dart across the yard finding what would be the home for her little brown package and was rewarded with the cute little dance she did before dropping her bombs. She circled an area, honed in on a location, then spun in circles before making her deposit. I marked the area in my head for future note so as not to step in it. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice… well, you know how it goes. The simple act of watching the dog take a shit grounded me with a semblance of normalcy. She spent a few seconds kicking dirt onto her new pile and I covered my mouth to avoid an escaping giggle.

The shades were drawn on the windows facing the yard. We examined them for signs of movement before we crept to the back door. Vertical blinds covered both glass panels of the slider. They were opened just enough for us to see into the empty living room. After a few minutes of detecting no activity, Jake tried the door. Locked. We had locked ourselves out a time or two before, and Jake had some experience with getting through our back door.

He lifted the handle and the locking slide lifted out of the catch enough that it made the lock ineffective. Holding the door up, he silently slid it open about six inches, then waited. When no sound escaped the house, he inched the door open just wide enough for us to fit through. Pulling back the blinds, we peered in at the empty house. It was eerily quiet and it took me a second to figure out why. The electricity was off. There were no sounds of the air conditioning running or the buzz of a refrigerator.

The last remnants of air conditioning lingered in the air; the power must have gone out recently. Lit by only the dark sky filtering through the shades, the corners and doorways remained murky and ominous. My mind reeled with thoughts of monsters waiting in the shadows. Jake hefted the crowbar in a defensive hold and we entered a house that was laid out similar to ours. From our entry point we could see into the breakfast nook and straight through to the kitchen and laundry room beyond. To our right was the living room. Sparsely furnished with a single sofa and a television leaning precariously on an old end table near the wall. Daphne weaved between our legs and Jake stumbled over her, causing him to reach out for the back of a kitchen chair to avoid falling. I grimaced as the chair skidded loudly in the quiet home, and Jake looked up at me with anger.

We stood frozen waiting for something to come at us, but there was nothing. I exhaled in relief, but the look Jake had given me made me nervous about the argument that would surely follow. Systematically—room by room—we cleared the house like we were a pair of commandos. Jake’s time in the Army was coming in handy. We were alone in the house. The adrenaline I had been running on all day wore off now that we were safe, and I slumped down on the sofa. My tank was on empty and my body ached all over from my exertions in the car. Jake sat down next to me, body rigid. We were soaked to the skin from rain.

“This is as safe as it’s going to get. I looked out the blinds; we’re not alone. They haven’t noticed us yet, but we can’t get too comfortable. We need to search the house for food, weapons, and dry clothes.”

My body protested as I forced myself to stand. I opened the refrigerator in hopes of finding it stocked with goodies, and the still cold appliance cemented my theory on the recent power failure. I was rewarded with a gallon of milk four days past its use by date, a package of bologna, bottled water, and a jar of fancy mustard. This house definitely belonged to a man. I found a loaf of bread on the counter and made us some bologna mustard sandwiches while Jake went on the hunt for clothes. Our selection of drinks were limited to water and, well, water. I grabbed a bottle for each of us and put the remaining four bottles on the counter for later.