We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Fifty-Five

   Knowing they wouldn't leave anytime soon, Cora decided to use her time in the unit to sleep. Was it dangerous and stupid? Yes. Was it worth it? Completely.
   When she woke up, the pounding on the door had lessened. She estimated that there were about 5 zombies left, give or take. She walked around a little bit to wake herself up, and once she knew she was 100% awake, she opened the door. She only pulled it about a foot up. A zombie dropped to the ground to crawl under, and when its head appeared, she shot it. Three others followed, all shot like the first. When she was sure they were gone, she opened the door all the way and stepped out. She looked both ways, aiming her pistol in front of her. Seeing no other zombies, she made her way back to the parking lot. It
would be hard to find her group's bodies among the corpses, but if her suspicions were right...
   They were. The jeep and the truck were gone. She was both relieved and upset. They were safe, but they'd left without her. Then again, she knew she couldn't blame them. They were in a bad situation and probably couldn't get to her. She just hoped they'd be back.
   She spent the next half hour walking around and looking at the bodies and in the unlocked storage units in case anyone else got left behind. She found Laina's body lying on the floor of one of the units. She saw that the door had been lifted a few inches by the infected. She didn't know if they ate dead people as well as living, but Cora took the time to drag Laina to a corner and push a desk in front of her, hopefully to keep the zombies away. She said her goodbyes and walked back outside, closing the unit behind her. She caught a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye, and she spun in that direction and started shooting at the moving figure. She'd been left behind, Laina had been bitten and shot herself, and she could only guess where Bill's team and the rest of the convoy were.
   She had only shot a few rounds when something slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Her head bounced off of the gravel and her vision blurred. She struggled to get the thing off; it now had her
sleeve stuck between its teeth, and it wasn't letting go. She threw a weak punch, but instead of connecting with the body, it hit something hard. This just caused it to shake its head more, dragging her arm with it. A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she laid her head down and relaxed her body. She could barely move and she knew she wasn't getting out of this. She heard approaching footsteps, and a
loud, stern voice.
   "Out!" He yelled, and through the fuzzy darkness she saw him yank the dog off. A second dog stood at his side. She heard him talking to her, but the words didn't register in her mind. A few seconds later, she lost consciousness.

   Cora opened her eyes slowly. She was laying on a couch. She didn't know what time it was, but when she saw the slivers of dark blue beyond the gaps of the boarded-up window, she knew she'd been asleep
for a while. As her eyes adjusted, she saw someone sleeping on the floor not far from her. Curled up next to him was a golden-brown dog. Remembering the attack, she sat up quickly. Bad idea. Her head throbbed like someone had just hit her with a bat, and she laid back down. She closed her eyes until the pain subsided, then sat up again, slower this time. Her head still hurt like hell, but it wasn't as bad. She
stood up slowly, only to fall back down when she heard the snarling dog that she hadn't noticed before. This one was all black, and was now standing from its spot by the couch. She watched it carefully, but
it stopped growling when she sat back down. She slowly reached forward to pet it, hoping that she could get on its good side. It growled again when her hand got close enough to feel the dog's breath. She pulled it away quickly.
   The man laying on the floor groaned, then sat up. The lighter dog was on its feet right away, looking between Cora and the man. He looked over at her and smiled.
   "Good to see you're awake." He said. "I was starting to think she
might've done some actual damage. You’re lucky you got that jacket, or she would’ve had your arm." Cora didn't say anything, just watched him carefully. "And I'm sorry about Atlas." He indicated to the golden brown dog. Now that it was standing, she could see the dark spots on its face, ears, paws, and tail-tip. "She's trained to protect and attack. When you started shooting, that's just what she did."
   "Who are you?" Cora asked, surprised at how scratchy her voice sounded. She cleared her throat as he answered.
   "I'm Sergeant Matthew Austine of the U.S. Air Force. This is Atlas, my partner." He patted the dog. "And you've met Aydin. " He indicated to the black dog that was still watching her.
