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You were smiling, girl. Smiling a vicious, crazy smile that said you hoped they never stopped coming, so you’d never have to stop killing.”
    He held up his hands as he continued. “I don’t mean that as a bad thing, neither. The things we got running around this world now, well killing seems to be the best thing a person can do with most of them. So I’m comin’ with you. It’s all about staying alive now and I’m betting you can do that pretty well.”
    She frowned. This was not what she wanted. She did not want others with her. It was enough that the dog had begun following her, but at least the dog didn’t ask for anything. People, though, people asked for things. They couldn’t help it.
    He saw the doubt in her eyes. “Hey, listen, now. It’s not like I’ll be a burden or anything. I’ve survived this long, right? That’s gotta count for something. In fact, considering the amount of folks who haven’t survived it’s gotta count for a whole lot, I’d say.
    “C’mon. You can’t go all alone in life. Everyone needs a buddy, or at least a partner. We could help each other out, huh?”
    It was the wrong thing to say. Already he was asking for things. “She is not your buddy, and not your partner. She is nobody’s buddy.”
    “Well, I can’t say you’re one of the friendliest people I’ve met recently, but I’m still with you. I don’t need friendly. I need vicious, and you’ve got it.”
    She looked at him, able to see that he had made his decision, and not seeing anything she could do about it. Not now, at least. Now she was tired, and it was getting dark.
    She turned away, beginning to walk down the road, and cast her final words on the subject over her shoulder. “You should not follow her. She will never be anything to you.”
    He didn’t reply, but she could hear his footsteps, along with the dog, both of them softly following her path.

3
     
    At the bottom of the hill, not too many minutes later, they came to a building that looked intact. It was a large building, half storefront and half warehouse. The sign out front advertised the cheapest carpeting for miles. She didn’t care about the inexpensive carpeting, but was interested in the four intact walls and the metal roof over them.
    She looked around the parking lot for movement, but saw nothing. She then crossed the lot to the front door of the building. The large windows were covered in painted-on advertisements and cartoons depicting a talking carpet roll, so she couldn’t see inside. She tried the door—locked.
    That was actually a good sign. If a building was locked it meant people had time to turn the lock as they left, so they probably weren’t fleeing something that might still be inside. She walked around to the back. As she suspected, the building was intact, with no obvious damage.
    She tried the back door, rattling it. Also locked, as she had expected. She stepped back, wondering what her next step would be. Break in through a skylight, maybe?
    Suddenly, the back doors rattled and then opened outward, just a few inches. A rifle, along with one of the two hands holding that rifle, pushed through the crack. At the same time a voice within, a male, spoke from the crack. “Go away. This is our place. Get your own.”
    She tensed, crouching, ready. The rifle happened to be pointed at the man with her who, along with the dog, had been following her explorations of the building.
    “Hey, whoa, whoa!” said the man, putting his hands up and beginning to walk backward. “No problem here. Yeah, we’re leaving, man, OK? No problem.”
    The rifle’s barrel began to swing her way, and the voice came again from inside. “You too, girly. You…” it never got to finish.
    She lunged forward as soon as the rifle began to track towards her. She slammed the door shut on the rifle and the hand once, and again, drawing surprised yelps from inside. She then grabbed the hand and pulled, watching a large, overweight man stumble into the