Vincent sunk to his knees with the Walkers teeth still buried in his shoulder. He let out an angry cry of pain as he wrestled to pry its jaws from his flesh, blood already seeping through his shirt. Alex stumbled forward and plunged her knife through its skull, throwing the body off Vincent as Tobias put down two more walkers with his gun.

Alex grabbed under Vincent's good arm and pulled him to his feet while Tobias kept his gun fixated on the walkers that began to round the corner.

"We've got to go! Tobias, now!" She shouted dragging Vincent frantically towards the door.

Tobias seized Vincent's fallen gun before scurrying forward towards their exit and pried the door open. Alex pushed Vincent out ahead of her and Tobias followed closely, letting the doors snap shut behind him.

Outside, their breaths came heavy and fast from the adrenaline coursing through their veins. Vincent had his hand placed over the bite which did little to stop the steady stream of blood staining his skin and surrounding fabric. Alex straightened herself and met eyes with Tobias before turning to Vincent.

"Vincent... I'm ...Why are you out here?" She asked, her voice soft but pained.

She glanced at the teeth marks in his flesh, closed her eyes and took an unsteady breath. He gave no reply. Instead he kept staring at his wound.

"Did Zoe tell you?" Tobias prompted running his hands through his hair with a sigh. "Did she ask you to come after us?"

Vincent's ears pricked up at the mention of his daughters' name. The glazed look disappeared from his eyes and he shook his head.

"No... um... I ... She told me you came out here... I said I'd bring you both back."

"We all need to get back." Alex corrected "There's been a lot of gunfire so we don't know how many of them around here have heard us. We don't know how many could be heading this way."

"I've been bit." Vincent stated vacantly.

They knew what that meant.

"I can't go back. The Sargent said that's how we turn." he continued "I'm going to turn, and I can't be inside the fence when that happens."

"We don't know how long it will take." offered Tobias sympathetically. "For all we know it could be days before..."

His voice trailed off. The muffled snarls and bangs of the walkers against the glass was momentarily the only sound until Vincent spoke again.

"It has to be the brain."

His voice echoed the orders of the Sargent. This time however, the words were soft and hoarse as if holding back tears. Vincent gestured to his gun in Tobias' hand, eyes pleading. Alex moved forward; between Vincent and the gun.

"No. Not here...not like this." She said sternly. "We're going back and telling everyone what has happened."

"Alex please, you're a smart kid." Vincent sighed sadly "If I don't stop it, I'm going to become one of those things and ... I don't want that."

"I know what it means." she whispered angrily "But I'm not going to execute you on this carpark for more of those corpses to find your body."

"And what would we tell everyone at home? What would you want us to say to Zoe?" Tobias asked trying to sway him.

Vincent was quiet again and looked at his wound, his face etched with pain.

"Look, if you come back with us now at least you'll get to say goodbye before whatever happens, happens." Alex suggested.

Before she got a reply, a distant snarl and drag of feet filled the air. A herd of at least 15 walkers emerged from a nearby street and advanced on the three quickly.

"There's no time for arguing. We've got to go. Right now. Are you coming or not?" Tobias asked desperately. He checked his gun. Two bullets. Alex did the same; three.

Vincent glanced at the herd and then back to children before nodding his head. Tobias thrust his gun back into his hands. One bullet. They couldn't take the walkers down so had to hope they could out pace these persistent corpses.

The three broke into a run past the walkers that made hungry grabs for them. The Square was nearly two miles away and the journey was tedious on foot. About half way home Vincent began to slow, his face paled and sweating. With walkers on their tails they couldn't afford to stop so Alex and Tobias slung one of Vincent's arms around their shoulders and continued to press on. They were slower weighed down by the man but were determined to get him home. Vincent's eyes were drooping and bloodshot and the skin of his arms that was in contact with Alex's neck radiated a scorching heat.

"We shouldn't have made him run." Alex panted, straining under Vincent's weight. He was semi-conscious with his feet still moving but relying on the children to keep him upright.

"He could walk, I thought he would make it back on his own..."

