I placed a tentative finger on the door, and drew it back almost instantly. A gooey, sticky substance clung to my fingertip. I placed my hand on the door once more. This was no time to be picky. The door creaked open infuriatingly.

Four zombies crouched over a small body, ripping into the exposed flesh with their hands. Their faces dripped in gore. I set my eyes on my target. The target looked up at me.

I sprung forward and drove the knife with all of the restrained sadness and anger that I possessed into its horrible chest. It struggled and clawed at me, but the adrenaline surged the pain away. The top of the knife poked out of the back of the creature and it feebly scrabbled. A keening wail came from its throat and I pushed harder. It belched blood and rancid air clouded my sense of smell.

The knife made a horrible sucking sound as I withdrew it from the target. The thing that had once been what looked like a cook, folded in front of me. While I'd been attacking it, the other girls had killed two more, but one zombie shied up in the corner of the room. I advanced for the kill, but something stopped me.

The eyes looked almost human. Albeit, the rest of the creature was pitifully smeared in crap and pus, but the clear blue irises could have belonged to a living person. I paused, not knowing whether to spear the animal or not. I crouched down. Maybe the thing could be an adult with intelligence. Maybe this could be the next step!

I held out my hand. "Can you speak?"

Someone called my name. "Astrid! You idiot – get away from the monster before it chews your hand off!"

The sound distracted me and I turned to face the door, hand still outstretched. The next moment, there was searing pain. I screamed. The human-eyed zombie had taken advantage of me. I had a large shredded gash where my little finger used to be.

It looked pleased with itself as I scrabbled frenziedly backwards, clutching my wound. My blood pumped out between my fingers and the agonising pain overwhelmed me. Through the hazy vision that was my fading eyesight, I saw a girl stab a spear into the creature. The girl turned and I saw Lucy's face. It shifted and undulated.

She reached out to steady me but I was already falling. Her voice echoed and morphed. Fire was consuming my wrist slowly and I faded into a grey dream world.