Francis walked into a restaurant as part of a group of bikers. People turned their heads when they walked in, likely because of the size of the group and the fact that they were all wearing leather jackets and pants. They had just pulled in to wet their whistles after a day out on the open road.

There was one lowly person sitting at the bar. The bikers all stood behind him and stared him down. Understanding the message, the person at the bar gave up his stool to go sit in a corner and sulk. No one noticed the bite mark on his neck, or they might have had some warning about what was to come.

Francis and his boys took their seats at the bar. The bartender came over to them to take their order. All of the bikers started shouting at once.

"One at a time, people," the bartender shouted. "I ain't got more than two ears to hear all of you."

They all started shouting again. Francis held up his two hands, and the bikers stopped and looked at him.

"You heard the lady. Everyone shut up! We'll start with Joey at the end and go in order, got it?"

The bikers all shouted in response, and then the bartender was able to take all of their orders systematically.

"Coming right up," she said before starting to make the drinks. She moved effortlessly and delivered the drinks. Once everyone had their glass in front of them, Francis raised his to begin a toast.

"Guys, we've been riding together for a long time," Francis said. "Five years, if I'm doing my math right."

"Four!" Joey called from the end.

"Six!" shouted Mike, who was sitting on Francis's right.

"Whatever!" Francis shouted. "However the fuck long it was, here's to us. We either get busy ridin', or we get busy dyin'. Here's to us, and here's to the Eagles finally winning a fucking Super Bowl!"

"Hear, hear!" the other bikers yelled. Just as they were taking their drinks, there was a guttural scream. Everyone turned to the corner where the lone man was sitting, but now he looked sickly and deformed. He turned to the other people in the bar and howled, then lunged forward and bit the woman nearest him.

"What the fuck?" Francis yelled. Another howl, and everyone panicked, making a beeline for the door. The bikers with Francis started to panic and rush for the door as well. Francis quickly realized that the door was overcrowded, and the man from the corner was coming for them.

Without giving it another thought, Francis ran in the other direction, towards the back of the restaurant. He almost went into the bathrooms, but he realized there was no exit from there, so he turned to the kitchen. Reacting solely on instinct, he followed the exit signs and ended up in a dark alley. He could see people fleeing from the restaurant, and before too long the strange man ran out after them.

Francis waited a few more moments to make sure the coast was clear, then ran out to the street and looked back into the restaurant. Nobody remained, not even anyone from his gang. He quickly realized that he was completely alone, and he had no idea what caused that man to suddenly start attacking. Steeling his nerves, he got onto his motorcycle and began to ride with no idea where he was going to go.

"Francis, babe, get up," Rochelle said. Francis was suddenly jolted awake, and for a moment he was frightened, but when he realized where he was he quickly calmed down. "Are you feeling okay? You were muttering in your sleep."

"Fine," Francis said. "Just a weird dream, not important."

"You better get your ass up," Bill said. "We're all ready to move."

"I gotta take a fucking leak," Francis said. "Gimme a sec."

Everyone turned to give Francis some privacy.

"We head out west from here," Bill said. "With the sun at our backs, we'll be sure we're going the right way."

"How many more days of forest are there gonna be?" Ellis asked. "I want to see some fucking buildings, even if it's a ghost town."

"'If' it's a ghost town?" Nick asked. "No fucking 'if' about it. I doubt anyone in this area is still alive."

"Cool it," Rochelle said. "Even if we don't find anybody else, hopefully they'll have left some food or ammo around. We're sitting ducks as long as we're in this forest."

"We have plenty of first aid though," Louis said. "That's good, right?"

"As long as we don't have to use it," Bill replied.

Nobody said anything after that. Francis zipped up his fly and grabbed his magnum and shotgun. "Let's get moving," he said.

The eight survivors headed due west. The forest was fairly quiet, with only the moans of straggling Infected and the crunching of the survivors' footsteps cutting through the air. Over a hill the survivors went, but on their way down, they noticed something unusual.

"Hold on, y'all," Ellis said. "I'll take a look."

Ellis went down the hill and saw an orange tabby cat. He was frightfully thin, but when he saw Ellis he mewed and cuddled up to him.

"The fuck is that?" Nick asked, as the rest of the survivors went down the hill to meet Ellis.

