Carol squatted in the tall grass, watching the walker stumble across the beach. She had made it to the Atlantic coast. There was a small sand bar in what seemed to be about a half mile out. She could camp there, and be surrounded safely by water.
She thought of her scavenged supplies that were back in the trunk of her station wagon, including two pop tents and an outdoor sleeping bag. She knew she could survive there.
She had also recently acquired a partner. A dog. A Newfoundland named Tex. Tex was back at the car with the supplies.
"I already lost my group. I can't risk losing him, too."
The zombie shuffled out of sight. She looked around, then crept toward the surface of the water.
She reconfirmed the distance of a half mile, and started swimming toward the sand bar. As she swam, she tried to do some other calculations. The tide would cover it twice a day. She would have to hide on the normal beach or in her car for about four hours a day.
"But, I'd be protected for 20 hours. It will get old swimming supplies back and forth, but you gotta do what you gotta do."
Once she made it to the small island, she scouted it.
"Thirty paces long, fifteen paces wide. Not bad. Large enough for me and my dog. The weirdos can't swim, but I'd better put up a barrier in case. Or something light that I can take to and fro."
The water on her clothes was drying, giving her a chill.
For the millionth time she wished she had Lizzy and Mika…or even…
"Don't you dare think it, Carol!"
But it was too late. Sophia. Sophia. Sophia. The small child that was her daughter. But it usually seemed like a clip of someone else's life. Her baby was lying six-feet-under a tree on an overrun farm that had been a temporary refuge for about a month and a half…hours and miles away.
But no. Now it was her and good Ol' Tex. Tex the portable heater. Tex, the dinner hunter. Tex, the best kind of partner. The cold could be biting and with Tex she could…survive.
"Wow. I can't believe…even he's a tool for survival…"
Carol hated herself for a brief moment for realizing the truth. Tex wasn't a friend. He was another supply. Dispensable. A luxury item. She could survive without him.
As she lay on the sand, she tried to forget the reality. As she sat up, she saw another biter lumber across the beach from her new safe haven.
Carol sighed, then began her swim back to the mainland.
"I'll get him. That'll be one less walker to deal with in this world."