Early morning fell over the Tower of London, and the city beyond, in a torrent of grey clouds and filthy rain, not washing the city clean but adding more to the layers of grime and dirt beginning to fall over the abandoned buildings and rubbish strewn streets. The Tower itself was a beacon of civilisation in the sea of grey buildings and decaying corpses, its main walls covered in concrete and sandbags, lines of wire stretching cross every conceivable surface ,whilst the outer defences, mainly metal chain link fences and steel gates, remained strong despite the walkers pressing dumbly up against them. At the main gate the detachment of grim faced soldiers, many still wearing their thick NBC uniforms and gas masks, aimed down the sights of their assault rifles as a distant figure stumbled forward, clad in a filthy pair of military fatigues, an L85 assault rifle caked with dirt clutched in one pale hand as it staggered down the street, past the crumpled corpses of dead walkers and through the scummy puddles of brown water.

Although the soldiers still stared down their gun sights at the figure, they didn't fire. A sniper in a nearby watchtower had been keeping an eye on the figure for a few minutes now, confirming that, behind the tangle of wet brown hair and mud caking its clothing, the person was very much alive.

And so, as the figure was only metres away from the stone walls of the fortress, the heavy gates creaked open and a squad of soldiers in thick ballistic vests and riot gear ran out, moving out to cover the street as a medical team clutching first aid kits and blankets followed, along with the stocky form of the base commander, Major Sykes and, as the figure was checked over for bite wounds and helped towards the gate, they turned to the major, performing a firm salute and saying steadfastly.

"Private Jessica Parr. Reporting for duty sir."

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Lexi awoke blearily. She hadn't slept much, and was worn down physically and mentally. She maybe caught a few hours' sleep after finding out Jessica had returned, and quizzing her relentlessly about the whereabouts of her friends, but had stayed awake most of the night fearing for Chris, Eliza and Gage, even after Jessica tried to assure her hey were all alive and well. She knew they were still out there. They had to be. Her hands were shaking intensely from the thoughts speeding through her head. Everything felt cluttered and she just wanted to scream as loud as she could. She threw a dirty grey shirt on and some jeans, slightly stained with blood still. She'd tried washing both, but it couldn't be done. She felt disgusting, longing for a shower only slightly less than for everything else in this nightmare to end. What she wouldn't do to feel properly cleaned again… Jessica came to her door as she was sorting out the tangled mess of her hair, freshly washed and dressed, looking for all the world as if she hadn't staggered in through the gates a few hours ago.

"We need you. Mark's out of commission for a while." She said, with a labour in the words that made it sound difficult to not make it an order. Lexi gave a worried look.

"Why?"

"He's just… Struggling. I'm sure he told you. I think he needs a day or two to shirk his duties and get his head around things. I told him to take the time he needs to fix himself up."

"That's really compassionate of you." Lexi said, doubtfully. Jessica didn't look like someone who would be empathetic.

"Not really. I'd rather work everyone here harder than have to make up for his mistakes all the time and lose personnel doing it. I'm all about efficiency in a fight for survival…" She trailed off, lost in the memory of her earlier battles.

"Makes sense. What's the problem then?" Lexi asked.

"There's a gap in our defences. A walker took down part of the first fence, right in a blind spot. The watchtowers can't cover everything. We've been fighting to hold the spot all night trying to gather enough to fix the barricade again. We've got the resources but we need a defence team. Filling the gap's going to attract some unwanted attention."

"Nothing got in, did it?"

Jessica laughed, humourlessly.

"I'm far too cautious to let that happen. So is everyone else here. Guard patrol routes make sure that every blind spot from the watchtower is covered once every five minutes."

"Ok, when do you need me?"

"You've got ten minutes to ready up before we start building. I'll be outside your door again by then."

"Oh, and you'll need this." Jessica added, holding a military issue combat knife and sheath out to Lexi. Lexi took them and placed them on the bedside table before closing the door.

Lexi checked the rifle Gage had given her. Toying with one of the bullets between her thumb and index finger before placing it in a magazine just as he had shown her. She tied her hair back and sheathed the knife. She was ready.

