The sun only began shining through the window an hour or two ago, but Milah had been up for nearly three hours already. The young brunette had a hard time sleeping after a sound in the night woke her up, and even though she instantly locked the door on the upstairs bedroom she was in after hearing the sound and never heard another peep, she was still too uneasy to sleep.
"I should probably do a full sweep, both upstairs and downstairs - huh?" she asked in a whisper to the sleeping puppy beside her. Milah could only guess the pup to be two or three months old, and had quickly given him the jokeful name "Cocky" after only a few days since he's constantly cocking his head to the side whenever he's curious about something or just bored.
"Yeah yeah, I'm going."
Milah slowly stood up from the lounge chair she was in and made her way over towards the window. The blinds were already open and there wasn't a person in sight, but she knew first appearances could be deceiving so she didn't stay at the window too long.
The house she was in was a two floor family home with four or five bedrooms, so as she pulled her rifle out of it's case she sighed at the thought of going through every single room, however as she carefully made her way out into the hallway she noticed that every room except the one directly across from her had their doors closed - something a "Walker", as she likes to call the infected, probably couldn't do. And even if they could, they most surely couldn't open the door to get back out.
After checking the room across the hall Milah made her way to the top of the staircase and placed her gun against the wall so she could pull her hair up into a thick high bun.
It was still early in the day but thanks to the lack of central air it was incredibly humid and hot inside the house already, and her jean shorts and loose fitting black tank top only seemed to help a little, but getting her thick hair off of her neck was still a relief - even if just a little.
An always curious and hyper Cocky came trotting out from the bedroom, and Milah quickly told the puppy to sit - which he did. She knew training him would play an important roll in keeping him alive, and he has seemingly taken to it well - which was a relief in situations like this where Milah wanted him to stay put.
"Now you stay here, I'll be back." she'd say in a soft voice as she picked up the rifle, and she'd again repeat "Stay" with an open palm before turning and walking down the flight of stairs.
It took under a minute to clear the open-concept main floor, and after making her way back up the stairs to give a small piece of cracker from her pocket to an obedient Cocky as a treat for staying put, the duo would jog down the stairs and into the kitchen where Milah came upon the same pitiful scene she had found in every other house in this neighborhood - next to nothing left in the cupboards and rotting food products in the fridge.
"Oh joy, a couple of hotdog buns!"
Milah sighed before pulling out the bag of buns, which had thankfully not molded yet. She'd throw one on the floor for Cocky and eat the other one herself before walking over towards the faucet and twisting it on. "Yes!" she let out as a slow stream of water began to flow, enough to fill a medium size tupperware up. Again Milah shared her find with her four-legged companion and as he lapped it up she made her way back upstairs where she'd put her gun back in it's case and then sling both it and her backpack over her shoulder before heading back down to the kitchen.
Milah had spent the last week bouncing between the several houses in the neighborhood and it was now time to move on. She had used up the resources here and knew to keep herself alive she'd need to get access to more food and water.
The car she came to the neighborhood with was now on Empty, but thankfully there was an old Chevy pick-up truck in the garage that had a nearly full tank, so after Cocky finished his water the two made their way to the open garage and then inside the Cab of the truck. Milah made sure both doors were locked and the windows were rolled up before turning on the engine and making her way down the driveway an onto the road.
The ride into the city was uneventful, and Milah found it slightly eery that she only saw a few straggling Walkers along the way.
As she passed the "Welcome to Chicago" sign Milah couldn't help but roll her eyes and sigh, she hated this city even before the virus broke out and now, well now she loathes it. There are too many dark alleys and hiding spots for the dead and not enough pockets of safety for the uninfected - hence the reason the cities were some of the first places that were deserted.
So after she came to a stop outside of a market across the street from a police station Milah made sure the over-the-shoulder bag she turned into a holster bag - which housed her daggers and held a few extra arrows for her gun - was firmly tied against her hip before she grabbed her rifle and hopped out of the truck.
An anxious Cocky wanted to follow her and began to bark, but she quickly gave the hush command and he stopped.
An arrow was ready to go in her rifle as she made her way into the market. Milah would raise the gun and aim it down each isle before feeling comfortable enough to begin filling her bag with various items of food and bottled beverages.