I awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and could hear the sound of my dog barking. It wasn’t her normal bark it sounded more terrified then that. So I quickly shot out of bed and immediately ran to my parent’s room. Nobody was there so I ran to my sister Natalie’s room. She was laying in bed awake with tears streaming down her terrified face. I pulled her out of bed and went to see if the phones were working, sadly to no avail. Then I ran to put Patches on her leash. She is a purebred German Shepard and boy is she gorgeous. We got her when she was just three weeks old, she was a rescue. When the animal rescue center found her she was stuck in a storm drain with water up to her neck. When my family and I went to the pound I instantly fell in love with her and convinced my mom to let her take Patches home. We bottle fed patches her first five weeks after we got her since she was so little.
Since the phone lines were down we decided that our best option was to go find someone for help. Once we made it outside we quickly realized what a difficult task was in front of us. For as far as I could see the whole world was in chaos, there was smoke everywhere and multiple buildings were on fire. People were running around screaming about lost family members and pets. Our whole neighborhood was a complete disaster. I figured our best bet was to find some woods and go there. I grabbed my sister’s hand and began pulling her down the street. After walking for about three hours we finally stumbled upon a much wooded area. It seemed safe enough. I pulled her up into the woods and began walking deeper and deeper into the woods. After an additional two hours of walking we came upon a small cabin in a clearing. I made Natalie hide behind a tree and pulled out my dagger. Patches and I slowly walked up to the cabin and tapped on the door. Nobody answered and we didn’t hear any noises. So I quietly opened the door and walked in. After clearing the whole house I opened a window and called for Natalie to come inside. Once she was inside I made a fire and cooked dinner for the three of us. I made stew for us. After dinner we all curled up on the sofa and quickly fell asleep.
Around three that morning we awoke to the sound of someone coming into the house. I quickly stood up and guarded my kin. A boy around Natalie’s age came stumbling in seeming to be terrified. I dropped my weapon and immediately ran over to him. He was scared and almost in tears, I quickly reassured him and made sure he knew he was safe with us. His name was Aiden and told us his brother Brantley would be coming soon that he was out looking for food. We all sat up and waited for him to arrive but he never did. Around day break we all fell asleep again.
Once we all finally awoke we realized that there was another person asleep next to Aiden. I assumed it was his brother and got up to let Patches outside. Once she came back in I decided to start breakfast for everyone. I made oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries inside of it. When breakfast was done I woke everyone up so they could eat it while it was hot. Aiden and Brantley showed their appreciation as they wolfed down breakfast. After eating we all had a group discussion about where we were going and what we were going to do while the world was in complete chaos. We decided to stick together and try to go to another city, hopefully to find safety. We set out on our adventure with Patches right by our side. She protected each and every one of us and guarded us with her life. Gosh what did people ever do so great to deserve something as loyal as dogs? We must have done something extremely good. Whatever it was I’m glad to have dogs.
After we started our journey Aiden and Natalie quickly grew a bond. It was evident that Aiden liked her but of course she was too blind to see it. Brantley and I talked about it constantly we both found it absolutely hilarious that neither of them could tell that the other one was flirting, naive children these days. While walking I taught everyone what berries you could eat and what ones were poisonous, I also taught them that there is certain berries that Patches cannot have because they will kill her. I taught them basic first aid, you know since I was a medic for the Army for the last four years. I did my job and I did it well. Just couldn’t stand losing one of our own and I was definitely going to make sure that I didn’t lose any from our little pack. They were all equally important to me. I mean Brantley was a kind individual that protected us.
Our journey lead us through the woods and through a big open field. Once night fell we made camp and came to the conclusion that one of us should stay awake and keep guard with Patches just in case something happens. Brantley and I decided to take first shift. We sat upon this hill and could see part of the city in the distance, we had made it so far already. You could still see buildings were on fire and that people were dying. It was sad and we still couldn’t figure out what happened and why it happened. Someone has to have answers somewhere.
Around day break we heard something running towards us whatever it was it was coming at us pretty fast. Once it got closer we realized it was a person. The closer it got the scarier it was for us. It stunk and came sprinting at us and was trying to bite us. Brantley pushed me aside and quickly picked up a huge rock and swung it at it. It dropped and twitched a few times before it stopped moving completely. We quickly woke Aiden and Natalie and decided it was time to move on from this location. We came to the conclusion that these woods are no longer safe for us and that we needed better protection. So we ran, we were only a few miles away from town and figured we could make it if we were fast enough. We put Natalie and Aiden in the middle. I was in front with Patches and Brantley was in the back. We covered ground quietly and quickly trying to avoid being seen or heard.
As we continued running through the woods we tried to come up with some sort of plan but kept coming up empty handed. As we were running I noticed Brantley was no longer behind us. He seemed to have disappeared, I surely hope he didn’t get bit. All of a sudden Patches started growling and barking ferociously. A hoard of them were coming right for us! What are we supposed to do now? I looked behind us and there was another hoard of them coming up from behind us. I quickly grabbed Natalie by the hand and hoisted her up into a tree, then Aiden came and helped me into the tree. We were hugging each other shaking from fear. I tried to devise a plan but couldn’t think straight with death looking me right in the eye. It scared the life right out of me, I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified before. We hid up in our tree for what seemed like an eternity, Aiden bailed and we still have no clue where he went.
As we were hiding in the tree, we heard gut wrenching screams, and shots being fired. We watched below us as the dead walked West to the sound of the screams. Whoever it was there poor soul was gone now. 
Natalie was in tears for the loss of her beloved friend. I tried to consul her but there wasn’t much I could do stuck in a tree. I haven’t seen Aiden since he helped me into the tree but I know what kind of person he is and he most likely sacrificed himself for us. I couldn’t help but wonder where Brantley went.
When the noise died down and we didn’t see any more of the dead walking around we climbed out of our tree. We looked around and cried at the fact we lost our beloved Patches. We didn’t have much time to mourn because we needed to get out of there.
We wondered around for hours, trying to find a safe place to stop. We finally came upon an abandoned building. We were hesitant about going inside but there wasn’t much we could do about it. Suddenly Brantley came flying out the house and bear hugged the both of us. I have never been so glad to see someone before in my entire life. It was an extremely pleasant surprise. He pulled us into the house and out of harm’s way.
Once we walked in, there were others just like us. People that were just as scared and alone as the rest of us. There were elders that taught us what was going on and how we were all going to survive in this crazy place that was now our world. The one we were stuck in. As they graciously welcomed us I knew we were now safe with them.