When the ten minutes was up Lexi ran her finger over the serrated teeth on one side of the knife before she sheathed it again and opened the door to her room. Jessica was standing outside, pistol on her hip and assault rifle slung over her shoulder. She swayed on the heels of her boots slightly, before leading Lexi outside without a word. It seemed like Jessica had rallied the whole force of the Tower as Lexi watched other soldiers and anyone else who could fight armed to the teeth and bolting for the breach, the civilian survivors panicked and jerky whilst the soldiers ran in regimented groups and squads. But Jessica walked slowly with a control and reservation Lexi had never seen. There was a thousand yard stare in Jessica's eyes Lexi had seen a lot recently, but the coldness behind it was more intense than she had ever seen, second only to the glazed over stare of the walkers. Chris' gaze had been more distant than any she had ever seen, but there was warmth behind it. It may be buried deep, but she could see it. She saw no love or warmth in Jessica. This somehow made Lexi trust her more than she had before, finding comfort in the knowledge that Jessica would do whatever it took to survive and protect those she wanted to. Lexi had to admit, she found Jessica fairly attractive and snapped out of her thoughts to suddenly realise that her eyes had become transfixed on the slow, driven swaying of her hips. Lexi blushed and hoped that Jessica didn't notice. They finally got outside the main stone walls and rounded the perimeter of the Tower before getting to the breach, a large gap in the cheap quality chain linkman empty street packed with burnt out vehicles lying beyond. Lexi watched as a nearby officer barked orders at some of the soldiers and civilians and they tightened their watch as best they could.

"Don't want anything interrupting us while we fix this." Jessica explained, as if trying to justify it to Lexi.

"I understand. Sometimes you need to be strict to be safe." Lexi said.

Jessica gave a small half-smile at that sentiment. Now that Lexi had acknowledged it, her attraction towards Jessica seemed to be growing, which made her feel guilty. She had no intention of acting upon it, but she felt it nonetheless. Lexi was beginning to slip into that dark, cold side of herself she only inhabited when faced with violence or a difficult decision. She remembered the first time she felt that darkness envelop her, it was the exact moment she watched the teeth of her father bite into her mother's neck. She was ready to fight then, and she was now.

They approached the breach in the fence now, after exiting the inner layer of defences.

"This fix is only temporary, it's going to bring a lot of noise and it won't hold them for too long, but it will give us the chance to build a brick wall taller than the fence. That's the best way to keep them out." Jessica explained as they moved up, her rifle in hand.

"Ok, how long will this fix take then?" Lexi asked.

"Depends on how many shamblers show up. There's quite a few already."

Lexi loaded her rifle and checked it over quickly. Everyone else at the breach did the same. The walkers were approaching already. They had to push them back to keep them off the construction team. They held their fire until Jessica fired a burst into the skull of a walker close to the front of the pack.

The soldiers were in a formation comprising of roughly three lines of twenty men each, as the breach was not particularly wide and would create a convenient bottleneck if the walkers were to get in. The front line fired until they needed to reload. At which point they would drop to their knees, reloading as the others fired whilst remaining still, waiting for the walkers to come to them. The second line, which Lexi had been placed in took one step forwards in unison. All the other lines did the same then took up firing positions. They took their first burst and with that, the walkers had been pushed back far enough for the whole formation to march forwards out of the front of the breach. They advanced, firing in a less orderly fashion. The line broke and the other lines spread out to create one long line of forty-five men and women while the second line reloaded and took the gap in the centre once they were ready. The walkers were close and now they couldn't afford to reload. The lull in the shots would give the enemy the opportunity to descend upon them, and just one walker bite could make everything go to hell. They fired their weapons until the inserted magazines were empty.

"Take it to them!" bawled an officer nearby as he and the other soldiers drew combat knives, machetes or steel batons from their belts, the civilians clutching their scavenged melee weapons grimly as they followed.

