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Day 3

Sam and Lenny sat at the kitchen table. Sam had woken up earlier that morning with what was arguably the worst hangover he had ever experienced. Lenny had spent the entire night in the bathroom, and after pulling his head out of the toilet he began making breakfast. As they ate Lenny spoke for the first time that morning.
"Do you remember much from last night?" He mumbled.
Sam tried to think about what had happened, but things were hazy, and muddled, as if he were piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. After a few minutes everything he could remember had fallen into place.
"I remember us drinking, Harry was telling us all his bloody stories… then we were walking home, and there was that glass smashing and we got freaked out. That's all I can remember anyway, what about you?" Lenny looked at his plate for a moment then looked back at him. "I remember… hearing someone screaming." Sam stared at him, unsure if he was joking.
"What do you mean screaming? I never heard anything."
"It was after you went to bed I think, I was in the… well, you know." He said nodding towards the bathroom. "But yeah I could hear someone screaming. It sounded pretty close too, like just down the road I guess? It stopped pretty quickly. I would've called the police or something but you know what state I was in." Sam got up and walked over to the glass door opening onto a small concrete balcony on the side of the building. The balcony was just a tiny space of concrete jutting out of the side of the building with a waist high concrete wall all around it. Sam and Lenny had managed to squeeze two plastic garden chairs out so they could drink there in the summer. Sam pulled the stiff door open and looked down to the street below. His eyes widened in shock, "Lenny, you're going to want to see this."

They peered over the edge of the balcony's wall into the streets below. It was carnage. Windows had been smashed, a lamppost bent and twisted, bins had been tipped over, their contents strewn across the street. The blackened skeleton of a burned out car lay abandoned in the middle of the road and next to it… "Is that a body?" Lenny pointed next to the car; Sam followed his outstretched finger until he saw it. The figure lay completely still in the middle of the street, what looked like blood pooled around it. "What the hell happened last night?" Sam asked as he walked back into the flat "I'm going to call the police". Sam paced the room as the phone's dial tone buzzed through the line. After what seemed like hours the call connected, the calm automated voice spoke interrupted Sam before he could speak. "We're sorry, but your call cannot be connected right now, please try again later." The message repeated. Sam ended the call, slamming the phone down on the kitchen table. "Any luck?" Lenny asked, closing the balcony door behind him. Sam shook his head. "Well then," Lenny grabbed his jacket from the back of the sofa, "Shall we go and have a look?"

The main lobby of the building hadn't fared any better than the rest of the streets. Fragments of glass crunched under Sam's feet as they made their way to the front door of the building. Both of the windows had been smashed in and the main doors were hanging from their hinges. As they left the building the silence dawned on them once again. Sam could hardly believe the destruction in front of him, as they passed an overturned car he began to wonder how on earth all this could have happened without them even noticing. They rounded the corner into the main road. The wrecked car was just up ahead, Sam could see the blood pooling round the side of the wreckage. They walked over to the side of the car; the body was lying on the other side. Sam braced himself for the sight of the body then looked around the car. It was gone.
"What the hell?" Lenny stepped around the side of the car, inspecting the pool of blood. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know. Maybe he wasn't that injured?" Sam replied
"Come on, look at all this blood. There's no way someone lost this much and is still walking arou-" Lenny looked past at Sam, his eyes widened as he pointed. Sam turned. It was the 'body'. He was a tall man, roughly Sam's size, the entire bottom half of his jaw had been torn away, his tongue hanging lolling down to his throat, an enormous chunk had been torn out of his chest, Sam could see exposed ribs jutting out of his side. The irises of his eyes were a milky white, with only the pupils adding any colour. He shuffled towards Sam, dragging one foot behind him. Before Sam could react, he lunged for him. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pinned him to the floor, Sam was nose to nose with him, he could see the bloodied hole in his face, smell the putrid breath. A bottle slammed into his attacker's face, showering Sam in glass and allowing him to scramble to his feet to see Lenny holding the remains of the beer bottle. Sam carefully inspected the body. A shard of glass had gone clean through its eye, blood oozed out of the wound. "Sam." Lenny warned

More were coming, they poured out of buildings and around street corners, most sporting similarly gruesome wounds and moving in the same slow shuffling manner. There were at least fifteen of them. Lenny was panicking, "What the hell do we do? They've blocked off the front entrance!" Sam looked towards the side of the building. "The car park elevator! Come on, let's go!" They sprinted towards the open side of the building. They reached the car park's elevator. Lenny hammered the button, as figures began appearing at the entrance to the car park. Slowly the lift descended as the figures moved closer and closer, their eerie moans echoing in the dark. Finally the lift arrived, Sam pulled the metal grill open as they forced their way into the tiny space. As the lift ascended they could hear the gates crashing as the people below tried to force them open. Sam sighed with relief, "That was too close."

Sam and Lenny sat in the flat; they had barricaded the door shut as soon as they got inside. Sam paced the room, while Lenny sat at the kitchen table. Neither of them had spoken since they left the elevator. Finally Sam broke the silence. "What in the hell were those things?"
Lenny looked up. "What do you mean what were they? They were people."
"No, no those weren't people, not any more. That guy had a hole in his side the size of a football and it wasn't even bleeding."
Lenny shook his head. "Who gives a shit what they are? The more important question is what we're going to do. I mean we can't exactly stay here. They'll find their way up eventually. And we can't call for help because the phones aren't working."
Sam sat down, deep in thought. "You don't think this is because of that illness do you?"
Lenny stared at him. "Jesus, if it is then pretty much the entire city is going to be like this."
"Right then. We need to get out of the city." Sam stood up and grabbed his coat. "The sooner we get out of here the better."
Lenny looked outside. "But how are we going to get past them? We're going to need weapons."
They scoured the house for something appropriate. After ages of searching Sam emerged with a large, heavy golf umbrella. Lenny was sat on the sofa holding a ball hammer almost as long as his forearm. "You ready yet? Alright let's go."
"Have you got the car keys?" Sam asked.
"I thought you had them…" Lenny began. Suddenly it dawned on them "Oh, shit it's still at the pub isn't it?"
Lenny slumped back down on the sofa, "Oh well that's just fantastic, what are we going to do now?"
"Well we're just going to have to run over to the pub and get the car aren't we?"
Lenny looked at him incredulously, "What? And go through all those… things?"
"Do you know how to hotwire a car?" Sam asked. Lenny shook his head. "Well then, I guess we don't have much choice."

The creatures had obviously lost interest in the lift; there was total silence as Sam quietly opened the metal gate. They moved across the open ground, keeping as low to the ground as possible to avoid detection. They reached the open street and sprinted for the cover of a nearby alleyway. As they squatted in the shadows, Sam peered out into the street. The creatures were everywhere, moving with the same shuffling limp. Sam couldn't help but find that movement familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He put those thoughts aside. There were more important things to focus on.
Sam turned, "Okay, here's the plan," he pointed towards the local school. "You see the school field? Well, if we cut across that we won't have to go through the streets, it opens up right on to the square, we'll be there twice as quickly."
Lenny looked hesitant. "But… it's open ground, there's no hiding places. We get spotted we'll have to either leg it or fight it out."
"Well, they don't exactly move quickly, and we do have weapons." Said Sam, holding up the umbrella.
The pair waited for the right moment then ran for the large metal fence running the perimeter of the school field. The fence was about 7 feet tall and made of thick metal bars, there was a thin metal bar at the top running perpendicular to the bars to keep them in place. Sam threw the umbrella over the fence as Lenny offered him a leg up. Sam placed his foot in Lenny's cupped hands and grabbed the horizontal bar. Using Lenny's hand as leverage he pushed himself up onto the bar, turning and grabbing Lenny's hand to pull him up. This was the hard part, Lenny was much heavier than Sam, who didn't have much room on the thin bar to manoeuvre or distribute the weight. Eventually, after a lot of pulling, Lenny got a hold on the bar and, with Sam's assistance, pulled himself on to the bar. At that point Sam lost his balance, sending the two tumbling down onto the grass.

