Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 205: The Dog's Owner

The mutated dog continued growling at the two men walking towards the Black Haven compound. 

The two innocent passersby got startled when they caught sight of the growling dog. They instinctively retreated a few steps, before calming down when they noticed that it has an owner.

One of the two, who seems to be the decision-maker, haughtily stared at Anna before clicking his tongue in displeasure.

"Keep a leash on your dog. What if it accidentally bites people? Do you have the credits to send them to a doctor?" the man said matter-of-factly. He then examined Anna's group and found nothing outstanding except for the bulldog-like (bullmastiff) dog. The small brown-furred dog was tilting its head as if in confusion while staring at the growling dog.

Takaw barked once and as if his bark was filled with authority, the mutated dog's growling immediately ceased.

The mutated dog whimpered with its pitiful voice while looking downwards to Takaw. To the survivors watching the commotion, it appeared as if the one-meter dog was complaining about its grievances to the small dog.

Takaw barked once again and it completely quelled the mutated dog's objection. He turned around and approached the two men.

Seeing the small dog approaching them, the cocky man glanced at Anna as if asking what he should do about the situation. He couldn't act rashly due to the circular black emblem attached to Anna's left chest.

The emblem had a simple sword logo at the center which signified Black Haven's Elite Scavenger Squad. There were less than ten people in town who has that emblem, so anyone who wears it would be immediately recognized as an elite.

The survivors also knew about the fact that they could obtain the emblem if they join the Black Haven Scavenging Group, which had the same black emblem but with a logo of running shoes. 

Once you completed three scavenging runs from the regular group, you could attempt for promotion. The trials for promotion were simple, you just need to contact an Elite Scavenger and have them as a witness while you hunt a Ranked 1 Evolved Carrier on your own.

At this time, receiving outside help or if the Elite Scavenger acting as a witness had to intervene in any manner, the promotion would be classified as a failure. To prevent any kind of cheating, the witness must record the entire process via cellphone or camera provided by Black Haven. 

It was of this promotion exam that separated those who can fight by themselves and those who have to rely on a group.

Black Haven Elite Scavengers receive a lot of benefits and in return, they would be tasked to do dangerous tasks like clearing hordes and responding to emergency situations.

This is the reason why the man hesitated to do anything on the approaching dog. What could he do!? Even her lackeys had the same sword emblem she had, which meant that they're also from the Elite Scavenger Group. Meaning that this small party could easily wreck him and his friend if they wanted to.

Takaw started sniffing as he circled around the man.

"Hey," the man called for Anna's attention. "Can't you do something? Your dog doesn't bite, right? I don't know what the problem is with your other dog, but this is the first time our group encountered each other, right?"

The man reasonably explained the situation and even Anna felt that there was nothing wrong with what he said. But when she turned and saw the furious look on the mutated dog's eyes as it stared at the man, she couldn't help but thought that something was wrong.

Anna didn't call Takaw back since he wasn't doing anything rash, instead, she asked the man politely about the dog. She said, "Do you happen to know this dog? It seems that it is extremely angry at you... Perhaps, did you encountered it somewhere? Oh! I think it's also looking for its owner."

The man halted for a second and noticed that the small dog circling around him, sat down, intently listening to him. He was amazed but creeped out at the same time, then started pondering.

He stared at the mutated dog. There was nothing worth noting since like every mutated dog, it had dark fur with a few patches of empty fur directly showing its skin.

As the man's eye went down, it noticed the conspicuous cloth tied on the mutated dog's left leg. Then, realization struck him as he formed a fist and hit his other palm. "I remember now! That's the dog we tried to hunt two days ago. We thought it was a wild dog, but apparently it had an owner."

The man touched his chin as he tried to recall his memories of that day.

"The owner was a young woman. Thankfully, she arrived on time before we killed it. We're just about to deal the final blow when she came, then started to madly swing her daggers at us." He then bowed slightly and offered an apology to the dog.

As he turned around and left, he asked the three of them in confusion: "Where is the owner? She's quite hot for a mute, you know. Is she your friend?"

