The Walk (a short story)

 I was at home, as usual, plodding round the house with no agenda. the TV was on but I was paying no attention to it. I had finished my second pot of coffee and was putting out my up-teenth cigarette of the day when my phone rang. It was Naomi, my girlfriend. I thought it strange that she was calling as she had phoned a couple of hours earlier, going on about some riot that was going on outside the Town Hall. I wasn't really paying attention at the time as I had been waiting for her to mention my lack of employment. Not that she brought it up all the time, in fact she hadn't mentioned it for at least a week, so I suppose I was expecting her to then. It never came, I remember feeling bad that I thought she would of brought it up. I picked my phone up and answered the call with my usual opening gambit.

"Hello" I groaned down the line, my voice gruff from not being used for a while.
"Hi Babe, look things are pretty fucked up here at the moment, there are police everywhere".
I knew straight away she was talking about the riots she had mentioned previously, but this time there was real fear in her voice.
"Really? are you alright?" I asked.
"Not really, there's something really wrong, there's people fighting everywhere".
I knew she was near an open window in her office as I could hear faint screaming and shouting and the sound of sirens ringing.
"look, everyone here is going home" she continued "but I'm not sure if there are any buses running." There was a pause for a second and then I heard a gasp and then a scream.
"OH MY GOD!" she started over and over. I could hear her work colleagues in the background shouting all sorts of different variations of what Naomi was repeating. "There is a policeman...babe?"
"I'm here" I said pacing round my living room starting to worry for her.
"theres a policeman.." I could here the stutter in her voice, she could barely talk. "He just grabbed someone and, he, oh god no! NO! NO!"
At this point I became intensely worried for my partners well being and also very interested in what was going on.
"Babe" pause "BABE?" I shouted the second time as the line had gone quiet.
"I'm here, he just started biting this man, and then someone came over and hit him, and now theres a few of them, they dragged this woman to the floor...".

 She was crying now, not just sobbing or having a weepy moment, but a full blown fit of tears which made her seem to have hiccoughs when she spoke.
"...they are EA-EATING ea- each other Mike!"
This came as a shock, I really wasn't expecting that, fighting, yes. Kicking, yes. Eating? not at all. I cut in as she was clearly having trouble with what was going on.
"Look, listen, check if Debbie and John are home. If they are, I want you to go to their flat. Can you do that?"
Debbie and John are old friends of ours, we like to visit on a Friday night and play bowling on their console whilst getting drunk. They live in the centre of the city and is a five minute walk from where Naomi worked. Naomi didn't speak at first, even I could here the cogs turning in her brain as she thought about my question.
"Yes, I think so." she replied after a while. "But Mike, somethings not right, Is there anything on the news? I think I can see a news van."
I hear one of her colleagues confirm that there was a new van, but the news wasn't important to me at the time, Naomi was the only thing I was worried about.
"OK, you set off now and phone me when you get there." I made her promise she would and then we told each other we love each other about four times before the line went dead.

 I picked up the television remote and flicked to the news channel and straight away I wished I had done it while Naomi was on the phone. As the channel flashed up onto the screen I could see a female reporter being dragged to the floor by what looked like three men and a women, the camera then started to tip as if the cameraman was falling and then the shot cut back to the studio with a very upset looking woman staring back at my equally upset face. She didn't speak, she was just shell shocked. a few seconds past and then the shot flicked to another man, sat next to her. "Breaking News, Riots have unexpected broken out In London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle and we are now getting reports of riots breaking out in Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh.." Now the man had paused, "My God!" he said to himself, then realised he was still live on TV, shook his head and continued "We are getting scattered reports that the rioters are biting and in some cases Eating their victims" he turned to someone off camera "Is this right?" his eyes widened as I suspected he had been given the answer he didn't expect "These acts of violence are resulting in the deaths of citizens and police officers and...and...that the.." he stopped again looked around the studio, presumably at his colleagues to see if they were playing a prank and then looked back into the camera "That the dead are getting up and joining in"

