12.8.10

I had to leave the warehouse. Johnny Dog was still at the apartment.

She was already on edge when I left on Monday. After hearing all the information Jerry was getting, and against his recommendation, I left the warehouse last night to go get her.

The streets were empty. For 11pm at night on a weekday in suburban Cincinnati this would have been pretty normal. But the strange thing was nothing was open! Gas stations, Taco Bell, bars etc. that would have normally been open were closed.

My apartment is only a 15 minute drive from the warehouse. Parking lot was as full as normal and I could see lights on in several of the apartment windows.

The SMELL!!! It hit me as soon as I walked into the complex hallway. I don't know what decaying flesh smells like, but this had to be it!

I got to my apartment and found Johnny Dog sitting by the front door. She had defecated in the living room, but that was to be expected as I hadn't been home in 30 hours. But she didn't greet me coming in, instead bolted to the apartment door across the hall, scratching and barking at it.

I grabbed her a bag of food, and filled my small backpack with clothes, toiletries, my laptop, cell phone charger etc.

I figured I would be back, but thought I should take Jerry's recommendation and go back to the warehouse. I don't know what was causing Johnny Dog to go crazy at the apartment door across the hall, but decided not to figure it out. I grabbed her by her collar and drug her to my car.

As I left the complex lot, something caught my eye in one of the apartment windows. A shadowy figure seemed to be pacing back and forth in front of the curtained window. It reminded me of a caged animal.