The group made their way through the ruins of one of the old cities of the past. It used to be filled to the brim with people living their lives not fearing for they're lives every moment of every day.
They passed by a graveyard of broken down vehicles as Thomas let his mind wonder. He was thinking about how kids born now wouldn't even have any memories about the world before the outbreak.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a barking dog up ahead. The only dogs he had seen these past months were the ones people were selling in the settlements.
He was just going to ignore it and move on but then he heard several more barks and they were getting more and more aggressive.
Thomas held up his right hand and motioned for everyone to stop and crouch down. Everyone got down but looked at Thomas with a look of confusion. His eyes were focused on the road ahead looking for any movement.
Jimmy's group was looking at each other trying to figure out what was going on. After a few moments Thomas finally spotted the dogs he heard.
And he was damn glad he didn't ignore his instincts. There were approximately fifteen rabid, malnourished dogs foaming at the mouth and dragging around the corpse of what looked to be a former survivor.
Thomas looked back and saw everyone's worried faces. He held a finger up to his mouth to signal for them to be silent and then pointed in the direction of the dogs.
Jimmy's eyes widened when he saw just how many there were, and they definitely didn't look friendly.
Thomas was already thinking about finding a different path. There was no way they could take on these dogs while being outnumbered.
Jimmy moved closer to Thomas while staying crouched. "What are you thinking? Were going to have to find another way aren't we?" Jimmy asked.
"Yeah, most likely. It will only add a couple of minutes to our travel time." Thomas said.
"Alright, let's just get out of here before they see us. I don't feel like being a chew toy today."
"Okay, get ready to move. But stay quite." Thomas instructed them to move towards the east where there was an alley way.
This time Max and Anne led the way with jimmy's group following them and Thomas taking up the rear.
They tried to stay low when they were crossing the street, but just before they made it to the safety in between the buildings the guy with the hood on, McKinley, had accidentally kicked a bent tin can and it went rattling against the pavement.
Every single one of them immediately turned to look at the source of the noise. McKinley only offered a shrug as his defense.
Thomas then realized that the barking stopped and so he quickly swept his gaze to where the dogs were fighting over the dead survivor only moments ago.
Each of the dogs had them locked in their sights and after what seemed like an eternity, they started bolting towards the group with ferocious eyes.
"RUN!" Thomas shouted and began sprinting as fast as he could behind the others. He felt like he could definitely fight these dogs if he wanted but he wasn't confident in protecting Jimmy's group at the same time. So running and avoiding them seemed like the best option.
Once they made it into the alley Max had spotted a fire escape above them. He jumped up about 8 feet and pulled down the ladder. He ushered Jimmy and the others up first.
While they were climbing up, Anne got down in a prone position and fired a couple of back to back shots at the dogs.
She noticed there was an especially large dog that seemed to be leading the group. She fired at it but it swiftly jumped to the side and dodged the bullets. It was almost as if it was able to predict her shots.
She was surprised each time it managed to avoid her shots. Instead of continuing to try and shoot the leader, she changed her sights to the dogs that were faster than the others.
Anne slowed her breathing and squeezed the trigger. A loud "Pop" came from the alley and one of the dogs went limp and tumbled a few feet, dead. The pack of dogs were approaching fast and so she quickly fired a few more shots.
By now Jimmy's group made it up to safety with Max right behind them. "Anne! Let's go!" Thomas yelled. Anne jumped up and ran towards the ladder. She threw her rifle around her back with the strap across her chest and climbed up.
Thomas was the only one on the ground at this point. Everyone was yelling for him to hurry and climb up but what he did next shocked them.
Instead of climbing up the ladder, he pushed it back up and prepared for a fight. Everyone thought he was crazy for doing this but they didn't understand. Maybe a few months ago he would have been the kind of person to climb up and hide just like the others but he's been through a lot.
He's lost a lot of friends and people he cared about. That does something to a person. In his head, he just finds the idea of running away from a challenge appalling. He would rather fight and die then run away. Maybe he was crazy for thinking this way. Maybe he would die right now from these dogs.
But that still wouldn't stop him from doing what he wanted. He dropped his backpack on the asphalt and slowly walked towards the dogs. He increased his speed until he was full blast running and met the pack of dogs head on.
Jimmy and Max were leaning over the railing trying to call out to Thomas but were ultimately ignored. Anne ran up the stairs until she was high enough and had a good view of both Thomas and the dogs and set up her rifle, resting it on the railing and preparing to give him some cover fire.
When he was just about to clash with the pack, he pulled out his sword right in time to block the claws of the leader. He pushed hard, knocking the leader away but by now the rest of the dogs had reached his position.
In a matter of moments he felt the jaws of two dogs dig into his right ankle and left thigh. Thomas grimaced in pain. He slammed the butt of his sword on the spine of the dog on his thigh. It immediately released its grip on him and fell to the ground paralyzed.
Before he could make another move, there were multiple other rabid dogs approaching him. Just as they were about to pounce, there was a loud bang sound and one of the dogs was sent flying backwards.
Anne had managed to snipe the dog from where she was up on the fire escape. Unfortunately she only had enough time to get one more shot off before they would reach Thomas.
Anne had bought him enough time to free himself from the clutches of the dog biting down on his ankle. He raised his sword up and stabbed straight down through the mid section of the dog killing it instantly.
Now that he was able to move, he started to back away slowly to give himself some more space. The sound of crazed barking was the only thing he could hear. Thankfully the bite wounds didn't pierce that deep and he was able to move normally.
Max was standing up on the fire escape with Jimmy's group. He was watching as Thomas and Anne were fighting this battle all on their own. He didn't want to risk his life for some fight that could have been avoided if Thomas had just climbed up with everyone else.
But he was also getting the urge to help them. He told himself if the fight took a turn for the worse, then he would jump in and help.
Anne shot off a few more rounds managing to take out three more dogs. The leader of the pack still perfectly dodged every time she tried to take it out so she focused on the ones that got closest to Thomas.
The leader of the pack was staying in the rear waiting for a good opportunity to strike.
Thomas backhanded a pouncing dog and flung it a couple of feet away. With the sword in his right hand he slashed from left to right horizontally hitting two dogs at once.
Meanwhile, Jimmy was equal parts confused and surprised at Thomas. On one hand it was stupid for him to risk his life for no reason, but on the other hand he was actually winning. Jimmy couldn't tell if he got lucky with these guys or unlucky.
Thomas took a few more attacks head on, getting clawed along his shoulder and getting bit on his left forearm.
After only a few minutes, all of the dogs had been killed. Either with a large hole in their torso, or with a deadly sword wound.