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Description
Day 5

Sam could tell they were getting close to the centre of the city. Housing estates and large tower blocks had been replaced with trendy shops and large nightclubs and bars. The group had left the house behind them in the morning and spent the majority of the day heading west. The airport was on the far western side of the city, and required the group to cross the entire of the Centre of London to reach it. The group had drawn up a plan before leaving the house. They agreed to find the River Thames and take a boat down the river until it turned south. After that came an underground train station nearby that led directly into the centre of the airport.

That had been nearly 3 hours ago. They had made good progress, aside from occasionally having to sidetrack to avoid particularly large groups of infected. The slow, shuffling form of infected were the minority by this point. In their place were the unending hordes of ferocious, deadly sprinters that were all but impossible to outrun. The group were apprehensive about using their weapons; in the silence of the abandoned city their gunshots could be heard easily and would undoubtedly bring more infected than they would kill. They therefore stuck to using stealth and melee weapons if they had to. There was one point where Derrick showed off his skills by killing two of the creatures with only a knife, earning respect from the group, even Aiden and Wayne. The pair had agreed to accompany them in the end, recognising the fact that Derrick's piloting skills was their only hope of escaping the city alive. The pair had been nothing but a hindrance on the others since they had left the house. They would talk loudly and mess about when there were infected nearby, wander off on their own without telling anyone and constantly complain that they didn't get to use a firearm. Derrick had been firmly against them getting any form of gun from the moment they asked. "Even if I did trust them not to shoot us when our backs are turned, I still couldn't trust you idiots to use it properly."  He snarled when Aiden had nagged him for over an hour. Sam privately agreed, the pair were irresponsible and definitely couldn't be trusted.

"What do you reckon?" Lenny asked. "Think anyone's still alive?" They were stood in a large high street; shops and cafés lined the street, abandoned and forlorn. In front of them was a large nightclub, it's windowless exterior dull and dirty, its large neon sign dimmed and it's line of velvet rope tangled and broken. A large bed sheet had been hung across the roof, the letters SOS splayed across it in large red letters. The door had been locked tight, and it had clearly been barricaded from the other side. Alexa tapped on the door, "Hello?" She called out as loudly as she dared. They didn't know how close the nearest infected were. "Is anyone in there?" Silence.
"We should move on." Derrick said warily, there's probably no one alive in there.
"But what if there is?" Alexa asked. "We can't just leave them to get bombed."
"It's too dangerous." Derrick said. "We don't know who or what's inside there. It's not worth the risk."
"So what? We just leave a load of people to die?" Sam argued.
"There's no one alive in there!" Derrick said bluntly.
"We don't know that. Just let us check, if there's no one there then we leave." Sam said.
Derrick sighed. "Fine, but we all go in. we need to stick together."
"Well how are we supposed to get in?" Wayne said, "The front door's locked."
Sam stepped into the small alley between the nightclub and its neighbour. A small metal fire escape ran up to the second floor of the building. The fire door at the top of the staircase had no handle, it was obvious that it couldn't be opened from the outside, but a small window next to it peaked his interest. He pointed it out to the others. "There." He said, pointing it out. "We go in through there." It was about the size of a small car window, it had been locked tight like all the other entrances.
"How do we get inside then?" Harry asked "We can't break it open."
"We got this old man." Wayne smirked, casually striding past him with a crowbar. "We'll have this open."
Wayne jammed the bar's straight end under in the tiny gap between the frame and the bottom of the window, pushing it in until it was jammed tight. With all his force he then slammed the bar forwards towards the window, prying the window open with a tiny crack. Aiden turned to Sam. "Ladies first." He sneered, motioning towards the window.

Sam shimmied his way through the window headfirst. As the first half of his body made it through the window he lost his balance, slipping through and landing on the hard granite floor with a crash. He stood up rubbing his head. The darkness inside the building was absolute. None of the lights were on, and the daylight from the window only penetrated a few inches into the inky blackness. Sam pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit it. The tiny flame illuminated a railing of some kind a few feet in front of him. He found a light switch next to the door and flicked it. Nothing happened. Sam dared not move from the only light source in the building, instead he called out as loudly as he dared. "Hello?" He called, "Is anyone out there?" There was no reply. After a few seconds a voice made him jump.
"Sam!" Lenny called, his voice seeming far louder than normal in the silence. "Is anyone in there?"
"Not that I can tell. It's too dark in here to see anything, and I think the power's out. They could be in a back room or something though."
"Alright we're coming in then, none of us should be going off on our own." Derrick's gruff voice echoed through the building.
A few minutes later they huddled in the small patch of light. Sam was regretting his decision to enter the building, but he couldn't go back now.
"Man it's dark in here." Lenny muttered, "Anyone got a light?"
Alexa pulled out her pistol and fiddled with the torch on the bottom of the barrel, suddenly a bright white beam lit the area ahead of them. It wasn't perfect; the beam was thin, only illuminating a small patch at any time. But it was better than nothing and Sam was grateful for the small amount of light it gave.
"There," Alexa said. "That should help."
The torch gave the group an idea of their surroundings. They were on the second floor of the building. The middle of the floor had been cut out, leaving a sort of viewing gallery down into the first floor. Tables and booths ran around the sides of the floor and a bar was to Sam's far right. To the left was a large set of double doors; Sam guessed that they led down into the floor below.
"Alright, we need to get the power turned on before we go wandering off." Lenny said.
"There's a door next to the bar." Alexa said shining the torch in that direction.
She was right; a small metal door was placed next to the bar, a large blue sign reading staff only hung across it.
"Alright, you guys keep watch. I'll go see what's in there." Sam said.
"I'll come too." Alexa said. "After all, I've got the torch."

Sam gently pushed open the door, Alexa keeping the torch steady. It was important that they made sure the area was clear of infected, they didn't need anything sneaking up on them in the dark. The room was filled with spare chairs and tables that were stacked neatly all around them. Sam noticed a small staircase at the back of the room and motioned Alexa to follow him.

