While Cory was busy getting the supplies together the noise must've woken Danny from his sleep because he shifted in the sleeping bag he was sharing with Marie before sitting up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and then looked between Cory and I with a confused expression on his face.

"Are you going somewhere?" He asked, sleep still heavy in his voice.

Cory slung the bag over his shoulder before turning to look down at Danny, giving him a small smile.

"We just need to run and pick up some medicine to help her dad." He answered, gesturing over to my dad whose hair was now plastered to his forehead entirely with sweat.

We needed to hurry.

Danny nodded, before yawning and then laying back down, snuggling close to his mother.

"Make sure you come back." His small sleepy voice muttered before the sound of his soft snores could be heard, letting us know that he was once again asleep.

For some reason his words made a cold shiver run down my spine.

Would we make it back?

Noticing my hesitation Cory spoke up. "You don't have to come with me you know? I can go alone."

Biting back the fear and apprehension I was suddenly feeling, I shook my head. It was my dad's life that he was going out there to risk his own for. If he was going then so was I.

"I'm coming."

Realizing there was no way he was going to talk me out of it, he sighed before nodding.

"Alright, let's go then."

Before heading up the stairs he bent and picked up what looked like a megaphone which sat at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's that for?" I asked frowning as he clipped the string dangling from the handle to the end of his bag.

"They don't like the sound." Was all he said by way of explanation before looking over his shoulder once, at Arden who was still soundly sleeping in her sleeping bag, before bounding up the stairs leaving me no choice but to follow, but not before I also threw one last look at my father.

I would make it back.

***

Being in the basement where the lighting was limited meant that even when the sun had barely begun its ascent into the sky, it was still too bright outside for my eyes and it took me several seconds of squinting and unsquinting before my eyes fully adjusted.

Taking a look around, the town looked even more deserted than it did last night. The abandoned cars still occupied the streets but there was also the fact that almost every store, shop, and restaurant had their doors shut tight with the blinds and curtains closed that made it feel like a ghost town.

If people were here, they had no intentions of letting anybody or anything in.

"Come on, it's this way." Cory gestured to his left and quickly started making his way down the street with me following right behind.

I didn't want to get left alone out here.

A we rounded the corner onto a different street I could've sworn I saw the blinds of the hardware store on the opposite side of the street quickly fall back into place, as if someone had just finished looking out of them.

Goosebumps broke out across my arms and I quickened my pace so that I was practically breathing down Cory's neck. I was so close to him in fact that when he suddenly stopped and held his hand up to signal for me to stop without looking back, I didn't have enough time to actually stop and ran straight into his back, smashing my nose right between his shoulder blades.

Ouch.

I stumbled back rubbing my nose and only offering him an apologetic look in return as he turned to look down at me with a frown.

If we were being honest though he should've been the one apologizing. To my nose that is.

I crossed my eyes as I tried to look down at it to make sure it wasn't swollen or broken.

I silently wondered if it was possible to get steel implants in your back.

Cory, oblivious to my thoughts peeked his head around the corner before looking left and right twice and then darted across the street.

Shit!

I wish he'd tell me before just taking off. It made it harder to keep up and I silently cursed him as I hurried across the street.

We came to a stop in front of a pharmacy and then a little ways down I could see our destination, a small hospital nestled between a parking garage and a conveniently placed store that sold medical and nursing scrubs.

Happy that we were that much closer to getting the medicine and getting back to my dad, I took a step forward intending to head straight for the hospital when Cory reached out and quickly pulled me back into his chest so that my back was pressed firmly against his front.

I turned my head to ask what the problem was but he quickly brought his free hand up and covered my mouth before gesturing with his head.

Following his gesture with my eyes my heart started up a harsh rhythm in my chest as I saw what the problem was.

Across the street from the hospital, standing on its hind legs and using its large claws to dig through the large trash can that sat at the edge of an alley that separated two shops, was one of them.

Slowly and silently, Cory started to walk backwards along the side of the pharmacy, pulling me with him, our bodies never breaking contact as we moved. I could feel his heartbeat beating just a rapidly as my own against my back as he continued to move us away.

My eyes never strayed from that thing until we rounded the corner and came to a stop at the back of the pharmacy and thankfully the only thing to greet us back here was a small abandoned lot that was slowly being overtaken by weeds and litter.

We stood still for a moment both of us still trying to calm our breathing and my eyes darting around frantically to see if any of its friends were lurking around.

It was only after I was sure that it was just us two back here and that my heart had settled into a somewhat normal rhythm again that I noticed that while Cory was leaning firmly against the faded brick wall of the pharmacy, that I was still leaning firmly against his chest with his arm thrown protectively across my own chest.

I felt heat rush to my cheeks for the second time as I realized exactly where his forearm was now resting.

I wanted to clear my throat to later to our awkward position but was too afraid that it might be heard by one of those things. So, instead I silently tapped on his arm and angled my head to look up at him.

Cory glanced down at me, our faces now a mere few inches apart, with a puzzled expression on his face until his eyes traveled down a little farther and realization hit.

He quickly dropped his arm like he had been burned and just like the last time, he seemed to suddenly now be interested in looking anywhere but at me.

I tried to ignore the heat that I felt continuously rising in my own face as I quickly stepped away so that we were no longer pressed together and instead I was standing on the side of him.

At a much safer distance.

After a few minutes he seemed to gain his composure and he looked to his left where we could see the side of the parking garage for the hospital.

"There's an entrance in the parking garage that we can use that'll take us up and into the hospital." He whispered as he gestured to the garage. "We just have to get inside and then we can take the stairs up."

It sounded easy enough.

There was only one tiny little problem.

In order to get to the parking garage we'd have to leave the safety of the back of the pharmacy and cross a completely empty lot.

An empty lot that was in direct sight of that thing across the street.

Easy.

***