Note: There is a link in which if copied and paste, you will see the map. If it works. . . COTD made it.

Dr.William Birkin

Defensive of Alex, David shot a cold, angry glance at the others. "FACE IT! YOU'RE FRIEND..THIS..NATHAN OR WHATEVER IS A CORPSE!!!! HE'S GONE, TIME TO MOVE ON.....whereas....Alexandra is NOT dead...now, we can go corpse chasing for hours, or we can save her life....there's only one right answer on which of those we should do and you ALL know what it is..." "See? Dave's getting alllllll possessive of his little girlfriend..pathetic..and you said I was the failure..." snapped Winsor. David walked directly up to her, staring deep into her eyes, the hatred and rage having built to the breaking point. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't end you're pitiful existence...give me one good reason..." he said, raising his revolver with a shaking arm. "DAVID, STOP...THIS ISN'T HELPING.."yelled Ryan. "OOOOOOOH....DAVE'S GONNA SHOOT ME, I'M TERRIFIED...". David breathed heavily directly into her face..a smirk forming across his face, "Yes...I know you are..I can see it in you're comically dilated little eyes...you're petrified of dying down here...admit it Winsor..you're weak...you know it as well as I do...." he said, pulling the hammer back. "I repeat...give me a reason not to fire you stupid slut...." "David....stop..." said Alex, her voice now shaky from the crying and growing infection. David sighed, and shoved Winsor away from him, "You're right Alex...she's not worth the ammunition anyway....Well, if the rest of you are going to let Alex die...then the hell with you, I'LL go find that antigen if needed...." David said as he began to climb out. "That didn't work last time, and its not going to work now....David, if you go she's dead for sure...I know you care about her but if you leave now we wont have ANY idea where the hell we are!!! You seem to know this place..." interjected Ryan, David stopped, and said with his back turned, "Yes...that's true....well then, I suppose I wont be going after all....", he sat down on a rock that had fallen from the diggers hole and began to idly reload his pistol, listening to the conversation of the others. All hope and any trace of anger had left his eyes, replaced by a vacant stare as he thought of the probable failure this night would end in. "What if that moron Winsor was right...what if Alex IS going to die....then you've just spent the past 2 hours becoming unnecessarily attached to a walking corpse....". The water dripped down into the tunnel, the slow, constant, oppressive beat of it a reminder of how the clock was ticking away...how Alex...David...all of them....were slowly running out of time...

City of the Dead

November 22, 2001

11:27 P.M.

David led the way down the sewage passages. He knew that they were close to their destination point. The passages were a welcome change compared to Warren's ancient dark tunnels, or the gravedigger's holes. He could do without the sewer water though.

All of a sudden, he stopped, taking in his surroundings; he knew where they were now.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked.

David turned around and faced everyone.

"We're here" David replied.

"Where?" Jarred asked.

David pointed towards a rusted ladder against the wall.

"The closest we're going to get to the hospital" He said.

"Now listen up guys, we're about to enter the city, watch yourselves, it's more dangerous than you might think" David said taking the first step onto the rung.

Ryan watched David crawl up the ladder. Why is he so worried about the city? After the things we have faced - the nemesis, the gravedigger, the hunters, I'm sure we can handle anything that comes our way.

David finally pushed the sewer lid aside and Ryan looked up through the manhole to see the night sky. David crawled out of the sewer.

"HURRY UP!!! GET OUT OF THERE" David yelled down to the others.

"What the..?" Jarred began to ask.

BANG BANG BANG

The bursts from David's handgun signaled that something wasn't right. Jarred ran over to the ladder and crawled up, taking in a deep breath of foul-smelling air that made him a little faint. He looked up to see David shooting at a hoard of zombies coming up the street.

"Run, get to that restaurant over their" David yelled over the deafening gunfire.

Jarred looked over to his right to see the "Rookery" restaurant on the street corner, he ran over to it and tried the door, it was locked.

Vanessa was the next to crawl out of the sewer. David was holding off a mass of zombies. She couldn't tell how many there were all together, but there were about twenty walking into the orange glow of the street lights, and even more trailing behind in the darkness

"Holy Shit" She yelled.

"Follow Jarred, go on, get going" David said to her.

Vanessa looked over to see Jarred kicking in the glass door of the rookery. She ran over to the restaurant, looking back to see Ryan, Winsor, John, and Alex coming up behind her.

"Ah, dammit" She said, cutting her hand on some glass. She climbed through the broken glass door just in time to see Jarred obliterate the face of a female zombie; her corpse fell onto the black and white tiled floor. Judging by her clothes, she looked like she was in her early teens.

"God, David wasn't kidding, this is all one big death trap" Jarred said glaring at the twitching body.

David and the others came running into the dark restaurant.

"Okay guys, here's the plan" he panted, setting a large map of Downtown Gaines onto one of the tables.

http://www.neotyrannical.8k.com/Downtown_Gaines.gif

"Alright, right now we're on the corner of Forsyth and College Street, there, where the circled blue dot is" David said.

"You enjoy coloring with markers?" Winsor asked sarcastically.

"There's no time for this Winsor" David yelled. "The X's are areas that are kind of blocked off, due to car wreckage, blockades, etcetera" He continued

The moans of the zombies were growing closer.

"Shit" David exclaimed. "Anyways, we can head out the back of this place, then we'll be around the wreckage that is blocking the rest of Forsyth street, we can go through some more buildings, and we'll be right in front of the Medical Center, which is marked by the white H" David said frantically.

A staggering shadow appeared in the doorway, and then another, and another.

"Come on lets go to the back everyone" Jarred yelled running into the kitchen.