Lenny was getting impatient. He was eager to look around the club a bit more and Sam was taking far too long. No one was speaking and the silence was eerie. After a few minutes of tense waiting a noise made caught his attention. It sounded like someone moving around. Lenny strained his ears, listening for it. He heard it again, a soft scraping of shoes against the ground, coming from below.
"Did any of you hear that?" He breathed, turning to the others.
They all shook their heads looking confused. "Hear what?" Sharon whispered back.
Lenny felt his way over to the balcony, moving as quietly as possible and trying to pick anything out in the darkness. It was no use; Lenny could barely see his hand in front of his face, let alone any movement down in ground floor. Lenny sparked his lighter and held it down into the darkness. As the flame illuminated a tiny piece of what he now realised was a dance-floor his eyes widened in horror. "Oh shit." He gasped. As Lenny was about to turn away, the lights came on.

Minutes earlier Sam and Alexa made their way down the thin, concrete staircase. At the end was the generator room. Sam suspected that someone had switched off the circuit breaker, literally cutting power off to the entire building. Sam searched for a few minutes trying to locate the switch. Eventually he found it. His suspicions had been correct. The circuit breakers had been switched off manually, cutting off power to the entire building. Sam pointed this out to Alexa.
"Here," he said pointing at the switch. "You see that? Someone's switched it off manually."
"Why?" Alexa asked. "Why would you cut off power to the entire building?"
"I don't know." Sam said "But this should get it back on."
Sam pulled the switch. Immediately the lights came back on, momentarily blinding them. After a few seconds adjusting to the light the pair went back upstairs. As they were about halfway up the stairs a heavy bass line of music kicked in. The pair looked at each other. "That can't be good." Alexa said.

Sam slammed the door open and ran towards the others. The room was still in semi-darkness, with multi-coloured strobe lights flashing and waving through the darkness. Heavy techno music was thumping throughout the club, causing vibrations under Sam's feet and making speech near impossible. The others were at the balcony, staring down into the dance floor below. Sam ran over and tapped Derrick on the shoulder.
"What's going on?" He yelled over noise of the music.
He merely pointed over the edge. Below them was an unending sea of infected. They were everywhere. The mass surged and spat, hissing and staring up at them.
"We need to get out of here!" Sam roared.
Derrick shook his head. "It's no good, they've boarded it up!" He shouted back. "We were waiting for you until we moved for the window!"
Sam looked at the door. Derrick was right. Enormous planks of wood were nailed across the door, making it impossible to open.
"Right let's get the hell out of here then!" He shouted.
However before he could move a loud thumping started coming from the doors leading to the ground floor. The group stopped and backed away.
"There's no time!" Derrick yelled. "Everyone get ready!"
Sam pulled out his pistol, by now he was mostly comfortable with using the weapon, although his ammunition was starting to run pretty low. The door exploded under the pressure from dozens of infected. Volleys of bullets crashed into the horde, but for every one that went down another replaced it. Countless bodies scrambled at the door, stopping them all of from breaking through at once. This gave Sam and the others valuable advantage as the horde clawed their way into the room. Sam and Lenny were side by side, firing into the crowd. Without warning Lenny turned to him.
"Watch my back!" He yelled, turning and running towards the bar.
Sam watched, bewildered as Lenny ran to the bar and vaulted over the polished stone surface. A snarl from behind him caught his attention as he turned back to the fight.

As more and more infected poured into the room, the group was being pushed further and further back. They were in danger of being overwhelmed very soon and they had nowhere to run. Sam could feel the ammunition pouch on his belt getting lighter and lighter every moment. A few minutes after he left, Lenny returned holding two bottles of spirits.
"There's a door behind the bar!" Lenny shouted. "We can take cover in there!"
Sam looked over at the bar, sure enough; there was a metal door with a green, luminescent sign over the door reading fire exit.
"There's an exit through there!" Sam shouted to the others. "We can get out of here!"
"How are we supposed to get in there?" Alexa screamed. "These things will be breathing down our backs the second we move!"
"I'm on it!" Lenny yelled as he lit the rags he had stuffed inside the bottles and hurling it towards the door. The bottle landed with frightening accuracy, exploding into a barrage of fire and broken glass. The fire caught instantly, spreading throughout the doorway as a few flaming infected stumbled through. The sudden intense burst of heat knocked the infected back, buying Sam and the others a few precious moments. Wasting no time they ran towards the door, Lenny only pausing to throw the second makeshift bomb down into the crowds of infected below. Sam reached the door, and tried to open it. The door wouldn't budge; it was blocked from the other side. Sam threw his weight against the door. Slowly it began to budge. More infected were piling into the room now, ignoring the flames like they weren't there. With desperation Sam and Lenny simultaneously threw themselves at the door. With a crash it gave in as Lenny and Sam fell through, the others rushing in behind them. Derrick slammed the door shut behind him, locking it as it rattled and shook with the force of the infected trying to break inside. Sam looked up at his new surroundings. What he saw nearly made his heart stop. Several infected were already inside the room; one was inches away from Sam, a twisted, rotting hand reaching towards him. The crowbar impacted on the infected's skull with a sickening crack. It fell backwards, landing loosely and twitching slightly before lying completely still. Volleys of shots cut the others down before they could reach Sam. Aiden stepped over Sam, twirling the bloody crowbar in his hand. He brought it down on the infected's head one more time for good measure. Sam stood up and dusted himself off.
"Thanks for that." He said to Aiden.
Aiden merely shrugged. "Let's not stand around waiting to get eaten yeah?"
"Not so fast man." Wayne said. "We've hit the fuckin' jackpot."
Indeed they had. In the corner of the room was a workbench, covered in rifles, pistols and other firearms. Crates of ammunition were neatly piled next to the workbench, practically untouched.
Derrick inspected the weapons intently. "These are in excellent condition, looks like standard issue for armed police. I wonder how this lot got their hands on them."
"Because they were armed police." Sharon said, turning over one of the bodies to show a dirty, worn police uniform.
"They must have directed everyone inside the nightclub then sealed it off. But-" Lenny looked at the bodies.
"But someone must have been bitten." Sam finished.
Derrick handed Sam a rifle. "You must be getting tired of that pistol, I think you're ready for something with a bit more kick."
It was a hunting rifle, but a very advanced one. It was just over a metre long with a black steel finish and rubber gripped handle. Sam looked down the sights to see red holographic crosshairs lighting up the scope. After a few moments of appreciating the delicacy of the weapon he began putting as many magazines as he could carry into his ammo pouch. Sam wasn't the only one to be graced with a new weapon. Alexa was handed a small sub machine gun.
"A Heckler and Koch MP5." Derrick said proudly. "One hell of a gun, have you fired full auto weapons before?"
Alexa nodded. "My grandpa had a couple of assault rifles back in Canada. I've used them a few times."
Derrick looked impressed. "That's a standard issue for the police's armed sector. Usually they only fire one shot but apparently these fellas did some modifying." He said. "It's the same with this one." Derrick held up a large assault rifle. The weapon looked lethal with its holographic sights and its slick, almost futuristic design.
"The G36C." Derrick said. "This should take out any infected that get too close."
There was one weapon left on the bench, an ancient looking revolver that had tiny patches of rust on the barrel and a dirty, neglected look. Wayne made a grab for it but Derrick was too fast.
"Oh no you don't!" Derrick snarled. "You can have this. As you seem a little bit capable." He said, handing the pistol to Sharon. "You know how to use one of these?" He asked.
Sharon shrugged. "I know enough, but I'll only use it when things get desperate. Doesn't seem like there's much ammo for it anyway."
Aiden and Wayne were less than happy. "What are we supposed to use then?" Aiden whined.
Derrick looked at him with distaste. "You seem to be doing alright with that." He said, nodding towards the bloody crowbar in Aiden's hand. "And Wayne can have… this." He handed Wayne a rusted and slightly bent golf club. It looked like it had already been used a lot; the head was crusted with dried blood. The pair instantly began complaining but Derrick cut them short.
"I don't trust you too idiots to follow orders, let alone be trusted with a gun. You want more responsibility? Act more responsible."
At that moment the door shook as the banging on the door increased in volume and intensity.
"We shouldn't stay here." Sam said. "We need to move."