   "He yours too?"
   He hesitated before answering. "No. He was with my friend, best friend actually. We got called to base when it started. It got overrun. George...didn't make it. Alot of us didn't make it. I don't know what happened to most of them. But Aydin got out, and he's learned to trust me like he did George. Although he doesn't listen like he did with his previous handler."
   "I'm sorry." She said, her voice coming out as a whisper. "What breed are they?" It was probably the last question she'd think to ask, but she did anyway. He perked up a little bit.
   "Atlas is a german shepard. Aydin, he’s a Belgian Malinois. They're like shepards but lighter and apparently smarter. "Are you thirsty?" He asked suddenly. "I've got water." He opened the bag that he'd been using as a pillow and took out a water bottle before handing it to her. She took it gratefully and gulped the whole bottle down. When she set the empty bottle on the ground, she noticed Ayden still watching her.
   "Can you...call him off?" She asked, not looking away from the dog. Matt tossed a rubber chew toy to Atlas.
   "Aydin, heel." No response. "Come. Off. Out." Still the dog didn't listen. "Aydin!" He yelled. The black dog stood up and trotted over to him. "Good boy." He said half-heartedly. "Here, c'mere."
   "What? Why?"
   "Just come here." He repeated in an annoyed voice. She stood up slowly and walked over to him. He stood up and picked up Aydin, holding him with one arm under his chest and the other under his tail
and legs. "Hold him, just like this."
   "Um, I don't think-" She didn't get to finish before he handed the dog over. She held him the same way Matt did, but Aydin was heavy and she struggled to keep him up.
   "Now hand him back." Cora gladly put him back in Matt's arms. "Take him again." She did. "Now set him down." She almost dropped him but managed to avoid hurting the him while setting him on the floor. "Now he knows he can trust you. Get on his good side, and he might even listen to you." As he said it, Aydin leaned against her leg and looked up at her. "You might get along with him easier than I did."
   She reached down to pet him, cautiously at first, then relaxing when he didn't growl or snap at her.
   "Why were you alone back there?" He asked, taking the toy that Atlas offered him and throwing it across the room. Cora looked down, suddenly filled with grief.
   "One of our scavenging teams disappeared; we think they were attacked. My team was on the other side of town when it happened, and we got called back home to meet up with a second team to find them." She'd never called the mall 'home' before, but saying it just now, she realized how much of a home it had really become to her. "We spent the whole day searching for them, and we were still out when it got dark, so we found a place to stay the night. The next day, after more searching, we found the storage units and decided to see if we could find anything useful to bring home. While we were searching, we got
attacked by...them. I got cornered in one of the units. The others couldn't get to me, but I know they couldn't stay; there was only eight of us. So they left. I fell asleep for a few hours, and when I woke up
most of them had given up. I killed the few that stayed at the door, then..." She trailed off, remembering Laina. "Then I heard something behind me...I thought it was one of them...when it was really you..."
   "Well, don't worry, we can find your group. Considering they might take in a stranger?" He threw the toy again. "Or maybe three? How are they about animals?"
   "Most of them don't seem to mind. We've already got a dog and a horse." She answered.
   "A horse? Where is it you're staying again?"
   "A mall. A couple hours away from the storage units." She looked from Aydin to him. "Are you with anyone? Aside from the dogs, I mean?"
   He sighed. "I was. A couple other guys got out of the base with me. We were alright for a while, but you know what those things out there are like. They got ahold of 'em, and I was left with these two."
   "Yeah, I know what you mean. When we cleared the mall, one of them hid from us, then once we were settled in it attacked..." Cassidy. She didn't finish the sentence. "I lost a best friend too." She wasn't
aware until then that she was crying. She sat down beside Aydin and held him tight against her. He tensed up at first, but calmed down after a minute. She knew Matt was watching her, but she didn't care.
She'd tried to act strong at the mall, like the death hadn't shaken her world and left a hole in her heart. But that's just what it did, and it felt good to let that out.