"Please God, no. No. No." The thirty year old gripped his now silent daughter in his arms, tears flowing freely down his face. As the tears fell from his chin, they splashed onto the pale cheeks below him, merging with the girl's own sorrow. Those would be the last tears she shed, the last time she clung with any life to her father. She was gone. She was dead. Not from an attack from the infected that they had narrowly escaped from. Not from the explosion of the petrol station, where the firelight still burned in their retinas – no, she died from the gunshot of a soldier. A man who had sworn to protect the innocent. And Sarah had been so innocent.

"NOOOOO!" Joel cried out and dropped his head to his daughter's neck, shaking her. 'Wake up, baby girl. Wake up. Come on!'

"Joel." Tommy whispered and placed a hand on his older brother's shoulder.

"Sarah! Sarah!" Joel shook her again, violently. The young girl's short blonde hair bounced around her head; just like it used to when she would go on that damn trampoline they had in their back garden. "Sarah, please!"

"Joel! She's gone." Tommy's voice chocked on those words, but he swallowed down his grief. They weren't safe here. He could already hear noises in the dark, noises that shook him to his core. The infected were drawing closer.

Joel's anguish punched its way through his body and his sobs were heart-breaking and filled with so much loss and sadness. Tommy wiped his own tears away with the back of his hands and tried to stop them from shaking. The revolver would not be safe in shaking hands. With his brother lost to his grief, Tommy knew he would need to try and take charge in order for them to reach safety. They had heard on the car radio that the best action to take was to get out of the city so that's what he planned to do.

He crawled to the dead soldier and searched his body, but froze with fear, when he heard a scream nearby. The fear turned to panic and he ripped the gun so forcefully from the body, he fell hard onto his back, the air leaving his lungs. At that moment a crazed man jumped at him from a bush with a scream like a dying animal. His clothes were covered in blood and dirt and ripped along his chest. His head was covered in bald patches, like he had pulled out his own hair. He was on top of Tommy before he could draw breath, clawing at him and growling insanely.

"Get off! Get off! Joel!"

The struggle lasted mere seconds before Tommy's finger found the trigger of the gun and he squeezed. There was an impossibly loud bang, which rang so loudly in his ears, that his vision went black for a moment. With a dying groan the weight of his attacker dropped on him, like a rock being dropped in a puddle. The man above him stank of death and disease and Tommy gagged. With a grimace he pushed with all his strength until the man toppled off of him and rolled slightly down the slope. Tommy stood on trembling legs and peered down through the darkness and saw his attacker with a gaping hole in his stomach, blood pooling around him and parts of his intestines hanging out his body.

"Oh god." Tommy doubled over and threw up. Tears formed in his eyes again. This was a nightmare. It had to be. He had seen Sarah die in front of him only minutes ago. Before he had met up with his brother at his house he had seen friends and neighbours ripping each other to pieces. He had shot so many people in the last hour. What was happening? He collapsed to his knees, hands falling to the ground to catch him as he dry heaved. There was nothing in his stomach, but bile forced its way up his throat and burned him from the inside. He spat and sat back, panting for clean air.

After a few seconds he turned back around to Joel who was still clutching Sarah and staring into the darkness. It hadn't even registered Tommy had been attacked.

"Joel. Get up. We have to move from here." Tommy gathered the guns from the ground and a canteen of water from the soldier and forced himself back to his feet once more. Slinging one of the guns over his shoulder and pocketing the other one between his belt and back he gripped his brother under his arms and heaved him to his feet. Joel stood, but still carried his daughter.

"Move! Move now! Follow me!" Tommy yelled and shoved at Joel. He stumbled at first, but found his footing and followed his brother up towards the highway. The lights from cars and the road guided him through the darkness. The occasional shots fired from Tommy, to keep the infected away from them, kept him from slipping away into a dream-like state. He was in shock, his thoughts numb and uncomprehending. He could only feel the weight in his arms and could process one instruction – follow Tommy.

After struggling with the hill, both men reached the highway, breathing heavily. It wasn't until Joel could catch his breath easily again, did he notice the eerie silence. The highway was packed with cars, but there were no one in them. No people blasting their horns, yelling profanities to hurry up, there was nothing.

"Joel, what's going on?"