They scrambled to their feet, watching around them for any sign of movement. After being convinced it was clear, they set off towards the other side of the field. The field was an open stretch of grass, except for a large climbing frame near the left side. As they passed it Sam noticed some movement. He stopped; it looked like two children were crouching around the side of the climbing frame. Sam caught Lenny's attention and pointed. Pressing his fingers to his lips they crept closer. Sam stopped dead when he saw what they were doing. The two children crouched over another child, ripping chunks of flesh from his body and gorging on it greedily. Blood was spattered over the climbing frame and around the surrounding area. The two children sensed they were being watched and turned towards Sam and Lenny; Blood coated their faces as they stared with he same vacant stare of the other creatures. Slowly, the children stood up and began shuffling towards them. Sam wanted to run, but was frozen in place by the third child. The child began to move, it's head slowly turned towards Sam. Slowly it began to move. It picked itself off from the ground; seemingly oblivious to the horrific wounds he had suffered and began shuffling towards him. "SAM!" Lenny's voice dragged him back to the present. "Come on we have to go!" They sprinted for the nearby fence. The fence was slightly lower on this side, allowing both of them to climb the fence without assistance. As they landed on the other side of the fence Sam stared back through the bars. The children were still following, limping forwards. He turned away; he needed to focus if he was going to stay alive.

The square was swarming with them; Sam and Lenny hid behind a nearby car and watched. There were at least 50 of the creatures surrounding the King's Guard. They seemed intent on getting inside the building.
"Why are there so many out here? D'you reckon Harry's still alive?" Lenny asked.
"I'm not sure, but I hope so." Sam replied "The issue now is how are going to get around these guy- FUCK!" The creature grabbed him from behind and jumped on him, going for his throat. Sam wriggled free of his grasp, scrambling away as it turned towards him again. He grabbed the umbrella by the tip so that the handle was facing outwards, and swung it as hard as he could. The handle connected with the creature's head with a sickening crack. It fell slumped against the car; its head misshapen and dented where the blow had struck it and blood began pouring out of the wound.

"Oh shit, Sam…" Lenny whispered. He needn't have bothered. Every creature in the square was staring straight at them. As one the turned and began slowly moving towards them.
"Oh god, what do we do?" Sam asked, "There's no way we can fight all of them."
Lenny looked at him "We make a run for the door, knock on it to see if Harry's in. If not we break down the door. Agreed?"
It didn't sound like much of a plan. But they didn't have any other choice. Sam nodded.  Sam opened up the umbrella and motioned for Lenny to get behind him. Sam ran for the door, using the umbrella as a battering ram. Creatures began bouncing off left and right as they charged clean through the group. They reached the doors in no time at all. Sam hammered on the door with his fist
"Harry! It's Sam! Open up!" No answer.
Lenny swung the hammer hard into one of the approaching creature's head "They're getting closer! Where the hell is he?" He yelled. Sam turned to face the wave of attackers. Before he could even move a hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards. Sam landed on the rough carpet of the bar floor. After a moment of confusion he looked up to see Harry slamming the bar doors shut and placing an enormous wooden bar across it.
He turned to them "What in God's name are you two doing here?"
"We were trying to get out of the city, but you have our car keys. You should come with us." Sam said.
Harry looked doubtful. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Why don't we just stay in here and wait it out?"
"And how long do you reckon that will take?" Lenny asked. "You've seen how many those things there are out there. What happens if they find their way inside? Or if we run out of food?"
Harry sighed. "I suppose you're right." He looked at Sam's battered umbrella, "However. If we're going to get out of here alive you're going to need a better weapon than that."
"Like what?" Lenny asked. Harry just grinned and motioned them to follow him.

Harry led them into the bar's cellar. Navigating his way past enormous racks of wine and crates full of beer they reached a seemingly insignificant patch of empty concrete. He grabbed an enormous crowbar and dug it into a near invisible crack. With some help from Lenny and Sam, they plied off a slab of concrete, leaving a large hole around 5 metres in length and width. Underneath was a stash of large plastic and metal cases. Harry dragged one of these cases out and unbuckled the clips on the front. He levered it open to reveal a shotgun. Neatly packed in its cushioned case. "Wow. Where the hell did you get this Harry?" Lenny asked picking it up and studying it. It was a professional's weapon, with a composite stock and a chrome-plated barrel. A red Winchester logo was engraved into the side of the stock.
"Ah yes, the Winchester Super X Pump Defender. Good gun that, nasty kick to it though." Harry said.
Lenny held the shotgun up, "I call this one!"
Harry was already dragging up two smaller cases. "Here Sam you take these two."
Inside each one was a pistol. The first was relatively small, with a stainless steel barrel and a black finish.
Harry seemed to be having a great time, "Yeah that one there is a Smith & Wesson M&P9, the other's a good ol' reliable Heckler and Koch USP. The Smith & Wesson has a nice thumb safety catch for quick-"
"Harry you realise we have absolutely no idea what you're talking about right?" Lenny interrupted.
Harry looked offended, "Well you'll need to learn quick, these aren't toys and you need to use them responsibly. And don't go using both of those at the same time like some sort of cowboy Sam. Use one and keep the other as a backup."
Sam picked up the other pistol, the USP looked similar to the other pistol; only it was slightly smaller and had a small built-in torch below the barrel and in front of the trigger guard.
Harry threw Sam two holsters and a belt. "Here, put those on." He said.
Sam looked at the belt. "What's that for?"
"It's got pouches for magazines" He answered
Sam looked at the holsters; they had straps at the bottom and the top so that it could be strapped to the leg. The belt had pouches on it, each one containing slots for pistol magazines. Sam strapped the holsters on his leg so that the holsters sat halfway down his thigh. Harry then began preparing the weapons and teaching them the basics of handling the guns. After two hours he was satisfied. "Alright, that'll do. Just remember what I've taught you and you'll be fine." He said. "Now let's get out o here.

Before they left Harry grabbed his rifle from the bar. It was an old lever action rifle, like the ones used in old cowboy films Sam had watched as a kid. It had a polished wooden stock and a steel barrel.
Lenny looked at it and rolled his eyes. "Figures that you would use something like that Harry."
"Nothing wrong with having a bit of vintage class boy." He replied, "Now time's wasting, let's go."
Harry opened the back door into the car park; their car was the only occupant. A large metal gate blocked the entrance. Harry looked at the gate and frowned.
"Okay, here's the plan. We turn on the engine now to save time. Now we're going to need one person to open each side of the gate at the same time, or those things will overwhelm us before we even can get the other open. It'll be up to the last person to cover us-"
"Oh! I shotgun covering you guys!" Lenny cut in.
"Fine, Sam you open the right gate, the left one doesn't open unless you push it a certain way so I'll have that one. Okay? Good. Let's get on with it then."
Sam unlocked the car and switched on the engine. Lenny turned off the safety on his shotgun and stood just behind opening arc of the gate. Harry removed the bar locking the gates shut and readied himself to open the gate. Sam grabbed the gate and braced himself.
"Ready Lenny?" Sam shouted. Lenny nodded, holding the weapon at his hip and pointing it towards the door. "Alright! On the count of three! One! Two! Three!"
Sam pulled the gate as hard as he could. It was heavy and took a few seconds to pull it open fully. By the time he had hooked the gate to the car park's wall, creatures were already making their way inside. Lenny held the shotgun at his hip. "Say hello to my little friend arseholes!" He yelled as he pulled the trigger. Lenny stumbled backwards from the force of the recoil, dropping his gun as he tried to remain on his feet. "Lenny I told you to hold it firmly!" Harry barked. "And aim the damn thing!" Lenny seized the gun and cocked it. "Alright then." He said as he brought it up to his shoulder. "Let's try this again shall we?" He pulled the trigger. This time the shot found it's mark. The shotgun blasted a hole clean through the lead creature's chest, lifting it off the ground and hurling back into the ranks of the wave now clawing their way into the car park.
"Harry come on we have to go now!" Sam shouted as he drew his pistol.
"Give me a couple more seconds!" Harry yelled back, fiddling with the hook on the gate.
Sam turned to see a creature mere feet away from him. He could see every little detail. The dried blood around its mouth, the colourless eyes, the gaping wound in its neck. Sam tried to remain calm and remember what Harry had taught him. He brought the pistol up to eye level, turned off the safety catch and lined up the sights. He pushed his right hand forward while holding back on his supporting left hand, making it more stable. He placed the sights over the creature's forehead and pulled the trigger. The shot hit the creature square in the forehead, sending blood and brains spattering out of the back of it's head as the bullet went clean through. Its head was snatched back to an impossible angle before the entire body went limp as it slumped to the ground. "Nice shot Sam! Now let's go!" yelled Harry as he fired a well placed shot into the crowd. Lenny was already getting into the driver's seat of the car as Sam threw himself into the passenger seat. "You might want to put your seatbelt on guys." Lenny said, "This is going to get very bumpy."

