Joseph's growling became a familiar sound as Sara led the Sufferer down the street, leaving yet another house behind after picking it clean of supplies. The moon was high above them, its light illuminating the dark black streets. Sara smiled to herself as the street lights flickered, attempting to function correctly in the slowly dying world.

She stopped walking once she saw the small group of the creatures she knew were once human. The 'Boilers', as Joseph had called them, were grouped together and were clawing at the door of a church. Sara glanced at Joseph from the corner of her eye, and she could see that he was shifting in place slightly. She pulled at his chain, and he looked at her expectantly, his growling now softer.

"We'll sneak by behind them. Just don't be too loud." She muttered.

The two began to make their way past the small herd, Sara trying her best to hold her breath. She had learned once that the creatures, though highly unintelligent and unable to sense when a human was near just by their smell alone, were attracted to anyone who's breath didn't smell of human rotting flesh. Joseph's growling became loud once more after Sara had gotten past the Boilers, and she turned to look at him. One of the boils on his face had popped, and a disgusting glowing puss oozed from it.

"I'm guessing that was uncomfortable. Come on. Fixing you in this state won't do anything if the boils are just going to disappear." She said.

Joseph was silent the following morning. Sara had given him a change of clothes, his attire from the day before ruined from their journey much like hers had been. He felt weak and useless when he'd hear of what she'd gone through during the night, his memory of the events being nothing more than an uncomfortable and undying hunger for flesh while he trailed behind her.

"Do you think anyone out there goes through the same thing as us?" Joseph whispered while Sara tossed a thin branch into the fire the sat beside.

"What do you mean?" She replied.

"Has anyone else found out the same things that we have? Sufferers being harmless to humans or that the Boilers aren't smart?"

Sara glanced at the man who sat across the fire. He dawned another black t-shirt, the fire illuminating his face. She took note of the small scar that had marked where the boil had burst the previous night. The collar was still present around his neck, both agreeing that it would be easier to only remove the leash whenever he returned to normal. Anyone who would cross paths with the two would have assumed that it had been nothing more than a choker, the black fabric tight around his throat but loose enough for him to properly breathe. A few chain links hang from where the collar hooked together, and the soft rattling often startled Joseph while he was turned.

"Who knows what others have found out? They could know what we know, or they could know entirely different information. We'll never know unless we find others." She muttered.

Sara could see the sorrow that overcame him as he stared into the flames. His muscles tensed as he reached out and placed yet another stick into the fire. Both of them watched the crackling flames dance.

"It'll be easy. Get in, get out. Don't make noise."

"I don't know how I feel about this, Sara. What if there's something in there, and it attacks you while I'm out here watching for Boilers?"

"I'll be fine. You worry too much, Joey."

"Don't call me that."

Sara and Joseph crouched behind a short cement wall that lined a large house. The two exchanged looks before Joseph handed over his backpack and the duffle bag he always carried. Sara had her own backpack and a smaller gym bag already on her back.

"Get in, get out. Okay?" Joseph whispered.

"Okay." Sara agreed.

She very easily climbed over the cement wall and ran across the yard to the front door. It was wide open, and there was blood splattered on the walls and floor. Sara took a deep breath, looked back at Joseph one more time, and headed into the house. She was careful as she stepped around the blood, and she headed for the kitchen first. She stopped in her tracks when she saw what was waiting for her.

A creature she had never encountered before stood in front of her, it's appearance that of a stretched and skinless human. Sara could see that the little amount of skin that it had seemed to be stitched together and hung haphazardly from its shoulders. Its eyes were entirely white, and it sniffed the air repeatedly. Sara instinctively held her breath as the creature stalked around the kitchen island and walked up to her. It's knees were constantly bent as if it were a wild animal, and sharpened bones protruded from the ends of its toes. Sara stayed as still as she could as it leaned down and sniffed the air right in front of her, and her heart skipped a beat as it stood back up. It cried out in contempt of nothing being where Sara stood, and she watched it turn and run through the front door on all fours like a dog, the loose skin making a disgusting noise as it moved. It jumped over the gate at the sidewalk with ease, clearing it as if it didn't have to think twice about how high to jump.

