Carl spent the next three days methodically searching buildings, finding almost nothing. Most people had taken useful items with them when they left. He hadn't seen any movement from the occupied house, though he was certain they had seen him gathering supplies.
For these three days, Carl had to avoid the house because of the infected surrounding it. He was also able to determine who lived there: a young couple with two children—an infant and a boy around five years old.
Since Carl's food supplies were running low, he decided to search a few abandoned cars on the road. He passed by these cars every day but had avoided getting close to them. Most of his route to the group of buildings was through the forest, not the road, because the infected were on the road, and Carl was afraid of them. But that night, there was a massive explosion. The blast was loud enough to be heard from the direction of the buildings, so Carl thought the family might have tried to escape. But most likely, they failed, and the infected broke into their house, leading them to blow themselves and the infected up using a gas cylinder.
Returning to the task at hand, Carl began searching the cars. Carefully, he opened the doors, unsure if they were locked or if their alarms still worked. He spent the entire morning cautiously searching the vehicles. Luckily, no alarms went off in any of the cars he searched. So far, he had gathered:
-2 gallons of water
-2 pounds of rice
-A bottle of whiskey
-2 bottles of beer
-A few batteries
-5 packs of biscuits
-3 bars of chocolate
-4 cans of soup
-7 car first-aid kits (bandages, gauze, plasters, gloves, etc.)
These weren't significant supplies, and some of the cars were empty. Carl also siphoned fuel from a few vehicles, filling a 5-gallon canister. One more car remained to be searched before entering the group of buildings, but this time, an alarm went off. Carl immediately retreated into the forest.
"Shit, now the alarm had to go off. Every infected around will be drawn to it," he muttered to himself. Lately, he had started talking to himself more often.
He retreated to his base and decided to wait for two hours before returning to search the houses. He was sure the infected would now be crowded around the car, making it easier to search the homes. Only a few houses remained to be searched, including the previously occupied house—or what was left of it.
He headed toward the buildings. Passing the car where the alarm had gone off, he saw a large horde of infected. He kept silent and, maintaining a safe distance, skirted the horde. In the forest, there were a few stragglers, but he skillfully avoided them without drawing their attention.
Upon arriving, he was right about the explosion site. The entire house had been blown to bits. The area was surrounded by a dozen infected, so Carl had to avoid it. Observing from a safe distance, he could recognize that one of the infected was the son of the couple. He had severe injuries from the explosion; his body was burned, and he was missing an arm.
Maneuvering between the houses, Carl bypassed the infected and reached the last unsearched home. It was a fairly large house, with a spacious garden and shed, as well as a two-story building. Carl first checked the shed, but its contents were useless since he already had most of those tools at his base.
The house, however, was locked. He had to check each window, hoping one was open. He discovered one was damaged and just needed to be pried open. Carl went back to the shed, grabbed a crowbar, approached the window, and pried it open, allowing him to enter. He landed in the living room.
He began searching the house, finding a ton of family photos. The home was richly furnished, consisting of two bedrooms, two bathrooms—one on each floor—a kitchen, dining room, living room, guest room, attic, and garage.
He found quite a few useful supplies. Carl couldn't carry them all at once, and he hadn't yet checked the garage or attic, where he heard an infected person making groaning sounds and struggling to get out.
In the garage, there was an old pickup truck and a small power generator. After a thorough inspection, Carl found the pickup was unusable; it was missing a front wheel, and its brake system had been dismantled. The only useful item from the garage was the power generator, but it was too large for Carl to take—it weighed at least 60 lbs. He decided to think about it later and, for now, focus on transporting the supplies to his base. Carl estimated he would need to make the trip at least three times.
Nothing unusual happened the first time. On the second trip, after returning to his base, Carl took a break to eat and rest for 20 minutes. On the third trip, again, nothing noteworthy occurred.
Carl decided to go back once more, this time to check the attic. But just as he was about to open the door to the attic, someone called out for him to stop.
"Hold it, kid. Turn around slowly," a voice shouted at him. "Mike, it's just a kid," a female voice responded.
Carl turned around and saw the same couple he had assumed had died in the explosion. They both had significant burns, and the woman had a serious wound on her arm, wrapped with just a regular towel. Mike was holding a kitchen knife in his right hand.
"Give us your backpack, and we'll let you go," Mike said. "Yeah, hand over the backpack, boy," the woman added.
Carl took off his backpack and, holding it in front of him, used it as a shield to discreetly draw his pistol from its holster.
"Kid, put the backpack down and step back," Mike ordered. "Do as he says. It's better that way," the woman added.
But before they could do anything, they froze in place as Carl aimed the gun at them. Mike spoke again.
"Easy, kid, you don't have to do this. We're leaving."
The woman was about to say something more, but Carl didn't give her the chance. He fired several shots in their direction. Both of them were killed on the spot. Despite having had no formal training, other than one time at the shooting range with his father and Shane. Carl had pretty good aim, and the pistol's recoil wasn't an issue for him.
Carl abandoned his plans to explore the attic and fled. He knew the sound of the gunshots had attracted the infected. He barely managed to escape as they surrounded the house.
The street was full of infected. Avoiding them, Carl ran in a random direction until he reached the forest, where he ran for several minutes before realizing he was lost.
"Where the hell am I?" Carl muttered to himself.
This forest was much denser than the one near his base. Carl estimated he had about 5-6 hours before it got too dark to navigate the woods.
For two hours, Carl wandered through the forest until he spotted an abandoned camp in the distance.