Several hours later and the group had made a considerable amount of ground. Aiden and Wayne seemed to have at least taken notice of Derrick's speech. They now did what the others said and no longer ran off on their own, but their newfound attitude was accompanied with countless looks of contempt and resentment. Eventually darkness began to fall and the ragged team their search for shelter for the night. After searching for a while they found a suitable looking building. It was a small two-story office building, with a large, secure front door that featured a thick metal gate that could be pulled down in front of it. The gate was currently closed but it didn't take long for Aiden and Wayne to break it open. They picked the padlock holding the door in the ground in a matter of minutes.
"I'm surprised you two can do something as subtle as lock-picking." Lenny grinned.
"Just because we break into people's doesn't mean we can't be subtle." Aiden grumbled.
They made their way inside, closing the gate behind them and locking it securely. As Sam made his way through the small entrance something caught his eye. Several dead infected had been piled near the far wall of the room, just next to the door leading to the main offices. Sam pointed this out to the others.
"Hmmm, the blood's still wet." Derrick said, inspecting the bodies. "This didn't happen long ago."
"Those are bullet wounds." Alexa said. "These guys are armed."
"D'you think they're military? Police maybe?" Harry said.
"Maybe." Derrick answered, "But I don't want to take any chances." He switched the safety off of his rifle and signalled to the others. "Don't fire unless I tell you to."
The silence in the building was absolute. There wasn't a single sound except the muffled footsteps of the group as they slowly made their way through the building. They checked the entire bottom floor to no avail. It was completely empty. Derrick led the way as they ascended the stairs. At the top of the staircase was a small doorway that led to the second floor offices. The group clustered around the door. Derrick pressed his finger to his lips and opened the door. As soon as they had all filed inside the room threshold they were attacked. Armed men burst out from under desks and around corners, all of them pointing their varied weapons straight at Sam and the others.
"Stay where you are!" One of them shouted. "Don't move!"
Sam lifted his hands in the air, but didn't dare drop his rifle. The others were doing the same, Derrick stepped forward a fraction and spoke out.
"We were just looking for a place to stay. If you want we can leave."
"No!" the same man barked. He seemed like their leader. He was scrawny, with a crop of light blonde hair and a thin, sallow face. Dark shadows hung around his eyes, which were bloodshot and slightly glazed over.
"W-We let some others in here." He stammered. He was visibly trembling; the others around him seemed to be in the same condition. They looked like they hadn't slept in days. "They were infected. We had to kill them. Everything out there is infected. You must be infected!"
"Look." Sam said, trying to keep calm. "If we're not infected, none of those things have been near us. Just let us go and you won't have to worry about us ever again."
"NO!" He screamed. Any guise of sanity was gone now, his eyes bulged, he was trembling so badly he seemed in danger of having a fit and spit flew from his mouth with every word he spoke. His body shook but his gun was still pointing steadily at them. "YOU'RE INFECTED! DON'T LIE TO ME! YOU NEED TO DIE!"
"I know you." Harry spoke suddenly. "Christopher Benkin? Don't you remember me? It's Harry, from the King's Guard. Do you remember?"
Christopher's expression softened. "H-Harry?" he stuttered.
Harry moved next to Sam, "Put the gun down son. You don't want to do this."
The gun lowered slightly. Harry stepped forward again, halfway between the group and Christopher.
"That's right lad." He said soothingly. "Just put it down." He stepped forward again. Christopher's face changed from confused and afraid to rabid in seconds, his rifle flashed as he roared. Blood spattered over the floor as Harry was thrown backwards from the rifle's impact. Sam had no time to think, he simply dived behind the nearest concrete pillar. Bullets whizzed past him as he dived, peppering the wall directly behind where they had been standing. Derrick's rifle roared as he returned fire, his bullets finding their targets with expert precision. Sam looked back at where they were standing. Everyone had gotten out of the way in time, but they were now spread out around the room, cowering behind desks or pillars. Alexa was closest to him; she had moved further to the right of the room and was firing at a few attackers who were trying to move round the sides. As the attackers scurried for cover one leapt over the desk Alexa had been hiding behind. Before she could react he struck her in the stomach. She gasped and doubled over in pain, he then followed up by slamming the rifle butt into her temple. Alexa cried out as she crashed to the floor, looking up to see the attacker levelling his rifle.

