I turned to see another door in the room and assumed that it was the garage he was talking about earlier, “Well Tom, you want to come with me?” I glanced around and noticed some dog food off to the side. I tore open the bag and watched it fall onto the floor. Tom ran over and began to devour the food. I glanced along the wall at all the other dogs who were violent attacking the cages. I noticed a few cans of dog food and piled them into my bag. Seems like you all were forgotten about, weren’t you?” I said as I pet Tom on his back. He seemed to ignore me as he munched on the food in front of him. I walked over to the door to the garage and slowly opened it. It creaked loudly. Tom glanced up from eating and began to growl as he walked towards me. I tensed up but noticed he wasn’t growling at me as he peaked his head around the corner and into the dark room in front of us. My eyes slowly started to adjust, and I could make out a few shadows walking around inside.

“Shh, follow.” I whispered to Tom. Tom walked with me as we stuck close to the wall. I heard something get knocked over on the other side of the room and Tom growled, “Shh.” I walked over to a small door next to the large garage door and opened it slowly. Tom and I slipped outside and shut the door behind us. I took a deep sigh as I could feel my heart raising. Tom Licked my hand which made it easier to calm down. I got down on one knee and began to pet his head, “Such a good boy, aren’t you?” I laughed. I glanced around to see some more people walking around the street. A. few stopped and looked over at me.

They ignored us and continued to keep walking. I began to walk down the street and noticed a giant fence with a few zombies attacking it. As I got closer, I heard a voice yell out, “Get back!” I stopped and Tom started to growl as a young man ran over to us with a weapon, “Are you asking to get shot? If one of those things bite you, you die.” he lectured and looked down at Tom, “Are you a traveler? I haven’t seen a dog around here or yourself actually.”

I nodded, “I was just trying to leave and seemed to have been turned around. Where can I leave through again?”

“How have you lived this long, with your bad sense of direction.” He questioned.

“I’m just good at hiding I guess.” I laughed as Tom stopped growling and let his tongue hang out his mouth.

“That dog seems well trained. I give you credit for getting as lucky as you are, to have such a well-behaved dog.” He stared at the dog for a moment. I leaned down again and pet Tom. He listened pretty well for just meeting him a little bit ago, “Do you need food though? Looks as though that dog is very skinny. Must be hard to find food for both of you.”

“We get through the days just fine. Now if you could point at the exit, that would be helpful. We only came to get some food.”

He looked us once over and nodded, “The exit is actually down the road back there. Stay away from the fence line though. It’s not safe and we don’t like when outsiders get too close to it. Some people in this world aren’t nice.”

“You’re telling me.” I mumbled.

I turned and walked away from the man. I found the road and Tom and I followed it, until we got to a large gate. I walked over to one of the men near it, “Can you open the…” I paused as the man turned around wearing a pig’s mask.

“Aren’t you that…” I quickly lunged for his gun on his belt. He got to it first and pointed it directly at me, “How did you get out?” Tom began to growl at the man, and he glanced down, “Where the heck did you get a dog?”

“Just let me go and I won’t let Tom attack you. Even one bit from him could possibly infect you. Do you want to risk this?” I threatened. He pointed the weapon at Tom. I stepped in front of Tom then, “You kill him, and before you can fire again, I will have you back on the ground with a bullet in you.”

“Violent kid, aren’t you?” he questioned as he lowered his gun. He walked over and pushed open one of the gates. I quickly ran out of it with Tom behind. As we left the I glanced around to see some houses nearby. The windows looked to be broken and all the doors looked broken.

“Come on Tom. We can’t stay on the road.” I ran off to the side towards a back yard. I paused when I noticed a zombie crawling on the ground. Tom began to growl at it. It started to crawl towards us, and I glanced around for something to kill it with. I noticed an umbrella for outdoors on the ground. I picked it up and walked over to the zombie. I shoved the pole through its head and let out a deep breath. “Tom, you have to stay quiet or else.” I looked over at Tom who was sniffing the zombie I had just killed. “Not like you understand me.” I pulled out the umbrella and walked towards the fence with it. I tapped on the fence and suddenly heard growling coming from the other side. I bite down on my lip, “Take the road and risk running into those people again or keep jumping yards and hope I don’t get bit by the zombies that could be hidden.” I glanced down at Tom, “I also don’t know how I would get you over each fence.” I turned back towards the road. I sighed, “We need to move quickly.” I began to run as I hit the road. I didn’t know if they would come after me or note but I couldn’t risk getting caught again. We ran for over an hour till finally I stopped. I could feel my hand starting to shake badly. I could also feel my heart beating quickly. I glanced around and noticed I was near a few stores. I could see a few zombies walking around the area, but since it had gotten a little darker outside, it was hard for them to see me. Tom began to whine quietly as he bumped my hand. “Shh. It’s fine.” I gasped as I found an ally right next to me that was empty. I fell against the wall and Tom cuddled up against me. I continued to take some deep breaths, “It’s fine boy. I just over extorted myself a little too much. I don’t get tired like most, but my body does. Perks of being somewhat infected.” Tom licked my face and I laughed to myself. I put my hand on his hand and pet him gently. “We need to find somewhere safe to lay down for the night. We have some distance on that camp.” Just as I was saying that, I could hear the rumbling of vehicles pulling up. Tom began to growl, and I quickly wrapped my hands. Around him, “Shh.” I could hear voices suddenly.

“She couldn’t have gone too far. We noticed some footsteps in the dirt going this way.” I felt my heart sink as they pointed this out. I didn’t even think about hiding my tracks.

“She is just afraid. How would you feel if you were locked up in a cell with the dead right next to you?” a woman stated. I heard a few gun shots go off which caused Tom to bark.

“Did you hear that? It came from over here.”

“Tom, I told you to stay quiet.” I whined as I got to my feet. I noticed a few flashlights shine on the side of the ally. I started to run down the alley away from the lights. Tom barked again as I noticed something from the corner of my eye lung at me. I fell to the ground and fought as a zombie snapped its mouth at me. Tom continued to bark at it, and I started to hear more growling coming towards me, “Tom, quiet.” I yelled as I continued to fight back. I glanced off to the side to see two more zombies come around the corner. Tom finally lunged at the zombie on top of me, making it fall off to the side. I crawled back, away from it and glanced around. I noticed a small wooden stake next to me and grabbed it. I plunged it into the zombie that Tom had knocked off of me and watched as it stopped moving. Tom was already barking again. I looked up to see I had let the two other zombies sneak up on me. I tried to pull the stake out, but it wouldn’t come out. I tried to get back on my feet but one of the zombies in front of me lunged at me. It grabbed hold of my leg and bit down. I let out a cry as Tom began to whimper. Tom ran back down the alley away from me and I began to laugh to myself, “Everyone leaves, when I need them the most.” The other zombie fell to the ground and I kicked it with my free leg. Its claws began to tear at my other leg. A gun shot rang through my ear suddenly.