 I was stood staring at the screen now, frozen, awestruck and frightened. They were talking about zombies, but zombies aren't real, they are make believe. No, someones got it wrong, someones made a big mistake and is going to be joining me in the dole queue. Then they showed footage, from Manchester or Liverpool, I don't remember, of a mountain of people, all piled up on each other like a schoolyard game, then slowly one by one getting up and shuffling away, leaving a bloody shape on the floor, then the shape moved and slowly picked itself up from the floor and started shuffling itself towards a group of nearby police. Then the shot flicked to somewhere else, There was a man with a cricket bat, just repeatedly hitting this old man who must of been eighty, over and over again around the legs, arms, body and even on the head a few times. Then after a good dozen hits, stepped back and started to get his breath when his victim started to get to his feet and lunged for its attacker. It was impossible for the fittest young man to get up straight after that beating, but that old man did it as soon as the man stopped attacking him. Even though I had sat down and was staring at the screen, I wasn't watching what was happening in front of me, I was taking in the fact that the dead were eating the living and that I had just sent my true love out into the middle of it.
 I picked up the house phone and dialled Naomi's number, it rang through to the answer machine. I hung up and felt a sickly feeling in my stomach. Thoughts were racing through my mind. Was she OK? had she managed to get out OK? had I sent my girlfriend to her death? It seemed like an hour passed, when in fact it had only been fifteen minutes when my phone went again. I had been transfixed to the TV, waiting for footage of my city, none had come by this point. I picked up the phone.
"Babe?" I shouted so loud I must of startled her.
"I'm here, Ive just got to Debbie's"
I have never been so relieved in my life. I started to well up and must of told her I loved her ten times, she told me she was safe but had seen some horrible things and that an old woman laying on the pavement had grabbed her ankles and tried to bite her. I asked if she had been bitten to which she she no, and I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She hadn't seen the news, not at that point, she had literally just got into the flat and called me. I could hear Debbie shouting something in the background about the dead. I told Naomi to lock the door, not draw attention to themselves and to sit tight and that I was coming for her, that I was coming for them all.

 I knew the challenge that was in front of me, I was a thirty two year old man, but I was the sort of person who always looked for the easy way, the way that took no effort, no hard work. Because of this, I had no drivers licence. I had been taught how to drive by a friend in his 1986 Mitsubishi in a car park, but that was once and fifteen years previous. I knew the buses were not running as it was streaming across the bottom of the news channel 'All UK public transport and airflight suspended'. I knew there was no point in ordering a taxi for two reasons, one being that I doubted there was any taxi driver mad enough to drive me into that nightmare and two, I didn't have enough money for the fare. I only had one option and that was to walk. Naomi and I lived in the suburbs of the City, as far away as it was possible to be from the bright lights and madness that was the concrete jungle without being in the countryside. I knew I had a ten mile walk ahead of me. I got my rucksack and started packing a few things, clothes, tinned food, tampons for Naomi and I filled a bottle with water. I even stopped and considered taking Naomi's hair straighteners, crazy right? That was down to habit, Naomi always needed her hair straightners. I decided logically that she could go without the straighteners and they would weigh me down. Its mad thinking back, that I even considered taking them, but the things you do in panic. I say panic, but that's not entirely true. My head was clear, for the first time in a long while. I only had one thing on my mind and that was getting to Naomi.

 I'm not a stupid man, I know sometimes I can come across that I am, but I knew what I was dealing with, Zombies, and I know allot about Zombies. I had over 20 Zombie movies, Zombie books and Comic books galore and I knew that the only way to stop a zombie was by destroying the brain. I needed a weapon. I went into the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife we owned, but knew it was really a back-up weapon at best as it was part of a cheap set and would maybe only lasted one strike. I needed something heavy and durable. We had nothing in the house that filled the criteria. We weren't the sporting type, so there was no baseball bats, cricket bats or golf clubs, not that golf clubs would be any use. I looked in the cupboard at the boiler at the pipes and thought about ripping one of those from the wall, but held back as I imagined water flooding the house. I cursed myself for not being prepared for an invasion of the dead. We lived next to some woodland, and I considered trying to find a large branch or stick, but as it was early March, I knew that they would be damp and rotten and the chances of finding one thick enough to last seemed too much of a waste of time. I needed to go, I needed to get to my Love. I decided the knife would have to do for the time being. I picked up my rucksack, grabbed my hat and coat, put the cat out and left.
As I locked my door I noticed neighbours throwing suitcases and bags into their cars as though they were trying to escape the nightmare, even though the authorities were urging people to remain indoors and barricade themselves in, but who ever listens to the authorities? It seemed that everyone was running, but where to? Where was there that this wasn't happening? I knew that this exodus was probably happening all over the city and probably every city in the country. This had an effect on my route. There were two main ways to the city from my house, down the main roads or through the back streets, I had already decided to take the back streets but with everyone trying to escape, It would only be a matter of time before the main roads were jammed and the infected arrived for lunch. I looked around at the families, the kids and remember thinking I would never see them again, not alive anyway. I'm sure they were thinking the same. I walked.