Joel stared at the scene, but didn't answer his brother.

"We should get out of the city, right? Follow the road? Joel? What should we do?"

Joel hugged Sarah to his chest. She was getting cold in the night air. Or at least, that's what he told himself.

"We head out of the city." Joel whispered eventually, staring at the cars in confusion.

"Okay, man. Okay. We'll head out of the city. It's going to be all right. We'll just get out of the city and find some help. This is just some crazy dream. Everything will be fine, you'll see."

"Where are all the people?" Joel interrupted.

Tommy stopped his rambling and looked around, hands on his hips.

"I….I don't know. What do you think happened?" The man turned a full circle taking in the scene before him.

"They left in a hurry."

Tommy took a closer look and realised his brother was right. Car doors had been left open. Bags left inside cars. Baby seats chucked onto the road. The highway was chaos. As Tommy walked further up the road, to his horror, he discovered a body that had been trampled to death.

"It looks like the old man couldn't keep up and they just…..left him." Tommy grabbed a blanket from the inside of a car and placed it over the body. "Poor old son of a bitch."

"What was everyone running away from?" The younger man asked after a moment, standing up from the body. He noticed a packet of cigarettes through the window of the car beside him.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind….." He muttered to himself, indicating the previous owner of the cigarettes, as he reached for them. He pulled one from the box and placed it between his lips, before patting his shirt pocket. "I must have dropped my lighter when…"

"Shh."

"Huh?"

"Listen."

Tommy fell silent and listened. The breeze blew his hair back from his forehead and carried on the wind was an ominous clicking sound.

"What the hell is that?"

"We need to go."

Tommy dropped the cigarette and broke into a light jog at his brother's words. Joel soon caught up, but he was breathing heavily within seconds, what with the emotional drain that the night's events had brought and with the extra burden of his daughter's weight, there was no way Joel was outrunning anything when he clutched the dead body of Sarah. Tommy acknowledged this and dared to point it out.

"Joel, maybe we should….."

"Stop."

"But Joel, what if….?"

"I said stop." Joel growled. Tommy fell silent and stayed that way until they could see barriers about half a mile ahead.

"Look Joel. A checkpoint." Tommy pointed up ahead, while slowing his pace for his brother to catch up. "If we can make it..." He lost his train of thought as a shiver ran up his spine. Someone, or rather, something was watching them. The wind picked up and tugged at the men's t-shirts, almost as if even the elements were pulling them to safety, urging them to keep going. Both men halted and turned around to face the path they had just run along. Something wasn't right.

"What the hell is out there?" Tommy whispered, removing the gun from around his shoulder and clutching it tightly in two hands.

There was a beat of silence and then, like a hunting pod of Orca rising up from the waves, powerful and deadly, an unimaginable number of infected surged onto the highway from the side of the road.

"Their…Their faces. What the fuck?" Tommy was rigid with fear and overwhelmed by what he was seeing. The group was mainly composed of people crazed with the virus, but behind them, in a wild array of dancing appendages and animalistic screams rose the next stage of infected. Their faces were no longer recognisable as human beings. Their bodies still functioned in a bipedal way, but from their chests upwards erupted fungal like armour, covering typical features including eyes, noses, ears etc. The only prominent human feature was their mouths which were open and screaming, with spittle spewing in every direction.

"RUN! RUN!"

Joel and Tommy began to sprint along the road, dodging around cars and leaping over discarded bags and food items. Joel was sweating and his side was cramping.

"I'll never make it."

"We have to make it. They'll rip us to pieces." Tommy yelled, reaching behind him while running, and firing blindly. There was a screech from an infected woman, who tumbled and fell, having been shot in the chest. The group engulfed her, but kept coming like a tsunami of terror. The gun clicked uselessly when he turned to fire once more - the magazine was empty.

"Shit." Tommy threw the soldier's gun away and pulled out his own. "I only have a couple of bullets left."

Both men were running for their lives along the road when broken torchlight and voices could be seen and heard behind the soldier-made gates. The toll on the highway had been used to fence off the town. The openings were barricaded with man-made gates and guarded by what looked like the army.