"He's a kitty," Ellis replied. "He don't look so good, though. Are you hungry, little kitty?"

"Fuck that!" Nick yelled. "We barely have enough food for the eight of us. I'm not gonna be responsible for babysitting Garfield over here."

"But Nick, look at this face," Ellis said. "Ain't he precious?" Ellis picked up the cat and held it directly in front of Nick's face.

"Jesus Christ," Nick said, swatting at the cat. "You fucking kidding me?"

"Ellis, put the cat down," Bill said. "For all we know, he's infected."

"Actually, I'm not so sure about that," Zoey said. "He's completely docile. If he was infected, wouldn't he have attacked us by now?"

"Before this Infection seriously hit," Rochelle said, "we weren't sure how it affected animals, if it even had any effect at all."

"Can we keep him, purty please?" Ellis asked.

Zoey chuckled, as she hadn't expected Ellis to be such a cat lover. "Come on, Bill," she said, "he's clearly safe and I think we could use the company."

"No fucking way," Nick said. "I say we leave the thing to fend for itself."

"Maybe we can take a vote," Ellis said.

"There's eight of us," Francis yelled. "Who would break the tie?"

"I think Bill's qualified to break any ties," Coach said. "He's clearly the person in charge here."

"How 'bout Ellis's vote just doesn't count?" Nick asked.

"Everyone quiet, we're attracting attention," Bill said.

Everyone stopped arguing for a moment and turned to Bill for guidance.

"Anyone got a coin on them?" Bill asked. "That's the only fair way to break the tie."

"Hang on, I might have one," Louis said. He pulled out a grimy quarter from his pocket. "This quarter's seen better days."

"We've all seen better days," Bill said, "but that doesn't matter. First, we vote. All in favor of adopting this cat, raise your hands."

Ellis's hand shot up immediately, with Zoey's closely following behind. Coach and Louis raised their hands as well.

"Aw, come on, Rochelle," Ellis said. "You just said we weren't even sure the Infection affected animals."

"I'm erring on the side of caution," she replied, "as should all of us."

"Doesn't matter at this point," Bill said. "It's a 4-4 split. We'll flip for it."

Bill flipped the coin, and it landed tails.

"Yes!" Ellis shouted, but after a few moments he came to realize what happened. "Dammit, no one called it."

"For Christ's sake," Bill said. "Can someone pick that quarter off the ground? My knee is acting up today."

Zoey crouched down and picked up the quarter, then gave it to Bill.

"Okay, Ellis, you call it," Bill said. "Heads or tails?"

"Tails!" Ellis said. "No wait, heads! Tails! Fuck, I'm nervous."

"Tails it is," Bill said. He flipped the coin again, and it landed heads.

"Fuck!" Ellis yelled. "Come on, Bill, two out of three at least."

"For fuck's sake, Ellis," Nick said.

"Quiet!" Bill said. "Fine, Ellis. If this next one lands tails, we keep the cat, but if it's heads again, I don't want to hear another fucking word about it."

"Fine," Ellis said.

Bill flipped the coin again, and it landed heads again.

"Dammit!" Ellis said. "Fine, we'll leave the cat behind. Let's go."

Ellis set the cat back down on the forest floor, and the eight survivors started heading out again. Once again, things were quiet, but they started to hear a pitter patter behind them. They turned around to see that the cat was now following the survivors.

"Shoo! Go away!" Rochelle said. "We have no food for you, shoo."

The cat sat in place and started meowing again.

"She said shoo!" Francis yelled. "Get out of here."

"Guys, clearly the cat wants to follow us," Ellis said. "What can it hurt?"

"For fuck's sake, fine," Bill said. "He can come along, but I don't want anyone sticking their neck out for him. In the military, we left no man behind, but that same sentiment doesn't extend to animals, at least not today."

The survivors headed out with the cat in tow. Ellis had free hands, so he lifted the cat and held him to his chest, stroking his back as they walked.

"Y'all think we should name him?" he asked.

"The fuck? No," Nick said.

"Aw come on, man, I don't want to just call him 'the cat.' He deserves a name."

"Does he have a collar?" Rochelle asked. "Maybe someone else had a name for him already."

Ellis checked the cat's neck. "No collar."