The engine roared as Lenny accelerated towards the group of creatures blocking the exit. Sam braced himself as they sped closer and closer. The first impact shook jolted through the car, causing the seatbelt to bite painfully into Sam's neck and shoulder. The creature went rolling over the roof of the car, followed by several others as Lenny kept his foot on the accelerator. The car sped out of the car park and through the empty streets.
"Alright. Where to now?" Lenny asked.
"We head back towards the flat, take the motorway up and out then… I don't know. Find out if there's any survivors I guess." Sam answered.
As the car sped through the streets Sam turned to Harry sitting in the back seat.
"So Harry, how exactly did you get your hands on all these guns? Not to mention all the ammo."
Harry looked at him "I have… what you might call 'friends' in the smuggling business. I'm a favourite customer of theirs."
"Alright then, let's go with why did you have half an army's worth of guns in your cellar?"
"Well, you never know when something like these could come in handy. I mean you saw that bunch of hooligans that hung around in the square right? No telling what they might try and poll!"
"Isn't that a little paranoid?" asked Lenny, looking through the mirror.
"Well they're bloody well coming in handy right now aren't they?" Harry retorted.
"Good point." Lenny conceded.

Not long afterwards they reached the motorway. Lenny pulled onto the motorway and smiled at the sight of three lanes of open road. "This is more like it. Now we can get some real speed going." The engine screamed as he accelerated even further. Sam looked at the speedometer. 110mph. "Just be careful, alright? The last thing we need is for you to kill us by driving like an idiot."
Lenny wasn't listening. He squinted at something up ahead. "What is that?" he asked, pointing at something ahead. Sam looked to where he was pointing. "It's other cars. Slow down."
Lenny braked hard. Slowly, they approached the car. Sam got out to take a look. It had been abandoned. The engine had been left running and the windows smashed. Bloody handprints were pressed against the bodywork, but their owners were nowhere to be seen.
Lenny wound down the window. "Anything good?"
"No, looks like the owners must have been dragged out. I don't get it. Why would the have stopped here?"
"Probably because of that." Lenny said, pointing straight ahead.
There were cars. Hundreds of thousands of cars stretching as far as the eye could see. All of them had been abandoned, lying motionless on the silent road.
"Jesus." Sam said, "Wait here. I'm going to take a look."
Lenny looked apprehensively at the bloody handprints on the car. "D'you really think that's a good idea?"
"I'll only be a minute, keep the engine running. I'm going to see if there's a way round these things."
A few minutes later Sam reached the first line of cars. It was in a similar condition to the last one. Smashed windows, blood splatters and a running engine. Sam looked inside. There wasn't much, a couple of blankets, a teddy bear in the back seat. A noise ahead made Sam look up. He had to resist the urge to swear. Around the cars were hundreds, if not thousands of the creatures. Slowly, he drew his pistol. He turned to leave quietly and almost walked straight into one of the creatures. It snarled and lunged for him, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him against the car. Sam could smell its rancid breath, as it tried to bite him. Sam shoved it away, backing away quickly as he levelled his pistol and fired twice. The second shot found its mark, dropping the creature to the floor. Sam could sense something was wrong, and turned. Every single creature he could see had heard the shot and was now moving towards him.

Harry and Lenny sat in the car. Lenny was squinting at the group of cars trying to spot Sam.
"I can't see him. D'you reckon he's all right?"
"I'm sure he's fine. He's a smart kid and can handle himself." Harry answered. He looked out of the window. "See? Here he comes now."
Sam sprinted as fast as he could towards the car. He ripped open the door and dived inside, panting heavily.
"Took you long enough. What's going on? Is there a way round?" Lenny asked. Sam shook his head, unable to talk properly.
"Well should we walk it? I can't see any other options." In answer Sam merely pointed towards the cars. Lenny's eyes widened as he saw the hundreds of creatures slowly ambling out from the sea of vehicles.
"Right then. That answers that." Lenny slammed the car into reverse and spun the car back round, facing the way they had come. The tyres squealed as the car sped off.
"So what now?" Asked Lenny
"We put as much distance between us and them that's what. Take this exit here." Said Harry.
"Why… this one?" Sam gasped, clutching at the stitch in his side.
"Because we need to get off of the motorway as quickly as possible. Those things may move slowly but they'll catch up eventually."
Lenny turned the car into a street; the buildings here were all shops and restaurants. Lenny was still driving incredibly fast, too fast. As the car rounded a tight bend Sam looked up to see dozens of the creatures cluttering the road. Lenny braked hard as the car skidded out of control. The tyres screamed as the car careened through two of the creatures before burying itself in a lamppost.

