Field of Corpses

He'd driven over a hundred miles, and his car still hadn't run out of gas. It reminded him of himself in a way; he was also the least dead thing out there, besides the trees, and that dog he saw.

A dog?!

He double-took as he saw a dog running across the road and up a fallen fence, onto a roof of an old house. That was pretty weird to see; a living thing. He could have kept driving, and not given a damn about some mutt, but he turned completely around and right onto the front lawn of the house.

As he got out, he looked around for zombies, and didn't see anything moving at all. He shrugged his shoulders, then walked towards the abandoned house. It was pretty old, and the front door was missing off its hinges. He walked right in, and started whistling for the dog. He didn't know why he wanted the dog to come to him so bad, but he thought it would be interesting to 'check out'.

He whistled a few more times as he walked through the house, and he stopped in the middle of the hallway to hear it bark from upstairs. He turned his body around, and went the other direction to find the staircase.

He climbed up it, looking down the upstairs hallway, hoping the dog would be in sight. He tried whistling one more time, and the dog peeked its head around the corner and started walking towards Christian. Christian stopped, and watched the dog sit down a few feet in front of him. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, so he went to pet the dog.

The dog was scared, so he scampered off, back into the room he had come from. Christian let out an irritated sigh, and got to the top of the stairs. He followed the hallway until he found the room the dog had run into. It was easy once he saw the trail of blood...

His almost-eagerness to catch the dog turned into concern when he saw drops of blood leading to his destination. The dog must have been hurt, and that was bad in a several different ways.

He slowly walked in the room, trying not to startle the dog, and he was surprised to find more than one dog in the room. The one he had seen first was now on the ground, and there was another dog wandering around the room. The wandering dog stopped to watch Christian though. The dog was scared, but Christian had no intention of hurting the animals. Even if he had reached that point where he became hungry for flesh, he wouldn't have done a thing. Not to dogs anyway, but he didn't have that killing-urge yet, so the dogs were perfectly safe with him.

"It's okay," Christian said softly to the dog, "I'm not gunna hurt ya."

The dog stayed put, but he wasn't in his protective stance anymore. Instead he watched as Christian knelt over the dog on the ground, who was bleeding. Before he could examine the dog too much, he saw what was wrong; the poor thing had a bite right out of his leg. Christian gasped as he saw what had happened, but he knew there was nothing he could do. That dog was going to turn into a zombie, and that other dog was going to get the worst of it.

Christian glanced up at the other dog and saw the similarities; he figured that the dying one was the other's mom. There was a big difference though; the younger one had dark sports around his eyes that made him look like he had eyeliner. It made Christian smirk, and he knew exactly what he was going to do.

Christian was going to keep that dog, and he was going to name it Billie. It was the last living thing, and it kept him hoping that he would find three other living 'things' out there.

"Maybe this is a sign?" Christian thought. "This dog is a sign that I should try for California still."

Billie stared at Christian, and his ears quickly perked up once he heard a noise from outside. Christian got up in a hurry and rushed to the window. He looked out to see a zombie coming down the road. He was far enough away, but he had to get this dog.

He turned back around, and picked up the dog he had just named Billie, then hurried back down the stairs. He hated leaving that other dog to die like that, but he couldn't let the fully-alive one go. He somehow knew that this dog was also his, like the car.

With one hand, he carried the dog under his left arm, and he opened the car door with the other. He set Billie down carefully, then turned his car back on. As he backed out, he saw behind him that the zombie was now running. It was still at a distance, but he didn't want to take the chance. Christian drove off quickly, saving Billie, but leaving the other dog behind to be eaten by that zombie.

About half an hour later, Christian was speeding down the road, and his new pet was calmly sitting on the seat next to him. He thought it was a bit strange for a stray animal to be so relaxed, but he figured the mutt must have taken a liking to him; he must have sensed that Christian had just saved his life.

He reached an arm over to pet the thing, and the dog was more than receptive. He nudged his head into Christian's palm and got closer to him. Christian had just found his company for the rest of his forever, and he didn't feel so lonely anymore. He felt like he already had a connection with the thing. After all, they both had lost everything, and they were the only things left surviving.

The rest of the drive was calm like that, until his red beauty finally started to run out of gas. He cursed a few times, and got a little irritated. He didn't want to have to stop now; he finally had enough motivation to keep going to California, and now he had to take a break.

He drove around for a few more minutes, trying to find a gas-station, and after about ten minutes, he finally found his gas-station. It was very old looking, and a bit in the middle of nowhere, but he figured 'gas was gas'.

He had to make it quick though; he saw how quickly that zombie caught onto the living dogs' scents, so he didn't want any more to come and take his only friend away. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would make Christian feel that much more alone. It would make him feel that much more pissed at the place for being so unfair.

Idaho was fairly empty when it came to zombies though, so he had more than enough time to get his gas. He just didn't want to take any risks; none what-so-ever. He was way too close now; too close to being saved from complete death.

Christian pumped the gas, which still worked somehow, and he looked at his new dog. He always liked Huskies, so it was odd that he would come across one like that. It made him question a few things, but he would not consider it having anything to do with luck, God, or miracles. He knew it was something else, he just couldn't put his finger on it. He knew there had to be a purpose for the thing.

"Everything has a reason," Christian thought out loud. He still had a puzzled look on his face as he stared at his new friend. He didn't look away until he needed to see how much gas was in the car. It was pretty much at full tank now, and he wanted to get back on the road.

Billie stayed in the car as he got in, and Christian couldn't help but to stare at him once while more. He looked into his eyes, and he half-expected them to be blue. They weren't though; they were as green as his.

"Billie is the perfect name for you, isn't it?" Christian asked his dog, and of course the dog just stared back. It made Christian smile at himself for feeling stupid for talking to a dog, but no one was around. With that, this dog was who he talked to.

As he started explaining to Billie his plans for the road, he continued to drive fast down the empty road. Nothing was going to stop him now...