Here's the first chapter that's new, 100% written by me. I hope you guys like it. :)

It was only going to be around 1,000 words long (the length the other chapters were, basically) but it didn't play out as such and just kept expanding. It's not as long as my other chapters usually are for my other stories, though.


Chapter 6: Into the Shadows

Alex shot one last zombie through the bars on the door before lifting the bar set on the door, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter. The noise didn't alert any zombie to their presence, so he threw the door open, pistols at the ready, his shotgun slung over a shoulder. He turned abruptly to the left, letting his gaze flit over the area while the others covered the right. Finding both areas clear they moved forward at a steady pace, guns always at the ready to fire at any stray infected that dared grace their vision.

Firing off a few shots, Alex downed a few infected, turning swiftly when he heard the telltale cough of a Smoker somewhere on the buildings above them. He moved his pistols upwards, turning on his thermal vision. If the infected had any sort of heat… he glanced over the area, glad to see that the zombies glowed an orange color along with the survivors. There was more in common with these zombies with the ones in Manhattan than he thought. These creatures were somewhat alive, too. These were just more stupid.

His eyes darted back up to the rooftops, the Smoker standing out now up above them. He raised one of his pistols and aimed meticulously, finding just the right spot and pulled the trigger. As the bullet tore through the infected's brain, he couldn't stop the smirk that creeped onto his face.

"Headshot," he chuckled, his voice low as he lowered the gun to shoot at an infected running towards him. He brought up his other pistols, taking out one zombie after the other. Multiple roars rose up in the air. A horde was coming. He spent the rest of his bullets on the remaining zombie and quickly reloaded his guns just as the first of the horde began to come around the corner from one side, another group climbing over a chain-link fence behind them.

Bill ran over to Alex's side, giving him a curt nod before they both open fired on the oncoming infected, ripping apart the infected running towards them. Behind them, the others were doing the same with the other oncoming infected. The shots began to space out until, finally, they dissipated entirely. They stood there, still coming down from their adrenaline rush until Alex moved back into action, walking back the way they had come, pistols at the ready. The other survivors followed, disciplined like dogs even if they didn't trust the man. They could still see a strong survivor walking in front of them; their distrust didn't cloud their eyes of that.

The walked through an open doorway, moving through the rooms, shooting anything that moved with glowing eyes. Emerging from the other side, they found themselves in front of a large warehouse. A gas station was off to the other side of the open space. Alex spotted a lift next to the warehouse that would raise them up to the rooftops, easy access to the large open window. He took off at a run across the area, shoving an infected out of the way and continuing his pace.

He jumped onto the lift and made his way over to the button, waiting for the others to join him. Shooting the infected that followed them, they quickly joined him on the lift, taking care of the stray few that tried to join them on it.

"Things are about to get noisy," Alex warned before pressing the up button. True to his words, a large screech went out as the lift came to life, its joints unused unkept and unused for a while. Immediately, screams of the infected went though the air and they could see hordes of them making their way towards their location. Some were even climbing over the rooftops of the warehouse, jumping down to the area they were going to. Alex scooted past the others to the other side of the lift, a plan in mind.

Setting the gas station in his sights, he leveled his pistols, firing rounds at the building until, finally, he got the results he had been hoping for. With a loud explosion that shook the very air around them, the gas station ignited, shrapnel flying though the air and killing all infected in the area around it. A few of them ran by, their flesh being consumed by fire, before they fell to the ground dead, leaving nothing but a charred corpse.

"Jeez, give us a little warning next time, will ya, Professor," Zoey said, shaking her head a little to try and stop the ringing in her ears. He just smirked and made his way back to the other side of the lift again, where infected were jumping down onto it, trying to attack them from the side. Bill was doing the best he could and was managing to keep them at bay, but that didn't mean that he couldn't use some help.

The lift screeched to a stop and they all hopped onto the roof, shooting at those that were above them, those below, and those at the same level, all while making their way over to the window. Some of the infected were using the abandoned semi-trucks to jump onto the room, scrambling up to meet them, only to be shot back down to the top of the truck below, a pile of corpses soon building on the back of the vehicle.

"Boomer!" Francis cried out, seconds before he shot the infected, watching it explode in a mist of blood and bile. Luckily, they were far enough away that they didn't get any of the bile of them, otherwise another horde of zombies would have been upon them. The ones coming now were thinning out, almost completely gone. It was time to continue on to the next area.

They jumped through the open window, checking the gaping hole in ground for any infected waiting below. Alex dropped through it first, letting his flashlight dance over the surroundings. They were in an office room now, discarded chairs and desks littered the room. The others joined him and together, they moved to the door, taking out any infected that hovered by it on the other side.

"Ammo over here," Zoey called softly and Alex turned to see her standing next to a desk with a pile of ammo on the wood surface. They made their over to it, quickly replenishing their supply, shoving extras in every free pocket. Once stocked up again, they continued on their way, words never passing between them. Now wasn't the time for that. Besides, right now eyes were all they needed to send messages amongst themselves, silent signals sent though the air.

