On a stormy night during the apocalypse, my own mother threw me out of the house while I was burning with fever, along with my husky, so my little brother would have a better chance of surviving.

She shouted through the crack in the door, “Take that useless mutt and go die somewhere. Stop wasting your brother’s food!”

I huddled in a pile of trash with my dog in my arms, convinced I was going to die.

Then my husky suddenly spoke.

“Host’s vital signs critically low. Infinite Supply Search System activated.”

“Supermarket warehouse one hundred meters ahead. Three thousand freeze-dried meals detected.”

“Pharmacy five hundred meters to the left. Five hundred boxes of antibiotics detected.”

Three days later, I’d built a fortress with packs of dogs and mountains of supplies.

I sat inside eating steak and watching the show.

Outside the barbed wire, my mother and brother were on their knees, fighting each other over half a piece of moldy bread.

I smiled.

“Mom, even dogs wouldn’t eat that. Better savor it.”

My head was pounding.

My forehead was so hot it felt like it could fry an egg.

I curled up in the corner of the couch, wrapped in that old tattered blanket, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.

“Mom, please give me a fever pill. I really can’t take this anymore.”

My voice came out hoarse, and my throat tasted like blood.

Linda Carter sat by the coffee table, clutching the white pill bottle tightly in her hand.

It was the last bottle of ibuprofen in the house.

She didn’t even look at me. Her eyes were locked on Tyler, who was sitting there playing video games.

Tyler Jackson sniffled and let out the faintest little sneeze.

Linda shot to her feet at once.

She poured a glass of warm water, shook out two pills, and pressed them into Tyler’s hand.

“Baby, hurry up and take these. That sneeze didn’t sound right. Don’t go catching a cold.”

I stared at the scene in disbelief.

I had a fever of a hundred and three point six. I was even starting to hallucinate.

Tyler’s nose just itched.

I struggled up from the couch and reached for the bottle.

“Mom, I still have a fever. Just leave me one...”

Smack!

Linda slapped the back of my hand.

It swelled red instantly.

“Eat, eat, eat. That’s all you ever think about. This medicine is for your brother. What does a useless girl like you need it for?”

Tyler swallowed the pills, then slammed the glass down on the table.

He looked at the husky lying by my feet with open disgust.

“Mom, this dog’s shedding again. Just looking at him annoys me.

“And he eats so much every meal. We’re barely scraping by as it is.

“Get rid of him.”

Duke seemed to understand. He let out a low whine and buried his head against my leg.

My dad had left him to me before he died.

He’d been with me for five whole years.

I wrapped my arms tightly around Duke’s neck.

“No. Dad left him to me. Nobody’s touching him.”

Tyler let out a cold laugh, got to his feet, and kicked Duke hard in the stomach.

Duke cried out in pain, but because he didn’t want to make things harder for me, he didn’t bite him.

I lunged at Tyler like I’d lost my mind and shoved him away.

“Stop it!”

He dropped to the floor on purpose and instantly started wailing at the top of his lungs.

“Mom! Hannah hit me! She hit me over a dog!”

Linda’s face darkened on the spot.

She stormed into the kitchen, grabbed a rolling pin, and came straight at me.

“So now you’ve got some nerve, huh? You dare hit your brother?”

Once.

Twice.

The blows came down on my back and arms.

I shielded my head, shielded my dog, and curled up into a ball.

Outside, thunder roared and rain came down in sheets.

From the street came the constant shrieks and growls of zombies.

When Linda finally got tired, she stood there panting hard and pointed at the front door.

“Get out. Take that mutt and get out of my house.”

“I don’t raise ungrateful brats, and I sure as hell don’t keep worthless dogs around.”

I looked up at her in disbelief.

“Mom, there are zombies everywhere outside, and it’s pouring. You’re really making me leave right now?”

“You’re sending me out there to die!”

Linda grabbed me by the collar.

She was unbelievably strong. She dragged me all the way to the door, with Duke and me in tow.

“Go die out there, then! At least you won’t be wasting your brother’s food!”

She yanked the front door open and kicked me hard in the side.

I lost my balance and tumbled into the hallway, clutching Duke.

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

Then came the locks.

Click.

Click.

Two deadbolts.

I lay sprawled on the cold concrete floor, every bone in my body screaming.

From inside, Tyler’s voice drifted out.

“Mom, her puffer jacket’s pretty thick. You should’ve taken it off her before kicking her out.”

Linda spat.

“Gross. It’s got that sick girl’s germs all over it. I don’t want it.”

I listened to their warm, loving little conversation through the door, until there were no tears left to cry.

The hallway was pitch black.

The motion sensor light had been broken for ages.

A cold draft swept through.

From downstairs, I heard heavy footsteps.

Dragging.

Like something scraping across the floor.

The stench of rot drifted up through the stairwell.

The zombies were inside the building.

My blood ran cold.

The fever burning through me turned into icy sweat in an instant.

Shaking, I staggered to my feet and pounded on my neighbor’s door across the hall.

“Mrs. Carter! Please open the door, it’s Hannah!

“Please, just let me stay inside for a minute. I can stand by the door. I won’t bother you.”

No answer.

But I could hear it.

Fast, shallow breathing on the other side.

Something heavy scraping as they pushed furniture against the door.

They heard me.

They just didn’t want to help.

The footsteps downstairs were getting closer.

“Grrr—”

A low, guttural growl echoed up the stairwell.

The kind of sound a predator makes when it’s found prey.

A flash of lightning cut through the darkness.

At the turn of the stairs, I saw it.

A human-shaped thing with half its face missing, its neck twisted at an unnatural angle, staring up at me.

Its eyes were cloudy white.

