Dennis did the best he could with his Beretta as he limped along as fast as he could, trying to keep up with Charlotte. He watched with awe as she seemed to twirl in her long brown trench coat that went all the way down to her knees, all the while her long blonde hair flowing in the wind. She fired her handgun as she twirled, almost never missing but occasionally having to put more than one bullet in a zombie if it didn't go down. If they got too close, she used her momentum to swing her axe wide, slicing off heads and limbs. Somehow she managed avoid getting too much blood on her, surprisingly, because her white blouse underneath was spotless but her coat was stained and dirty from an assortment of blood and mud.

Dennis fired his last round at a zombie that appeared from around the graveyard wall. They were half-way to the church, the belltower lit up like a candle. The old wooden structure needed a new paintjob, but it looked cosy enough. He reloaded his gun and began shooting at zombies that appeared behind the church.

"We're nearly there!" Dennis shouted.

"Just keep moving sweetie," Charlotte said as she stopped twirling.

She reached for her belt and pulled out a long metal object. She pushed a button and turned the top of the device and it suddenly started beeping and the cord on top started flashing red. She threw it as far as she could ahead of them, the beeping was loud and, to Dennis' surprise, the zombies left Charlotte and Dennis alone and chased the object.

"Quickly!" Charlotte said quietly.

Before long, there were nearly a dozen zombies around the beeping device. Suddenly, the beeping quickened and the entire group of zombies exploded into a cloud of gore and dust. Dennis felt like he was going to vomit, but Charlotte grabbed his hand and pulled him onwards towards the church. He noticed that there were nearly no zombies around now, only one or two that he could see inside the church. So much for this being a safehouse, Dennis thought. Charlotte continued to pull him to the back door and slammed into it with her shoulder, flinging it wide open. She put her axe inside her coat and raised her handgun. They were in a small side room of the church, where the pastors would go before and after service. A zombie ran at them from the main hall, but Charlotte shot it straight through the head. Still holding his hand, Charlotte hurried into the main hall where the pews had all been shoved aside to leave as much empty space as possible. There were three more zombies in here that had noticed them walk in. Dennis fired at one, but the returning pain put his aim off and the bullet hit the wall.

"Just leave this to me, sweetie," she said softly as she aimed and fired three successive rounds, all hitting their marks.

The red safedoor was wide open and Charlotte dragged Dennis inside so fast he nearly tripped.

"Slow down!" he complained, the pain growing worse.

She ignored him and shoved him into the room. He tripped over and landed hard into the old wooden floorboards. Charlotte turned and slammed the large metal door shut and placed the bar across so it was secure. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, leaning against the door. Dennis picked himself up off the floor and checked to see if he had any splinters in his arms.

"Did you have to throw me?"

"No," she said with a smile.

Dennis paused and stared at her, expecting her to say more, but she just stared and smiled back. It was quiet all of a sudden with just the two of them alone in the barricaded front of the church. Dennis remained seated on the floor while Charlotte just leaned against the door. There was an awkward silence that someone needed to break.

"So…" Dennis said casually. Charlotte just remained quiet, smiling at Dennis which made him uncomfortable. "Why are you helping me?"

"Don't you want me to, sweetie?" She said cheekily which made Dennis cringe.

"No! It's not like that, I just…uh…" he trailed off.

"Don't question a good thing," she said more sternly.

Dennis fell silent after that. He got up and started looking around the room. This was the church entrance and the front door had been boarded up tightly. The room was littered with boxes of food and ammunition, but he couldn't see the radio that the sheriff had mentioned. Charlotte started rummaging through the box of food until she found a chocolate bar. She squealed in joy as she unwrapped it, eagerly taking several bites until her mouth was stuffed full, cheeks bulging and chocolate all over her lips. Dennis noticed a cord hanging from a panel in the ceiling and gave it a tug. He jumped aside as the panel opened and a ladder fell down where he had been standing. Climbing up, the ladder ascended the church's bell tower which had been converted into another room. There was no bell anymore, replaced with an electronic system as most churches had these days. This room was much tidier, but sitting on a table in the corner was the radio Dennis had been looking for. He picked up the receiver and switched it on. The radio blared with the voice of someone screaming:

"... hold them off! They're everywhere and there's something else! There are different ones, bigger, and it just threw Simon like he was a god-damned toy!"

The sheriff's voice followed almost immediately.

"Fall back to next checkpoint! We'll send you backup, they'll wait for you there."

"Roger that sir, we're driving back now, but they're chasing after us. We'll try to lose them on the…shit! Look out Mark, it's that big fucker again! Wait, what is he doing? OH SHI…"

The radio went to static.

"Wes? Come in Wes. Mark? Is anyone there?" The sheriff's voice sounded quaky.

Dennis waited a moment as the sheriff continued to try and hail them, without reply. Eventually, the radio went quiet for several minute before the sheriff spoke again, much quieter.

"All units, fall back to the designated safe houses immediately. If anyone can hear this, you need to make your way to one of the safe houses or the police station. Safe houses are located at the church and the warehouse on Stennis Street."

"Come in Sherriff, it's Dennis."

"Dennis! Where are you?"

"I'm at the church."

"What happened? The workers came back without you and wouldn't say a word."

Dennis remembered how they had just left him to die.

"We got hit pretty hard. I don't know what happened to Leon and Jeff."

The sheriff was silent for a moment.

"At least the barricade is up and we won't get swarmed from that side of town… for now."

"What do you want me to do?"

"You need to get back to the station. We need all the help we can get to hold them off. Is it just you by yourself?"

He thought about how he would explain Charlotte to the sheriff. He could hear her below, rummaging through the boxes. There was no doubt that she could hear their conversation from down there, so he decided to divulge as little as possible.

"No, there's someone here who helped me."

The rummaging downstairs stopped.

"Who?" The sheriff sounded sceptical.

"I don't really know her name."

"Her?" There was a pause. "Can you get here?"

"I think so, but we might have to walk."

"Alright then, we'll see you soon. Good luck to you."

Dennis put the receiver down and switched off the radio. He looked out the window down at the street. The power was still on, but the gas station was in darkness. He saw the police car still sitting where Leon and Jeff had left it. Perhaps the keys were still inside? In any case, he would need Charlotte's help as he was in no condition to put up a decent fight. Dennis was still shirtless and he felt the bandages covering his torso. He wasn't incredibly fit, but the tight bandages compressed his stomach and made him look athletic. Some of the bandages were stained red from deeper lacerations that hadn't stopped bleeding yet, not helped by his continued movement. He flinched in pain when he ran his hand over them. A breeze floated through the room and Dennis felt cold. He looked around and found a winter jacket lying in the corner, which he promptly put on. By this time, Charlotte had climbed the ladder and Dennis noticed her trenchcoat pockets were newly bulging. She pouted when she saw him in the coat.

"Can you help me up the road to the police station? We can get help there."

Dennis was surprised by Charlotte's suddenly sombre demeanour.

"Why? They're all going to die anyway."

He didn't really know how to respond. He hated how she always managed to throw him off.

"We at least need to try and help them. We can't just leave them to…"

"No," Charlotte interrupted, her voice going cold. "You want to help them. People are more dangerous than them out there. At least they will show their bite. People like to wait and bite you when you don't expect it."

"I know that, but we can at least try and do the right thing." Dennis argued.

Charlotte smiled and immediately returned to her overly sweet demeanour.

"Ok sweetie," Charlotte pulled out her axe from her belt. "If that's what you want, we better get going."

She opened the window that led out to the street and started climbing out. She stopped half way and turned to Dennis, her cold glare sending shivers down his spine.

"Don't leave me, sweetie."