Sam knew he only had one chance at this, remembering what Derrick had taught him he levelled his rifle, put the attacker in his crosshairs and fired. The two shots Sam fired hit perfectly. The first shot struck the attacker in the shoulder, twisting his entire body round to face Sam. The second shot was far more deadly. The bullet struck him in the forehead and carried on going, taking half of his head with it. As the mutilated figure fell to the ground, Sam sprinted to Alexa's position and dived behind the desk.
"Alexa!" He shouted over the explosions of gunfire and the thuds of bullets hitting concrete and wood. "Alexa are you all right!"
She seemed semi-conscious, her eyes were glazed over and it took her a few seconds to realise what Sam was saying. "S-Sam? What happened?"
"Sam!" Derrick called. He was still firing on the other attackers, although most of them seemed to be dead already. Sam could see Christopher's body lying where he had shot Harry. And the crackles of gunfire seemed to be lessening.
"Get her to the back!" Derrick yelled, still focusing on the remaining threats. Sam slung his rifle over his shoulder and picked Alexa up. It was difficult; she was much heavier than she looked, especially with all her ammunition on her.
"I've got her!" He called. "Cover me!"
Sam ran as fast as he could. As soon as he left the cover of the desk Derrick sprang up, letting loose a hail of shots at the other side of the room. A bullet came within centimetres of his head, letting off an almighty crack as it sped past him. He dived behind the concrete pillar closest to the door. He carefully set her down so that she was leant against the pillar. They were almost nose-to-nose as he put her down. As he was about to move away, her eyes opened. They stared at each other for what felt like ages; Sam's heart began to beat even faster than it was. The crack of a bullet ricocheting off of the pillar brought Sam back to reality. Sam moved over to Derrick's position. As Sam slid behind the row of metal desks he noticed Lenny was also there, returning fire on the remaining attackers.
"Where are the others?" He asked.
Derrick looked livid. "That bitch and the two twats are busy hiding back in the doorway." He nodded towards Alexa. "Stay with her and keep her covered. We don't need anyone flan- OH SHIT!"
Sam had seen it as well. At the beginning there had been at least fifteen of the attackers. They were now down to four. In desperation it seemed they had resorted to using their best weapons. One of them had pulled the pin on a grenade, readying to throw it. An explosive like that would give them nowhere to hide in such close quarters, it would be stay in cover and be blown up, or run out and get shot. Derrick reacted faster than Sam thought possible. The bullet hit the attacker right between the eyes, causing him to drop the grenade next to his friends.
"Get down!" Derrick screamed. Sam ducked just in time. The explosion was deafening. Shards of metal shot out in every direction as the grenade detonated. After the ringing in Sam's ears had stopped he listened carefully. Silence. All the attackers were dead. He stood up and went to check on Alexa. She seemed to have recovered her wits some more since he had left her. She was at least able to stand.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked. "That was a nasty hit you took."
She rubbed the side of her head where the rifle had struck her; a large bruise was already forming. "Yeah I think so." She stared at the ground awkwardly. "So uh, thanks for… saving me and everything."
"Oh yeah sure, don't worry about it." Sam thought about the moment their eyes had met. How his heart felt like it had skipped a beat. He was sure she was thinking about it too.
Lenny's yell brought them both back to the present. "Bloody hell Harry!"
They rushed over to see a miraculous sight. Harry was sitting up and looking around groggily.
"What's going on?" He asked groggily. Sam couldn't believe he was still alive. The bullet had gone in through the shoulder blade and out the other side, leaving an enormous hole. Blood was pouring out of the wound, staining the carpet a dark scarlet.
"We thought we'd lost you man." Lenny laughed.
Harry was in no state to reply. He was clearly in pain and needed medical attention.
"Lenny, there was a first aid box downstairs." Derrick ordered. "Bring it up, we need to make sure this wound is treated."
Aiden, Wayne and Sharon crept back in to the room.
"Is it over?" Sharon asked.
"Yeah it is. No thanks to you." Lenny sneered.
"What was I supposed to do then? Throw my golf club at them?" Wayne snarled.
"It'd be more useful than anything else you've done. Now come help us find a first aid kit."
The group bickered incessantly as they went down the stairs. Eventually the sound of their arguing faded.
Derrick shook his head. "Like a bunch of kids." He muttered.

Several hours later Sam and Lenny were on watch. They had all moved downstairs to stay away from the mutilated remains left by the explosion. Derrick had suggested they have two people on watch, because of the added attention the gunfight would have attracted. Harry's wound had been cleaned and bandaged to the best of Derrick's ability, but he had to give him some powerful painkillers. The pair sat in the darkness, a small lamp providing the only light.
"Busy day today." Sam sighed.
"Tell me about it." Lenny muttered, "I thought it was only those things that wanted to kill us."
"They were obviously desperate, they looked half insane." Sam looked over at Lenny. "I honestly thought Harry was gone for a while there."
"Yeah, we should've known better. It'll take more than that to bring that old git down."
Sam laughed. "Yeah he'll survive anything."
After a few moments silence Lenny changed the subject. "So, on a more interesting note, how's it going with you and the yank?"
Sam's head snapped round. "What? What are you talking about."
Lenny grinned. "Oh come on. I saw you two making kissy faces at each other at that pillar."
Sam could feel himself beginning to blush. "I don't know what you're on about."
"Aw you're blushing. That's so cute."
"Shut up."
Lenny laughed, but it was quickly cut as he heard a movement behind him. He aimed his shotgun in that direction as Sam pointed the lamp. The relaxed when they saw it was Derrick and Aiden.
"Alright lads? Your three hours are up." Derrick said gruffly.
"Already?" Lenny smirked. "But we were having so much fun!"
"Very funny. Now get some sleep. We've got a busy day tomorrow."
"When do we ever not have a busy day?" Sam asked.
"You never know." Lenny said, yawning as they made their way to sleeping bags. "It might not be so bad. It can hardly go worse than today right?"
At that moment Lenny didn't know just how wrong he was.