Sara waited a few moments before she began to raid the kitchen, ignoring that body that laid on the floor. She had assumed that it was what had been the creature's recent meal and what it had been standing over when she walked in. She then stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened for anything that could possibly be moving upstairs. She could hear very small footsteps and what sounded like crying, followed by massive stomping and monstrous howling. She placed her bags down before hurrying up the stairs. Another one of the creatures stood in the hallway, sniffing the air. There was less skin hanging off of the creature, and it didn't look as thin or tall as the one she had encountered minutes before.

Sara realized that the creature had its back to her, and she heard the soft crying coming from the door that was on the other side of it. She was quiet as she reached her hand out and grabbed the door handle, pausing as the creature reacted to the noise that she made when doing so. It turned its head ever so slightly as if to listen for more noise, and Sara took the opportunity to bend down and pick up a book that laid at her feet. She silently opened the door, and she inched her way back to the staircase. She held her breath as she tossed the book into the room she had opened, letting it crash into a glass container within the room. The creature cried out in anger and rushed to the room. It let out another scream when it went in, possibly trying to scare or sense where its prey was. Sara dove forward and slammed the door shut, running down the hall where she had heard the crying. She opened the door, causing the small child who was hiding inside to scream.

"Come on!" Sara ordered, picking up the small girl and running down the stairs.

"Sara?" Joseph's voice called from outside.

"Stay out there!" Sara replied. "There's another thing in here!"

She set the little girl down long enough to open a closet that was at the bottom of the stairs. She kicked her bags inside and forced the girl to get in. She closed the door and ran to hide behind the kitchen island just as the creature stumbled down the stairs. It roared once more, and Sara could hear the little girl begin to cry.

"Hey!" Sara yelled over the girl's crying, using a pan that she pulled out of the cupboard and hitting it repeatedly on the kitchen island's surface.

The creature appeared in the kitchen's doorway and dove over the kitchen island in the matter of seconds. Sara grunted as she rolled out of the way, hitting her head on the counter. Her vision became blurry and red as blood ran down her head, and she realized that the creature was attacking the corpse as if it thought it was her. She was quick on her feet as she ran to the closet, grabbing the bags and picking up the little girl. She ran outside, setting everything down so she could close the front door.

She could hear the creature scrambling around inside, and she was able to get herself, the bags, and the little girl on the other side of the cement wall just as it crashed through the front door with enough force to knock it clear off its hinges. Joseph and Sara both sat with their backs against the cement wall, the little girl in Sara's lap. The woman quickly covered the child's mouth as Joseph covered his own. Sara's harsh breathing caused Joseph to panic, and he quickly covered her mouth as well as they both listened to the creature make its way over to the cement wall.

It quickly changed courses when a Boiler down the street broke the glass of a window, the creature racing down the street with ease. Joseph lowered his hands, and Sara did the same. The little girl continued to cry.

"Mama! Papa!" She wailed.

Sara's head pounded as Joseph moved around her. He managed to calm the child down before turning his attention to her.

"What happened?" He asked, rummaging through one of the bags for any bandages.

"Those things were in there." Sara replied. "One was in the kitchen, and the other was upstairs. The first one in the kitchen just ran off when it couldn't smell my breath. I heard the little girl running upstairs, and I went up to get her, but there was another one. I trapped it in a room and hid her inside a closet before it got out. I was in the kitchen when it came down, and I realized it reacted to sound more than anything else when I had used a book to trap it upstairs. I was hitting the counter with a pan, and it launched itself at me. Those things are agile. It was on top of the corpse the first one had been eating. It would have had me if I hadn't moved."

"I could tell from the injury that something bad happened. I thought it had gotten you."

"I hit my head on the counter when I moved out of the way."

Joseph found bandages, gauze, and a white towel, and he was gentle as he pressed the towel to Sara's forehead. She hissed in pain, and it was only a few minutes before Joseph removed the towel. He pressed a gauze pad to her wound, and he made her hold it in place. She groaned as he moved her head forward enough so he could wrap the bandages around.

"We need to get moving. Those things are in the area." Joseph whispered.

"Mama! Papa!" The little girl cried once more, holding her arms out in the direction the creatures had gone.

Sara got to her feet, lifting the child up into her arms. Joseph took the bags of equipment and food, and they began to walk away from the house.