Anna ignored the man's question and turned to Erin and Emman.

Seeing that he got ignored, he shrugged and left nonchalantly.

"Thankfully, he was a chatterbox," Anna said, then glanced at her friends, "Now we know that we're looking for a mute girl."

"And a hot one on top of that," Emman added.

Erin glared at him for his remark, then rolled her eyes when their eyes met.

"Do you guys know or encountered anyone mute these past few days?" Anna asked then started to ponder whether she actually did.

Erin had no recollection of meeting someone like that and Emman just repeatedly uttered: "A hot woman who is mute... a mute woman that's hot... Hmm..." Every utterance becoming softer and silenced.

In the end, his repeated utterance of the sentence reminded him of what he saw earlier this morning.

"Ha! I knew I saw someone like that earlier. My duty of gawking at a pretty woman every day finally came to use!"

As he finished speaking, he realized that what he said should have been a secret kept hidden in the bottom of his heart. When he glanced around, he saw Anna softly shaking her head while Erin had no reaction except for staring at him blankly.

Anna said, "So where did you see this woman?"

"A hot woman," Erin added.

"Yes, right. So where did you see this hot woman earlier?"

Emman chuckled dryly sensing the weird atmosphere then answered. "This morning, almost every day, she comes here as if looking for someone. The people knew her as a mute and she works as a volunteer together with the police."

"You know a lot for someone who only saw her. I think you even have her vital statistics and her biography, is that right?" Erin said with a curious expression on her face.

Emman thought she was playing with him, so he replied jokingly. "Yeah, I also have a list of her favorite food to eat and places that she likes to hang out."

His answer garnered a deep frown from the two women in front of him. He dry-coughed then continued, "I think we can go to the police to ask where she is. That should solve our problems."

"I don't think it will," Erin muttered softly.

Anna ignored the troublesome scene in front of her and immediately turned around. "Okay, let's head to the municipal hall."

A few minutes later, they found the officer in charge of today's planning.

"Oh, you mean Jennie? She's a big help to us. She's a nimble one I tell you. Though she doesn't socialize with us old men in uniforms, just her presence around makes every operation safe. I don't know how she does it, but she will instantly know when and where trouble will come. Why are you looking for her? Is there a problem? Did something happen"

"No, nothing like that Officer. It's just that... her dog is looking for her." Anna said.

"Oh, you can leave the dog here if you want. Usually, they come back at the evening with new people in tow. We'll keep an eye on it."

Anna turned and was about to hand the dog over when she noticed its reluctant gaze staring at her. Even Takaw was staring at her as if asking her not to hand his friend over.

Anna felt bewildered when she subtly felt what they were feeling. She sighed and turned back to the police officer. "Is it okay if we ask where is today's clearing operation?"

"Not really..." the police officer replied with disappointment. "We're expanding eastward then would clear the rest of the south-east. After the strenuous Public Market campaign, everything became smooth sailing for the clearing operations. We have two operations today, the east and south-east campaigns. I think Jennie joined the campaign on the east, and unlike other days she appeared to be excited. The area must be her home."

"Thank you, Officer." Anna bowed and was copied by Takaw and the mutated dog. 

"So, we're going east?" Erin said.

"We already started this, so let's see the end of it," Emman replied.

Takaw excitedly jumped around, then suddenly started running. The mutated dog followed after him, excitedly wagging its tail around. If the people nearby weren't curiously looking ahead of time, they would have been struck by the swinging tail.

The three apologized to the people that almost got hit as they chased the two dogs.

Anna shouted, "Takaw! Wrong direction! We're going east! East!"

Takaw heard Anna's voice and halted. He looked back and saw that she was pointing in the other direction.

The mutated dog also stopped and turned around. It noticed Takaw's dejected appearance and was about to nudge him when Takaw suddenly jumped around filled with vigor trying to swat a flying bug with his paw.

Anna and her guards summoned their bicycles and started pedaling under the blazing sun.