 Apart from the mayhem of the cars and the general panic, I managed to get the first mile without any problems. I got to a Supermarket and thought about going in for supplies, or seeing if I could find a more appropriate weapon, but decided against it in case the dead had gotten inside. The last thing you want is to walk into a supermarket full of trolley pushing ghouls. I put my hand in my pocket and found a half pack of chewing gum and slipped one into my mouth. I decided to walk round the supermarket, as I could hear the panic of hundreds of shoppers trying to get out of the car park, the honking of horns, shouting and even a loud bang that could only of been two cars coming together. There were no TV screens in the supermarket, so something must of happened to get everyone so spooked, I didn't want to know what it was, so I veered off to the right and headed down the hill through a council estate, Still there were people, families packing up their cars. Children were crying, Men were loosing their tempers, women were having fits. The streets were mayhem. Not everyone was packing up. There were the few exceptions who were barricading their homes with whatever they could find to do so. One man was in his garden pulling apart his dog kennel, presumably to use the wood to block windows and doors. He looked up as I approached and noticed that I was heading in the opposite direction to everyone else and shouted to me that I didn't want to go that way and that I wouldn't make it alive. I didn't even respond, I was afraid that if I did, that we would have a conversation and he would make me realise that what I was doing was extremely stupid and that I might of stopped. I couldn't have that, All I had in my mind was getting to Naomi.  I followed the streets down through the estate, trying not to watch the madness unfold around me. there were two neighbours fighting over a lawnmower, a lawnmower! in a time like this. Its weird how different people react in panic. A few streets later I found the street empty, except for a body laying in a garden, a young man, around twenty five. At first I thought I had come across my first ghoul, but when I got closer I noticed he had been stabbed in the chest and body, but not the head, he was just a normal human who had been attacked for one reason or another. This made me realise that there wasn't just zombies to watch out for, but I had to be careful around my fellow human beings. Already in this early stage, humanity had ceased. It was Dog eat Dog and the leads had been removed. I stopped and looked at the body for a while, I don't know to this day why, maybe it was the shock of seeing a dead person, maybe I was glad it wasn't me. I came to and started on with my journey.

 As i turned the street I noticed a garden full of rubbish, you know those families who just store everything in their gardens like its a junkyard. I decided it would be a good idea to check it out for a weapon and it didn't take me long to find a heavy lead pipe, about fifteen inches long. I picked it up and swung it around the air to get used to swinging it, then moved on. I tried to put it through one of the loops in my jeans, but it was too thick and I didn't want to put it in my rucksack in case I couldn't get it out when I needed it, so I slid it up my coat sleeve to hide it and continued on. I had walked maybe two miles now and was getting to an open stretch of Fields, which were parallel to the road I was following. The road was blocked with traffic. There was a small bridge which ran over a small beck which had collapsed due to a van hitting it, which was preventing any of the cars over. I was watching people taking things from there vehicles and walking with them, one woman was even carrying a microwave. There were also scuffles breaking out so I decided to walk over the field and avoid them. that's when my phone rang. It was my Mum. I hadn't phoned them because they were in Austria, they had emigrated there about eight months previously. My mum said that although there were no reports of the violence (she called it) happening in Austria, but there had been reports of it happening in Spain, France, The USA and Australia. I told her to barricade themselves in with as much supplies as possible and that I would contact them as soon as I got to Naomi. She told me she loved me and a returned the gesture. Really all I wanted to do was hold her and have her tell me everything would be OK. We told each other to be careful and then ended the call. About thirty seconds later, as if on Que, my phone went again and It was Naomi. She told me that things were getting worse in the city, that some fires had broken out and the streets were full of those things. I asked if the fires were near Debbie and Johns building, she said no, but could See the smoke in the distance. I told her to sit tight and that I was on my way, which she got upset at, she was scared that I was out in this, I tried to explain that where I was at that moment was safe, a lie, I know, and that I wasn't just going to leave her. We exchanged love for each other a number of times and I told her to phone me again in an hour, unless of course something happened before and to call me straight away.

