The Beginning of the end.

"Smells good," Audie commented as she came into the room, combing her fingers through her hair, with Buster trotting behind her. "Mind if I join you?" She helped herself to coffee then settled at the table as the cat explored the room. "Kendal still isn't feeling too good, but I think it's probably just a normal bout of flu. So, what's on the agenda for today?"

Rachel smiled seeing Audie come into the kitchen. She took a few more bites of her food then answered.

"I plan on going back to the neighbor's house and since there is better light, bury them and then see what they have in stock. Have to make certain to see what supplies we can acquire. I had thought of taking a horse over there to conserve fuel. Do you know how to ride a horse?"

"Yeah, it's been a while, but I had a horse when I was in high school." Audie poured herself some coffee then grabbed a muffin and some bacon. "I'd be happy to go with you...I don't mind handling the bodies." She shrugged, knowing that most people got the heebie-jeebies around dead people, but for her it was part of her job...maybe not to this degree, but still, it didn't bother her. "And I'm with you that they should have a proper burial."

She had a feeling that by the time this was over there would be plenty of folks who never would have a chance at burial, and it was important to keep this bit of civilization...

Rachel nodded towards Audie in agreement. When breakfast was over and the kitchen put to rights, Rachel commented, "Well, time to get the horses saddled up and get on our way."

It didn't take much time to get the horses saddled, Rachel took along a couple of weapons handing one to Audie. With some extra ammo they were on their way. For the time being it was partially sunny, clouds moving overhead. Rachel felt that another storm could be on its way, judging from the dark grey clouds on the horizon. Rachel took the lead, going in the direction of the neighbor's home going cross country while the horses carefully picked their way through the fields. Several areas of the fences were open to allow passage through and then the barn of the neighbors could be seen. Rachel turned around in her saddle to check on Audie to see if she were alright, giving her a smile. As they drew near, they heard the calls of the animals wanting to be fed.

"First things first feeding the animals then we can get the people buried." urging her horse forward onto the thin gravel road , the crunching sound of the stones beneath the horses hooves. The horses breath made a small cloud in front of them from their warmth of them exhaling. Rachel reached out and patted the flank of the mouunt she was on. Rachel swung down from the saddle and opened up the barn door for them to take the horses inside. She took the reins of her horse leading her inside, placing the horse into an empty stall.

There were a few whinnies, as the other horses that were there, greeted the arrivals.There were three there and in good health. Rachel began the chores in feeding the animals in the barn taking a tally. Two milk cows, three horses. Three goats and a couple of sheep. The barn itself was fairly well stocked it looked like they had prepared for atleast several months. Rachel climbed up into the hayloft and looked out to get at a birds eye view on things. There was a silo, a garage detached from the farmhouse. A chicken coop and what looked like a pig pen. Besides that being out back, Rachel called to Audie,

"I see three tanks out in back, I wonder what they contain."

Then she sent down some hay to feed the animals, then climbed down to the floor below.

Audie settled in quickly to riding, it was something she remembered well...she'd been planning at some point to get a horse again, but, of course, circumstances changed that. And it was really an odd feeling, to have the exhilaration of riding during this sort of strife.

Once at the barn, she put the animal in a stall, then helped with the feeding, but when Rachael asked about the tanks, she moved over beside the other woman and frowned. "Dunno. Depends on what they look like...I mean, are there placards, relief valves? Could mean some sort of flammable materials..let's go look!" The critters were happily munching away at this point, so they were done with that task.

Rachel nodded towards Audie and led the way to where the tanks were at. Inpite of the animals eating like things were normal, there was a certain deathly calm about the property. The crunch of the snow beneath her feet sounded a bit loud to Rachel's ears and she felt somewhat uneasy.

There wasn't anything waiting in surprise for the two women as they neared the three tanks. The first two tanks were clearly marked as flammable substance, one propane and the other gasoline. The final tank was drinkable water. Each having the capacity of a thousand gallons of each substance, the fuel tanks though were half way full

"Well, that will be handy at least for the short term of things" Rachel noted. "Unfortunately, it won't keep my car fueled or Anne's unless we have our car converted to diesel. Hopefully your vehicle can operate on diesel fuel. We'll have to see what sort of vehicle they have here, I may have to upgrade to using it, if it is a diesel engine. The farm equipment probably uses diesel like what my dad had at home."

Giving a bit of a sigh thinking of her dad, Rachel wondered how he was doing. She pushed her worry to the back of her mind and looked at Audie,

"Guess the next step would be getting the people here buried then go from there. If this place is anything like what my dad's place is like, there could be a tractor with a bulldozer attachment."

"Well, that will be handy at least for the short term of things" Rachel noted. "Unfortunately, it won't keep my car fueled or Anne's unless we have our car converted to diesel. Hopefully your vehicle can operate on diesel fuel. We'll have to see what sort of vehicle they have here, I may have to upgrade to using it, if it is a diesel engine. The farm equipment probably uses diesel like what my dad had at home."