Description
Day 5

Sam could tell they were getting close to the centre of the city. Housing estates and large tower blocks had been replaced with trendy shops and large nightclubs and bars. The group had left the house behind them in the morning and spent the majority of the day heading west. The airport was on the far western side of the city, and required the group to cross the entire of the Centre of London to reach it. The group had drawn up a plan before leaving the house. They agreed to find the River Thames and take a boat down the river until it turned south. After that came an underground train station nearby that led directly into the centre of the airport.

That had been nearly 3 hours ago. They had made good progress, aside from occasionally having to sidetrack to avoid particularly large groups of infected. The slow, shuffling form of infected were the minority by this point. In their place were the unending hordes of ferocious, deadly sprinters that were all but impossible to outrun. The group were apprehensive about using their weapons; in the silence of the abandoned city their gunshots could be heard easily and would undoubtedly bring more infected than they would kill. They therefore stuck to using stealth and melee weapons if they had to. There was one point where Derrick showed off his skills by killing two of the creatures with only a knife, earning respect from the group, even Aiden and Wayne. The pair had agreed to accompany them in the end, recognising the fact that Derrick's piloting skills was their only hope of escaping the city alive. The pair had been nothing but a hindrance on the others since they had left the house. They would talk loudly and mess about when there were infected nearby, wander off on their own without telling anyone and constantly complain that they didn't get to use a firearm. Derrick had been firmly against them getting any form of gun from the moment they asked. "Even if I did trust them not to shoot us when our backs are turned, I still couldn't trust you idiots to use it properly."  He snarled when Aiden had nagged him for over an hour. Sam privately agreed, the pair were irresponsible and definitely couldn't be trusted.

"What do you reckon?" Lenny asked. "Think anyone's still alive?" They were stood in a large high street; shops and cafés lined the street, abandoned and forlorn. In front of them was a large nightclub, it's windowless exterior dull and dirty, its large neon sign dimmed and it's line of velvet rope tangled and broken. A large bed sheet had been hung across the roof, the letters SOS splayed across it in large red letters. The door had been locked tight, and it had clearly been barricaded from the other side. Alexa tapped on the door, "Hello?" She called out as loudly as she dared. They didn't know how close the nearest infected were. "Is anyone in there?" Silence.
"We should move on." Derrick said warily, there's probably no one alive in there.
"But what if there is?" Alexa asked. "We can't just leave them to get bombed."
"It's too dangerous." Derrick said. "We don't know who or what's inside there. It's not worth the risk."
"So what? We just leave a load of people to die?" Sam argued.
"There's no one alive in there!" Derrick said bluntly.
"We don't know that. Just let us check, if there's no one there then we leave." Sam said.
Derrick sighed. "Fine, but we all go in. we need to stick together."
"Well how are we supposed to get in?" Wayne said, "The front door's locked."
Sam stepped into the small alley between the nightclub and its neighbour. A small metal fire escape ran up to the second floor of the building. The fire door at the top of the staircase had no handle, it was obvious that it couldn't be opened from the outside, but a small window next to it peaked his interest. He pointed it out to the others. "There." He said, pointing it out. "We go in through there." It was about the size of a small car window, it had been locked tight like all the other entrances.
"How do we get inside then?" Harry asked "We can't break it open."
"We got this old man." Wayne smirked, casually striding past him with a crowbar. "We'll have this open."
Wayne jammed the bar's straight end under in the tiny gap between the frame and the bottom of the window, pushing it in until it was jammed tight. With all his force he then slammed the bar forwards towards the window, prying the window open with a tiny crack. Aiden turned to Sam. "Ladies first." He sneered, motioning towards the window.

Sam shimmied his way through the window headfirst. As the first half of his body made it through the window he lost his balance, slipping through and landing on the hard granite floor with a crash. He stood up rubbing his head. The darkness inside the building was absolute. None of the lights were on, and the daylight from the window only penetrated a few inches into the inky blackness. Sam pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit it. The tiny flame illuminated a railing of some kind a few feet in front of him. He found a light switch next to the door and flicked it. Nothing happened. Sam dared not move from the only light source in the building, instead he called out as loudly as he dared. "Hello?" He called, "Is anyone out there?" There was no reply. After a few seconds a voice made him jump.
"Sam!" Lenny called, his voice seeming far louder than normal in the silence. "Is anyone in there?"
"Not that I can tell. It's too dark in here to see anything, and I think the power's out. They could be in a back room or something though."
"Alright we're coming in then, none of us should be going off on our own." Derrick's gruff voice echoed through the building.
A few minutes later they huddled in the small patch of light. Sam was regretting his decision to enter the building, but he couldn't go back now.
"Man it's dark in here." Lenny muttered, "Anyone got a light?"
Alexa pulled out her pistol and fiddled with the torch on the bottom of the barrel, suddenly a bright white beam lit the area ahead of them. It wasn't perfect; the beam was thin, only illuminating a small patch at any time. But it was better than nothing and Sam was grateful for the small amount of light it gave.
"There," Alexa said. "That should help."
The torch gave the group an idea of their surroundings. They were on the second floor of the building. The middle of the floor had been cut out, leaving a sort of viewing gallery down into the first floor. Tables and booths ran around the sides of the floor and a bar was to Sam's far right. To the left was a large set of double doors; Sam guessed that they led down into the floor below.
"Alright, we need to get the power turned on before we go wandering off." Lenny said.
"There's a door next to the bar." Alexa said shining the torch in that direction.
She was right; a small metal door was placed next to the bar, a large blue sign reading staff only hung across it.
"Alright, you guys keep watch. I'll go see what's in there." Sam said.
"I'll come too." Alexa said. "After all, I've got the torch."

Sam gently pushed open the door, Alexa keeping the torch steady. It was important that they made sure the area was clear of infected, they didn't need anything sneaking up on them in the dark. The room was filled with spare chairs and tables that were stacked neatly all around them. Sam noticed a small staircase at the back of the room and motioned Alexa to follow him.