Lexi got close to what would have once been a middle aged woman with an infected child, presumably once the woman's daughter, at her side. Lexi sidestepped the feeble swipe of the adult walker's arm and thrust the knife into its temple. She hooked her leg around the side of the adult walker to free the knife, making it fall on top of the infected child as its head smashed against the concrete of the street with a sickening crunch. Lexi wheeled around and saw chaos. A man in blood-stained hockey pads on the far left of the formation was bitten by three walkers at once and his companion slit the man's throat instantly. The walkers were still biting into the dead man's flesh, buying the man enough time to reload and dispatch them. A walker approached behind him and he clubbed it with his once again empty rifle. The swing was lazy and glanced off the walker's side, making it fall on top of him. He was bitten repeatedly in the same part of his throat, leaving a large cavity. Trembling, he reached for his sidearm, fired it into the walker's eye and then into his own head. Lexi had more company to worry about now, five walkers had approached her. The coppery tang of blood had filled the air, and she could taste it on her tongue. They were closing in and she couldn't take them all on. A soldier approached and stabbed two of the walkers in the head quickly with his machete, smashing away two more with a sweep of his riot shield. Lexi took the opportunity and slashed across the face of one of the walkers, cutting part of its forehead open, leaving its brain exposed. She jabbed the knife into the exposed pink mass and pulled it out with very little resistance, feeling the sickening texture of its brain. She growled as she watched it fall. Her saviour flashed her a smile and attempted to twirl his machete with a flourish, but he slipped on some of the blood beneath him and slit his wrist open. He fell and bled to death in a matter of seconds, a group of three walkers bearing down on the corpse, stuffing meat into their mouths as they pulled apart his thick riot gear and body armour. Lexi shoved the three gangly walkers aside, a flurry of gunfire from the watchtower felling them instantly, then tore off the soldiers helmet and plunged her knife into the dead man's head so that he wouldn't come back. Something told her he wouldn't intend to save her life again this time around...

Turning to her other side, she saw the right hand side of the group struggling with the last handful of walkers.

"The construction's done! Let's finish them off and get out of here!" Jessica shouted. Lexi watched as some of the group broke off through the new entrance, leaving the rest to die at the hands of the creatures. Lexi watched as a woman grappled with a walker. The woman had her hand around the walker's neck and it couldn't bite her. She looked around for someone to help her finish the walker off as she glanced at her knife which was several feet away from her. The walker dug its fingers into the sides of her torso and the woman screamed, blood dripping down the walker's arms. She kept her grip on the creature and it pulled her ribcage open with a horrible crack. Her death rattle seemed to echo for miles and she fell limp. The walker dug into the cavity in her chest and began to feast. The other walkers had been dispatched and everyone had gone back inside the breach. Lexi finally got to the woman's corpse and stabbed her in the head. Lexi then rolled the corpse over and stabbed the last walker. Lexi headed towards the newly repaired breach, covered in bloodstains and dirt, sweating slightly. Jessica rushed after her. Lexi was beginning to understand the cold, empty gaze in Jessica's eyes. After all she'd seen today, her stare was close to matching Jessica's. Lexi's stare fixed on the clean-up team, a group of police officers in thick black armour, reservedly firing bullets into corpses of walkers or their own personnel, ensuring they'll stay dead this time, as a few civilian volunteers began stripping the dead of their amour, ammo and weapons. She broke her gaze and continued back through the walls and to the Tower.

Lexi carried straight on to her room, ignoring the fact that Jessica was still following her. Lexi threw the door open, Jessica followed her in. Lexi pulled off her blood-stained shirt and jeans. Jessica's dead eyed stare covered Lexi's slender body studiously. She lingered slightly too long, gaining Lexi's curiosity.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer." She deadpanned. Jessica didn't respond.

"What?" Lexi asked, angry now.

"Just getting a measure of you. You had more strength than I anticipated for such a small figure. Didn't expect you to be such a natural." Jessica said.

"Neither did I." Lexi said with a bitter laugh, as she took off her remaining clothes and binned them. Jessica's eyes followed them into the bin.

"No way of getting all that shit out now." Lexi said. She found clean underwear and put them on with an accompanying bra and pulled a black tank top over it, trembling.

"That suits you." Jessica said.

"I didn't think you were the type to comment on that kind of thing." Lexi said.

"I'm not. Doesn't mean that I can't."

"Why are you still here?"

"Wanted to compliment your skill. You were very..."

"Efficient?"

"Skilled, actually."

"I learned from the best."

"I didn't teach you anything."

Lexi laughed.