 I crossed the field and made my way to a new estate, passing a couple of tower blocks on my left. I noticed that a fire had broken out in one of the blocks and there were people at their windows screaming for help that would never come. I never saw them jump, as I had passed by that point, but I was close enough to hear them hitting the floor. They are sounds that I will never get out of my head. I didn't turn to look when I heard them, I knew what was happening, I could hear the screams before the thuds. I got as far away from the sounds as I could get and sat down, took the water from my sack and took a swig. I had travelled around four miles now and still not seen any dead. I knew they were around because of the tower blocks being on fire, but as of yet they hadn't made a beeline for me. I had spoken too soon. I put the water back in my sack and stood up and headed for a steep hill that I needed to follow. There were two lanes with grass in between and houses on either side, near the top of the street I needed to turn right and up another steeper hill which ran alongside a park. I looked up the hill, and I could see them, There were about twenty of them, Slowly shuffling their way in different directions with no apparent agenda. As I was at the bottom of the hill at least five hundred yards away, they hadn't seen me, so I decided to jump into the back garden of the last house on the right hand side of the street. The garden had a high fence which was good in the way that I was shielded, but I'm not the greatest climber, so It was hard work getting over them. There were Twelve in all, don't ask me why I remember that fact, but there was. I slowly made my way over one at a time, each time checking the gardens and then the houses when Id jump over. I got to the last house without incident, but as soon as I jumped into the last yard I heard a door slide open and some shouted 'What the Hell are you doing in my garden?' I turned to See a man in his forties, wearing a stained white vest and jeans, he was a real hairy guy and had clumps sticking out all over from under his vest. He was holding a shotgun and It was pointing right at me. Ive never had a gun pointed at me, not a real one anyway and I must admit, I froze solid. I tried to open my mouth to say something but the man looked at me, my bag, my terrified face and lowered his shotgun. "Go on" he said motioning to the gate "Get out". I didn't speak, I just just turned and opened the gate. I had walked about ten paces down a back passage when I heard them break through his fence then A single shot from the gun, then a scream, then silence. I knew he had attracted them by shouting at me for being in his garden. I contemplated going back for the shotgun, but decided it was too risky. I headed out of the passage way and found myself at the bottom of the steeper hill. I check all directions and saw about six ghouls blocking me way, they were all staggering slowly in separate directions, but none were either heading my way, or up the hill where I wanted to go. so I waited, until there was enough space between the zombies and I ran. I got passed them all, and dove into a garden and pressed my back against the high bush that gave me cover. I could see in the living room of the house and I could see the couple swinging from their nooses. I felt for them, but also cursed them for giving up so easily. I was too busy watching the window to notice the ghoul step into the garden to my right, I saw a shadow move on the wall and sprung to my feet just in time to avoid the outstretched arms, pull out my pipe from my sleeve and swing it down onto its head. I don't really know how many times I hit it, maybe three or four, maybe twenty, I don't know, Its like I blanked out. I do know that it dropped on the first blow and by the time I came round there was not much of a skull left, just brain matter and red sticky shards surrounding a headless corpse. I waited. I know that everyone knows that zombies can only be killed by destroying the brain, but that's from horror stories, not reality. I was half expecting the headless corpse to still get up and rip me to pieces, but It didn't. The adrenaline was pumping now, I felt euphoric and sick at the same time. It wasn't until much later that I even thought about being a murderer, because from that moment on, no matter if the thing was a ghoul, I had destroyed a human being. At the time I was proud of myself but also scared, the thing had moved quicker than I had anticipated. It had still been slow, it wasn't running or anything, but wasn't as slouchy as expected from the folklore. I gathered myself, checked the area was clear and moved on, again using the gardens as cover. I was getting tired now, even though I had only walked about five miles, my rucksack was weighing me down and the adrenaline was eating up my energy fast, but there was no time to rest, It was half past five and I needed to get to my destination before It got dark.

