Dmitri lightly jogged upstairs with Rex in tow. On the way, he visited a few rooms and left soon after.
Rex curiously inspected everything, its eyes darting from the floors, to the walls, and to the corridors.
They both arrived at the ninth floor and soon approached the locked door leading to the rooftop outside.
Dmitri knelt and whistled, saying, "Rex, cover me."
Rex stood on guard, ears leaning forward.
Dmitri pulled his tactical pack in front, opened a small section of it, and pulled out a slim black roll-up kit. He put it on the floor and unfurled it, revealing a few tools glimmering under the sunlight escaping through the holes of the rooftop doorway.
He picked one tool and inserted it into the lock, leaning his head forward and planting his ears near the locking mechanism.
Dmitri's hands moved slowly, applying pressure on the lock. After a few seconds of maneuvering, a gentle click echoed into his ears.
He pulled the tool out of the lock, returned it to his roll-up kit, put it back into his tactical pack and secured everything. He equipped his MP7A1 submachine gun, whistled at Rex, then turned the knob and opened the door.
The sunlight assaulted his slightly pale face, the black soft cap slightly shielding his head from the heat. Wind blew on the rooftop, blowing the dust that has accumulated on the floor and the edges.
"Rex, go sniff things out, my boy." Dmitri ruffled its head and Rex barked lowly.
Its head drooped, lightly trotting the warm concrete rooftop, swinging its head left to right. He lightly growled and looked at the building not far from them. He soon continued after standing on guard for a while.
Dmitri walked at the rear, his steps light, eyes looking after his partner. After sweeping around the area, Rex ran back to him and barked once.
"Find anything?" he knelt, stuffing a piece of meat into its mouth. It was a "delicacy" he found in one of the cold food storages in the ninth unit.
Rex whimpered, shook its fur, and looked at Dmitri with pleading eyes. "Seems you found nothing. Alright, thanks for the hard work anyway."
The dog took another piece of meat, enjoying itself in the process.
Dmitri ignored Rex and moved to the right side of the rooftop's edge. He took out his compact binocular-rangefinder and started surveying things.
Here, he saw the front of the apartment complex, smelling a slight hint of burnt flesh in the air as he looked further down.
Two people could be seen standing their ground, while another group worked around the entrance.
Dmitri heard muffled grinding sounds from the ground floor and surmised, "Blockading?"
He wasn't worried about the conscripts attracting the zombies. It would only make his job easier if others took care of obstacles that would otherwise be his.
His eyes darted at the gasoline station three hundred meters away to the right, adjusting his binoculars slightly before putting them on.
"Barely a few zombies wandering around, but that small diner..." he paused, "Someone's inside."
The windows were barricaded with small boards pinned into the walls. Then clothes, foams, chairs, and tables covered it in such a disorderly manner that Dmitri wondered what was the situation of the survivors inside the gas diner building.
If the gas diner had been using glass walls on its structure, covering it today would be nothing short of a nightmare.
"One or two repaired cars. Survivors definitely inside."
Dmitri murmured, keen to observe more.
The cars that surrounded the gas diner were mostly in bad shape. Their metallic body dented and rusted in some areas, and the absence of glass made them even more miserable to look at.
However, a car parked slightly away from the diner had their... paint slightly glossed and newer, standing out from the rest. One of the tires was fuller than the rest, denoting the use of air pump to inflate it.
Dmitri shifted his gaze back to the diner and at that moment, a white, slender hand pushed a curtain aside. Her figure pressed forward, revealing slightly red cheeks, an oval face, and lively brown eyes.
"Bingo. Let's see what you're looking at."
Dmitri calculated the angle of her eyes' viewpoint, hinting into the apartment building where he was. Five seconds passed when her face suddenly changed, a terrified look plastered in her eyes.
She pushed the curtain further aside while craning her neck, afraid that something in his area was gone.
"Oh? Civilian survivors showing anxiety; likely saw the earlier fire."
A while later, the woman retreated and was replaced by a man, his eyes big yet a hint of tiredness could be seen from it. His big, rough hands pushed the curtains even further, and his tall figure easily stood higher than the woman from before.
His body wiggled around, searching for something similar to what the woman looked for. He retreated after, disappointed.
"Survivors were expecting rescue, and they must have seen the fire. Once it vanished, so did the hope in their eyes."