Navigating their way through the building, going down staircase after staircase, they finally found themselves in a room with white tanks in it. Low grunting and growling made them all curse under their breaths, peeking out into the room. There was a Tank somewhere in here, but they couldn't tell where it was. The few infected hanging out in the room quickly made their presence known, only to be shot down seconds after they started screaming and running toward them.

Alex motioned for them to wait, crouching down and stalking out into the room. He shoved his pistols into the back of the waist of his pants, choosing to use his shotgun instead of the small guns that would be useless against the Tank when it decided to charge out at them. He spared a glance back at the group, all of them looking at him, scared. Zoey was even motioning for him to return. In that split second of looking away, the Tank let out a roar, crashing out of its hiding place.

He managed to dive out of the way just as it charged past him, one of its fists connecting with the white tank he had been standing in front of, denting the metal and almost destroying it entirely. Alex let out a low whistle as he watched the creature bash through everything like it was nothing. It reminded him a little bit of himself, actually. Of course, he was more destructive, not that he would be able to put his skills to use in this fight.

The others shot at the creature, backing away from its onslaught, toward the stairs leading up once more. Making a plan in seconds, Alex dived forward at a fast pace, running towards the back of the Tank. In two steps he was at the thing's back, jumping into the air, and landing on its shoulder blades. Struggling to keep his balance on the creature's back, he jabbed his shotgun to the back of the thing's head, pulling the trigger. It blew through the thing's brain, spraying blood all over his chest and face. But the infected fell, Alex smoothly sliding off of the thing, much to the shock of the others, their jaws hanging.

"Well, lets keep moving," Alex said, slinging the gun over his shoulder once more and walking over to one of the open manholes in the floor.

There was only one way to go now, and that was down into the sewers. Alex frowned as he stared down the hole at the murky water flowing below. He could see several bodies floating by in the water. The bodies of infected. They were down in the sewers as well. Nowhere was safe, it seemed.

Sucking it up, Alex jumped into the sewers, landing with a splash. He took a few steps forward, sweeping his pistol's flashlight beam over the area. An infected look over at him from where it had been leaning against the wall, its eyes glowing. Letting out a scream, it started running towards him, but one shot made it fall. Splashes behind him alerted him that the others had decided to join him down in the sewers.

"Oh, this is disgusting," Francis groaned, holding his breath a bit as though that would keep out the stench in the air.

"Come on, lets keep moving. Hospital's on the other side of the waterworks," Bill said, taking the lead for once, Alex falling to the back of the group, watching behind them.

"We're almost out of here," Louis said, relief in his voice as he let out a small sigh, his muscles loosing tension just a little.

"Don't relax just yet," Alex murmured to him and the group, his voice like gravel and Louis cast his eyes to the ground, ashamed. The virus let it slide and they continued on their way. Rounding a corner they all pulled back when they saw the group of infected lounging about in the sewers. With a silent command, they moved forward, shooting them all down.

Francis crouched down in front of a tunnel through the wall, "We can go through here," he murmured to the group and they all got down, moving though the small tunnel. More tunnels and infected later, they found themselves standing in front of a red ladder leading up to the surface again. Gripping tightly onto the rungs, they all rose, joining the others up on the asphalt. There, in front of the, was the hospital that they had been searching for. They were so close. Finally. But yet they were still so far from safety.

"Safe House inside the hospital," Alex pointed out, seeing the familiar sign for one. They moved as one, going through the open doors of the entrance, all the while taking out the pursing infected. They rounded the counter and entered the room, slamming the door behind them. As one, they let out a sigh of relief. That part was over. Now they just had to survive until they got up to the rooftop all those stories up.

"Get refreshed, rest, tend to wounds… you know the basics," Alex said, taking a seat to inspect his own wounds. He peeled off the bandages, glad to see that without the help of his healing abilities, his wounds seemed to be doing just fine, if not healing a little too fast to be normal. As he put fresh bandages around them, he just hoped that no one noticed. Of course he wasn't that lucky. The sharp eyes of Bill didn't miss a single thing, nor did Francis's prying eyes, filled with suspicion.

Zoey seemed to be the only one oblivious, dutifully cleaning her pistols, stray strands of hair hanging in front of her face. Alex attached the last of the bandages and made his way to a wall, sliding down it and closing his eyes. He didn't need sleep, of course, but a little acting on his part wouldn't hurt. He evened out his breathing and, finally, the eyes moved off, focusing on their own problems.


Please review!

Oh, and I would like to ask again what length of chapters you would like.

Shorter, like the others, means it come out faster, but it "fragments" and you get slapped with lots of cliffhangers, most likely.

Longer means that it comes out slower... and will still have cliffhangers now and then because I love those.

Or medium, which would be this length of chapters.

Please let me know!