  I made my way slowly through the Gardens, this time more conscious of the houses from my experience with the shotgun man, but this time I moved freely and with ease, The was a few people who saw me in their gardens, but let me pass without causing a fuss. One woman did gesture me towards her house, but I ignored her and carried on. As I neared the top of the hill, I could see three ghouls blocking my path. There was no other way round so I knew I would have to take them on. I took the knife from the rucksack and finished what water I had left, took a number of deep breaths, then with my knife in one had and my bloodstained lead pipe in the other closed in on the ghouls. I had no idea of a strategy plan, I just walked up to the closet one to me, who luckily was facing away from me and clouted him round the noggin then walked towards the next. It was quite simple in a way, there wasn't a struggle or anything, I just swung and took them down. I hit the third and turned to see the first and second getting to their feet, so I gave the third a hit for good luck and walked back to the first two and finished them off. I could of kept walking, its not like they could of caught me, but I didn't want them to be on my tail in case I got caught out further on. While I was finishing off the other two I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, but obviously could'nt just stop to take the call. I finished off the last one and reached into my pocket, It had been Naomi, I felt bad as could imagine her freaking that I hadn't answered and that she was thinking I was dead, or worse still, a cannibal corpse. I didn't have to wait long for it to ring again and the relief in her voice was clear. I apologised but didn't explain why I hadn't answered, I didn't want her worrying. She updated me on the news and that the army had been called in, but they couldn't see any on the city Streets. She told me there must of been at least three hundred zombies now lining the street that they could see and said she didn't know how I was going to even make it to the building let alone get in. I asked if the entrance was locked and if there were any ghouls trying to get in. She said they couldn't see the entrance from where they were but said they hadn't heard anything in the building. I told her to put John on the phone. John didn't want to leave the flat, I could hear the fear in his voice, but I told him that he needed to block the entrance so no ghouls could get in. He said he would go check but if there was any sign of trouble he would go back to the flat. Five minutes later I got a text saying that the door was blocked and as far as they were aware there was no ghouls in the building. I checked my watch, It was quarter to Seven. The sun was starting to make its descent and even though I knew I had a good three hours before it was dark, I knew I needed to get a move on.
 I knew the next part of my journey was going to be difficult as I had to pass a hospital and knew all the bite victims would of been taken there, so I had to presume that some of those had turned and had converted the rest to zombi-ism. I decided to take the adjoining road to the hospital to avoid it and when I got to the corner saw the army blockade. They had blocked the street with trucks and soldiers baring machine guns were lined up facing towards the city. I could hear the radios crackling as I made my way towards them. As I got closer I could see the swarm of civilians running towards the blockade from the opposite direction, those who had managed to escape the city on foot. There must of been at least a hundred of them, as they approached a line was formed across the street by the soldiers who all took aim with their weapons. Then as the civilians closed one soldier, maybe a general, started to speak through a megaphone. "PLEASE FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE FOR CHECKS" he repeated this as the crowd grew nearer. I got what was going on, they needed to check each person before they let them through. The crowd paid no attention to the loudspeaker and just headed straight for the line. a few seconds passed and after one more instruction was ignored, the general ordered the line to open fire. It was like a thousand fireworks had been lit, people were falling to their deaths in drones, but still they came towards the line. It was clear that no-one was going to get past without being checked, they couldn't take the risk. I stopped and just watched as children, Women and men of all ages and creeds were put down in a mass execution. There are no words that can describe this atrocity. It was something that will haunt my dreams for the rest of my days. It lasted for an hour, the people just kept coming. Some tried to change their course but were caught in the crossfire. One woman even got to her knees and lifted a bible above her head just before it was taken clean off. I knew if I got past the blockade, there would be no way out, but I had to try, I had got this far and I wasn't going to give up.  Eventually the firing ceased and the soldiers regrouped. I had sat down against a wall for the last twenty minutes, but now I got to my feet and walked towards the city. I could see the high rise buildings and knew I was only around two miles away now. I was almost there. As I approached the line a soldier turned and saw me and walked up to me. He didn't tell me I couldn't pass, but instead told me that I didn't want to go that way as it was suicide, I informed him that I had been told that five miles back and he just looked into my eyes. He must of seen the passion in them, he must of realised that I wasn't just walking into a war zone for no reason, but that love had something to do with it, because he stepped aside and informed his colleagues to let me pass.

