I pulled the knife out of the last zombie standing, placing my foot in its chest and pushing the body to the ground. Over many zombies laid on the ground before mine, all dead, really dead in a variety of ways. Slicing and stabbing are the main things I did.

"Rere?"

I looked down, I hadn't been touched except for the blood splatter on my clothes.

"Let's go. I don't think I want to be here any longer." I didn't answer him, because I can't be sure of the next floor we were about to go. So, I signaled them to move up. Footsteps are the things we heard besides the groaning outside faintly echoed around.

I walked through the undead bodies and prioritize on securing the rooms to find information or something such as supplies. Better than wasting time and energy on the empty building.

My thoughts were interrupted, picking up the faint sound of clattering can. It was rather different because undead usually makes much more noises than that.

As soon as I turned the corner, I hefted the knife and dashed so fast seemingly like running from danger. I was ready to strike but the sight was making me perplexed.

"Woof!"

I froze as soon as I heard the voice, the knife stopped before pulling it back.

A dog.

"Ahh.. a dog," I said, removing the bloody knife from in front of the dog, prompting the furry animal to come over to me.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Where's your owner?"

A soft voice answered my question whilst picking the dog which had its tail wagging vigorously.

"I think I know who the owner is."

"Who?"

"A friend of mine," Linda said, peeking at the name tag around the collar. It was hidden beneath the thick fur, almost invisible to the naked eyes. Her eyes flickered from the dog to me then back to the dog.

"I think she's here."

None of us said a word after Linda said that. She knew the possibility of someone inside a building filled with them and not an ounce of supplies in sight would survive.

Linda, understanding the situation, avoided the topics started to whisper quietly.

"We should move."

"Yeah..." Andrew said, before proceeding to lead the way, replacing the tired me which already tucked the dog under my arms. I could see Tyler's hand grabbing the edge of my shirt, trying to blink his tiredness away from his eyes.

"Hmm... I wonder when we'll reach a safe spot soon." I muttered to myself, letting the knife resting on the pocket in my waist.

I followed the pair, who was led by Andrew, took the stairs onto the next floor. It was taking too long and we're reaching our limit. I thought it would be easy to reach the top floor but I guess it was off the mark.

"Are you alright, Rere?" Linda nervously asked.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself. "Yeah."

"Still, it looks like we need to stay in this floor, at the moment. No need to push ourselves after being chased by them and looters."

"I guess so. What do you think, Rere?"

"It seems like that would be the correct decision, seeing our current state."

The two of them chuckled and began looking for the most secured room without lingering scent of blood and rotten corpse. I felt a losing grip and realized Tyler almost ready to drop down on the floor. The dog leaned towards me, getting comfortable under my hands snoring softly.

The sun was already descending causing every visible surface to be cast in shades of orange and darkness. These empty building stretched out our fear and anxiety so I grabbed Tyler's hand and we began to follow the two of them, arriving a bit late in a dark room saved with a bit of light from the sun, almost disappearing from the horizon.

We made it to the room without any further incidents. I didn't detect anyone nearby, so we waited in silence at the corner of the room with Linda for Andrew to show up after inspecting the other room.

"Sorry for being late." Andrew said. "The usual. They showed up suddenly when I tried to find any useful stuff for our travel."

"At least you're safe." Linda said with a smile.

The group went silent. Darkness enveloped the room, swallowing the last light and we took out the candle from the backpack easily, it lighted up the room but not enough to light up our conversation.

"This is fine enough, right?" Linda asked, breaking the silence.

"I think so too." I replied without much consideration of the comfort inside the room. It's decent enough to sleep and I looked at Tyler, who nodded at my answer.

"Me too. I already looked the other room but it's wrecked and you know, messy with bloods and corpses."

"I guess we agree to get some rest but we should probably have someone stand guard throughout the night." Linda suggested. We looked at each other and finally it landed on Linda as the one who will took the first watch.

"Ugh, fine. I will take first watch. But don't sleep too much because I'm tired too."

"Then I shall take the next shift," Andrew replied as he began to sleep near the door.

"I guess I will take the last one. Good night," I said, putting the dog beside Tyler and started stretching my arms. I walked towards the corner with Tyler as he took the left side and laid down on my lap.

"Night."

It wasn't until the next morning that they realized how quiet and fast the night was ending that turned morning for the group into the worst morning.