Audie frowned. "Nope, mine's standard gas. We'll find a use for the diesel..." In fact, she had a good idea.

Giving a bit of a sigh thinking of her dad, Rachel wondered how he was doing. She pushed her worry to the back of her mind and looked at Audie, "Guess the next step would be getting the people here buried then go from there. If this place is anything like what my dad's place is like, there could be a tractor with a bulldozer attachment."

Audie nodded, then replied, "I hope you can drive one, because I've never even tried!" She grinned, hoping to lighten the mood a little, despite the grimness. Then she added, "If we can get to a town, well,ambulances run on diesel..." If they could get hold of one, it could prove a valuable asset.

"So, if you want to dig the hole, I can get the bodies ready."

"An ambulance, you know that sounds like a good thing to look into getting." Rachel said thoughtfully.

She headed into the house where the keys were kept, something she had found the night before when checking on the place, taking the set of keys which unlocked the seperate garage and what looked like to be tractor keys she smiled at Audie.

"Okay, I do know how to use the tractor, I'll dig the grave while you get the bodies ready.Then we'll get them put in the ground and cover them with a blanket of earth. Then, we could do one or two things. Stay here and check the supplies or we make a run into town and see if we can find an ambulance to acquire. We will have to definitely take weapons, I don't know how messed up things are out there but I'm planning on for the worse."

Audie nodded. "All right. Might be best to check things out here, then go into town after dark." If they were going to be sneaking around, the cover of darkness would help.

Taking a breath, she headed for the house, steeling herself for her grim task. Normally in her job, she didn't deal with bodies -- that was the coroner's job -- but she had seen them, handled them enough to determine that they were not viable, and she knew that she could separate herself clinically.

Donning gloves that she had brought for the purpose, she located the linen closet and gathered a bundle of sheets. It was nearly an hour later that she had the bodies wrapped and dragged out to the front porch.

For a moment, she stepped away, taking deep breaths, then sat to wait for Rachael.

Rachel had the grave dug, her lips in a grim line as she did so. This was an echo of what she had done with her father, days earlier. Her task finished, Rachel stopped to hitch the small flatbed trailer that was used to haul bales of hay or other things upon it. Driving the tractor to the front Rachel pulled the tractor to where the bodies could be placed upon it.

"Okay lets get this done." Rachel commented before she assisted in pulling the bodies upon the trailer. Once they were loaded up, Rachel started the tractor up and was on the way to where the bodies would be buried. That task taken care of, a few words said over them and then covered in dirt.

Rachel looked at the mass grave for a moment of silence, offering up a prayer of rest for the family and also thanking them too. She looked over to Audie,

"Lets take a break and get something to eat, happily the electricity is still on and the things in the fridge are still cold." leading the way into the kitchen. "And I could go for something warm to drink, how about you?"

((OOC: If you'd like to breeze through lunch in your post be my guest ))

Audie nodded at Rachel's suggestion, pausing just a moment more by the graveside before turning back to the house.

Lunch was eaten mostly in silence, both girls lost in their own thoughts. Neither ate much, and the meal was over quickly.

"So," Audie said as she gathered the dishes up and started to wash them, "what now? Find what we can and pack it up so we can come by later and get it?" It would take the better part of the afternoon to go over the place and by then they'd have to feed the animals again. "Might be easier to take the animals back, too, if there's room for them."

Rachel picked up the dish towel and dried the dishes that were washed, She was silent as she did so, thinking of the room that Paul had on his place. Audie did have a good idea about getting things packed up to take with them to Paul's Ranch as for the animals.

"There isn't room for all of them there, yet. We're going to have to get an area ready for the animals. I seem to recall an old barn further out on Paul's property that I think could be utilized. I am going to look at it once more to see how good of condition it is in. And its not too far from the hotsprings. Probably would be warmer than here." looking out the window into the backyard and beyond.

The dishes put away, Rachel led the way to the different parts of the house. There was an upstairs the ground level and a basement. Connected to the basement was a small root cellar which had potatoes, carrots, onions as well as an oak barrel filled with water and apples.

There was a small storage room that had food on shelves, canned goods, dry goods and storage casks of water.Even wheat in sealed containers. There were some containers of beans, as well as rice. There were also foods bottled up in glass jars of various sorts.

The laundry room was in the basement as well. Near what appeared to be a crafting area there was a rather large medical kit.

Not to go into too much more detail, there appeared to be things that would be useful back at Pauls Ranch.

There was one other thing that made Rachel frown, she had noticed a rather large food dish, which indicated that these people had a dog or two living here.The food bowl was empty, and the same for the water. The bag of food for the dogs was locked up tight in kitchen pantry.

