Thanks for all the reviews, they make me so happy! :D By the way, I think the Malec fans will be happy with this chapter, if you know what I mean ;)

Surprisingly, the Train station wasn't in complete chaos. It was full, but people were queuing in orderly lines to purchase a train ticket – mind you, it was rumoured that the English liked orderly queues. The entrance to the station was teeming with police officers who were cautiously looking out the building; Magnus noticed that the creatures didn't come any further and instead watched with pale eyes from the shadows. Either they were afraid of the light, or were waiting for the right time to attack. Magnus really hoped it was the former.

Having no knowledge about where he was going to go next, he got a ticket for a Pendolino train that went goodness knows where and within the next five minutes he found himself squashed against a window on a very packet train, he supposed that others were fleeing to other areas of the country. Blocking out the hurried chatter of people talking on their phones he pulled the crumpled envelope Camille had put together from his back pocket and carefully peeled the top back. Instead of a letter like he'd been expecting, the envelope was full of photos that she'd taken on their last day together. Blinking away tears he put it in the front part of his rucksack for safekeeping before glancing outside the window into the darkness. He couldn't help but feel uneasy when the train ventured into more dimly lit, secluded areas. If it was true that those creatures were afraid of the light; it would only make sense that they'd attack them when they went through the darker areas of the countryside.

He shook the thoughts from his head and rested his temple against the cool glass "I'm alive" He hummed eventually "I'm going to be okay".

"Touch wood" Another voice supplied and Magnus turned and cast a curious look to the owner of the voice. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and had a kind, motherly face. Her accent though, wasn't English and was instead harsher and rougher; maybe she was from up north of the country? Or Scottish? When she received his blank gaze she smiled and tapped one of the numerous bangles around her wrist; a polished wooden one inlaid with a mother of pearl "When you say something like that, you need to tap wood to ward off evil and stop the opposite of what you said happening" She clarified "It's an old pagan thing. So, you need to say "I'm alive, I'm going to be okay" and then either say "touch wood" after that, or tap something wooden" He didn't really know why she was sharing all of this with him, but it passed the time and kept both of their minds away from the danger that was lurking outside the carriage.

"Cool" He said eventually "I'll need to get something wooden then, as a good luck charm. Hopefully I'll be able to get something as nice as your bracelet though, instead of a random chunk of wood"

She smiled, but Magnus could see from her eyes that she was tired and worried "Yeah. Luck, that's the only thing we can believe in right now. I'm on my way to see my daughter; she lives in Watford and she says there's not as much chaos going on there. Where are you heading off to?"

"Dunno" Magnus shrugged "I was here for work when it broke out. I just want to get away from London; I need to find somewhere where there are shops though. I need some food and my hair is screaming for a wash"

"Milton Keynes" The woman said "There's a large indoor shopping centre in Milton Keynes along with some high-rise hotels. It's not the prettiest of places but that shopping centre is might handy – they sell all sorts of things in there" Magnus grinned at the information, it sounded like a good place to go to; especially if there were toilets there were he could freshen up. The train ground to a halt beside a busy platform. The woman beside him patted Magnus on the back "This is my stop. What's your name love?"

"Magnus"

"Mine's Lucy. Well, it was lovely talking to you Magnus, and the stop of Milton Keynes is the next one – if you choose to get off there. Also, here" She tugged the wooden bangle of her wrist and winked "Seeing as you seem to like it so much. I brought it back from my holiday last year to Morocco"

"Oh no!" Magnus waved his hands around "I can't take that, it's yours"

"Oh sweetheart, I've got more at home" She handed it to him anyway and squeezed through the crowd towards the door "Keep safe Magnus!" She called over her shoulder before vanishing out onto the platform. He shook him head at the weirdness of the whole conversation and pushed the bangle over his hand and onto his right wrist, it was small enough that it wasn't going to get in his way or fall off his hand "Touch wood, huh?" He muttered, taking one of the free seats since most of the people had gotten off; Watford seemed to be very popular. The doors closed shut and the train slid into action again; the quiet clack as the train went over the tracks was oddly therapeutic and Magnus was soon lulled to sleep. Though it didn't last for long.

The screeching brakes woke Magnus with a start, and a nearby teen snorted in laugher. Magnus shot him an irritated look and slung the rucksack over his shoulder, stepping from the train and onto the quiet platform. The train pulled away again and his heart thumped loudly in his chest when he saw the man in the last compartment of the train; his eyes were sunken and milky in appearance, blood dripped from his slack chin while his fingers grated down the glass window. Thankfully, the train pulled away and by the time the monster had worked its way up the train it would be miles away from where he was. What unnerved him the most was that they weren't afraid of light, and the reason that they were holding off attacking the people back at Euston was because they were observing their habits. Waiting for the right moment to strike…

He swallowed thickly and made his way up the concrete steps from the platform to the main part of the station which was unusually quiet. In fact, apart from the odd people here and there, Magnus was the only one there. He pocketed the ticket when he saw that there was no one managing the machine and instead strode out into the street outside. The station was built in a horseshoe shape, and the buildings were covered with mirrors which reflected the dark sky; it suddenly occurred to him that the only time he got some sleep was on the journey between Watford Junction and Milton Keynes.

