3:05 am somewhere in London

"Take the right, no over the car n-" Eric said.

"No not that way look there are more-" Archie cut in.

"Left, it's clear, no cars." I added in.

"Left is the wrong way we need to go right!" Ally cut in herself.

"Alright! alright! alright! Bloody hell! shut up people please!" Jon yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I'm driving, I pick the bloody route, now shut the fuck up!" And with that the car was

now silent.

Jon obviously didn't know where he was going. But then again neither did any of us. The streets were filled with obstructions, 75 of the buildings were burned out and unrecognizable, and the signs were either painted over or destroyed. We had been driving around for over two hours.

Ashley had fallen asleep a few hours ago, Eric was beginning to doze off, and I couldn't tell if Jimy was alive or dead back there, he was just staring out the window.

"Have you fellas given any thought on what we're going to do after we get out of the city?" Ally asked.

"We'll cross that road when we come to it." Jon answered.

"Bridge." I corrected.

"What are you goin on about?"

"Bridge, it's we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Oh right sure, what's your name again?"

"Alex."

"Well Alex, what do you think we should do then eh?"

I should've kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to relay that plan to the owner of the only transportation and a loaded gun just yet. My plan was to go to Manchester and get my family. These people could come if they want, if not then it's not my problem. I was still holding on the the hope that these riots hadn't spread...

"Uh, nevermind, lets just ge-"

"Watch out for that big guy in the road!" Eric yelled.

"Shit I see him! I see him!"

THUNK! CRACK!

"Stupid bastard!" Jon yelled back to the wandering man he had bulldozed, raising his fist out of his open window.

"Shit this is gonna cost me a fortune at the shop!"

He was worried about his windshield of all things. The road was clearing up. There were still a few crashed car wrecks, rubble, fallen lamp posts, and your occasional wandering crazy person, but the road opened up enough to where Jon could avoid that. Things were looking good for the first time since all of this started.

"Hey look, I recognize that place." Archie was referring to a convenient store, he said he had stopped there for some drinks on his way to the coast.

"We're not far from the city limits, I know where to go!" He added in.

After about thirty more minutes of driving we came to the highway leading directly out of town. There were abandoned police barricades, road spikes, a mass of cars, and rubble everywhere. People who were trying to get out of London when all of this started...

"Well shit what do we do now?" Jon said, he sounded defeated which deviated from his usual upbeat tone.

"Is there any way around?" Ally asked.

People had tried to drive around, but there were barricades there also. Somehow we were going to have to get around this blockade and I had a bad feeling that we weren't alone out there.

"Jon turn the brights on. It's a risk I know but we might be able to find a way around." I said.

"What if those things are out there and there is no way around?" Jon asked.

"Well then we turn around and find another way out." I didn't like the sound of the plan myself, but we were running out of options.

3:51 am, near the outskirts of London.

CLICK!

The lights illuminated the street in front of us. It was a wilderness of cars and rubble, almost like a junkyard. The vehicles were scattered along the road, there were hundreds of them, with barricades and road spikes every hundred meters. Every car I could see had blood smeared somewhere on it, windows bashed in, and suitcases still inside. It was a ghost town. But the most disquieting thing...

There were no bodies.

Silence.

"Turn the brights off, Jon." I said. Nothing.

"Turn the damn lights off I said, Jon!" He came out of his trance and turned the lights off. Everyone came out of their trance as well after that.

"Eric..." I said. Then I scooted over Ally to sit next to Eric so I could whisper in his ear without anyone hearing. I had a plan and I needed his help.

"Eric did you see a pathway across those cars?" I was referring to a trail of sorts that zig-zagged through the wreckage, a few cars were in the way but they could easily be rammed through with the truck.

"Yeah, but there are at least two belts of road spikes strewn across the road every hundred meters or so. There might even be more." He said.

"We need to move those spikes, Jon can barrel through the cars... and Eric, did you notice how there are no bodies?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty spooked myself, but this is our only way out."

"Alright, you and me eh mate? We got this, no worries heh." Eric forced a smile.

"Ok, get your gun ready and save the bullets..."

"Jon, we need your gun, I have a plan."

I relayed my plan to our companions and it met with silence. Jon gave me his Glock which only had six rounds and Eric had two rounds in his P226.

We were going to have to do this fast, I pointed out the path I wanted Jon to take then explained the plan to him more in depth. When we got out to move the spikes, he would turn on his lights, once we moved the first spikes about 20 feet in front of us, he would start driving through the wreckage, Eric and I would then proceed to the next set of spikes 100 meters down the road. After that, just in case we had any hostiles, we were set to rendezvous four miles down the road, where it was supposedly clear.

"Wait... I'm going too, you could use a third pair of hands, I can also cover you." Ally

said.

"No way. this operation is already too risky enough, you need to stay in the car, in case we get mobbed you guys can still make it through and get a few miles before the blown tires render the car completely useless..." I had to make it an order.

"Don't pull that shit with me, I'm going whether you like it or not." She was too damn stubborn.

"I will go as well." Jimy said simply from the back, no arguing with that.

4:06 am

We exited the car as quietly as we could, Ally was with me on the left side of the road and Jimy was with Eric on the right side. So far so good. When we got the the first set of spikes Jon turn the lights on.

tthhhrriiinnnggg. The belt scraped across the road as we moved them to the side. After that was done Jon started slowly accelerating and we moved to the next belt of road spikes 100 meters away.

"Alex!" I looked back and saw Ally had tripped. I quickly jumped over a green sedan and helped her up.

"I think I sprained it." She said.

"Take this, cover me alright?" I said giving her the gun then running the remaining 50 meters to the next set. Eric and Jimy were already there waiting for us.

moan... CRACK!

Shit.