Lenny was getting impatient. He was eager to look around the club a bit more and Sam was taking far too long. No one was speaking and the silence was eerie. After a few minutes of tense waiting a noise made caught his attention. It sounded like someone moving around. Lenny strained his ears, listening for it. He heard it again, a soft scraping of shoes against the ground, coming from below.
"Did any of you hear that?" He breathed, turning to the others.
They all shook their heads looking confused. "Hear what?" Sharon whispered back.
Lenny felt his way over to the balcony, moving as quietly as possible and trying to pick anything out in the darkness. It was no use; Lenny could barely see his hand in front of his face, let alone any movement down in ground floor. Lenny sparked his lighter and held it down into the darkness. As the flame illuminated a tiny piece of what he now realised was a dance-floor his eyes widened in horror. "Oh shit." He gasped. As Lenny was about to turn away, the lights came on.

Minutes earlier Sam and Alexa made their way down the thin, concrete staircase. At the end was the generator room. Sam suspected that someone had switched off the circuit breaker, literally cutting power off to the entire building. Sam searched for a few minutes trying to locate the switch. Eventually he found it. His suspicions had been correct. The circuit breakers had been switched off manually, cutting off power to the entire building. Sam pointed this out to Alexa.
"Here," he said pointing at the switch. "You see that? Someone's switched it off manually."
"Why?" Alexa asked. "Why would you cut off power to the entire building?"
"I don't know." Sam said "But this should get it back on."
Sam pulled the switch. Immediately the lights came back on, momentarily blinding them. After a few seconds adjusting to the light the pair went back upstairs. As they were about halfway up the stairs a heavy bass line of music kicked in. The pair looked at each other. "That can't be good." Alexa said.

Sam slammed the door open and ran towards the others. The room was still in semi-darkness, with multi-coloured strobe lights flashing and waving through the darkness. Heavy techno music was thumping throughout the club, causing vibrations under Sam's feet and making speech near impossible. The others were at the balcony, staring down into the dance floor below. Sam ran over and tapped Derrick on the shoulder.
"What's going on?" He yelled over noise of the music.
He merely pointed over the edge. Below them was an unending sea of infected. They were everywhere. The mass surged and spat, hissing and staring up at them.
"We need to get out of here!" Sam roared.
Derrick shook his head. "It's no good, they've boarded it up!" He shouted back. "We were waiting for you until we moved for the window!"
Sam looked at the door. Derrick was right. Enormous planks of wood were nailed across the door, making it impossible to open.
"Right let's get the hell out of here then!" He shouted.
However before he could move a loud thumping started coming from the doors leading to the ground floor. The group stopped and backed away.
"There's no time!" Derrick yelled. "Everyone get ready!"
Sam pulled out his pistol, by now he was mostly comfortable with using the weapon, although his ammunition was starting to run pretty low. The door exploded under the pressure from dozens of infected. Volleys of bullets crashed into the horde, but for every one that went down another replaced it. Countless bodies scrambled at the door, stopping them all of from breaking through at once. This gave Sam and the others valuable advantage as the horde clawed their way into the room. Sam and Lenny were side by side, firing into the crowd. Without warning Lenny turned to him.
"Watch my back!" He yelled, turning and running towards the bar.
Sam watched, bewildered as Lenny ran to the bar and vaulted over the polished stone surface. A snarl from behind him caught his attention as he turned back to the fight.

As more and more infected poured into the room, the group was being pushed further and further back. They were in danger of being overwhelmed very soon and they had nowhere to run. Sam could feel the ammunition pouch on his belt getting lighter and lighter every moment. A few minutes after he left, Lenny returned holding two bottles of spirits.
"There's a door behind the bar!" Lenny shouted. "We can take cover in there!"
Sam looked over at the bar, sure enough; there was a metal door with a green, luminescent sign over the door reading fire exit.
"There's an exit through there!" Sam shouted to the others. "We can get out of here!"
"How are we supposed to get in there?" Alexa screamed. "These things will be breathing down our backs the second we move!"
"I'm on it!" Lenny yelled as he lit the rags he had stuffed inside the bottles and hurling it towards the door. The bottle landed with frightening accuracy, exploding into a barrage of fire and broken glass. The fire caught instantly, spreading throughout the doorway as a few flaming infected stumbled through. The sudden intense burst of heat knocked the infected back, buying Sam and the others a few precious moments. Wasting no time they ran towards the door, Lenny only pausing to throw the second makeshift bomb down into the crowds of infected below. Sam reached the door, and tried to open it. The door wouldn't budge; it was blocked from the other side. Sam threw his weight against the door. Slowly it began to budge. More infected were piling into the room now, ignoring the flames like they weren't there. With desperation Sam and Lenny simultaneously threw themselves at the door. With a crash it gave in as Lenny and Sam fell through, the others rushing in behind them. Derrick slammed the door shut behind him, locking it as it rattled and shook with the force of the infected trying to break inside. Sam looked up at his new surroundings. What he saw nearly made his heart stop. Several infected were already inside the room; one was inches away from Sam, a twisted, rotting hand reaching towards him. The crowbar impacted on the infected's skull with a sickening crack. It fell backwards, landing loosely and twitching slightly before lying completely still. Volleys of shots cut the others down before they could reach Sam. Aiden stepped over Sam, twirling the bloody crowbar in his hand. He brought it down on the infected's head one more time for good measure. Sam stood up and dusted himself off.
"Thanks for that." He said to Aiden.
Aiden merely shrugged. "Let's not stand around waiting to get eaten yeah?"
"Not so fast man." Wayne said. "We've hit the fuckin' jackpot."
Indeed they had. In the corner of the room was a workbench, covered in rifles, pistols and other firearms. Crates of ammunition were neatly piled next to the workbench, practically untouched.
Derrick inspected the weapons intently. "These are in excellent condition, looks like standard issue for armed police. I wonder how this lot got their hands on them."
"Because they were armed police." Sharon said, turning over one of the bodies to show a dirty, worn police uniform.
"They must have directed everyone inside the nightclub then sealed it off. But-" Lenny looked at the bodies.
"But someone must have been bitten." Sam finished.
Derrick handed Sam a rifle. "You must be getting tired of that pistol, I think you're ready for something with a bit more kick."
It was a hunting rifle, but a very advanced one. It was just over a metre long with a black steel finish and rubber gripped handle. Sam looked down the sights to see red holographic crosshairs lighting up the scope. After a few moments of appreciating the delicacy of the weapon he began putting as many magazines as he could carry into his ammo pouch. Sam wasn't the only one to be graced with a new weapon. Alexa was handed a small sub machine gun.
"A Heckler and Koch MP5." Derrick said proudly. "One hell of a gun, have you fired full auto weapons before?"
Alexa nodded. "My grandpa had a couple of assault rifles back in Canada. I've used them a few times."
Derrick looked impressed. "That's a standard issue for the police's armed sector. Usually they only fire one shot but apparently these fellas did some modifying." He said. "It's the same with this one." Derrick held up a large assault rifle. The weapon looked lethal with its holographic sights and its slick, almost futuristic design.
"The G36C." Derrick said. "This should take out any infected that get too close."
There was one weapon left on the bench, an ancient looking revolver that had tiny patches of rust on the barrel and a dirty, neglected look. Wayne made a grab for it but Derrick was too fast.
"Oh no you don't!" Derrick snarled. "You can have this. As you seem a little bit capable." He said, handing the pistol to Sharon. "You know how to use one of these?" He asked.
Sharon shrugged. "I know enough, but I'll only use it when things get desperate. Doesn't seem like there's much ammo for it anyway."
Aiden and Wayne were less than happy. "What are we supposed to use then?" Aiden whined.
Derrick looked at him with distaste. "You seem to be doing alright with that." He said, nodding towards the bloody crowbar in Aiden's hand. "And Wayne can have… this." He handed Wayne a rusted and slightly bent golf club. It looked like it had already been used a lot; the head was crusted with dried blood. The pair instantly began complaining but Derrick cut them short.
"I don't trust you too idiots to follow orders, let alone be trusted with a gun. You want more responsibility? Act more responsible."
At that moment the door shook as the banging on the door increased in volume and intensity.
"We shouldn't stay here." Sam said. "We need to move."

