One of them, one of the last ones of the horde, gets caught up on the snow and, unable to raise its limbs, it tries to force his way in, but against the high pile of snow the others had left behind his body ended up swinging like a pendulum, and as his legs got stuck and his body swung he felt down to the side like a sack of potatoes and rolled down the cave entrance, his head hitting the wall with an ominous thump; If we were lucky the fall would have killed it.

But fuck!

We weren’t lucky.

His stench quickly filled the place up, making me twitch my nose subconsciously and my awareness increase, that smell bringing forth my flight or fight reaction as my gaze caught movement to the side where a pile of furs were laid on the side, stirring, closer to the zombie.

Kira!

She must have sensed it, but unable to move she was only able to wiggle about, scared for her life. The zombie, before I could even think, was already starting to stand, and even before I could worry about my dog’s safety I saw the creature's eyes over her, the movement catching its attention over the silent still cave.

I can almost see a glint of excitement over his milky eyes as his rotten teeth chattered together.

Oh no, oh no you don’t you fucker.

As if time was ticking slowly I run my gaze around me trying to find a weapon as, at the same time, my hands try to feel my bag up for my wrench; but until now I have not seen it anywhere, neither inside my bag nor around the cave, so looking for it now, in a panic, I had even a lessen chance of finding.

But the zombie, of course, did not wait up, and once up it staggered to keep its balance with his rotting body, and once its two legs manage to upright the torso he starts to drag himself over the cave and towards Kira.

With his head bouncing sideways with the swag of its body in this dark cave I could barely see his white dead eyes, now with a deadly glint to them, and his teeth that clattered together with the movement, as if the jaw had being loosen and moved with his steps.

As he approached the intensity of Kira moves increased, and yet she did not utter a sound, knowing her situation would worsen if she did, clever girl.

And where is that werewolf when you need him?

Fuck this.

You will not fucking touch my dog your pile of goop!

I get out of my hiding, nothing on my hands as I simply let the adrenaline pump in my veins and, before the creature could even turn its slow as hell head, I kick his knee with everything I got, hearing a satisfying pop followed by his fall.

But my satisfaction didn’t last long as, immune to pain, the creature went back to moving the same second it felt, having difficult to find his balance with his stone heavy limbs for arms and legs.

But of course one kick wouldn’t be enough to get rid of this pest.

Some shadows dangerously accumulate at the entrance with the sounds we were making, so I don’t have time to waste and, without really thinking and only acting, I go up and stump over his head before he could find his balance, kicking it like I was hitting hardwood with the sole of my shoe.

But I insisted until that resistance starts to cave in, cracking open like an egg, the soft mass being crushed underneath my feet and making another type of feeling shudder up my body, that disgusting sensation making me gag and want to vomit, that wet flaccid mass covering my boots up and reaching my pants, making me hold my breath as my kicking only stops when I reached the floor below the head.

I stop all my movements, feeling a crawling sensation tiptoe its way up my leg as, with a final look towards the entrance to make sure none have taken enough interest to come in, I finally take my foot off and start scrubbing it clean on the floor with ferocity, thanking the darkness for I could not see what was left of him and my clothes, relieving only the pieces of goopy meat from underneath my sole so I would not have the sensation of walking over brain matter as I stepped.

I had an incredible urge to burn my clothes and scrub my skin until it redness, but I don’t have time for such distracting urges.

I put my backpack, no more time to waste, and go towards Kira, turning around and approaching her in her line of sight so she would not slash out at me by mistake.

I take the fur off and our eyes meet, her breathing speeding up and he ears down, far too aware of the bad situation she was in.

That we were in.

“Kira, shh, don’t worry love, I got you, I got you…” I say, watching her watery eyes as she pokes her snout on my palm, her tail wiglng ever so softly.

I give her a once over, not knowing how to do this without hurting her, but without options I start to pull her in, passing my arms under her body and making her weight down on my chest as I try to bring her up.

But of course I could not hold all her limbs, nottotally comfortable for her, so before she could get a grasp of herself a yelp of pain escapes her lips, making blood run down my face.

With the defiant silent ringing on my ears I look up, and a pair of zombies legs stop moving at the cave entrance.

Fuck, fuck! Zombies may not hunt animals for contamination purposes but they still would look for a slice of good fresh meat to have for dinner.

I put some strength getting up with Kira, embracing her strongly and knowing that all these moves would cause her pain and to bleed over me, making me try to minimize stirring her body too much as I start to walk back towards my hiding place.

I barely manage to reach behind the pillar when I hear another thumb, followed by other two sliding corpses.

With a loud beating heart hammering inside me I slid down the wall to hide better and was about to cover my mouth with my hand when it came back goopy and slimy with blood.

I pursed my lips and hoped I could calm my breathing down enough so they would not notice me. Damn it what to do now? There were more over the entrance and outside, and these two or three zombies would not be able to get back out there with the snow pilling at the entrance, so it was stay stuck here with them or try to sneak pass and out into even more of them.

All of that carrying Kira on my arms and unharmed.

Fuck me this sucks.

At that moment, however, is when I see a pair of eyes shining in the dark in front of me, making me almost jolt out of my cover and squeak, but somehow managing to only flinch a little.

“Mutt?”

I receive no answer which starts to make me nervous, but I soon focus back on the zombies as one trip and fall right beside me and Kira, making my heart skip a beat.

His head is still turned to the other side, so he didn’t notice us, but if he looks to his right we are doomed.

That’s when the pair of eyes disappears once more into the darkness, only to reappear farther up, making me only able to wonder what he was up to as I keep myself hidden and silent, especially when the zombie tries to stand with frozen fingers in place and his arms moving like wooden blocks.

I didn’t know what to do; if I moved I may be dooming ourselves by making some sound or even catching his attention, but staying may have the same effect if he turns his head and see us.

In the end I didn’t have enough time to choose and ended up staring at the moving corpse while holding my breath and securing Kira tight.

That’s when, amidst this troublesome situation, I see the wolf once more, but this time on the other side of the lagoon, holding himself on the wall like a spider, his bid strong talons piercing the stone.

What the hell was he up to?

At that point the wolf starts to growl loudly, almost trying to bark, attracting the attention of all the creatures in there, plus the few remaining outside, who quickly dragged themselves in, falling as the others.

What the hell was the mutt up to?! He just made the situation worsen!

But that’s when I discovered what he intended with that, why he was beyond the lagoon, and why was he attracting the creature's attention.

Is simply because… zombies can’t swim!

These low undead creatures didn’t have enough intelligence to realize they could not reach him there, they simply saw their target and dragged themselves towards him, falling, one after the other, into the water, and sinking like rocks.

The lagoon may not be very deep, but was enough to prevent them from trying to get out, getting stuck inside there.

Well, now that water was definitely unusable… but I have to give it to him, that was a smart plan, and he got rid of the ones outside as well, making an opening for us to escape.

And that’s just what we are going to do, but where would we go to… that was the issue.