Mein Liebling

Untitled Part 12

A large, warm, extremely wet tongue licks diligently across your face, bringing you slowly back to reality and out of the clutches of unconsciousness.

Pain rakes through your body as you try to stand. The dog at your side whimpers slightly and nudges you with its snout as if encouraging you to get up, but you can barely concentrate on breathing. Each inhale burning through your lungs as your ribs expand, but... miraculously, nothing seems broken.

Shifting slightly, you find yourself sliding onto the hard floor from the pile of mattresses. It had been a long fall, but fate had apparently decided to keep you around. There could be no other explanation. As you blink and shuffle around, finding your flashlight, you bang it against your hand until it turns back on to reveal a rather large pile of old mattresses – though disgusting, it's the only reason you survived the fall.

That's when you feel the panting breath of the large dog sitting next to you wafting across your face, tickling the tufts of hair that had come loose. Slowly, you turn, not wanting to startle it.

But you're the one startled.

"Gaius?" You feel your entire chest swell as your beloved doberman tilts his head in response.

You practically tackle him, earning a bath of licks all over you in return as he excitedly whimpers and nuzzles against you. Fate certainly had your back today.

With a deep breath, you force yourself to stand. Every bone in your body aches, but nothing seems broken, and you're able to limp around the sinkhole until you find a large enough hole in the rumble to climb through.

"Come on, boy." You motion for Gaius to follow, which he happy obliges, and takes the lead sniffing out the way. If he was down here, surely there was a way in and out.

After finding and returning your gun to your waist, you follow Gaius out and trust that he's showing you the way. He was trained well, and you soon find yourself outside the building amongst the pitch black trees that surround it.

Glancing back at the building, you wonder how long you had been out. Had the men left already? Did they assume you were dead and escape while they had the chance?

For a moment, you begin limping back to the front, intending fully on making your way back to the room you had set up camp in. However, the place is overflowing with undead.

There's absolutely no way for you to get back inside, and if the men are still in there...

Shaking yourself, you try to push on, changing directions toward what you know to be the next campsite. You would have to walk through the night, or set up your own camp somewhere along the way... but you know that if they survived they'll be along that same route. That was the plan, everyone had their own maps, we agreed to continue on and meet up if anything happened. You reassure yourself, going over the details repeatedly, remembering how each one of them had agreed to do just that.

You walk for what seems like hours, Gaius loyally padding along at your side and keeping his ears open and nose to the ground for any potential company that may be hiding in the trees. Legs aching and heart pounding, you find yourself collapsing to your knees.

Gaius is instantly at your side, licking your face. "It's ok, buddy. I'm alright." You reassure him before trying to stand again, but your legs simply won't let you. "Ok..." You sigh, "Looks like we're taking a break here."

He seems to understand, moving to lay beside you as you scoot slightly to lean back against a nearby tree trunk. Knowing that he would wake and alert you if anything stirred nearby, you trust in closing your eyes, just for a moment...