Several hours later and the group had made a considerable amount of ground. Aiden and Wayne seemed to have at least taken notice of Derrick's speech. They now did what the others said and no longer ran off on their own, but their newfound attitude was accompanied with countless looks of contempt and resentment. Eventually darkness began to fall and the ragged team their search for shelter for the night. After searching for a while they found a suitable looking building. It was a small two-story office building, with a large, secure front door that featured a thick metal gate that could be pulled down in front of it. The gate was currently closed but it didn't take long for Aiden and Wayne to break it open. They picked the padlock holding the door in the ground in a matter of minutes.
"I'm surprised you two can do something as subtle as lock-picking." Lenny grinned.
"Just because we break into people's doesn't mean we can't be subtle." Aiden grumbled.
They made their way inside, closing the gate behind them and locking it securely. As Sam made his way through the small entrance something caught his eye. Several dead infected had been piled near the far wall of the room, just next to the door leading to the main offices. Sam pointed this out to the others.
"Hmmm, the blood's still wet." Derrick said, inspecting the bodies. "This didn't happen long ago."
"Those are bullet wounds." Alexa said. "These guys are armed."
"D'you think they're military? Police maybe?" Harry said.
"Maybe." Derrick answered, "But I don't want to take any chances." He switched the safety off of his rifle and signalled to the others. "Don't fire unless I tell you to."
The silence in the building was absolute. There wasn't a single sound except the muffled footsteps of the group as they slowly made their way through the building. They checked the entire bottom floor to no avail. It was completely empty. Derrick led the way as they ascended the stairs. At the top of the staircase was a small doorway that led to the second floor offices. The group clustered around the door. Derrick pressed his finger to his lips and opened the door. As soon as they had all filed inside the room threshold they were attacked. Armed men burst out from under desks and around corners, all of them pointing their varied weapons straight at Sam and the others.
"Stay where you are!" One of them shouted. "Don't move!"
Sam lifted his hands in the air, but didn't dare drop his rifle. The others were doing the same, Derrick stepped forward a fraction and spoke out.
"We were just looking for a place to stay. If you want we can leave."
"No!" the same man barked. He seemed like their leader. He was scrawny, with a crop of light blonde hair and a thin, sallow face. Dark shadows hung around his eyes, which were bloodshot and slightly glazed over.
"W-We let some others in here." He stammered. He was visibly trembling; the others around him seemed to be in the same condition. They looked like they hadn't slept in days. "They were infected. We had to kill them. Everything out there is infected. You must be infected!"
"Look." Sam said, trying to keep calm. "If we're not infected, none of those things have been near us. Just let us go and you won't have to worry about us ever again."
"NO!" He screamed. Any guise of sanity was gone now, his eyes bulged, he was trembling so badly he seemed in danger of having a fit and spit flew from his mouth with every word he spoke. His body shook but his gun was still pointing steadily at them. "YOU'RE INFECTED! DON'T LIE TO ME! YOU NEED TO DIE!"
"I know you." Harry spoke suddenly. "Christopher Benkin? Don't you remember me? It's Harry, from the King's Guard. Do you remember?"
Christopher's expression softened. "H-Harry?" he stuttered.
Harry moved next to Sam, "Put the gun down son. You don't want to do this."
The gun lowered slightly. Harry stepped forward again, halfway between the group and Christopher.
"That's right lad." He said soothingly. "Just put it down." He stepped forward again. Christopher's face changed from confused and afraid to rabid in seconds, his rifle flashed as he roared. Blood spattered over the floor as Harry was thrown backwards from the rifle's impact. Sam had no time to think, he simply dived behind the nearest concrete pillar. Bullets whizzed past him as he dived, peppering the wall directly behind where they had been standing. Derrick's rifle roared as he returned fire, his bullets finding their targets with expert precision. Sam looked back at where they were standing. Everyone had gotten out of the way in time, but they were now spread out around the room, cowering behind desks or pillars. Alexa was closest to him; she had moved further to the right of the room and was firing at a few attackers who were trying to move round the sides. As the attackers scurried for cover one leapt over the desk Alexa had been hiding behind. Before she could react he struck her in the stomach. She gasped and doubled over in pain, he then followed up by slamming the rifle butt into her temple. Alexa cried out as she crashed to the floor, looking up to see the attacker levelling his rifle.