I broke into a dead sprint now, recklessly jumping over cars and broken glass. I got to the last belt of road spikes and we moved it out of the way. Jon had the car coming up now and I signaled him to turn off the brights.

"Ally, get back to the car now!" I yelled at her.

"What about you?" She asked, I had looked back before Jon turned off the brights and saw what looked like another set of spikes.

"GO NOW DAMNIT!" I yelled at her. Click. The lights turned off.

"Tell Jon to turn the lights back on. GO!" And with that she went. I looked over to Eric and Jimy who were fighting off 3 people. BANG! Eric fired off a round at the figure that was clawing at his vest. Jimy was handling the others, bashing through their skulls with his bloodied up night stick. Eric caught my glance as I was running in the other direction away from the car, and not knowing what the hell I was doing, started coming in my direction.

BANG! BANG!

"Unlock the door damnit!" I heard Ally yell from the car. BANG! BANG! The door opened and she jumped in.

Thump! Idiot, I was distracted and tripped over a car. When I looked up I saw a figure standing on top of the hood of a station wagon that was right in front of me. Click! The lights back on and blinded a white man in a sweater and pair of jeans with apparent goopy blood dripping from his mouth. I took that opportunity to trip him and he came crashing down on top of me.

Jon was steadily barreling through cars on the pathway we showed him and he was getting closer and closer to the third set of spikes.

Slam! Slam! I had jumped on the man and was bashing his head into the street. Slam! Slam!

"Alex, come on we goto go!" Eric said as he pulled me out of my blood lusting trance.

"N-no Eric, there's a third set of spikes we have to get to them."

"Shit, ok lets go, hurry!"

I looked back and saw the truck had garnered some attention. Four figures were outside trying to hang on to the it.

Eric and I ran as fast as we could to the third set, incapacitating two more of those things as we went.

"Eric get on the other side." I told him. He ran across the street and together we moved the third set. I raised my fist and gave the signal to Jon who turned the lights off. The two people we incapacitated were now up and jumping over cars to us. 7 or 8 more separated us and Jon's truck.

"Eric, we have to make a run for it, lose this shit and meet up at the rendezvous spot." Without a word we set out jumping over the last cars that composed the blockade of northern London exit/entrance.

We made our way off the road about 15 meters and were running parallel to it, it was mostly short grass and the occasional broken down car, but the sun was starting to coming up. BANG! Eric used up his last round on one of the two things that were still on our tail.

1 mile and about 4 minutes later...

When you're running for your life, your muscles get this extra energy, and you feel like your running on air. This is probably due to the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins. But coupled with the lack of sleep, proper nutrition, and dehydration, I was starting to lose it.

"Eric.. I'm starting... I'm starting to get tired."

"We need to take care of this fucker... I'll knock him down, you go for his neck..." He said through staggered breathing.

THUMP! "ARRGHH!" Eric came to a halt and barreled into our pursuer. It was a skinny man with a black t-shirt, sweats, and running shoes on. He had blood trailing from his neck.

As soon as he was on the ground I turned around to Eric who was wrestling with it, I brought my foot up, and put all my strength into a dropkick on his neck. SNAP! His neck broke and we both took a minute to rest.

"So... Alex, think they'll wait for us?"

"I... I'm not sure. I don't think Ally or Archie would let them leave."

"Well, we better hurry, just in case." Eric said while pulling me up and we started at a brisk pace, no longer a sprint.

"So Alex, have you thought of what the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean all these people turning into... well fucking bloodsucking zombie vampires!"

"I.. I haven't really thought about it..." I didn't have time to think about it. I had one thing on my mind, get myself and my companions out of the city alive. What could cause something like this? Is it a virus? A government experiment gone wrong? Aliens? I couldn't think any longer, every muscle in my body ached. My eyes were heavy and it was a constant struggle to keep them open. I was still hungry, thirsty, and my cuts and bruises were starting to open up again.

5:39 am, somewhere along the English countryside.

"There it is! Oh thank god." Eric said taking a deep breathe of relief. Archie was the first to get out, followed by Ally and Jon.

"Well its about time mates, we were waiting forever!" Jon said in his upbeat, happy tone.

"Oh you know.. made some friends along the way." I was so tired I couldn't even stand.

"Glad you cou--" Ally started out. Her smile quickly turned into a frown.

"Alex, you're bleeding..." At that everyone backed away from me except Eric. Ally pointed the gun slowly at me.

"Alex, I'm... I'm sorry... but..." She trailed off. I hadn't noticed it before, but my left arm had a large gash and blood was running freely from it.

"Stay the fuck back! I'll shoot, don't you fucking... Get the fuck back!" Eric was so tired he couldn't stand himself, but was pointing his empty P226 at Ally. Ally had at least 2 bullets left, if the four shots I heard back there was all she used.

I was so tired now, I dropped to my knees and looked up to the sky. It was the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen.

"Back off... no.. put that bloody thing away... you bitch.." Jimy grabbed Eric as he collapsed, still trying to put up a fight even though he looked as if he was about to pass out.

I was starting to black out myself. I had seen so many terrible things in one day. I had become a murderer, I had seen more death and destruction to last me a lifetime. Mothers killing fathers, brothers killing sisters, and an entire, once great, city collapsing on top of itself, it seemed like the end of civilization as I knew it.

It would haunt me for the rest of my days, like black spots on my mind. How many more black spots would appear before I died? Am I already dead? These were my final thoughts as my vision started to cloud.

As I sat there on my knees I looked upward at my new found friends, the last thing I could hear was Eric crying out my name and my last sight was Ally's beautiful light red hair caught by a cool breeze, strands dangled around her face and she looked like she was crying, she was standing in front of a backdrop of a beautiful English countryside and a breathtaking sunrise.

I couldn't ask for more...