"Come up with a name," Bill said, "but for Christ's sake make it quick."

"You know what?" Ellis said. "I'm gonna name him after my favorite race car driver."

Nick rolled his eyes, but for once didn't make a sardonic quip.

"He can be Jimmy Gibbs the Third!" Ellis said. "His nickname can be Gibby!"

The cat meowed after hearing the name Gibby.

"I think he likes it!" Ellis said. "Hi, Gibby."

The cat rubbed Ellis's chest with his head.

"Gibby it is," Zoey said with a smile on her face.

"It's settled then," Bill said. "Now be quiet."

The survivors continued through the forest and came across a large stream. The water was rushing fast, kicking up sloshes of white waves as it went. As the survivors got closer, Gibby started squirming as he stared at the stream.

"We have to cross this stream," Bill said.

"Uh, Bill, I get what you're saying," Ellis said, "but Gibby clearly doesn't. He's squirming so much I can barely hold him."

"I just said we can't stick out our necks for him," Bill said. "If Gibby can't handle crossing this stream, leave him on this side."

"Fine, I'll deal with it," Ellis said. "Gibby, I'm sorry, buddy, but we gotta cross here. We can't walk around this because we have no clue where there's gonna be a bridge. You have to be brave for me, okay?"

Gibby was still squirming.

"Are you trying to fucking convince the cat to cross?" Nick asked. "He doesn't get what you're saying, he's a fucking cat."

"Give him to me," Zoey said. "I had cats growing up, I think I can handle this."

"Alright, Gibby, you're gonna go with Auntie Zoey now. She'll take care of you."

Nick let out an exasperated laugh. "Jesus H. fuck," he said.

"Okay, sweetie," Zoey said. "Let's not even think about it. We're just gonna cross." With that, Zoey ran across the stream. It was at chest level, so Gibby and Zoey both ended up getting soaked. Gibby hissed and tried to claw away from her, but before he could get a chance to escape they were on the other side. The rest of the survivors quickly followed, also getting soaked.

"Awesome job, Zoey!" Ellis cheered, kissing Zoey on the cheek.

"He scratched up my arm," Zoey replied, "but it's okay. Can you take him back, though?"

"Of course," Ellis said, taking Gibby out of Zoey's hands. Now that they had crossed the stream, his squirming was more under control.

"Keep moving," Bill said. "Daylight's fading fast, and we need to get to that next town ASAP."

The survivors kept walking. As they progressed, they saw more common Infected. Francis grabbed the machete that was strapped around Ellis's back and hacked at any who got too close.

"Good thinking," Bill said. "We need to save as much ammo as possible until we reach the next town at least."

The higher frequency of Infected told the survivors that they were likely getting closer to town. This was confirmed when they saw the trees growing further apart. By the time noon hit, they could see off in the distance a skyline beginning to appear.

"We're almost out of the woods," Coach said. "Hallelujah."

"Can we stop for a minute?" Ellis asked. "Gibby's squirming again so I need to set him down."

"Fine, we can take a brief break," Bill said, "but don't get comfortable."

When Ellis set Gibby down, Gibby ran off behind a bush. Ellis followed, hoping not to lose sight of him, but when he saw what was happening he looked away.

"Gibby's, uh...taking care of his business, if you get my drift," Ellis said.

"We got it," Zoey said.

"I really hope we can find some supplies in the next town," Louis said, looking at the skyline.

"I hope we can find some more survivors," Rochelle added.

"To be honest," Bill said, "new supplies are possible, but new survivors probably aren't. I don't think there were many of us who were immune to the Infection."

"Besides," Francis said, "I've gotten kinda used to slumming it with just the eight of us."

"Nine!" Ellis yelled. "Don't forget about Gibby."

"Gibby is half a survivor at best," Nick said.

"Whatever, that's not the point," Francis said. "I mean, the eight of us all have what it takes to survive. I don't think we'd ever find another survivor who could hold their own better than the eight of us can. They'd be dead weight."

"I hope you're wrong," Zoey said. "I want to be a part of a community again. I want our lives to find some semblance of normalcy. I was in college. I had dreams about what kind of a life I would have. Then this fucking Infection hit and upturned everything. I'm grateful for all of you, don't get me wrong, but I want to get my life back."