Its mouth was still chewing on something.

It saw me.

My legs went weak. I almost collapsed.

This is it.

I’m dead.

Suddenly, Duke clamped his teeth onto my pant leg and yanked hard.

“Woof!”

A short, sharp bark.

He didn’t charge downstairs.

He dragged me upward.

Toward the rooftop.

I snapped back to my senses.

Right. Up.

Zombies move slow on stairs.

I forced myself forward, dizzy from the fever, scrambling up on hands and knees.

Behind me, the growling grew louder.

The thing slammed into the railing as it started climbing faster.

I didn’t dare look back.

My lungs burned like they were on fire.

Sixth floor.

Seventh floor.

The top.

The metal door to the rooftop was locked with a rusted chain.

Despair crashed over me.

Locked.

The footsteps behind me reached the sixth floor.

Duke suddenly let go and slammed himself against the lock.

Useless.

He turned and barked frantically at a pile of construction debris nearby.

I followed his gaze.

A rusted crowbar.

I lunged for it, grabbed it, and jammed it into the lock.

“Ahhh!”

I roared, pouring every ounce of fear and desperation into it.

Crack!

The lock snapped.

The metal door screeched open.

I shoved it wide and stumbled onto the rooftop with Duke.

Then slammed it shut behind me.

I jammed the crowbar through the handle.

Boom!

Something slammed into the door.

The dull, heavy sound of a skull hitting metal.

The door rattled violently, dust shaking loose.

I collapsed onto the rain-soaked ground, gasping for air.

The rain was freezing, soaking through me, sending chills through my burning body.

For now… I was alive.

But I was trapped.

No food. No water.

Just endless rain.

And the zombies below.

I pulled Duke close and huddled under the water tank for cover.

Then a window downstairs slid open.

Linda leaned out.

From there, she could see part of the rooftop.

When she realized I wasn’t dead, disappointment flickered across her face.

Then she started shouting.

“You little brat! You’re still alive?

“Did you stash food up there?

“I knew it. You’ve always been sneaky, hiding money from us. Now you’re hiding food too!”

“Throw the food down to your brother right now! If you don’t, I’ll curse you die a horrible death!”

She shrieked into the rain, her voice sharp enough to cut glass.

The zombies were drawn by the noise and started slamming themselves against the security door.

Linda jerked her head back inside and slammed the window shut.

I stared coldly at the closed window.

Whatever tiny bit of warmth I still had left for her was gone.

I ran my hand over Duke’s soaked fur.

“It’s just the two of us now, Duke.”

He licked my palm.

Then a mechanical voice suddenly rang out.

Not in my head.

Out of Duke’s mouth.

“Woof. [Host’s life signs are critically low. Infinite Supply Search System activated.]”

I froze.

Was my fever making me delirious?

Duke looked at me, his blue eyes glowing with something strange.

He got to his feet and pawed at an abandoned flowerpot in the corner of the rooftop.

“Woof. [Hidden supplies detected: one unopened pack of hot dogs, one bottle of water.]”

Still half in disbelief, I walked over.

I pushed aside the mud and dead grass.

A red plastic bag came into view.

Inside was a pack of hot dogs and a bottle of spring water.

Who had stashed this up here and forgotten about it?

My hands shook as I tore open the package.

The smell of meat hit my nose.

I stuffed it into my mouth, swallowing after barely chewing.

At last, a little warmth spread through my stomach.

I could survive.

I had Duke.

It rained all night.

By the next morning, the storm had eased a little.

Curled against Duke’s body heat, my fever had gone down some too.

Duke crouched by the edge of the rooftop, ears pricked, like he was listening to everything happening in the building.

“Woof. [Zombie activity concentrated on the lower three floors. Fifth floor is clear. Survivor movement detected on the fourth floor.]”

I understood.

Someone was coming up.

Before I could react, the metal rooftop door shook under a violent blow.

The crowbar hadn’t wedged it shut that tightly.

A few more kicks, and the door burst open.

Tyler came in holding a machete, with two shady-looking guys behind him.

They were the creeps from the fifth floor, always stealing and causing trouble.

Linda came up last, her face full of spite.

Tyler’s eyes landed instantly on the empty hot dog wrapper by my feet.

They turned red on the spot.

“Mom! I told you she had food hidden up here! Look!”

Linda let out a shriek and rushed over, raising her hand to slap me.

“You heartless little bitch! Your brother’s been starving all day, and you’ve been up here sneaking food behind our backs!

“Do you have any more? Hand it over!”

The two creeps closed in, their eyes crawling all over me.

“Well, damn. Sick or not, she’s still pretty cute.”

I tightened my grip on the crowbar and backed toward the edge of the rooftop.

“That was all I had! It was just one pack. I found it up here!”

Tyler didn’t believe me for a second.

He lunged at me, reaching to search me.

“Bullshit. Take your clothes off. I’m checking for myself.”

Duke shot forward and sank his teeth into Tyler’s wrist.

“Ahh!”

Tyler screamed, and the machete clattered to the ground.

“You mangy mutt! You bit me!”

He stumbled back clutching his wrist. The two creeps exchanged a look, then swung their metal pipes at Duke.

Duke was fast, but he was still just one dog, and he was trying to protect me too.

Thud!

One of the pipes came down hard on his back leg.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking was horribly clear.

“Awooo!”

Duke cried out and crashed to the ground, his back leg bent at a sickening angle.

“Duke!”

My vision went red. I raised the crowbar and charged.

One of the creeps kicked me hard in the stomach.

My whole body flew backward and slammed into the railing. Pain tore through me, and I doubled over.

Tyler picked up the machete and stalked toward me, his face twisted with hatred.