Sam opened his eyes to see windscreen reduced to powdered glass. He looked to his right to see Lenny where the seatbelt had cut into it. Sam unbuckled his seatbelt and tried to open the door. It was so crumpled and dented that it wouldn't budge. Sam manoeuvred his legs out of the misshapen foot-well and twisted himself in the seat so that his feet were against the door and kicked it as hard he could. With a metallic squeal the door swung open. Swam crawled out of the wreckage to see Harry already outside with his rifle levelled at the group of creatures barely 20 feet away.
"Harry? What-" Harry shushed him and merely pointed. Despite the noise and devastation of the crash, the creatures hadn't noticed them at all. In fact they seemed much more focused on something further down the street. As Lenny pulled himself from the car he crept over to them.
"Why haven't they noticed us?" Sam whispered.
"Harry held up his hand "Listen. Can you hear that? That's why."
Sam listened carefully. From further down the came sounds of someone shouting. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but someone was definitely in trouble.
"I say we find another way around this street and put some distance between us and this lot." Harry whispered.
"That sound is someone shouting." Sam replied. "We can't just leave them to face this lot, they need our help!"
Harry looked at him incredulously. "You do realise the street is swarming with these things right? How do you propose we get to them?"
"Well they haven't noticed us so far." Sam whispered, "So we just sneak through them, grab whoever's out there and just shoot our way out."
Harry looked dubious "I think it's a bad idea. Lenny what do you think?"
Lenny looked down the street. The crowd of creatures only got thicker as it progressed. "I think we should quit while we're ahead." He answered.
"Fine!" Sam hissed. "You want to piss off and eave someone to die? Fine then. I'll help them myself."
Sam turned and crept forwards. Harry and Lenny looked at each other for a moment before following. The group moved at a crouched run as they moved down the street. The majority of the creatures were in the road, leaving the pavements relatively clear. The group moved quickly and quietly until they reached an impenetrable wall of infected. They blocked the entire street, forming a rough semi – circle around a small café. The three of them ducked into a side alley and surveyed their surroundings.
"Well what now then?" asked Lenny. "I think they'll notice us if we just try and shove our way through that horde.
Sam looked around for anything they could use. He walked to a large shopping trolley. "Simple. We use this as a battering ram. Push through the wall, grab the survivor and push our way out."
Lenny looked at the trolley. "We're going to need far more weight than that." He grabbed a nearby cinderblock off of a large unused pile. "Dump these in there."
After loading the trolley with as much weight as they could, Sam and Lenny wheeled the trolley out into the street. "Alright," Sam said. "Ready? Set? GO!" they charged, pushing the trolley towards the cluster of creatures. As the trolley slammed through the cluster Sam could feel hands clawing at his back and side. However Harry was there to smash them away with the butt of his rifle. They emerged into the centre of the ring to find a makeshift barricade of tables, chairs and shopping trolleys similar to their battering ram blocking the front of the café. The group slammed through the barricade, almost sending Sam hurting over the handlebars. Creatures were already beginning to stream through other breaches they'd made in the barricade. A scream from inside the café drew Sam's attention. He kicked the door open and charged inside. A girl was fighting off one of the creatures. It snarled as she tried to hold it back using a mop. The creature reached across the mop, grabbing at her throat. Sam aimed the pistol, preparing to fire. He stopped, remembering what Harry had taught him.
"Always make sure you know what's behind your target." Harry's voice echoed in his head. "Bullets can go straight through what you're aiming at and hit what's behind them. So make sure no one is behind your target when you're shooting."
Sam lowered the pistol and charged, grabbing the creature by the legs and rugby tackling it to the floor. Sam rolled away quickly before it could react, bringing the pistol up into the firing position. Four shots into the creature's chest ensured that it stayed down for good. Sam fired one last shot through its head before turning and speaking to the girl. She sat against the wall, catching her breath. She was about a foot shorter than Sam, with dark red, shoulder length hair and dark green eyes. Her tattered, bloodstained uniform showed that she obviously worked here.
"Hey I'm Sam." He said holding out his hand.
She glanced at him "Alexa." She said bluntly "Thanks for that." She added, nodding at the dead creature.
"Uh… No problem." Sam looked around awkwardly. "Um… listen, it's not safe here. We should probably get out of here. If you want…"
She glared at him, "And how do you propose we get past those things?"
Sam was taken aback at her hostility. "Well we used a battering ram to get through them, I guess we can get out the same way."
Alexa's expression didn't soften "So it was you who let those things through my barricade? Nice work there." She said, with obvious sarcasm in her voice. "Hey if I need some more help with idiots getting me killed I'll let you know."
Sam didn't know what to say. He had never been amazing at talking to girls anyway; he would always become shy and closed off. He could count the number of girlfriends he could have on one hand. Sam didn't know whether it was the impending danger or the fact that he had killed several people in the afternoon alone, but something caused a change in this tradition.
"Listen." He snapped, "Firstly, your precious barricade had already gone tits up by the time we bowled through it. So don't blame me for the shit you put yourself in. Secondly, I just saved your sorry arse so perhaps you'd like to think about that before you complain that I've done anything to hinder your survival. Now you can come with me and we can get out of here together or you can stay here until that horde breaks in here and rips you limb from limb. I'll stop wasting my time with useless ingrates."
He turned and stormed towards the door. He made it halfway before she spoke.
"Wait." He looked back at her. She was still sat in the same spot. "You're right." She said. "I was wrong. I'll come with you."
Sam walked back to her and offered his hand. "We don't have to like each other." He said. "But there's safety in number."

Harry and Lenny were firing into the crowds storming through the barricade. Bodies clogged the small breaches, stopping the creatures from getting through too quickly. Sam and Alexa left the café.
"I've got her, let's go!" Sam shouted
"Her?" Lenny asked turning in bewilderment. He saw Alexa and grinned. "Oh. You alright love?" He smirked.
She ignored him. "What's the plan?"
Sam grabbed the trolley. "Okay same as last time-"
The blaring of a car's horn interrupted Sam. A van blasted through the crowd, shattering the remains of the makeshift barricade and screeching to a halt in front of the group. They stood there stunned. The van's window wound down as a man's head appeared. He was large, with a thick neck and a shaved head. He had a long, crooked nose that looked like it had been broken at least once, a square jaw and small, sunken eyes. "Well don't just stand there!" He barked in a thick cockney accent. "Get in the van!" His words made them jump into action. They ran round to the back of the van, Lenny ripping the door open and clambering inside. Sam turned and began firing into the approaching creatures. "Hurry up!" Sam yelled as Lenny helped Alexa in after him. Harry was also firing into the group. "You next Harry." Sam said. Harry nodded, turning and heaving himself inside the vehicle. Sam switched the safety on his pistol and jumped into the van. As he crossed the threshold, Lenny pulled the doors shut. The van shuddered and jerked as it made its way through the crowd once more. The ride was much smoother as it rounded the corner of the road. The back of the van wasn't separated from the driver's section, allowing Sam to squeeze his way into passenger seat. "Thanks for that back there mate, we owe you one. I'm Sam."
"No problem," He replied, "I'm Derrick." He pulled over in an empty street and turned to face the others. "Alright listen, the way I see it we'll have more of a chance of surviving whatever this is if we stick together. My place is easily defensible and isn't too far away. You're welcome to come back and stick it out with me. If not, you can walk away right now."
No one moved. The sun was setting, and no one wanted to be out in the open with those things lurking in the darkness. Derrick nodded, "Alright then, home it is."

He pulled in to a small garage building just as the sun began to set. As soon as Derrick had parked the van in the garage he jumped out and closed the automated metal gate. "Three inches of solid steel." He said as Sam clambered out of the van. "That should keep them out, but we should have someone on watch, just in case." Derrick was huge, almost half a foot taller than Sam, with wide shoulders and enormous muscles. Sam agreed as Derrick showed them the rest of the building. The garage consisted of an upper floor filled with several small offices, a kitchen and a toilet, with the ground floor used as a parking area for the van and a small warehouse. Derrick called them all around and began introductions. After everyone had been introduced he began laying out survival plans.
"Alright, here's the issue." He said, pacing back and forth in front of the group. "This place is easily defensible, but right now we only have enough food for us to eat tonight. So we're going to need more food tomorrow. Any suggestions?"
Sam looked around tentatively. "Well actually we were going to try and get out of the city."
Derrick turned to him. "I don't think that's a good idea. All the main roads are blocked off and there's no other easy way out. I think it's best if we hole up here and wait it out."
Sam nodded. Derrick's point made sense, if all the other roads were as bad as the one they were at earlier then there was no way of getting out of the city by road. "In that case then I can get us into the supermarket where I work. It's not too far from here and I can get us in the back entrance."
"What if it's already been picked clean?" Harry asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now I think we should relax and take some peace and quiet while we can get it." Derrick said.
The rest of the night was relatively uneventful. After an unpleasant dinner of whatever canned food was left in the kitchen, they all sat in the main office getting to know each other. It turned out Derrick knew a lot about firearms, and taught Sam and Lenny how to clean and maintain their weapons. Eventually it started to get late. Derrick found some old blankets in a back room and they all tried to get some sleep. Sam volunteered to take first watch, propping himself against the wall and watching the stairs. As the darkness enveloped him, he had no trouble keeping himself awake. In the silence of the hallway every little sound seemed magnified. He could hear slow, unsteady footsteps in the street outside the occasional breaking of glass or knocking over of bins and once, a distant scream. A voice in the darkness made him jump. "Hey." It was Alexa. She sat down next to him in the hallway, watching the stairs. "I… just wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier. You didn't deserve that, especially not after you saved my life. D'you think maybe we could start over?"
Sam smiled "Sure, don't worry about it." After an awkward pause Sam broke the silence again. "You're accent is… different. Are you from the U.S. by any chance?"
"Canada." She replied. "I came here to go to a foreign college. I always wanted to travel. The waitress job was just to stop me from mooching off of my parents as much."
Alexa checked her watch. "Your shift is up." She said as Sam yawned widely. "I'll take over from here. Go get some rest. You'll need it if we're going back out there tomorrow."
Sam nodded and wished her good night. As he lay down on the hard floor with only a thin blanket and a cushion he found it hard to believe that just this morning his only worries had been a hangover and the prospect of going back to work. Now his entire life had been turned upside down. Sam closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do about it now, he had to adapt, or end up like the very creatures he had spent the day fighting.

