As we pounded down the stair well I scanned ahead, looking out at the threats ahead. The stairs shuddered once more and then we were falling. The screams of the infected matched the scream of metal from the falling stairs. As we landed Trey collapsed upon me and Celine above him…our eyes locked for a moment and I saw something said there. What was this womans spell upon me? But her gaze changed direction and her face hardened and horror showed there in those eyes of hers. My body ached all the more, but the fresh, wet cold air of London gave me a burst of energy.

We pulled each other up and gazed behind us at the growing crowd of the infected that moved towards us.
“This way I think” Trey said quietly, indicating the opposite direction of the main crowd. The narrow road that lead away from the building disappeared into darkness a few hundred feet away, but the storm lit up twenty or so of the diseased.
I checked my cross-bow, worried the fall had damaged it, finding it was fine. I pulled six bolts from my bag and tucked them in the coat Celine had given me and cocked the bow with another. We moved off…Trey in front, me in the middle and Celine following closely behind. Trey opened fire and cut down three of the monsters before we had gone ten feet. I waited…I was dangerously low on bolts now and each shot had to count.

A beast leapt from the building opposite from us and I turned and fired before either of the other two managed to…we pushed through to another road and it looked clear. Trey picked up the pace and I found myself running along side him…I looked over my shoulder and found Celine staring back at me. Her eyes seem to burn in the gathering darkness and I shuddered…escape…again the thought crossed my mind. Perhaps I could duck down in one of these old shop doorways and they would lose me quickly…but before I could do so, we were suddenly pitched into a group of fifty or so of the diseased, howling beasts.

Trey turned his gun on the leading edge, mowing down row after row…but we were soon overwhelmed…and I found myself clubbing body after body with my crossbow. In the corner of my eye I saw Celine whirling and kicking…her knife slashing in her hand and I felt a deep dark desire for her once again…that fire within her seemed to lift her when she needed it most, gave her a power…

It was for this reason I missed the two huge men that leapt upon me…snapping and screaming in a stream of abuse…I held my crossbow between me and them as a shield but I couldn’t hold them back for much longer. I wanted to scream out…but the noise wouldn’t come…I was growing weaker by the second...