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<span style="font-family:Amaranth">July 30th | Noon | Fresno Suburbs Community</span>​</div><br/>Casey had finished her spiked coffee, and was admiring a framed photograph in the living room. She picked it up. The picture was old, and depicted a middle aged couple sitting on a new bench in front of a home, with a lovely flourishing garden off to the side that was partially out of frame. The bench was the same as the one outside of the house where Dewey sat, and the garden looked just as lovely in the front lawn as it did in the picture. She could almost hear Charles describing the photo to her, from when she'd first picked it up a few days ago.<br/><br/><i>"Margaret always took care of the garden. She had the greenest thumb out of anyone else I've ever known,"</i>he'd told her,<i>"Even when she started getting sick, that woman would insist on going out there and tending to it."<br/>
</i><br/>Casey put the photo back down. She turned her head to the back hallway, to the closed door behind which Charles still kept all of her things. Margaret Dewey had contracted kidney cancer five years ago, and passed away after three years of treatment. The brunette sighed. She'd changed her mind, there was no way she could stay cooped up in the house today, not again.<br/><br/>Casey walked to the couch and put on a pair of<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fae01.alicdn.com%2Fkf%2FHTB1eMCbjljTBKNjSZFNq6ysFXXaK%2FWomen-Flats-Sandals-Shoes-Summer-Slingback-PU-Ankle-Strap-Ladies-Comfort-Shoes-Platform-for-Girls-Shoes.jpg_640x640.jpg&amp;hash=1213816c84c019a1d9e94c55ca5995f6" href="https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1eMCbjljTBKNjSZFNq6ysFXXaK/Women-Flats-Sandals-Shoes-Summer-Slingback-PU-Ankle-Strap-Ladies-Comfort-Shoes-Platform-for-Girls-Shoes.jpg_640x640.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">white, flat sandals</a>. With these, she was wearing a pair of rolled, stretch jeans and a long,<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brandedgirls.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F10%2Fflat-sandals.jpg&amp;hash=edf4937bf79e94888f0de3624709ad09" href="https://www.brandedgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/flat-sandals.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">plain black shirt</a>with half sleeves. Casey walked to the door and stepped out. Charles was pulling a few green stubs out from the dirt around the flowers. "The garden is looking good," Casey said, stopping to admire it.<br/><br/>Charles looked up, "Nah," he shook his head, "This is unkempt and simple compared to the array of plants Margaret used to have."<br/><br/>"Well, it still looks nice," Casey insisted.<br/><br/>Charles nodded in thanks. "Did you come out to sit with me?" he asked, standing and tossing the last of the weeds out into the grass.<br/><br/>"I think I'm just going to go for a walk."<br/><br/>"Good," Charles nodded again, "You want to take this with you?" He motioned towards the shotgun propped against the bench. He was smiling, but it didn't seem like the offer was a complete joke.<br/><br/>"No, god. I would shoot my foot off before I did anything useful with that."<br/><br/>"Alright," he shrugged, "Just be careful then." The old man took a seat back down on the bench.<br/><br/>"That's what the soldiers are here for, Charles," she reassured him, turning to leave.<br/><br/>Casey didn't know where she was going, she just started walking. The fresh air felt nice, but Charles had been correct in his previous prediction. It was midday now and the temperature was beginning to get hot. The brunette walked down the subdivision, keeping a careful eye out, and admired the houses she passed. There were some broken windows and kicked in doors, destroyed lawns and missing mailboxes, but other than the occasional damage it almost looked normal.<i>Almost</i>. The biggest thing missing was the occasional traffic and the people. Everything was so much quieter now than a couple weeks ago. It was slightly unsettling.<br/><br/>Casey walked around a corner, and found herself looking at a long line of tents down the road. The setup was near the edge of the community, and there were a handful of people moving about, along with a number of soldiers. Casey approached out of curiosity. This was the first time she'd actually been out of the Dewey household for more than 10 minutes. She hadn't explored the sanctuary that had been miraculously established around her, because she hadn't felt up to it until now. As Casey approached she caught a soldier's eye, and he walked over to her.<br/><br/>"Are you here to volunteer?" he asked the woman.<br/><br/>"Oh, no I was just taking a walk," she replied.<br/><br/>"Well," the soldier asked, "Would you be willing to help out? We could use all the hands we can get."<br/><br/>Casey hesitated, "What for?"<br/><br/>"Medical checkups. We have some survivors coming in and we need to give each of them an examination."<br/><br/>"Oh, I- I don't know. I don't have any experience-" Casey tried to decline, but the soldier interrupted her.<br/><br/>"None needed. We'll just have you assist one of the medical personnel." The brunette hesitated again, tilting her head in a gesture of uncertainty. "We could really use the help ma'am."<br/><br/>Casey sighed, "Alright, I guess I could try and help." She said, letting the soldier guilt her into it.<br/><br/>He smiled and nodded. "Thank you, we really appreciate it."<br/><br/>Casey was led into the tent filled area, and brought up to a man who she assumed was in charge of running the operation. "Doctor Thomas? I have another looking to help," the soldier who recruited Casey told him.<br/><br/>"Ah, perfect," Thomas replied, "You can assist Kate, over there." He pointed to his left at a curly haired brunette standing next to a nearby tent. "Just ask her what she needs, and tell her I sent you." Casey nodded and turned to walk over. "Oh, wait. Put this on," The doctor said, holding out a green ball cap. Casey gave a nod and took it from him. She didn't put it on right away though, instead she walked over to Kate with the thing in her hands. The hat was ugly, and Casey had no intention of actually wearing it.<br/><br/>"Hey," Casey spoke up, after approaching the woman from behind, "Um, are you Kate? Doctor Thomas sent me over. He said you could use some help?"