Description
Day 3

Sam and Lenny sat at the kitchen table. Sam had woken up earlier that morning with what was arguably the worst hangover he had ever experienced. Lenny had spent the entire night in the bathroom, and after pulling his head out of the toilet he began making breakfast. As they ate Lenny spoke for the first time that morning.
"Do you remember much from last night?" He mumbled.
Sam tried to think about what had happened, but things were hazy, and muddled, as if he were piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. After a few minutes everything he could remember had fallen into place.
"I remember us drinking, Harry was telling us all his bloody stories… then we were walking home, and there was that glass smashing and we got freaked out. That's all I can remember anyway, what about you?" Lenny looked at his plate for a moment then looked back at him. "I remember… hearing someone screaming." Sam stared at him, unsure if he was joking.
"What do you mean screaming? I never heard anything."
"It was after you went to bed I think, I was in the… well, you know." He said nodding towards the bathroom. "But yeah I could hear someone screaming. It sounded pretty close too, like just down the road I guess? It stopped pretty quickly. I would've called the police or something but you know what state I was in." Sam got up and walked over to the glass door opening onto a small concrete balcony on the side of the building. The balcony was just a tiny space of concrete jutting out of the side of the building with a waist high concrete wall all around it. Sam and Lenny had managed to squeeze two plastic garden chairs out so they could drink there in the summer. Sam pulled the stiff door open and looked down to the street below. His eyes widened in shock, "Lenny, you're going to want to see this."

They peered over the edge of the balcony's wall into the streets below. It was carnage. Windows had been smashed, a lamppost bent and twisted, bins had been tipped over, their contents strewn across the street. The blackened skeleton of a burned out car lay abandoned in the middle of the road and next to it… "Is that a body?" Lenny pointed next to the car; Sam followed his outstretched finger until he saw it. The figure lay completely still in the middle of the street, what looked like blood pooled around it. "What the hell happened last night?" Sam asked as he walked back into the flat "I'm going to call the police". Sam paced the room as the phone's dial tone buzzed through the line. After what seemed like hours the call connected, the calm automated voice spoke interrupted Sam before he could speak. "We're sorry, but your call cannot be connected right now, please try again later." The message repeated. Sam ended the call, slamming the phone down on the kitchen table. "Any luck?" Lenny asked, closing the balcony door behind him. Sam shook his head. "Well then," Lenny grabbed his jacket from the back of the sofa, "Shall we go and have a look?"

The main lobby of the building hadn't fared any better than the rest of the streets. Fragments of glass crunched under Sam's feet as they made their way to the front door of the building. Both of the windows had been smashed in and the main doors were hanging from their hinges. As they left the building the silence dawned on them once again. Sam could hardly believe the destruction in front of him, as they passed an overturned car he began to wonder how on earth all this could have happened without them even noticing. They rounded the corner into the main road. The wrecked car was just up ahead, Sam could see the blood pooling round the side of the wreckage. They walked over to the side of the car; the body was lying on the other side. Sam braced himself for the sight of the body then looked around the car. It was gone.
"What the hell?" Lenny stepped around the side of the car, inspecting the pool of blood. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know. Maybe he wasn't that injured?" Sam replied
"Come on, look at all this blood. There's no way someone lost this much and is still walking arou-" Lenny looked past at Sam, his eyes widened as he pointed. Sam turned. It was the 'body'. He was a tall man, roughly Sam's size, the entire bottom half of his jaw had been torn away, his tongue hanging lolling down to his throat, an enormous chunk had been torn out of his chest, Sam could see exposed ribs jutting out of his side. The irises of his eyes were a milky white, with only the pupils adding any colour. He shuffled towards Sam, dragging one foot behind him. Before Sam could react, he lunged for him. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pinned him to the floor, Sam was nose to nose with him, he could see the bloodied hole in his face, smell the putrid breath. A bottle slammed into his attacker's face, showering Sam in glass and allowing him to scramble to his feet to see Lenny holding the remains of the beer bottle. Sam carefully inspected the body. A shard of glass had gone clean through its eye, blood oozed out of the wound. "Sam." Lenny warned

More were coming, they poured out of buildings and around street corners, most sporting similarly gruesome wounds and moving in the same slow shuffling manner. There were at least fifteen of them. Lenny was panicking, "What the hell do we do? They've blocked off the front entrance!" Sam looked towards the side of the building. "The car park elevator! Come on, let's go!" They sprinted towards the open side of the building. They reached the car park's elevator. Lenny hammered the button, as figures began appearing at the entrance to the car park. Slowly the lift descended as the figures moved closer and closer, their eerie moans echoing in the dark. Finally the lift arrived, Sam pulled the metal grill open as they forced their way into the tiny space. As the lift ascended they could hear the gates crashing as the people below tried to force them open. Sam sighed with relief, "That was too close."

Sam and Lenny sat in the flat; they had barricaded the door shut as soon as they got inside. Sam paced the room, while Lenny sat at the kitchen table. Neither of them had spoken since they left the elevator. Finally Sam broke the silence. "What in the hell were those things?"
Lenny looked up. "What do you mean what were they? They were people."
"No, no those weren't people, not any more. That guy had a hole in his side the size of a football and it wasn't even bleeding."
Lenny shook his head. "Who gives a shit what they are? The more important question is what we're going to do. I mean we can't exactly stay here. They'll find their way up eventually. And we can't call for help because the phones aren't working."
Sam sat down, deep in thought. "You don't think this is because of that illness do you?"
Lenny stared at him. "Jesus, if it is then pretty much the entire city is going to be like this."
"Right then. We need to get out of the city." Sam stood up and grabbed his coat. "The sooner we get out of here the better."
Lenny looked outside. "But how are we going to get past them? We're going to need weapons."
They scoured the house for something appropriate. After ages of searching Sam emerged with a large, heavy golf umbrella. Lenny was sat on the sofa holding a ball hammer almost as long as his forearm. "You ready yet? Alright let's go."
"Have you got the car keys?" Sam asked.
"I thought you had them…" Lenny began. Suddenly it dawned on them "Oh, shit it's still at the pub isn't it?"
Lenny slumped back down on the sofa, "Oh well that's just fantastic, what are we going to do now?"
"Well we're just going to have to run over to the pub and get the car aren't we?"
Lenny looked at him incredulously, "What? And go through all those… things?"
"Do you know how to hotwire a car?" Sam asked. Lenny shook his head. "Well then, I guess we don't have much choice."

The creatures had obviously lost interest in the lift; there was total silence as Sam quietly opened the metal gate. They moved across the open ground, keeping as low to the ground as possible to avoid detection. They reached the open street and sprinted for the cover of a nearby alleyway. As they squatted in the shadows, Sam peered out into the street. The creatures were everywhere, moving with the same shuffling limp. Sam couldn't help but find that movement familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He put those thoughts aside. There were more important things to focus on.
Sam turned, "Okay, here's the plan," he pointed towards the local school. "You see the school field? Well, if we cut across that we won't have to go through the streets, it opens up right on to the square, we'll be there twice as quickly."
Lenny looked hesitant. "But… it's open ground, there's no hiding places. We get spotted we'll have to either leg it or fight it out."
"Well, they don't exactly move quickly, and we do have weapons." Said Sam, holding up the umbrella.
The pair waited for the right moment then ran for the large metal fence running the perimeter of the school field. The fence was about 7 feet tall and made of thick metal bars, there was a thin metal bar at the top running perpendicular to the bars to keep them in place. Sam threw the umbrella over the fence as Lenny offered him a leg up. Sam placed his foot in Lenny's cupped hands and grabbed the horizontal bar. Using Lenny's hand as leverage he pushed himself up onto the bar, turning and grabbing Lenny's hand to pull him up. This was the hard part, Lenny was much heavier than Sam, who didn't have much room on the thin bar to manoeuvre or distribute the weight. Eventually, after a lot of pulling, Lenny got a hold on the bar and, with Sam's assistance, pulled himself on to the bar. At that point Sam lost his balance, sending the two tumbling down onto the grass.