"Actually, there's uh... Something else I wanted to ask you to do." Jessica added, hesitantly.

"What?"

"We need a supply run. Construction stuff for the wall's ok, but we're getting low on food, ammo, water and the other essentials."

"When are they going?"

"Sunrise tomorrow morning."

"Ok."

"See you in the morning." Jessica said with a warm smile. Jessica walked out of the room and closed the door.

Lexi pulled the tank top off again and searched in her bag, finding a bottle of whiskey remembered Mark passing her with a sly wink a few days back, back when the group was still whole. She took a swig and went to bed. She had to give credit to the soldiers at the Tower, their scavengers and brought some good quality furniture in; it was surprisingly comfortable. She drifted off to sleep quickly, the distant hum of people talking and moving around outside just background noise to her.

In Lexi's dream, she was in the same bed, in the same room. But she wasn't alone. A hand caressed the smooth skin of her back lovingly. The hand moved to her hips and a pair of lips brushed the back of her neck. The hand began to explore her body and she rolled over to kiss her beloved Eliza. Eliza was there, smiling. Lexi closed her eyes and kissed her. When she opened them again she saw Jessica.

Lexi awoke with a start. Guilt from her dream was destroying her. She pulled the black tank top on again. She rubbed her eyes and found a pair of skinny jeans to put on. She opened the door to see Jessica there.

"Glad to see you took my fashion advice. You look cute." Jessica smiled.

"Says the woman who only ever wears camo. Besides, I always look cute." Lexi joked.

Jessica laughed.

"Ready to go?"

"One minute."

Lexi checked her ammo, loaded her gun, grabbed her knife and looked at it for a second. She felt like they needed some sort of personalisation. She focused and went back to the doorway.

Jessica led Lexi out to the front entrance where there was a small group gathered. Aafia, Jacob and three other soldiers were stood there. Lexi gave Jacob and Aafia a hug, the two of them smiling broadly at her. She felt like she hadn't seen them in a long time, and their presence somewhat snapped her out of the crushing guilt and loneliness she'd been feeling. The soldiers introduced themselves, but Lexi hadn't been paying attention. Jessica gave them a quick brief on where they were headed. Lexi didn't listen to that either. Jessica wished them luck and walked back inside. The group set off into the dawn. Lexi was hypnotised by the way the sun's rays fell upon the blood-stained streets. She almost felt at peace. They were heading towards the nearest convenience store when they passed the exact part of the street where Eliza, Chris and Gage had been taken. Even though the bodies and burnt out vehicles were gone, she could still visualise them all, remember the terror of that fateful night. Lexi stopped in her tracks, her eyes fell to the ground. Eliza's scream echoed in her mind. She visualised Chris' warm, distant smile. Then she remembered Gage teaching her how to shoot the rifle.

"Breathe deep, but controlled. The sight sways if you breathe heavily." He instructed.

Lexi inhaled, took up the sight and aimed at the empty beer bottle Chris had left at the campsite. She exhaled and pulled the trigger. She missed and skimmed the bark off of a nearby tree.

"Fuck. Glad we've got that silencer, right Gage?" Mark joked.

Gage smiled patiently.

"She'll get there."

"I'd better, then I can threaten this arsehole next time he makes fun of me." Lexi growled. She did the same as before, paying attention to the wind this time. She moved the sight more to the left and fired. The bottle shattered.

"Alright!" Chris encouraged.

Lexi saw a proud smile on Gage's face.

She snapped out of the memory. Jacob and Aafia looked at her, worried.

"Is she ok?" one of the soldiers asked, nervously checking his rifle, and Aafia nodded, motioning for them to take a quick break.

Lexi saw something metallic shine in the sunlight by a loose scattering of bullet casings. She bent over and picked it up. She studied it. It was two sets of dog tags. One of them read "Thapa, Gage" the other "Thapa, Ganju". Both were followed by medical information and service numbers. She looked back up.

"I'm fine." she said.

"Alright, let's go." Jacob said with a glance at the dog tags in Lexi's hand. Lexi threaded the chain of Gage's set around the stock of her rifle, along with his son's. She was more driven than ever to find Eliza, Gage and Chris. She had to find them. They were all she had left.