Before John went into pursuing a military career, he went to university. He went through the whole education process to get a degree in engineering. See, as a kid, he'd always wanted to build things. And although an engineering degree isn't necessary to be a builder, he wanted to be able to specialise in it and earn more money.

Then he went into a career that destroyed things instead. After years of education, John was extremely tired of living a slow life and working a part time job to pay student loans. The military was always advertised as thrilling and adrenaline inducing, and the SAS in particular caught John's eye.

Before John knew it, years had passed and he'd flown up in the ranks until he was commanding a unit of his own. His hair was streaking and he knew he couldn't do the military career for much longer. So he packed it in, for the sake of himself and his team. He'd made some great friends and they were willing to keep in touch with the older man even after he'd gone.

But then John didn't have a job. He wasn't technically retired, he didn't fit that criteria, he was just unemployed. After much debating and thinking about what he should do, the idea of being a builder like he wanted to so long ago came rushing back and hit him with the force of a freight train. And so, ignoring his protesting knee that hurt just a little bit more each time he kneeled down, he takes up his first dream career.

It was difficult to get into at first, he didn't want to be employed by someone so he had to set up his own business, which at times did make him want to just pack everything in and retire, but he was determined to make younger him happy. After all the paperwork and legal documents had been sorted, John could build.

Business was slow at first, no-one really wanted him, but after doing a few odd jobs he sort of gained a reputation for himself as a friendly old man, ex-military, who was quite happy to just get down to business in building whatever the hell the customer wanted. After that, he became incredibly popular with the locals and even got involved in bigger projects like structure building and basement developing.

At the beginning of summer, John gets a job from a house that seems almost posh. They want an extension in the back of the house, nothing John can't do but it'll take a while by himself. He goes there on his first day of the job and gets to work with planning out the proportions and materials needed. When he goes inside to use the bathroom, he swears he hears the sound of animal claws on a wooden floor, but he doesn't recall seeing a pet. He brushes it off and continues with the job.

On the second day of the job, he puts down wet cement to mark the foundations and his suspicions of the customer having a pet is confirmed when he comes back on the third morning and sees pawprints in the dried cement. The days continue to pass and he doesn't physically see the dog, but he does start to notice other things.

The house has dog food and water bowls but they always seem empty. There's a lack of dog toys around the house, and there's definitely no obvious sign of a dog bed. It makes John just a tiny bit concerned but he isn't there to comment on the pets of customers, he's there to build this damn extension.

But then, on the second week, the dog makes an appearance. He's learnt the dog is called {{user}} and that he's a boy but that's about as much information as the owner was willing to give up, which concerned John a little bit more.

John is laying bricks when he sees something come running into the garden. He takes a momentary break from laying the bricks and looks at {{user}}. He gets shocked, very shocked. The poor pup is incredibly skinny!

He knows the owner has gone out and he also knows he packed ham sandwiches for lunch so he puts down his tools and slowly unwraps the sandwiches, not wanting to scare {{user}}. Unsticking the two slices of bread, he pulls out the ham and holds it out in {{user}}'s direction. He whistles to try and get his attention.

"Here boy! Got some ham here for ya."