They scrambled to their feet, watching around them for any sign of movement. After being convinced it was clear, they set off towards the other side of the field. The field was an open stretch of grass, except for a large climbing frame near the left side. As they passed it Sam noticed some movement. He stopped; it looked like two children were crouching around the side of the climbing frame. Sam caught Lenny's attention and pointed. Pressing his fingers to his lips they crept closer. Sam stopped dead when he saw what they were doing. The two children crouched over another child, ripping chunks of flesh from his body and gorging on it greedily. Blood was spattered over the climbing frame and around the surrounding area. The two children sensed they were being watched and turned towards Sam and Lenny; Blood coated their faces as they stared with he same vacant stare of the other creatures. Slowly, the children stood up and began shuffling towards them. Sam wanted to run, but was frozen in place by the third child. The child began to move, it's head slowly turned towards Sam. Slowly it began to move. It picked itself off from the ground; seemingly oblivious to the horrific wounds he had suffered and began shuffling towards him. "SAM!" Lenny's voice dragged him back to the present. "Come on we have to go!" They sprinted for the nearby fence. The fence was slightly lower on this side, allowing both of them to climb the fence without assistance. As they landed on the other side of the fence Sam stared back through the bars. The children were still following, limping forwards. He turned away; he needed to focus if he was going to stay alive.

The square was swarming with them; Sam and Lenny hid behind a nearby car and watched. There were at least 50 of the creatures surrounding the King's Guard. They seemed intent on getting inside the building.
"Why are there so many out here? D'you reckon Harry's still alive?" Lenny asked.
"I'm not sure, but I hope so." Sam replied "The issue now is how are going to get around these guy- FUCK!" The creature grabbed him from behind and jumped on him, going for his throat. Sam wriggled free of his grasp, scrambling away as it turned towards him again. He grabbed the umbrella by the tip so that the handle was facing outwards, and swung it as hard as he could. The handle connected with the creature's head with a sickening crack. It fell slumped against the car; its head misshapen and dented where the blow had struck it and blood began pouring out of the wound.

"Oh shit, Sam…" Lenny whispered. He needn't have bothered. Every creature in the square was staring straight at them. As one the turned and began slowly moving towards them.
"Oh god, what do we do?" Sam asked, "There's no way we can fight all of them."
Lenny looked at him "We make a run for the door, knock on it to see if Harry's in. If not we break down the door. Agreed?"
It didn't sound like much of a plan. But they didn't have any other choice. Sam nodded.  Sam opened up the umbrella and motioned for Lenny to get behind him. Sam ran for the door, using the umbrella as a battering ram. Creatures began bouncing off left and right as they charged clean through the group. They reached the doors in no time at all. Sam hammered on the door with his fist
"Harry! It's Sam! Open up!" No answer.
Lenny swung the hammer hard into one of the approaching creature's head "They're getting closer! Where the hell is he?" He yelled. Sam turned to face the wave of attackers. Before he could even move a hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards. Sam landed on the rough carpet of the bar floor. After a moment of confusion he looked up to see Harry slamming the bar doors shut and placing an enormous wooden bar across it.
He turned to them "What in God's name are you two doing here?"
"We were trying to get out of the city, but you have our car keys. You should come with us." Sam said.
Harry looked doubtful. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Why don't we just stay in here and wait it out?"
"And how long do you reckon that will take?" Lenny asked. "You've seen how many those things there are out there. What happens if they find their way inside? Or if we run out of food?"
Harry sighed. "I suppose you're right." He looked at Sam's battered umbrella, "However. If we're going to get out of here alive you're going to need a better weapon than that."
"Like what?" Lenny asked. Harry just grinned and motioned them to follow him.

Harry led them into the bar's cellar. Navigating his way past enormous racks of wine and crates full of beer they reached a seemingly insignificant patch of empty concrete. He grabbed an enormous crowbar and dug it into a near invisible crack. With some help from Lenny and Sam, they plied off a slab of concrete, leaving a large hole around 5 metres in length and width. Underneath was a stash of large plastic and metal cases. Harry dragged one of these cases out and unbuckled the clips on the front. He levered it open to reveal a shotgun. Neatly packed in its cushioned case. "Wow. Where the hell did you get this Harry?" Lenny asked picking it up and studying it. It was a professional's weapon, with a composite stock and a chrome-plated barrel. A red Winchester logo was engraved into the side of the stock.
"Ah yes, the Winchester Super X Pump Defender. Good gun that, nasty kick to it though." Harry said.
Lenny held the shotgun up, "I call this one!"
Harry was already dragging up two smaller cases. "Here Sam you take these two."
Inside each one was a pistol. The first was relatively small, with a stainless steel barrel and a black finish.
Harry seemed to be having a great time, "Yeah that one there is a Smith & Wesson M&P9, the other's a good ol' reliable Heckler and Koch USP. The Smith & Wesson has a nice thumb safety catch for quick-"
"Harry you realise we have absolutely no idea what you're talking about right?" Lenny interrupted.
Harry looked offended, "Well you'll need to learn quick, these aren't toys and you need to use them responsibly. And don't go using both of those at the same time like some sort of cowboy Sam. Use one and keep the other as a backup."
Sam picked up the other pistol, the USP looked similar to the other pistol; only it was slightly smaller and had a small built-in torch below the barrel and in front of the trigger guard.
Harry threw Sam two holsters and a belt. "Here, put those on." He said.
Sam looked at the belt. "What's that for?"
"It's got pouches for magazines" He answered
Sam looked at the holsters; they had straps at the bottom and the top so that it could be strapped to the leg. The belt had pouches on it, each one containing slots for pistol magazines. Sam strapped the holsters on his leg so that the holsters sat halfway down his thigh. Harry then began preparing the weapons and teaching them the basics of handling the guns. After two hours he was satisfied. "Alright, that'll do. Just remember what I've taught you and you'll be fine." He said. "Now let's get out o here.

Before they left Harry grabbed his rifle from the bar. It was an old lever action rifle, like the ones used in old cowboy films Sam had watched as a kid. It had a polished wooden stock and a steel barrel.
Lenny looked at it and rolled his eyes. "Figures that you would use something like that Harry."
"Nothing wrong with having a bit of vintage class boy." He replied, "Now time's wasting, let's go."
Harry opened the back door into the car park; their car was the only occupant. A large metal gate blocked the entrance. Harry looked at the gate and frowned.
"Okay, here's the plan. We turn on the engine now to save time. Now we're going to need one person to open each side of the gate at the same time, or those things will overwhelm us before we even can get the other open. It'll be up to the last person to cover us-"
"Oh! I shotgun covering you guys!" Lenny cut in.
"Fine, Sam you open the right gate, the left one doesn't open unless you push it a certain way so I'll have that one. Okay? Good. Let's get on with it then."
Sam unlocked the car and switched on the engine. Lenny turned off the safety on his shotgun and stood just behind opening arc of the gate. Harry removed the bar locking the gates shut and readied himself to open the gate. Sam grabbed the gate and braced himself.
"Ready Lenny?" Sam shouted. Lenny nodded, holding the weapon at his hip and pointing it towards the door. "Alright! On the count of three! One! Two! Three!"
Sam pulled the gate as hard as he could. It was heavy and took a few seconds to pull it open fully. By the time he had hooked the gate to the car park's wall, creatures were already making their way inside. Lenny held the shotgun at his hip. "Say hello to my little friend arseholes!" He yelled as he pulled the trigger. Lenny stumbled backwards from the force of the recoil, dropping his gun as he tried to remain on his feet. "Lenny I told you to hold it firmly!" Harry barked. "And aim the damn thing!" Lenny seized the gun and cocked it. "Alright then." He said as he brought it up to his shoulder. "Let's try this again shall we?" He pulled the trigger. This time the shot found it's mark. The shotgun blasted a hole clean through the lead creature's chest, lifting it off the ground and hurling back into the ranks of the wave now clawing their way into the car park.
"Harry come on we have to go now!" Sam shouted as he drew his pistol.
"Give me a couple more seconds!" Harry yelled back, fiddling with the hook on the gate.
Sam turned to see a creature mere feet away from him. He could see every little detail. The dried blood around its mouth, the colourless eyes, the gaping wound in its neck. Sam tried to remain calm and remember what Harry had taught him. He brought the pistol up to eye level, turned off the safety catch and lined up the sights. He pushed his right hand forward while holding back on his supporting left hand, making it more stable. He placed the sights over the creature's forehead and pulled the trigger. The shot hit the creature square in the forehead, sending blood and brains spattering out of the back of it's head as the bullet went clean through. Its head was snatched back to an impossible angle before the entire body went limp as it slumped to the ground. "Nice shot Sam! Now let's go!" yelled Harry as he fired a well placed shot into the crowd. Lenny was already getting into the driver's seat of the car as Sam threw himself into the passenger seat. "You might want to put your seatbelt on guys." Lenny said, "This is going to get very bumpy."