 Up to this point I had been following my route and improvising when i needed to, but now the city loomed and I knew I needed a plan. Debbie and John's flat was luckily not in the centre of the City, but near the outskirts, but that was still a busy area and was at the opposite side of the city to where I was. I knew if I walked into the city I wouldn not make it, So decided to walk round the outskirts until I was on the right side. It had been well over an hour since I had heard from Naomi and was getting worried. I kept on thinking 'what If they got in the building and got in the flat? What if Ive got this far and its all been in vain?' I shook those thoughts out of my head and looked at my watch. It was nearly nine O'clock and I knew I was still an hour or so from getting to them. I thought about finding an abandoned house to rest up in for the night and to continue in the morning, but I knew if i did that I wouldn't sleep, that I would just worry about Noami. I decided to continue. I was getting scared now, really scared. I had entered a zone that I probably wouldn't get out of alive and if I did, I would probably be shot down trying to escape it. I started to think about my life and all the things I had not done, all the things I had the opportunity to do but turned down, But then I started to think of Naomi and how much she had changed my life for the better and that thought quenched the bad thoughts and gave me the drive again to continue.

 As I looped the City I came across a number of ghouls, I either hid away in the darkness until they passed or if there was only a few, took them down. It was getting dark now, and my bones ached and the only thing that was keeping me going was my need to see Naomi. I could see the smoke clouds, maybe thirty of them rising from the city, I could smell the burning, the air was thick with that charcoal smog that was a mix of burning buildings and burning flesh. At one point I came across around a hundred zombies stumbling and crawling their way out of a side street that lead to the city centre. I quietly smashed a window to a nearby clothes warehouse and climbed inside to wait for the ghouls to pass. It was too big inside to check all of it, so I just stuck to the area I was in, It was clear, so I just kept an eye on the passing zombies and the other eye on inside. I could hear gunfire about a mile behind me and assumed that it was another army group taking down the zombies who had passed me. From the sheer number that had passed I wished the army luck. I checked the stream and it was thinning out, but not enough for me to pass. I didn't want to go up that street, just past it, so I had to wait. My phone went again and I noticed my battery was running low, I spoke to Naomi who apologised for not calling but they were all OK. I told her I was close and explained my situation, She informed me that the dead did seem to be dispersing but there was still too many for me to reach them. I told them that I would be heading to them by the back entrance and that they would need to look out for me to let me in. Naomi said she would make sure they looked out and would be there to let me in. Then my battery died on my phone.

