The Last Husky

Cast out into a storm by her own mother, a feverish young woman named Riley is left to die in a zombie-infested stairwell with only her Husky, Duke, beside her. Her mother Martha chose to save the last fever pills for Riley's brother Tyler, then beat her and threw her from the apartment so Tyler could keep the rations. When a half-faced infected corners her, Duke drags her upward, and together they break open the roof door with a crowbar and barricade it against the pounding dead.

Soaked, burning with fever, and shivering on the tar roof, Riley has survived the night, but the building below still crawls with the infected, and the family that abandoned her sits safely behind locked doors.