Whether or not it was still moving was another matter. I grabbed a towel from the kitchen and threw it down the stairs. Nothing happened, and I didn’t hear any movement. I then took a fork and threw it down, the metallic clatter ringing up as it hit the concrete floor. Nothing. I stepped down three steps and bent down to look under the wall. I shined my flashlight around and didn’t see anything so I went down the stairs quickly, bringing up my carbine and scanning the area quickly. The basement was cluttered, but nothing was moving. I looked around and saw a shape in the corner. Looking closely, I saw the decomposing body of a dog. I shook my head. They probably thought he would get out on his own. Instead he died waiting for his masters to return.

I felt bad as I went up the stairs, wondering how many pets met their end that way. We had seen them in many homes, and I felt bad about all of them. They didn’t understand why they were abandoned, they just waited to die.

I went back up and met with Mark, who told me the upstairs bedrooms were clear. We went outside and checked the rest of the complex, not finding anything untoward. I let Mark kill a zombie wandering the street. He moved in quickly, brushed aside the outstretched arms, and planted the crowbar in the back of its head. It went down without a sound, and he gave it another whack just to be sure. I knew we couldn’t knock them unconscious, as some people claimed, but it never hurt to double check.

We decided to check out a recreation center before heading back to the school. We had secured a good piece of the area, and were going to wrap it up with the center.

I approached the glass front doors and tested one. It was open, surprisingly, and we stepped inside. Skylights lit the dim interior, and we could see the first floor clearly; the offices and back rooms looked empty. A sign read ‘Courts’ and pointed down a big flight of stairs. Mark and I approached and listened for activity. We heard nothing and stepped down the rubberized stairs into the darkness of the basement. The skylights’ illumination could only reach so far, and it got darker the deeper we went. I flicked on my flashlight and Mark did the same. At the bottom of the stairs we went right and checked the offices and bathrooms. We could see signs of activity but nothing looked recent.