The engine roared as Lenny accelerated towards the group of creatures blocking the exit. Sam braced himself as they sped closer and closer. The first impact shook jolted through the car, causing the seatbelt to bite painfully into Sam's neck and shoulder. The creature went rolling over the roof of the car, followed by several others as Lenny kept his foot on the accelerator. The car sped out of the car park and through the empty streets.
"Alright. Where to now?" Lenny asked.
"We head back towards the flat, take the motorway up and out then… I don't know. Find out if there's any survivors I guess." Sam answered.
As the car sped through the streets Sam turned to Harry sitting in the back seat.
"So Harry, how exactly did you get your hands on all these guns? Not to mention all the ammo."
Harry looked at him "I have… what you might call 'friends' in the smuggling business. I'm a favourite customer of theirs."
"Alright then, let's go with why did you have half an army's worth of guns in your cellar?"
"Well, you never know when something like these could come in handy. I mean you saw that bunch of hooligans that hung around in the square right? No telling what they might try and poll!"
"Isn't that a little paranoid?" asked Lenny, looking through the mirror.
"Well they're bloody well coming in handy right now aren't they?" Harry retorted.
"Good point." Lenny conceded.

Not long afterwards they reached the motorway. Lenny pulled onto the motorway and smiled at the sight of three lanes of open road. "This is more like it. Now we can get some real speed going." The engine screamed as he accelerated even further. Sam looked at the speedometer. 110mph. "Just be careful, alright? The last thing we need is for you to kill us by driving like an idiot."
Lenny wasn't listening. He squinted at something up ahead. "What is that?" he asked, pointing at something ahead. Sam looked to where he was pointing. "It's other cars. Slow down."
Lenny braked hard. Slowly, they approached the car. Sam got out to take a look. It had been abandoned. The engine had been left running and the windows smashed. Bloody handprints were pressed against the bodywork, but their owners were nowhere to be seen.
Lenny wound down the window. "Anything good?"
"No, looks like the owners must have been dragged out. I don't get it. Why would the have stopped here?"
"Probably because of that." Lenny said, pointing straight ahead.
There were cars. Hundreds of thousands of cars stretching as far as the eye could see. All of them had been abandoned, lying motionless on the silent road.
"Jesus." Sam said, "Wait here. I'm going to take a look."
Lenny looked apprehensively at the bloody handprints on the car. "D'you really think that's a good idea?"
"I'll only be a minute, keep the engine running. I'm going to see if there's a way round these things."
A few minutes later Sam reached the first line of cars. It was in a similar condition to the last one. Smashed windows, blood splatters and a running engine. Sam looked inside. There wasn't much, a couple of blankets, a teddy bear in the back seat. A noise ahead made Sam look up. He had to resist the urge to swear. Around the cars were hundreds, if not thousands of the creatures. Slowly, he drew his pistol. He turned to leave quietly and almost walked straight into one of the creatures. It snarled and lunged for him, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him against the car. Sam could smell its rancid breath, as it tried to bite him. Sam shoved it away, backing away quickly as he levelled his pistol and fired twice. The second shot found its mark, dropping the creature to the floor. Sam could sense something was wrong, and turned. Every single creature he could see had heard the shot and was now moving towards him.

Harry and Lenny sat in the car. Lenny was squinting at the group of cars trying to spot Sam.
"I can't see him. D'you reckon he's all right?"
"I'm sure he's fine. He's a smart kid and can handle himself." Harry answered. He looked out of the window. "See? Here he comes now."
Sam sprinted as fast as he could towards the car. He ripped open the door and dived inside, panting heavily.
"Took you long enough. What's going on? Is there a way round?" Lenny asked. Sam shook his head, unable to talk properly.
"Well should we walk it? I can't see any other options." In answer Sam merely pointed towards the cars. Lenny's eyes widened as he saw the hundreds of creatures slowly ambling out from the sea of vehicles.
"Right then. That answers that." Lenny slammed the car into reverse and spun the car back round, facing the way they had come. The tyres squealed as the car sped off.
"So what now?" Asked Lenny
"We put as much distance between us and them that's what. Take this exit here." Said Harry.
"Why… this one?" Sam gasped, clutching at the stitch in his side.
"Because we need to get off of the motorway as quickly as possible. Those things may move slowly but they'll catch up eventually."
Lenny turned the car into a street; the buildings here were all shops and restaurants. Lenny was still driving incredibly fast, too fast. As the car rounded a tight bend Sam looked up to see dozens of the creatures cluttering the road. Lenny braked hard as the car skidded out of control. The tyres screamed as the car careened through two of the creatures before burying itself in a lamppost.