"Audie, we may have to be extra careful, it looks like there used to be a couple of dogs here, they must have gone out to forage for food or eaten by coyotes."

"Great," Audie mumbled dryly. She wasn't particularly fond of dogs, especially ones who might see them as intruders and want to eat them! "Hopefully they won't come home while we're still here. Guess we should leave some food and water."

Sighing, she looked around, then glanced at Rachael. "This sucks," she muttered, although, of course, there was no reason to. "So...there's a lot of stuff here...might be easiest to leave it and use the place for storage, but then, someone else could come along and take it." She shrugged. "Guess we could put stuff in the cellar, that would be the easiest to secure. Someone could still get in, but they might at least be deterred..."

Rachel nodded in agreement with Audie, "Just too many useful things here to be able to move all of it to Paul's. I think, if we close down the storm shutters making things secure,it would be alright-" before she continued, Rachel dashed over to the window and looked out something having caught her eye.

"Um, Audie, I think we're going to have to deal with the family pet sooner than what we wanted. And he doesn't look so good."

Motioning for Audie to come to the window, she pointed at the staggering growling, whimpering large breed dog coming towards the house, with foam upon his muzzle. He was heading for the kitchen door which had a door for him to come through.Fortunately there was a bolt which allowed it to be made secure.

"If we want the animals to be safe we're going to have to put him down." Rachel said.

The dog let out a howl which made Rachel's blood turn cold.

She sprinted for the door and quickly locked the door down to keep him from coming in, hearing the snarls of the dog at the door.

Audie moved over beside Rachael to look out the window, then frowned and shook her head. "Looks rabid," she commented, voicing what she was sure Rachael was thinking, "and you're right, we can't let it get to the animals."

Taking a breath, she glanced at Rachael. "I'm a fair shot, but can't guarantee that I'd hit it on the first try. What about you? We could both try at the same time, double our chances..."

Rachel listened to the snarling and snapping of the rabid dog, then nodded.

"I strongly agree with you. It would be better for both of us to hit at the same time. Lets go out the front and around to the back, we'll have to time this just right. Be warned he may come after either of us. "

Rachel checked her shotgun, it was fully loaded, when Audie was ready, Rachel led the way out the front and towards the back where the animal was.

The dog was still growling, whining and pawing at the closed dog door, he caught wind of the two women who came around, and turned to face them, then charged...

"I strongly agree with you. It would be better for both of us to hit at the same time. Lets go out the front and around to the back, we'll have to time this just right. Be warned he may come after either of us. "

"Right." Audie nodded, taking a few breaths to calm her nerves. Then she grinned. "I saw To Kill a Mockingbird!"

Rachel checked her shotgun, it was fully loaded, when Audie was ready, Rachel led the way out the front and towards the back where the animal was.

The dog was still growling, whining and pawing at the closed dog door, he caught wind of the two women who came around, and turned to face them, then charged..

Focusing on the task at hand, Audie raised her pistol and took aim, squeezing the trigger smoothly six times, until the cylinder was empty.

Rachel grinned in return, at the comment of the movie. She had seen the movie, the play and had read the book.

Her shotgun roared out both her shots and Audie's hitting the dog, he dropped to the ground gave the final twitch and was still.

Rachel gave a sigh of relief, looked towards Audie. "I think that's that. Going to have to burn the body, then we'll get out of here and go into town." she felt shaky, the adrenaline ebbing away, and a whiteline was around her lips.

Rachel reloaded her shotgun and then walked over to get some gas and burn the body of the dog. The deed done, the smoke from the funeral pyre for the family pet dying away, Rachel looked at Audie.

"I think we're ready to go and see about getting something useful in town. Lets get the horses back to Paul's ranch. And we can take either your car or mine, whichever would be best."

(OOC: If you want to get us down the road towards town, I don't mind if you do. )

Rachel gave a sigh of relief, looked towards Audie. "I think that's that. Going to have to burn the body, then we'll get out of here and go into town." she felt shaky, the adrenaline ebbing away, and a white line was around her lips.

Audie let out a breath, then nodded. She hated having to kill an animal, but there was no choice in the matter. "Yeah, that sounds good." Smiling, she lowered the gun and holstered it. "Man, don't want to do that again any time soon."

Rachel reloaded her shotgun and then walked over to get some gas and burn the body of the dog. The deed done, the smoke from the funeral pyre for the family pet dying away, Rachel looked at Audie. "I think we're ready to go and see about getting something useful in town. Lets get the horses back to Paul's ranch. And we can take either your car or mine, whichever would be best."

"Yeah, yeah." Audie nodded, then headed for the horses. The ride back to town was silent as they each kept to their thoughts, and there was little conversation as they put the animals up and explained to the others where they were headed.

