•Thicker Than Blood•

•Chapter 5•

Once everyone had finally eaten something, they were ready to start fixing up the house. While they were exploring the barn, Claire had realized there was a water tank on the right side of it. If she could manage to get water from the pump behind the barn and fill the tank. She could connect the tank to the house and get them running water. So, she set off to do that. Leon and Sherry remained inside, working on the interiors.

Claire had found buckets within the barn itself, so she hauled two of them to the pump. From there, she started cranking the handle till water spewed out the spout. Crystal clear. She placed a bucket beneath the stream and filled both. From there, she climbed up the water tank and began filling the massive jug. Bigger than her. It would take multiple buckets to actually fill the thing... hours upon hours of work. However-

Snap.

The girl whipped her head around to see the sound. Nothing but gravel and dust outside the hut. Like a cat, she inched towards the door, peeking her head out to get a glimpse of anything that could have made the sound. Confused, she stepped out of the hut completely. Then she heard... clucking? She turned her head around the corner. She saw two hens on the side of the hut, coming towards her. They looked malnourished in a sense. As if they had been abandoned. Likely that was the case.

"Oh- you were left alone, weren't you?" She knelt down.

The chickens came towards her, circling her as if to investigate. She reached forward and gently patted their heads before getting up.

"Maybe there's chicken feed for you somewhere.."

She glanced around, heading back into the regular barn. She gazed along the shelves and saw nothing that would indicate chicken feed.. or chickens. She started opening bins, most were stuck shut from the disuse. She pulled up and pried off the tops. That's where she found the packs of seeds she could feed them. So, she lifted it up over her shoulder. The chickens were now running around her, clucking like mad. She dumped some seeds out in the grass and the two flocked to it.

Now that the chickens were fed, she placed the bag of seed back in its original bin. Wiping sweat from her brow, she looked up towards the house. Wondering what Sherry and Leon were up to..

To answer her question, Sherry was picking up around the house. Picking up trash or broken objects and placing them in a plastic bag they hadn't been using anymore now that they had real storage. Meanwhile, Leon had gotten the toolbox from the house and was patching up holes and putting tarps over broken windows to keep the warmth in the house, despite them not really needing it to be much warmer in the summer months. He used a roll of duct tape to keep the broken windows isolated. Soon enough, Claire came in through the back door.

"Turns out we have chickens now. I'm thinking we might be able to get eggs out of them." She said,

"Really? They were just here like that?" Sherry asked, tilting her head.

"I'm assuming whoever abandoned this place didn't take their chickens when they left." Claire explained. "Found some chicken seed out in the barn... hold on, do we have running water? I want to see if it worked."

Sherry perked up and ran over to the sink, she pulled the handle and after a moment of silence, water spilled out messily. She gasped and put her hand under the faucet, rubbing the cold water on her face with a grin.

"Perfect, I assume we just won't be able to warm it up till we can get the power running..." Claire commented.

Leon then perked up. "I was actually thinking about heading to town. Get some more gas, supplies. Maybe we can talk to someone there about getting our addresses switched here. Put our names on it. Get the power on. Maybe start working so we can make enough for necessities... not exactly sure how pay is going to work with Raccoon's state."

Claire gave a nod. "That's a good idea. Maybe we can use what we have now to get some more food and supplies. Maybe another outfit or two. I'm sure we'll all be taking cold showers tonight now that we have water."

"How about we head out now then? It'll take some time to get it all finalized." Leon said.

Claire nodded, taking Sherry by the hand and heading out the front door. Leon smiled just a bit and went out after them. They all piled into the car and Claire hot wired it once again. Then, they set off down the road into town.