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention; what where they called? Oh yeah, an underpass. One of those tunnels that went under a road so the pedestrians could get to the other side safely. He jogged the distance over to the underpass and peered inside. It was quite dark, and dimly lit by some lights under the road, but was otherwise empty. After looking behind him he slinked inside and sat on the floor, leaning his back against the side wall – careful not to mess up his lovely head of hair. If those zombies were going to attack they could only do so from the right or the left which gave him an advantage.

Bored, he pulled Christopher's pocket knife from his bag and looked at it. It was made from stainless steel and currently, the knife was tucked inside. He wondered how to get the knife out until he saw a little button on the side, he pressed it firmly and gave a shriek when the blade propelled out at such a force it jumped from his hand. He tried to grab it before it hit the floor and made a noise that could attract attention, but it only succeeded in bouncing off his hands and instead slashing down his left wrist.

"Shit" He hissed, inspecting the wound. Luckily it was very shallow and the blood just made it look worse than it was. He huffed and flung it away from him, muttering "Fucking knife" under his breath; the cut had stopped bleeding now and soon, Magnus found that his rucksack made an excellent makeshift cushion and he was fast asleep.

He was terribly confused and a little freaked out when he woke. Mainly because his bloody wrist had been cleaned and was wrapped tightly in a padded bandage. Secondly, there was a jacket slung over his body. He sat up and gave it the once over; it seemed to be a medium-sized black sports jacket that smelt like a mixture of sweat and cologne. And then he noticed that Christopher's pocket knife had been cleaned properly and was lying on the floor next to him.

"Awake?"

Dear lord, he nearly pissed himself in fright; but then the sensible part of his brain reminded him that zombies wouldn't ask if he was awake before tucking into his intestines for an early morning snack. He turned and shot the person a look of extreme confusion and slight curiosity.

He was very tall –not as tall as him though- with unruly black hair that hung over gorgeous blue eyes, and he was wearing some battered black jeans, black ankle boots and a baggy grey polo shirt. He looked to be around 19 years old. Lastly, Magnus couldn't help but notice that his arms were quite toned, as if he visited the gym regularly.

'That would explain the sports jacket' Magnus thought, glancing down at the jacket that had been on top of him.

"You okay?" -Eyes said, bringing Magnus back down to earth. He trudged over to Magnus and he noticed that he'd been carrying a full shopping basket. The guy put the basket down on the ground and sat down next to him; suddenly looking quite concerned "I know this whole thing is really freaky, with the undead and stuff" He began "But think twice before committing suicide"

Magnus blinked, and the guy blushed under his piercing gaze; the red on his cheeks standing out against his pale skin. The adorable-ness of it was almost enough to detract from his vile fashion sense. Almost.

"You know…also, you were lucky there was no undead blood on that knife, otherwise your cut might have been infected"

"Wait a minute" Magnus said eventually "You thought I was trying to commit suicide?"

"Well…You did try to slit your wrist. You're lucky I happened to have a first aid kit in my bag and I found you in time. I've been camping under this thing for a while and went out for a late night walk. Came back to find some Adam Lambert wannabe in my campsite" He waved across the other side of the underpass where there was a –surprise, surprise!- black shoulder bag lying next to a black sleeping bag.

"I was trying to figure out how to use the pocket knife, and I accidently cut myself. I wasn't trying to kill myself" Magnus clarified, watching at the guy started going through the food in the basket. He undid the cap on a pint bottle of milk and took a swig before handing the bottle over to Magnus. He hated the thought of sharing something with a random stranger, and he disliked drinking milk; but he gladly accepted it and guzzled down the cool drink in order to easy his hunger pains.

"That's good to hear, I've been coming across tons of people who've hung themselves – anything to get away from this insanity. Anyway, there's a handy shopping place down the road, I raided one of the shops and brought back as much as I could. I would have brought a trolley to carry it all, but everyone else around here has the same idea and the shelves are being picked clean. I was quite lucky to find an old Halfords warehouse where they keep outdoors equipment, got a sleeping bag and some thermals" He got his bag and started putting cans of diced fruit in there, along with a new pack of antibacterial wipes and some bottled water.