Sam knew he only had one chance at this, remembering what Derrick had taught him he levelled his rifle, put the attacker in his crosshairs and fired. The two shots Sam fired hit perfectly. The first shot struck the attacker in the shoulder, twisting his entire body round to face Sam. The second shot was far more deadly. The bullet struck him in the forehead and carried on going, taking half of his head with it. As the mutilated figure fell to the ground, Sam sprinted to Alexa's position and dived behind the desk.
"Alexa!" He shouted over the explosions of gunfire and the thuds of bullets hitting concrete and wood. "Alexa are you all right!"
She seemed semi-conscious, her eyes were glazed over and it took her a few seconds to realise what Sam was saying. "S-Sam? What happened?"
"Sam!" Derrick called. He was still firing on the other attackers, although most of them seemed to be dead already. Sam could see Christopher's body lying where he had shot Harry. And the crackles of gunfire seemed to be lessening.
"Get her to the back!" Derrick yelled, still focusing on the remaining threats. Sam slung his rifle over his shoulder and picked Alexa up. It was difficult; she was much heavier than she looked, especially with all her ammunition on her.
"I've got her!" He called. "Cover me!"
Sam ran as fast as he could. As soon as he left the cover of the desk Derrick sprang up, letting loose a hail of shots at the other side of the room. A bullet came within centimetres of his head, letting off an almighty crack as it sped past him. He dived behind the concrete pillar closest to the door. He carefully set her down so that she was leant against the pillar. They were almost nose-to-nose as he put her down. As he was about to move away, her eyes opened. They stared at each other for what felt like ages; Sam's heart began to beat even faster than it was. The crack of a bullet ricocheting off of the pillar brought Sam back to reality. Sam moved over to Derrick's position. As Sam slid behind the row of metal desks he noticed Lenny was also there, returning fire on the remaining attackers.
"Where are the others?" He asked.
Derrick looked livid. "That bitch and the two twats are busy hiding back in the doorway." He nodded towards Alexa. "Stay with her and keep her covered. We don't need anyone flan- OH SHIT!"
Sam had seen it as well. At the beginning there had been at least fifteen of the attackers. They were now down to four. In desperation it seemed they had resorted to using their best weapons. One of them had pulled the pin on a grenade, readying to throw it. An explosive like that would give them nowhere to hide in such close quarters, it would be stay in cover and be blown up, or run out and get shot. Derrick reacted faster than Sam thought possible. The bullet hit the attacker right between the eyes, causing him to drop the grenade next to his friends.
"Get down!" Derrick screamed. Sam ducked just in time. The explosion was deafening. Shards of metal shot out in every direction as the grenade detonated. After the ringing in Sam's ears had stopped he listened carefully. Silence. All the attackers were dead. He stood up and went to check on Alexa. She seemed to have recovered her wits some more since he had left her. She was at least able to stand.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked. "That was a nasty hit you took."
She rubbed the side of her head where the rifle had struck her; a large bruise was already forming. "Yeah I think so." She stared at the ground awkwardly. "So uh, thanks for… saving me and everything."
"Oh yeah sure, don't worry about it." Sam thought about the moment their eyes had met. How his heart felt like it had skipped a beat. He was sure she was thinking about it too.
Lenny's yell brought them both back to the present. "Bloody hell Harry!"
They rushed over to see a miraculous sight. Harry was sitting up and looking around groggily.
"What's going on?" He asked groggily. Sam couldn't believe he was still alive. The bullet had gone in through the shoulder blade and out the other side, leaving an enormous hole. Blood was pouring out of the wound, staining the carpet a dark scarlet.
"We thought we'd lost you man." Lenny laughed.
Harry was in no state to reply. He was clearly in pain and needed medical attention.
"Lenny, there was a first aid box downstairs." Derrick ordered. "Bring it up, we need to make sure this wound is treated."
Aiden, Wayne and Sharon crept back in to the room.
"Is it over?" Sharon asked.
"Yeah it is. No thanks to you." Lenny sneered.
"What was I supposed to do then? Throw my golf club at them?" Wayne snarled.
"It'd be more useful than anything else you've done. Now come help us find a first aid kit."
The group bickered incessantly as they went down the stairs. Eventually the sound of their arguing faded.
Derrick shook his head. "Like a bunch of kids." He muttered.

Several hours later Sam and Lenny were on watch. They had all moved downstairs to stay away from the mutilated remains left by the explosion. Derrick had suggested they have two people on watch, because of the added attention the gunfight would have attracted. Harry's wound had been cleaned and bandaged to the best of Derrick's ability, but he had to give him some powerful painkillers. The pair sat in the darkness, a small lamp providing the only light.
"Busy day today." Sam sighed.
"Tell me about it." Lenny muttered, "I thought it was only those things that wanted to kill us."
"They were obviously desperate, they looked half insane." Sam looked over at Lenny. "I honestly thought Harry was gone for a while there."
"Yeah, we should've known better. It'll take more than that to bring that old git down."
Sam laughed. "Yeah he'll survive anything."
After a few moments silence Lenny changed the subject. "So, on a more interesting note, how's it going with you and the yank?"
Sam's head snapped round. "What? What are you talking about."
Lenny grinned. "Oh come on. I saw you two making kissy faces at each other at that pillar."
Sam could feel himself beginning to blush. "I don't know what you're on about."
"Aw you're blushing. That's so cute."
"Shut up."
Lenny laughed, but it was quickly cut as he heard a movement behind him. He aimed his shotgun in that direction as Sam pointed the lamp. The relaxed when they saw it was Derrick and Aiden.
"Alright lads? Your three hours are up." Derrick said gruffly.
"Already?" Lenny smirked. "But we were having so much fun!"
"Very funny. Now get some sleep. We've got a busy day tomorrow."
"When do we ever not have a busy day?" Sam asked.
"You never know." Lenny said, yawning as they made their way to sleeping bags. "It might not be so bad. It can hardly go worse than today right?"
At that moment Lenny didn't know just how wrong he was.