"The Day" started out, like well, every other day before it. I got up out of my bed and stretched the limbs. Then after a brief stop in the bathroom for a refreshing drink, I headed to Sally's room. When I entered her room I was sad at the sight of her still made bed. Normally the bed is very unkept and, at this time of the morning, containing a half sleeping girl. That's when I remembered she had been at summer camp for the last four days and that day was the day she was supposed to be returning to us. The thought of this got my tail waggin, if you can really call it a tail, its more like a stump ever since that bicycle accident when I was three. I still jump everytime I hear a bicycle bell ring. I had wanted to just lay next to Sally's bed until she returned but remembered did have a morning duty to perform.
I ran down the stairs and out my special dog door. I call it my special dog door, not only because I am the only one who could go through it , but because there is a small wooden board that is hung above it that has my name painted on it. "Chesterfield" was stenciled in a beautiful shade of grey along with a couple of flowers on either end of the name. Sally made it for me a few summer camps ago. It made me smile everytime I saw it. What didn't make me smile was the smell that hit my nose when I reached the outside.
I didn't really notice it until I went to pick up the paper. A breeze blew in the right direction and the aroma of death was so foul, it made me drop the paper I had just picked up in my mouth. I nearly puked. The morning air was filled with more than a foul stench. I had been so focused on my thoughts about Sally's return and getting the paper, I didn't pay attention to what my ears were hearing at first. With the distraction of the smell of death filling my nose, my attention returned to the present and thats when I realized the neighbor hood was very noisy. There were sounds of car alarms and sierns coming from everywhere. At one point I thought I heard an explosion in the distance. Fear slowly started to reach its icy cold hands around my neck. I immediately shook it off and went into protection mode. Something was happening in the "not good" category and I was damned if I was going to let whatever it was into my yard. I abandoned the paper to patrol the area.
Like many of the houses on our block, a 5 foot high wooden fence bordered our land. The fence was stained just that spring and the smell from the fresh stain helped mask the smell of death, at least a little. With nose to the ground, I walked the perimeter checking to see if anyone or anything had come into my yard. I heard something thud against the front gate as I passed it. I stopped and waited to see if it had been my imagination. Thats when I heard the thud again. It sounded as if someone were bumping up against it over and over again. From where I was I could not see over the fence so I moved to the porch to see if I could see what was trying to get in. It was at that moment I saw my first "changed".
It was Charles, our paper boy though the term boy didn't seem to fit him since he was a freshman in High school and already over 6 feet tall. He was usually being followed by at least one or two females but on "The Day" I think they would have wanted to be as far away from him as possible. The baseball cap he always wore was tilted to one side and very dirty, his hair was a mess and his eyes were cloudy white. His neck had a huge gash in it. The blood from the wound had since dried but you could still see the muscles where the skin was missing. His arms were limp and swayed as he continued to walk into the fence. He just kept walking. Step-bump-step-bump. I had never seen such thing before, it creeped me the hell out.
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