SURRY COUNTY, N.C. -- A North Carolina woman stopped at a Walgreens to buy makeup when she heard an unusual noise coming from another car in the parking lot.

“There’s no mistaking that little puppy whine,” Robin Haas told WGHP.

The noise sounded like it was coming from under the hood of a nearby car.

“She started to hear me talk and she got loud,” Haas said.

Haas is a welding instructor at Surry Community College and called a colleague for back-up.

Student Caleb Costner was sent to help.

“I didn’t believe it at first. I didn’t even see it in there, but Robin told me it was down there,” he said.

The two worked to move the battery and battery box, eventually making room to reach the puppy.

It’s a blessing she was found in time.

“You got the serpentine belt right there on the motor. It’s tail, it’s leg or anything could have gotten pulled into the belt,” Costner said.

The owner of the car doesn’t have pets and doesn’t know how the puppy got there.

“She said it was a 45-minute drive for her, so that puppy was in that engine compartment for 45 minutes,” Haas said.

Welding students made sure to keep the puppy safe for the rest of the day.

Student Michelle Kirkman plans to adopt the puppy.

“Ms. Haas came in holding her this morning and she was all covered in grease and shaken and scared and I fell in love,” Kirkman said.

“I thought it was pretty cool though to save a little puppy’s life,” Costner said.

The puppy was named Excalibur because that’s the brand of the welding rods used in the class.

Kirkman plans to call her Callie.

She will be taken to a vet to make sure she’s in good health.