Once on the road in Rachel's truck, Audie finally spoke. "Do you know your way around at all?" she asked. "Or if you have a cell so we can find out where the local ambulance stations are. Hopefully, we'll be able to get into them. Seems like it's a...it was a nice enough area that they don't take extra security measures." She hoped!

Rachel moved her hand underneath the seat of the truck, pulling out her road atlas.

"Sometimes there's not any cellphone signal" she commented, "and my dad always told me to rely on the good ole ways of navigating with a map." chuckling.

"I've got the route colored in though. Best to know the way in case of an emergency." She drove a bit longer in silence,then spoke, "Just to let you know, this is the first time I've had the chance to explore the town, what with all that's happened."

Her eyes were drawn to what the town looked like currently. Cars that looked abandoned,on the way here they had passed by the remains of a diesal truck which seemed to have collided with another vehicle.

"I just don't know what we're going to find, but smaller towns don't seem to have the same security like the bigger cities. I've been to my grandparents hometown, it wasn't too large but large enough to have a moderate sized hospital. So Navigator which way should we be going?" in the section of the atlas there were addresses printed of important areas including the hospital.

"I've got the route colored in though. Best to know the way in case of an emergency." She drove a bit longer in silence,then spoke, "Just to let you know, this is the first time I've had the chance to explore the town, what with all that's happened."

"That's not a problem." Audie's eyes flickered between the map and the road. "I read maps at work all the time...well, I did, anyway. Looks like we're on the right path."

Her eyes were drawn to what the town looked like currently. Cars that looked abandoned,on the way here they had passed by the remains of a diesel truck which seemed to have collided with another vehicle.

"I just don't know what we're going to find, but smaller towns don't seem to have the same security like the bigger cities. I've been to my grandparents hometown, it wasn't too large but large enough to have a moderate sized hospital. So Navigator which way should we be going?" in the section of the atlas there were addresses printed of important areas including the hospital.

"Ummm...turn left here." She nodded, then shrugged. "With any luck, I have a trick up my sleeve...the hospital should be just up this hill."

Rachel nodded, turning the truck in that direction. When they reached the hospital, the parking lot looked rather eerie.Cars were there, doors opened but no one inside. Several pieces of paper tumbled by,blown by the cold wind.

The lights in the parking lot flickered dimly, Rachel could see tents set up, much like the one at the hospital where her sister and family died. The flap to the tents fluttered in the wind. It certainly didn't look like there was anyone around.

Rachel decided to drive by slowly, to see if anyone could be spotted. She thought she caught signs of movement, but wasn't certain. Her heart was certainly pounding, and thought it was so loud that Audie might be hearing it.

"I thought I saw something moving in there." Rachel remarked. moving the truck away from the tent and closer to the nearby building.

Rachel stopped the truck, placing it into park. Turning to look at Audie, "want to investigate or just get the ambulance and supplies that we can find?"

Audie shook her head, then sighed. "Guess we should check it out...I mean, if there is someone alive there, we might be able to help." Probably not, but her conscience wouldn't let her turn her back on someone who might need help.

Rachel nodded, "I agree, just wanted to get your opinion on that first." she shut off the engine of the truck, the rumbling dying off to where there was only silence inside the cab and the sound of the wind outside. She first checked to see if her pistol was fully loaded and the safety off then placed it back inside the hidden holster.

Rachel unlocked the doors, then opened up her side and slid out. She was very grateful for the lined clothing she was wearing, feeling still the bite of the wind. She shivered slightly, turned and closed the door gently but firmly, after she pulled out the shotgun. She made certain to shut the lights off, didn't want the battery to drain.

Rachel felt the comforting embrace of her beltpouch about her waist and the weight of the flashlight inside her left pocket. Once she saw that Audie was ready, Rachel quietly went toward the tents that had been used as a makeshift emergency room. She mentally braced herself, not knowing what she and Audie would find. Rachel stopped to pull out her flashlight, tucking the shotgun under her arm. Once it was retrieved she looked at Audie, giving her the nod, for her to open up the flap.

There was the sound of movment inside, as if something large had been knocked over. Rachel cast a glance over towards Audie. "On the count of three..."

Heart racing, Audie gripped her pistol, trying not to be too tense, but she wasn't having much success. Still, she managed to keep her nerves under control as she moved along with Rachael. The noise inside startled her, and she glanced at her companion, taking a breath before slipping inside.

There was nothing there, living, at least, that was immediately evident, but there was no doubt there was something. Moving to the opposite side of the room from Rachael, she started a methodical search, opening portable cabinets and looking under sheets. There were bodies, of course, but she was accustomed to death and was able to look past that.

As she lifted a sheet that was draped over a body on a gurney, she gasped as something suddenly bolted out, pushing past her. She stumbled back, leveling the pistol but catching herself from shooting as she realized that there was no threat...it was a child, and she was headed for the door!

"Stop her!"