"Help us! Help us please!" Tommy screamed to the men behind the tolls. The army, after acknowledging the threat of the infection, had set up the barriers to create quarantine zones. Tommy recognised that they could be shot on sight just like Sarah, but it was either death by gunshot or being torn limb from limb. He waved his arms over his head.

"Please, help us!"

"Sir, we have two non-infected running towards the gate. Make that three. I repeat, three non-infected." The soldier listened to the response over his radio as Tommy reached the barrier.

"Let us in! They're coming. Open the fucking gate!"

"Stand back!"

"Stand back?! There are dozens of them and they are seconds behind us! Open the fucking gate!"

The soldiers gasped and swore under their breath as the group of infected rounded the corner.

"Jesus, please! Don't leave us out here!"

"Open the gates! Let them in!" One of the soldiers shouted.

"But sir, we've not been given….."

"Just do it!"

Two of the soldiers grabbed the gates and began to push them open.

"Hurry!" Tommy urged, firing the last of his bullets towards the group.

The gates opened inches at a time and Tommy frantically turned from the infected to the soldiers, the panic making his whole body tremble. There wasn't going to be enough time. Joel stood silently. He couldn't bring himself to look at Sarah, but at the same time he couldn't look away. His heart was breaking; shredded into a million pieces. His beautiful daughter….He couldn't even comprehend his own reality. She couldn't be dead. This was a horrible dream. He had fallen asleep on the couch with her, curled in a ball beside him. They did that more often than he could remember with the crazy hours he worked. He used to tease her by calling her a cat, as she would tuck her hands and knees underneath her body, seeking the warmth. She would kick his side and laugh. That was real. Not this. This wasn't real. She wasn't dead in his arms. She couldn't be…

Suddenly Tommy let out a scream, which jolted Joel from his thoughts. From out of nowhere two infected had grabbed his little brother and pulled him off the side of the road. Joel stood rooted to the spot. The only way he could help Tommy was if he let go of Sarah.

And still the group grew nearer. He could see the details of their faces, they were so close.

"Joel! Help me!" He broke off into a cry. One of the infected was a large man and he pounded on the side of Tommy's head, snarling and twitching. The cry of his younger brother finally drew Joel out of his head and into the moment. His baby brother would die if he didn't intervene. They would kill him in the most savage of ways. He would be another victim to add to the landfill of bodies.

"Tommy! Tommy!" Joel placed Sarah gently on the ground and ran towards his brother. He grabbed one of the attackers around the neck and threw him to the side. The soldiers had opened the gates enough for someone to squeeze through.

"Move it! Now! They're here!" The soldier hollered.

Joel looked up. They were so close. Twenty yards away. He grabbed Tommy's ankle and pulled him along the ground towards him, at the same time as bodily shoving the other attacker away. Tommy clambered to his feet. A soldier had slid through the gate and screamed at them to hurry. He shoved Tommy through as Joel made to grab Sarah. The group of infected were upon them. The soldier grabbed Joel around his arms and pulled him through the gate. He felt the fingertips of the infected graze his body. He didn't care.

"SARAH! SARAH!"

As the group reached her body Joel was pulled to the other side. The soldiers opened fire on those attempting to get through until they could safely close the gates again.

"NOOO! You bastards! BASTARDS! My daughter! SARAH!" Joel thrashed in one of the soldier's hold and cursed them all. He couldn't make out much of anything as the adrenaline that had powered him along the highway was depleting and he was fading fast. Black spots covered his vision. The man was squeezing around his neck to keep a hold of him and effectively cutting off his air supply.

The infected pounded at the gates. Joel kicked back and caught the soldier in the knee.

"She's still out there!" He tried to punch behind him, but missed his target. With a primal scream that cut off dramatically when the soldier struck the side of Joel's neck, he collapsed; his body at physical and mental breaking point. He fell to his side when the soldier stepped away from him and succumbed to oblivion. Just as the darkness washed over him he heard the soldiers ask Tommy if he was infected. He had clearly been acting like he was. He hadn't lost his mind though, but he had lost his heart. His soul. His baby girl.

"No." Tommy sobbed, sitting on the wet grass, shaking his head vehemently. "He lost her. She's gone. Sarah's gone." He dropped his head in his arms, which were wrapped around his knees, and cried loudly.

Then there was nothing.