"Thanks" Magnus wiped his mouth clean and went to throw the empty bottle aside, but the other guy picked it up and stuffed it in his bag "Might be helpful in the future" He shrugged. Magnus leant back on his elbows and stretched his back – it made a satisfying cracking noise that made the other guy grimace, much to his amusement.

"I'm Magnus, Magnus Bane. I couldn't help but notice your American accent"

"Alexander Lightwood. Call me Alec. I'm from New York and got separated from my family on our holiday; all of this madness broke out when I was in the gym. Unfortunately, I can't contact my family and decided I was probably best if I stayed here. At least there are toilets in the shopping centre" With difficulty, Alec closed his bag with looked like it was going to burst any moment with all the reserves inside.

"I'm here for business" Magnus winced "Was here for business. Some lady on the train told me I would be safest in Milton Keynes with the indoor centre"

"Well, she was probably right. I've been here for four days now and from what I can tell, there are two main centres here. There's the CentreMK where all the main shops are, and there's the Xscape, which has an indoor snow/ski slope and a cinema. There are some dogey area's that are hot points for the undead though, so I tend to avoid them when it gets dark"

"Yeah! What's the deal about the dark? I mean, are they afraid of the light or something?" Magnus said, he put his pocket knife back in his rucksack and followed Alec as he ventured out from under the underpass. Alec hummed in thought, he seemed to be a little more relaxed around the model, which Magnus was glad for. "From what I've seen, they still attack during the day; but they're slower. They are fastest at night whiccchhh…" he shot Magnus a look and raised his eyebrows "Means you are one very lucky person Magnus, you were out cold last night and one of them could have easily attacked you while you were sleeping. In fact, while I was sorting out your wrist there was one that started a fight but I managed to sort it out before it could do any damage" He tapped something that made a metallic twang.

Magnus suddenly realised that Alec was carrying a short, heavy metal bar that looked like it was once part of a stairwell railing. They turned the corner and Magnus whistled "Fuck, what's that?" Alec slid around an empty car with a smashed front window as they crossed the road towards the impressive looking building "That's the CentreMK, it's rumoured that it's a mile long. I need to go shower and there's some swanky toilets in John Lewis we can use-"

Alec paused suddenly, and Magnus nearly walked into his back. He looked up at what had caught his new companion's attention and his stomach twisted. Dangling from one of the nearby tree was a body with its back facing towards them, neck clearly broken as it swayed in the breeze. There was a thick rope tied around one of the lower branches when the other end was tied around the man's neck; worst of all, part of the rope had begun to slice through the flesh of the man's neck, and his shirt collar was crusty with dried blood.

"Ugh" Alec scrunched up his face in disgust "That's the second one in the past two days" he stepped closer so he was within touching distance of the corpse and squatted down, inspecting the bag that was down by his feet. Alec furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and pulled a small picture from the bag. It was a family portrait of a man, a woman who was presumably his wife, and three young children who grinned up at the camera with carefree looks on their faces.

"Poor guy" He muttered, he knew what it felt like to be away from his family. Despite how distant his mother and father could be, he loved them dearly. Not to mention his fashionable sister and Jace…

"Fuck" ALEXANDER! GET AWAY!"

A hand grabbed his hair and Alec shrieked, falling backwards onto his elbows which collided painfully against the pavement. There was the sound of something ripping and another body fell on top of him; hot, foul breath cascaded over his face and he looked up into the bulging eyes of the man who'd been hanging from the tree, the rope was frayed and dangling from the tree "Meat…" he groaned, blood flew from his toothless gums and splattered up Alec's neck; the same mouth desperately trying to find purchase on his skin.

Alec grabbed the fallen metal bar and swung it as best as he could in this position, it cracked through the back of the man's skull and grey coloured brains oozed from his gaping hole. The man cried and opened his mouth wide, aiming for the side of Alec's face. Magnus chose that time to kick him across the jaw and the guy fell sideways off Alec, who used the opportunity to leap to his feet and step away; he didn't realise he was still clutching the photo.

"Thanks" Alec panted as he wiped the blood away from his neck carefully with a tissue from his pocket before throwing it aside. One could get infected through contaminated blood "And I told you to call me Alec"

"Well I don't like Alec" Magnus said, watching at the zombie pulled itself to its feet and staggered towards them, it's hands reaching out towards them and mouth gurgling saliva and blood "So I'm going to call you Alexander. It's either that or Blue-Eyes"

The thing lunged suddenly, blunt nails grasping at the front of Magnus's shirt and tearing it off his torso, it's infected mouth clamped onto Magnus's upper arm and never before had Magnus screamed as loud as he did there.

Cliff hanger! ;) So, the meeting between Magnus and Alec came earlier than expected (They were meant to meet in chapter 4, but I changed things around) but I do hope you liked it.