Chapter 3 - Neighbordhood Watch

Bright and early in the morning, Andres headed to base to practice his drills. 

Now that he was in the patrol, he needed to be fast and agile.

He was working so hard, he didn't even notice the group of ladies that approached to watch him sweat.

Finally, after many rounds, he managed to pull himself up and over the top.  He dropped to the ground with shaky legs.

Tired, sore, exhausted, but pumping with adrenaline!  He should have been working out all the time!

Not to mention the fact that the ladies loved a military man!  This was starting to be way better than the soup kitchen gig. 

The bonus of working out on base was that he had access to the communal showers.  He would never take a shower for granted again!

The sound of the water spraying is likely what kept him from hearing the alarm being sounded...

Zombie Attack!

Marisa bravely put herself in the path of danger.

Andres raced outside to watch the attack with a growing sense of dread.  "Come on Marisa, you can do it!" he called out, frustrated with his inability to help.

Marisa felled the Zombie and Andres whooped with joy.

"We could use someone with your right hook on patrol," he told her as they watched the Zombie shuffle away.

His extreme workout left Andres sore and tired the next few days.  It was a good thing he had the next two days off because he had sore muscles in places he didn't even know existed!

Peeking out the window, he noticed a woman walking by.  "Hey, be careful. There's been a number of Zombies seen around here lately," he called out to her.

 "Oh, thanks!" Camryn told him, glancing around.  "I hate running into them! They're so scary!"

"Don't worry, doll. I'll protect you!" he told her with a wink.

She chuckled and replied drolly, "My hero!"

 Hitting it off, she came to chat for a bit.  "You know what I miss the most? Spaghetti!" she admitted.

"Shoot, not me. I miss ice cream sundaes!" he told her with a laugh.

Soon it was time for Camryn to head home.  "It was real nice meeting you, doll.  Stay safe out there!"

Time passed by slowly when there wasn't anything to do.  It's a shame he still woke up at 6 am, before the sun was even up. 

He glanced out the window occasionally, hoping to do his part in keeping his little part of the world safe.

When he noticed his fridge was empty, he hauled the empty one outside and dumped it by the trash.  It wasn't easy, but he'd just barely managed to do it himself.  He also worked on painting the kitchen, little by little.

 "There's been Zombies sighted this morning," he told the chick walking by.

"Oh I know, I ran into 2 or 3 earlier," Linda told him.  "Thankfully a patrol came by just in time to frighten them away!"

It was close calls like this that made Andres proud to be part of the patrol.

When he mentioned that he was part of a morning patrol, Linda had a number of questions.

"You're such a great guy! I really appreciate everything you do to help the community!" she told him.  "I have a friend at the warehouse.  I'll tell him to hook you up with a discount!"

 "I could hug you!" Andres exclaimed happily.

Linda recoiled. "Uh, please don't."

"Hey doll, there have been Zombies in the area!" Andres announced, more confident in approaching strangers passing by.  "It's really safer to travel in groups of two."

"I can travel alone if I want to!" she sassed back, annoying at having been accosted by the strange man.  He heard her sniff of indignation as she continued on.
 

Boy was he glad to see his buddy Christopher.

"How's it going kid?" Christopher asked, holding his hand up for a high five.

What could he say, the patrolmen liked their high fives.

He was in the middle of conversation when a cute girl walked by.   He stopped mid conversation and greeted her while Christopher chuckled and made himself busy.

 "I've had 3 loves since college!" he randomly announced.  Not sure that's a great thing to lead with...

 Yeah, she did not look impressed.

"You could be number 4, if you want," he said suggestively while Christopher laughed nearby.

"We've seen higher than usual activity of Zombies in the area," Andres announced, greeting the young man that walked by.  "Neighborhood watch suggests everyone travel in pairs," he added.

"Hey thanks man," the young man replied, then greeted the hot lady that was crossing the street towards them.

They must know each other, Andres thought, watching them hug.  Turns out they were a real fun couple, Clarence and Clarissa. 

They were having a real chill time when Andres called out to another passerbyer.  "Hey, watch out for Zombies in the area," he warned.

"Hey, what's the difference between you and a Zombie?" he asked, his tone rude and abrupt.

Andres glanced at Clarence and shrugged. "I don't know, what?"

"A zombie has a life!"  The lame joke  cracked him up.  He reached out and playfully smacked Clarence. "Get it? Cause this dweeb's got no life!"

Andres scowled, watching as Clarence and Calista headed their own way and the jerk ambled away, still laughing to himself.

Andres was pretty psyched he'd finally gotten a promotion.  He'd been ready for more responsabilities for quite awhile now, but Christopher kept saying he would tell him when Andres was ready.

"Congratulations on your promotion," Ivy told him.  She was his new trainee.  During their chat about what it was like working the neighborhood watch, she'd admitted that she had volunteered after speaking with him at base the other day.   He'd only vaguely recognized her as one of the ladies watching him work out.

"Hey Christopher, come on in," Andres said.  "Ivy is inside already."

The boys talked shop while Ivy finished practicing how to plan a patrol.  Everyone needed to be as prepared to take a leadership role as possible. 

Since Christopher was there, he took the lead on walking her through the pros and cons of her assignment.  He could get a wee bit long-winded.

"Isn't that right, Andres..." Christopher summed up, then looked around.  "Andres?"

 Ivy peeked in his room.  "He's asleep."

Christopher chuckled.  "Let's get out of his hair.  I'll walk you home," he told her.

Andres wasn't sure if it was the thunderstorm or the long hours he'd been working, but he bolted upright at 3 in the morning.  Too jittery to go back to sleep, he got up and made himself busy around the house, cleaning, washing dishes, and putting up some more paint.

 Finally, when day light finally broke, he called up Gretchen.

He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now. 

 He greeted her first.

He pulled her in and hugged her tightly.  "You don't know how good it is to see you, doll," he said shakily.

"Are you okay?" she asked, trying to read his eyes.

He assured her everything was fine and that he was just tired. After that, he kept things light and casual, preferring not to delve into his earlier panic attack.

Just having the woman he loved in his arms made everything seem much better.