"Your life's not gonna come back," Bill said. "I hate to admit it, but there's no going back from here. We're going to have to make the best of what we've got."

"That's really easy for you to say, Bill," Zoey said. "You're ancient. You were able to live your life. You had it easy. That's not a luxury the rest of us have. How could you even begin to understand how I'm feeling?"

"You think I don't understand?" Bill asked. "You think my life was 'easy?' Imagine when I was your age, petrified that my name was gonna come up in the draft. I wasn't smart enough to go to college. I didn't have the means to escape to Canada. The only good thing about serving was using the GI bill to have the kind of life I wanted. I'd been told stories of my father serving in World War II. He was a hero to me. When he came back home from the war, he was welcomed back with open arms. You know what I got when I came back from Vietnam? Kids like you screaming at me, protesters hating me for having the gall to serve my country. After it all died down, I was invisible. I was a fucking ghost. I had a knee injury that I got treatment for, and a lifetime of nightmares that no one else could understand. I never had the 'luxury,' as you call it, to live the life I really wanted, so don't you dare claim that what I had was 'easy.'"

The other survivors had nothing to say for an excruciating moment. Zoey finally choked up and started to cry.

"I'm sorry," she said, sputtering. "I had no idea."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Bill said. "Let's just put it aside and keep moving."

No one had an argument for that, not even Nick, and the survivors spent most of the afternoon in total silence. Zoey was still shaken from what Bill had said. Ellis, noticing this, wandered over in her direction. "You okay?" he asked her in a whisper.

"How could I be so callous?" she asked. "So insensitive? I knew about Bill's history. I knew he went through hell during the war."

"You know what I think?" Ellis asked. "This apocalypse is getting to all of us. We're all a little on edge, and we're taking it out on each other because it's the only way to deal with it."

"That's pretty insightful of you," Zoey said.

"Sure, if you say so," Ellis replied. Gibby had stopped squirming so much and had fallen asleep in Ellis's arms. "Thanks for voting to keep Gibby around," he said.

"Don't mention it," Zoey replied. "It was my pleasure."

"I get what they were saying though, about taking on too much," Ellis replied. "It's just, he reminds me of a cat I had growing up, so I didn't wanna leave him to fend for himself."

"What was your cat's name?" Zoey asked.

"Garfield, actually," Ellis said with a chuckle. "When Nick called him that, I had to keep from laughing. Guess it's not the most original name."

"For what it's worth," Zoey said, "he looks much more like a Gibby than he does a Garfield."

Towards the end of the day, the trees were quite separate, and the skyline of the next city over was far closer.

"I think it's just another half day's walk from here," Bill said. "We can camp here for the night, then scrounge for supplies in the city tomorrow afternoon. Everyone okay with that?"

"Yes," Coach said. "My dogs are barking."

"Don't mention dogs around Gibby," Ellis said. "He hates dogs."

"How'd you figure that out, Ellis?" Nick asked. "Did Gibby tell you?"

Ellis rolled his eyes as the survivors sat down to camp for the night.

"We don't have enough food for dinner tonight," Bill said. "We'll just have to hope we find things to eat in the city tomorrow."

"But I'm starving," Ellis said, "and I don't even know the last time Gibby got to eat."

"Gibby can only eat meat," Louis said. "I had a friend who was a vegetarian and thought he'd make his cat one, too. His cat got sick, and I had to convince my friend he was going to kill his cat if he didn't feed him properly."

"So unless you can hunt down a squirrel," Nick said, "Gibby's gonna have to go hungry like the rest of us."

"Fine," Ellis said, slumping back down. Gibby started meowing again, and Ellis stroked his head. "Sorry, buddy, hopefully we can find something for you later."

Gibby started meowing again, clearly displeased, but Ellis continued to stroke his head and he finally curled up and shut his eyes.

"Okay," Nick said, "normally I hate animals, but that's pretty cute I guess."

Ellis beamed at Nick, who then waved him off.

"Forget I said anything," Nick said.

"Quiet," Bill said. "I think I hear something."

The survivors were quiet, listening intently. They heard a coughing sound that could only belong to one type of Infected.

"Smoker," Rochelle whispered. "Keep an eye on the trees."