Sam opened his eyes to see windscreen reduced to powdered glass. He looked to his right to see Lenny where the seatbelt had cut into it. Sam unbuckled his seatbelt and tried to open the door. It was so crumpled and dented that it wouldn't budge. Sam manoeuvred his legs out of the misshapen foot-well and twisted himself in the seat so that his feet were against the door and kicked it as hard he could. With a metallic squeal the door swung open. Swam crawled out of the wreckage to see Harry already outside with his rifle levelled at the group of creatures barely 20 feet away.
"Harry? What-" Harry shushed him and merely pointed. Despite the noise and devastation of the crash, the creatures hadn't noticed them at all. In fact they seemed much more focused on something further down the street. As Lenny pulled himself from the car he crept over to them.
"Why haven't they noticed us?" Sam whispered.
"Harry held up his hand "Listen. Can you hear that? That's why."
Sam listened carefully. From further down the came sounds of someone shouting. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but someone was definitely in trouble.
"I say we find another way around this street and put some distance between us and this lot." Harry whispered.
"That sound is someone shouting." Sam replied. "We can't just leave them to face this lot, they need our help!"
Harry looked at him incredulously. "You do realise the street is swarming with these things right? How do you propose we get to them?"
"Well they haven't noticed us so far." Sam whispered, "So we just sneak through them, grab whoever's out there and just shoot our way out."
Harry looked dubious "I think it's a bad idea. Lenny what do you think?"
Lenny looked down the street. The crowd of creatures only got thicker as it progressed. "I think we should quit while we're ahead." He answered.
"Fine!" Sam hissed. "You want to piss off and eave someone to die? Fine then. I'll help them myself."
Sam turned and crept forwards. Harry and Lenny looked at each other for a moment before following. The group moved at a crouched run as they moved down the street. The majority of the creatures were in the road, leaving the pavements relatively clear. The group moved quickly and quietly until they reached an impenetrable wall of infected. They blocked the entire street, forming a rough semi – circle around a small café. The three of them ducked into a side alley and surveyed their surroundings.
"Well what now then?" asked Lenny. "I think they'll notice us if we just try and shove our way through that horde.
Sam looked around for anything they could use. He walked to a large shopping trolley. "Simple. We use this as a battering ram. Push through the wall, grab the survivor and push our way out."
Lenny looked at the trolley. "We're going to need far more weight than that." He grabbed a nearby cinderblock off of a large unused pile. "Dump these in there."
After loading the trolley with as much weight as they could, Sam and Lenny wheeled the trolley out into the street. "Alright," Sam said. "Ready? Set? GO!" they charged, pushing the trolley towards the cluster of creatures. As the trolley slammed through the cluster Sam could feel hands clawing at his back and side. However Harry was there to smash them away with the butt of his rifle. They emerged into the centre of the ring to find a makeshift barricade of tables, chairs and shopping trolleys similar to their battering ram blocking the front of the café. The group slammed through the barricade, almost sending Sam hurting over the handlebars. Creatures were already beginning to stream through other breaches they'd made in the barricade. A scream from inside the café drew Sam's attention. He kicked the door open and charged inside. A girl was fighting off one of the creatures. It snarled as she tried to hold it back using a mop. The creature reached across the mop, grabbing at her throat. Sam aimed the pistol, preparing to fire. He stopped, remembering what Harry had taught him.
"Always make sure you know what's behind your target." Harry's voice echoed in his head. "Bullets can go straight through what you're aiming at and hit what's behind them. So make sure no one is behind your target when you're shooting."
Sam lowered the pistol and charged, grabbing the creature by the legs and rugby tackling it to the floor. Sam rolled away quickly before it could react, bringing the pistol up into the firing position. Four shots into the creature's chest ensured that it stayed down for good. Sam fired one last shot through its head before turning and speaking to the girl. She sat against the wall, catching her breath. She was about a foot shorter than Sam, with dark red, shoulder length hair and dark green eyes. Her tattered, bloodstained uniform showed that she obviously worked here.
"Hey I'm Sam." He said holding out his hand.
She glanced at him "Alexa." She said bluntly "Thanks for that." She added, nodding at the dead creature.
"Uh… No problem." Sam looked around awkwardly. "Um… listen, it's not safe here. We should probably get out of here. If you want…"
She glared at him, "And how do you propose we get past those things?"
Sam was taken aback at her hostility. "Well we used a battering ram to get through them, I guess we can get out the same way."
Alexa's expression didn't soften "So it was you who let those things through my barricade? Nice work there." She said, with obvious sarcasm in her voice. "Hey if I need some more help with idiots getting me killed I'll let you know."
Sam didn't know what to say. He had never been amazing at talking to girls anyway; he would always become shy and closed off. He could count the number of girlfriends he could have on one hand. Sam didn't know whether it was the impending danger or the fact that he had killed several people in the afternoon alone, but something caused a change in this tradition.
"Listen." He snapped, "Firstly, your precious barricade had already gone tits up by the time we bowled through it. So don't blame me for the shit you put yourself in. Secondly, I just saved your sorry arse so perhaps you'd like to think about that before you complain that I've done anything to hinder your survival. Now you can come with me and we can get out of here together or you can stay here until that horde breaks in here and rips you limb from limb. I'll stop wasting my time with useless ingrates."
He turned and stormed towards the door. He made it halfway before she spoke.
"Wait." He looked back at her. She was still sat in the same spot. "You're right." She said. "I was wrong. I'll come with you."
Sam walked back to her and offered his hand. "We don't have to like each other." He said. "But there's safety in number."

Harry and Lenny were firing into the crowds storming through the barricade. Bodies clogged the small breaches, stopping the creatures from getting through too quickly. Sam and Alexa left the café.
"I've got her, let's go!" Sam shouted
"Her?" Lenny asked turning in bewilderment. He saw Alexa and grinned. "Oh. You alright love?" He smirked.
She ignored him. "What's the plan?"
Sam grabbed the trolley. "Okay same as last time-"
The blaring of a car's horn interrupted Sam. A van blasted through the crowd, shattering the remains of the makeshift barricade and screeching to a halt in front of the group. They stood there stunned. The van's window wound down as a man's head appeared. He was large, with a thick neck and a shaved head. He had a long, crooked nose that looked like it had been broken at least once, a square jaw and small, sunken eyes. "Well don't just stand there!" He barked in a thick cockney accent. "Get in the van!" His words made them jump into action. They ran round to the back of the van, Lenny ripping the door open and clambering inside. Sam turned and began firing into the approaching creatures. "Hurry up!" Sam yelled as Lenny helped Alexa in after him. Harry was also firing into the group. "You next Harry." Sam said. Harry nodded, turning and heaving himself inside the vehicle. Sam switched the safety on his pistol and jumped into the van. As he crossed the threshold, Lenny pulled the doors shut. The van shuddered and jerked as it made its way through the crowd once more. The ride was much smoother as it rounded the corner of the road. The back of the van wasn't separated from the driver's section, allowing Sam to squeeze his way into passenger seat. "Thanks for that back there mate, we owe you one. I'm Sam."
"No problem," He replied, "I'm Derrick." He pulled over in an empty street and turned to face the others. "Alright listen, the way I see it we'll have more of a chance of surviving whatever this is if we stick together. My place is easily defensible and isn't too far away. You're welcome to come back and stick it out with me. If not, you can walk away right now."
No one moved. The sun was setting, and no one wanted to be out in the open with those things lurking in the darkness. Derrick nodded, "Alright then, home it is."

He pulled in to a small garage building just as the sun began to set. As soon as Derrick had parked the van in the garage he jumped out and closed the automated metal gate. "Three inches of solid steel." He said as Sam clambered out of the van. "That should keep them out, but we should have someone on watch, just in case." Derrick was huge, almost half a foot taller than Sam, with wide shoulders and enormous muscles. Sam agreed as Derrick showed them the rest of the building. The garage consisted of an upper floor filled with several small offices, a kitchen and a toilet, with the ground floor used as a parking area for the van and a small warehouse. Derrick called them all around and began introductions. After everyone had been introduced he began laying out survival plans.
"Alright, here's the issue." He said, pacing back and forth in front of the group. "This place is easily defensible, but right now we only have enough food for us to eat tonight. So we're going to need more food tomorrow. Any suggestions?"
Sam looked around tentatively. "Well actually we were going to try and get out of the city."
Derrick turned to him. "I don't think that's a good idea. All the main roads are blocked off and there's no other easy way out. I think it's best if we hole up here and wait it out."
Sam nodded. Derrick's point made sense, if all the other roads were as bad as the one they were at earlier then there was no way of getting out of the city by road. "In that case then I can get us into the supermarket where I work. It's not too far from here and I can get us in the back entrance."
"What if it's already been picked clean?" Harry asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now I think we should relax and take some peace and quiet while we can get it." Derrick said.
The rest of the night was relatively uneventful. After an unpleasant dinner of whatever canned food was left in the kitchen, they all sat in the main office getting to know each other. It turned out Derrick knew a lot about firearms, and taught Sam and Lenny how to clean and maintain their weapons. Eventually it started to get late. Derrick found some old blankets in a back room and they all tried to get some sleep. Sam volunteered to take first watch, propping himself against the wall and watching the stairs. As the darkness enveloped him, he had no trouble keeping himself awake. In the silence of the hallway every little sound seemed magnified. He could hear slow, unsteady footsteps in the street outside the occasional breaking of glass or knocking over of bins and once, a distant scream. A voice in the darkness made him jump. "Hey." It was Alexa. She sat down next to him in the hallway, watching the stairs. "I… just wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier. You didn't deserve that, especially not after you saved my life. D'you think maybe we could start over?"
Sam smiled "Sure, don't worry about it." After an awkward pause Sam broke the silence again. "You're accent is… different. Are you from the U.S. by any chance?"
"Canada." She replied. "I came here to go to a foreign college. I always wanted to travel. The waitress job was just to stop me from mooching off of my parents as much."
Alexa checked her watch. "Your shift is up." She said as Sam yawned widely. "I'll take over from here. Go get some rest. You'll need it if we're going back out there tomorrow."
Sam nodded and wished her good night. As he lay down on the hard floor with only a thin blanket and a cushion he found it hard to believe that just this morning his only worries had been a hangover and the prospect of going back to work. Now his entire life had been turned upside down. Sam closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do about it now, he had to adapt, or end up like the very creatures he had spent the day fighting.