 It was another two hours before I decided it was safe to continue, My legs had stiffened up by this point and I was hungry, I didn't want to eat any of the tinned food because I didn't know how long we would be in the flat for, If I made it to the flat. I had realised I hadn't smoked in almost six hours and felt an intense nicotine rush when I had one, which made me feel nauseous, but for most of the time I was waiting I was replaying the day over and over in my head. It was Eleven when I climbed out of the window and back onto the street and darkness had overcome the sky. I was grateful for every street light but was aware that they could go at any moment if there was a power cut. I crossed the street and made my way round the city. Taking out the odd zombie and hiding from the rest. I eventually got to where I wanted to be, A great building that was used as the counties Newspaper headquarters and most importantly was at the end of the street that Debbie and John's building was situated. I found a dark corner and investigated the area. I could see my location now, but I could also see around five hundred dead all stumbling around looking for their next victim. I had no idea what I was going to do. I wasn't concentrating on what was happening behind me and felt something grab my shoulder and start to drag me backwards. I let go of the pipe but turned just in time to avoid a set of teeth digging into my neck and pushed the ghoul away. He, or should I say, It, had his intestines lulling out of its stomach and had one arm missing at the elbow. There were bite marks all over his neck and face and his jawbone was clearly visible, even in the darkness. His eyes were grey and cloudy and were big and excited. It Still had hold of me and the grip was intense. Its head snapped towards my open skin and I felt around with my hand for the pipe, watching all the time his eyes. After a few seconds of trying to find the pipe by touch I gave up and reached for the knife in my trousers and brought it down into the zombies eyeball, It didn't make a noise, not even when I was twisting the blade around inside its skull. After a few seconds the ghouls head dropped and it stopped moving. It was still gripping my jacket and I had to prise the fingers off. I tried to pull the knife out but it was stuck fast, so I left it and found my pipe. I stood up and noticed that another ghoul had noticed me fighting and was making its way over to me. I stepped back round a corner, out of sight from the mass group of ghouls and waiting for my attacker to come to me, then with one swift blow caved its head in. It was this that I got the Idea. When the ghouls noticed me, they came to me. I thought quickly and then executed my plan. I knew if I was seen that the herd would all come towards me, leaving the building clear to enter, but also knew even if I drew them to me then ran round, that they would probably follow me and end up at the building with me, which wasn't what I wanted. I needed something else. I looked around and saw that there a number of cars left with the doors open, abandoned by their owners to risk it on foot. I went over to one of the cars and pushed it onto the curb, quietly, slowly and out of sight so it was pressed up against the side of the last building but facing the ghouls on the street. Then I caught my breath, prayed to a god I didn't believe in, moved the drivers seat as far forward as it would go and then turned on the headlights. as it was dark and the lights were shining towards the ghouls, I hoped the light stopped them from making me out, I had the door open too so all that was showing was my legs. I then took my lead pipe and stuck it in between the seat and the steering wheel so the the horn sounded off . I looked up through the windscreen and saw that the hurd had turned and was stumbling their way slowly towards me. I waited until they were about two hundred feet away and then walked round the side of the car and ran round the building to the back, then ran to down the back street that lead to the building. There were ghouls on the street and I now didn't have anything but my fists to fight with, but I had the advantage of speed, so weaved my way through them. As I reached the building I prayed that someone was waiting for me to let me in. The door was locked and no one was there. I turned to see four ghouls walking towards me. I banged against the door as hard as I could, I could hear the horn on the car stop and knew that the herd had got there and it would only be a matter of time before they turned back round and headed towards me. The first of the ghouls was on me now, I had used the last of my energy running round and knew I couldn't fight anymore. I made peace with myself and readied myself to become one of the undead. I didn't hear the door open behind me, I just remember feeling a hand grab my rucksack and drag me backwards inside the building. I fell backwards onto the marble floor, hit my head and passed out just as I saw a shadow reach for the door to close it.

 I woke in a familiar room, Debbie and John's spare room. I had been stripped of my blood soaked clothes and wiped down. Naomi was sat watching me as my eyes opened. Her eyes filled with tears and she leant forward and held me. I was so relieved, I had done it, I was in her arms and I never wanted her to let go. We told each other over and over that we loved each other and she called me crazy, but her hero. I got up and headed into the living room where Debbie was sat on the couch flicking through channels on the TV which were now all emergency broadcasts and John was peeping out of the thick dark blankets they had used as blackout curtains to stop the light inside causing attention. Debbie got up and handed me some Carrot soup and some bread she had made and I don't believe Ive ever tasted anything so good. They explained that It was John who had dragged me inside and that he had brought me upstairs to the flat. I asked if the zombies had got in. He said they had been trying to get in but him and some other residents who were holed up blocked the entrance with furniture. As he explained Naomi held me. I was tired and drained, but also in awe of myself for what I had achieved. We didn't speak for a while, we just sat in silence, both couples holding each other. We needed to come up with a plan, but for now we just needed each other.