The survivors looked around, but they saw no sign of the Smoker. Suddenly, a tongue wrapped around Zoey's ankle and started dragging her away. The other survivors stumbled after her. Ellis whacked at the tongue with his machete, and Zoey was able to free herself from the tongue. Nick shot the Smoker with his sniper rifle, and it collapsed to the ground and released a cloud of smoke.

"We...better not run into...one of those again," Nick said in between coughs, "because...that was my last...bullet. I'm out."

The survivors returned to their campsite, still waiting for the smoke to clear. Once they could see again, they heard a hissing noise. They turned and saw a common Infected bite Gibby in the neck.

"No!" Ellis shouted, scrambling towards the Infected with his machete raised. He sliced the common Infected in half, and Gibby fell to the ground.

"Gibby!" Ellis cried. He picked Gibby up and looked him over. On his neck, Ellis could clearly see a bite mark. "He's bit! He's bit!" A tear fell Ellis's cheek.

"I'm so sorry," Zoey said, wrapping her arms around Ellis.

"We all are," Rochelle said.

Everyone turned to Nick, glaring at him. He held up his hands. "Hey, I'm not totally made of stone. I'm sorry, Ellis."

"What's gonna happen to him?" Ellis asked. "Rochelle, you said you didn't know what happened to animals who got bit, right?"

"I did mention that," Rochelle said.

"So...maybe it's gonna be okay," Ellis said. "Maybe it's not gonna do anything to Gibby."

"Uh...Ellis?" Louis said. "Look at Gibby."

Everyone looked down at Gibby. He was scratching the ground, agitated, and clumps of fur were falling off of him, revealing green skin beneath.

"No! He's changing!" Ellis yelled. "Come on, Gibby, shake it off."

Gibby let out a howl that pierced the ears of the survivors. Everyone backed away, giving Gibby distance. They were standing around in a circle, and Gibby turned and looked at all of them. He took a long look at Zoey, howled again, and lunged at her.

"Gibby, no!" Zoey cried.

Before anything could happen, Ellis hit Gibby with his machete. Gibby let out one final cry and slumped to the ground dead. Ellis dropped the machete, fell to his knees and began to sob. Zoey hugged him again, and Ellis returned the hug. "It's my fault," Ellis said with a sob. "I insisted on bringing him along. He'd still be alive if it wasn't for us."

"There's nothing we could have done," Zoey said. "He was malnourished, starving. He wouldn't have lasted long either way."

Ellis had nothing else to say, but continued to cry. After a few minutes, he was able to calm down enough to catch his breath. He wiped his nose on his shirt. "Okay. I think I'm okay now."

"We need to get some rest," Bill said. "It's been a hard day. Ellis, if you don't want to take a watch tonight, I'll understand."

"Who's gonna take the first watch then?" Ellis asked.

"I'll do it," Nick said. "It's the least I can do after being a jerk about that cat earlier."

"Thanks, man." Ellis said.

"I'll join him," Francis said. "I'm wired anyway, won't be able to sleep for a while."

"Then it's settled," Bill said. "Tomorrow, we'll go out to the city and see what we can find."

The survivors laid back down on the ground, hoping that this was their last night in the forest. Nick and Francis sat facing each other.

"You woke up from a weird dream this morning," Nick said. "You, uh...want to talk about it?"

"Nah, I'm good," Francis said. "It was more of a memory than a dream anyway, but I'm fine."

"Mhm," Nick said. "Damn, today was rough."

"Should've never taken that cat with us," Francis said.

"No, I'm glad we took him," Nick replied. "Poor thing was wandering the forest alone. At least he died with people surrounding him who gave a damn. That's not the worst way to go."

"You're starting to get soft," Francis said with a chuckle. "Thought you didn't give a damn about anyone."

"Just between us," Nick said, "that's a defense mechanism. I care about you guys way more than I let on."

"Heh, sure."

"I'm serious. You think I'd still be hanging around you jokers if I didn't give a damn?"

Francis thought about that for a moment. "You've got a point there."

"You tell anyone what I said, I'll deny it."

"They wouldn't believe me anyway."

Nick and Francis both had a laugh about that. They then fell silent, wondering what the next day would bring and hoping they'd find more supplies waiting for them. They were completely out of food and ammo at this point, and if they couldn't find supplies in the city tomorrow, they were not sure how they would survive.