Dmitri waited but movement seemed to have stopped inside. He soon took down his binoculars and tapped his wrist slate.
A faint e-ink grid lit up as he started taking notes about the gas station, the diner, and survivor presence in the area.
"At least 2 survivors. Slender woman in golden hair. Impression: anxious."
"Tall man, slightly out of shape, middle-aged. Impression: looks friendly, but might not be, looks tired of life."
"Next." Dmitri moved to the opposite side and surveyed the wide parking lot area spanning almost more than a kilometer long.
"A sizeable area indeed." he commented before equipping his binoculars once again. "All cars are damaged, aside from the Commander's motorcycle and armored SUV."
The binocular focused on a parked green sidecar motorcycle near the entrance for apartment building number one's cars. Beside it was the armored SUV.
The motorcycle's engine was large, its black leather seat enough for one driver. The sidecar could fit one person and even comfortably shoot while on the move.
"Even a sniper could fit there." Dmitri noted, then took a look at the armored SUV.
Its exterior was nothing short of compactness and metal durability. Fire ports could be seen from where the windows should have been.
The middle section at the top of the car could be opened to let someone fire around in a wide angle.
The most striking part was the slightly lifted ram plow mounted to the SUV's front.
"A militarized cowcatcher?" Dmitri was shocked. He looked back once again and it was truly the case!
"Driving through the city won't be a problem with this. I shall inform the Commander when I get back."
No zombies strolled on the area around the two vehicles.
Dmitri zoomed out, counting at least 10 zombies scattered around the park, lightly touching the cars from time to time and swarm at it like headless flies.
He moved to the next spot with a better vantage point for the second part of the parking lot. The cars were fewer, but still at least 10. What was even more surprising was the appearance of a van from a maintenance company.
"Sparse zombie population." he continued, zooming in further into apartment building number three's parking lot. "Maintenance company van. Stored materials and tools are a possibility."
Due to the curved nature of the highway, Dmitri could only partially survey the area before the apartment next to him blocked his sight.
"What a shame." he clicked his tongue, but remained focused on the lookout for any particular point of interest.
"Oh, what's that?" he stopped moving when he noticed an object on one side of the parking lot. "A sewer entrance, or something else?"
There lay a small manhole cover. Its diameter was more than large enough to fit a person and crawl or jump through it.
"Worth checking out." he remarked, then went for another round of surveying in case he missed other potential interesting spots or areas to watch for.
"Elevated position secured." he took down his binoculars and once again, tapped his wrist slate, writing down all observations he memorized.
Once done, he took up his binoculars again and surveyed the three apartment buildings.
"Broken windows, rugged balconies. Small meteorite shards over there." Dmitri frowned.
Apartment 3 seemed to have been the one heavily hit by such meteorites that shards of it were stuck on its walls.
Dmitri felt an eerie sensation emanating from them, as if something dark was about to swallow his mind whole. However, the creeping thoughts vanished after a while.
"These shards..." he was at a loss, almost losing his consciousness just by staring at them through his binoculars. Despite staring at them again, the pervading ethereality had no longer resurfaced in his mind.
"... are very dangerous. Weak minds will succumb, or worse, zombified?"
The location of the shards could be easily seen, yet he felt it remained important to let his commander understand how terrifying these shards were.
"I hope nothing of a bigger shard than this has fallen inside the city..."
A subtle whimper reached his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. Rex circled around Dmitri before he stopped and looked up.
"Buddy, what's up?" Dmitri bent and patted the dog's head and ruffled its neck. "Thanks."
Rex let out a few whimpers before turning its head on a random direction.
Dmitry smiled and shifted back to the apartments, looking at the very last one of them.
"A big hole in that one. I wonder if the Commander saw this."
At around the seventh or sixth floor, he noticed a slight gap between two units, with air and dust freely coming in and out of it. A few shadows could be seen lurking around it, and soon vanished into the darker areas.
"What could have made that hole there?" Dmitri asked, knowing the answer wouldn't be gained so soon.
A while later, the entire three apartment buildings were surveyed by him using this vantage point. He wrote some notes, feeling a little strained with his hands holding the binoculars, and his fingers doodling information into the screen.
"Next, the manager's office, and the convenience store."
Dmitri took a deep breath before he raised the binoculars once again.