Inside the Blue Circle//Open

[Clare Barlow]

Well, sure enough he actually clambered over that fence rather easily. Course he would, he was a guy. Clare got over her disappointment on not seeing him take a pratfall and they moved on to their current business, exploring and checking out houses. Hopefully they could find useful stuff, by now scavenging was a way of life for probably almost all the survivors of the human race she figured. Carefully they advanced thru the open back yard past a swing set, Clare tried not to think if kids were living here when the world ended, it hadn't been fair for anyone but it was the worst for young people just starting their lives. Like her sister. Quickly she forced that out of her thoughts and returned to focus.

Reaching the back door, someone had busted it open with brute force or sledgehammer or something. Clare called out into the interior, "Hey, anyone home? You got company. We don't wanna kill anybody....well, less you're already dead then sorry we gotta redo you."

They waited. Nothing. That was good though for you could often hear the walkers lurch forward trying to approach the noise they react to. It was daylight so they didn't need artificial light to enter the place though certainly parts of the house with access to windows might be a bit dark and creepy.

"You wanna go first or should I?" Clare turned to Justus, she already had her pistol in hand, safety off and now she pulled her carpenter's hammer out of her belt to wield that in her other hand. She was as ready as she'd ever be.

[justus gibbs]

"Right behind ya!" Justus bowed with a flourish toward the door, then straightened, ready to back her up despite any teasing or levity. At least they could be fairly-well assured that there were no unfortunates inside or they would have responded to Clare's calls. As for the more lethal of the potential threats, that remained to be seen. It wasn't as if they would come prancing out of someone called for them -- quite the contrary, they would hide, assess, maybe ambush...

And behind her, he could aim over her head easily and defend them both...or, if things got too dicey, he could just give her a good shove and run!

"Looks like we ain't th' first," he muttered, not that that was any sort of secret from the looks of the door. But then, judging from the layer of dust, it had been a while since anyone had been in this part of the house at least. "We can clear it, then pick it clean, how's that sound?"

[Clare Barlow]

Clare actually expected he'd be the gentleman and volunteer to take the lead but apparently he was not going to do so. She eyed him for a second then shrugged, "Fine."

He said that it sure looked like they weren't the first ones to enter this place.

"Figure that all out by yourself, Justus?" Clare smirked but never looked back at him , keeping her eyes peeled to the front just in case as she ventured step by step into what was once someone's comfortable middle class home.

 Sad really. She wished she could have lived in a house this good back before the plague hit. There on the carpeted living room floor were various childrens' toys scattered from probably the last time the kid or kids played with them. Clare frowned but said nothing, what could be said? Well since they weren't going to be stealing toys or the huge flat screen TV, a more useful target room was the kitchen. Sure enough a right turn and there it was. Nice kitchen, big stove, bigger fridge complete with ice maker...........but back when there was a working power grid. Stuff that needed to kept cold was obviously long ruined but there were shelves all over and that's where one often found dried pasta and other such things.....oh spices too. She always looted those, who cared about expiration dates on dried basil?

Still they couldn't loot right away, they needed to secure the house first. There was a narrow carpeted hall outside the kitchen leading to more rooms, probably bedrooms and a bathroom or two. She paused to unwind a moment.

"Sorry need to lower my gun, it's hard to keep so focused and tense for too long...least for me it is, just taking a quick break," she quietly explained.