"I know me too, but we don't know how quickly this thing spreads in the first place. Then we made him run..."

Tobias tilted his head upwards in realisation.

"Then he ran. His heart pumped faster so the infection spreads faster." He finished.

"Exactly."

They hobbled along at their slower pace with the herd closing slowly in. Eventually they reached the end of the road and Alex went to turn down the back-alley.

"We'll never get him over the fence in time." said Tobias who readjusted Vincent's arm around his neck. He glanced behind to find the herd no further than a few meters behind them. They quickened their pace as much as they could under the strain of holding up the limp man.

"We need to get them to open up the gate."

They rounded the final corner and began to shout.

"DAD! OPEN THE GATE!"

"PETER QUICK! GET THE GATE!"

At the fence chaos broke out at the sight beyond. Everybody began shouting over one another in panic and confusion as Alex continued to plead for the gate to be opened. Daniel was the fastest down from his post and broke open the chain in his frenzy. Peter helped him heave open the gate on time for the children stumble inside holding onto Vincent and slammed it shut once again as the herd came crashing against it.

Shouting continued as people rushed from the houses towards the commotion. It was all white noise to Alex who trembled from the combination of the weight of Vincent on her shoulders and her exhausted muscles. For a moment the only thing she could hear clearly was the thumping of her heart and her own gasping breath. The sudden sensation of a large hand in a vice like grip on her upper arm snapped her back into focus.

"ALEX! What the fuck!" Daniel bellowed holding onto his daughters' arm with one hand, the other on Vincent's chest steadying him. Instead of acknowledging her father, Alex's eyes lifted to Peter.

"Please we need to get him inside, he's hurt."

The shouts died to worried murmurs as the group noticed the blood stain on Vincent's shoulder. Daniel opened his mouth to question further but Tobias cut him off.

"We'll explain later! Can't you see? He's been bit!"

Silence.

Zoe sobbed and rushed forward towards her father. Betty caught and held her in a bear like hug as his words hung in the air. Peter cleared his throat, letting his calm nurse demeanour take over.

"Daniel help me get him inside." He instructed. Daniel nodded as he moved forward to transfer Vincent from the children's shoulders to their own. "Tobias, Alex, you two follow us. Betty, take everyone to 14 for now, I'll call you through once we work out what has been going on."

Zoe protested with tears rolling down her face as Betty guided her away from where the others were taking Vincent inside. The men lay him on the couch and Vincent slowly opened his eyes through the fever, gaining a bit more consciousness now he was resting.

"Alex go upstairs and get my medical kit. We're going to need to stitch him up."

"No..." Vincent murmured weakly, causing him to splutter "There's no point. I've been bit."

"Yeah mate, we know." Peter reassured calmly "We're just going to clean you up and see what we can do with the..."

"You were there. You we're both there when the Sargent told us what this means." he interrupted again gesturing to the bite. "I'm not going to let you waste your medical supplies on me."

Vincent shakily pushed himself into a sitting position on the leather couch with his face scrunched from the pain of the trivial task. Alex produced a bottle of water from her pack for him which Vincent accepted gratefully. Gently she placed her hand on his forehead; his skin was deathly pale but radiated an intense heat that caused Alex to recoil.

"Why were you outside the fence? How did this happen?" Daniel asked still frustrated. "Jesus Christ Alex! How the hell did you even get out there to begin with."

A wheezing cough silenced Alex before she could even begin explaining. Vincent was trying to speak but his breath was shallow and sweat dripped down the side of his face.

"They've been going out for days apparently." Vincent spluttered trying to take another sip of water "Then I followed and fucked everything up for them."

He smirked and Alex returned a sad smile. The exchange only infuriated Daniel further.

"This still doesn't explain why you were all out there. And how many times?"

"We were going to starve. There was hardly any food left and you weren't going to go out and get more, were you?"

"Alex, that wasn't for you to decide!" Daniel raised his voice. "We could have rationed the food and none of this would have happened."

"The rations would have run out eventually." Alex retaliated and Tobias seemed to move closer to her side.

"It was my idea. I wanted to go and get more supplies and asked Alex to come with me." Tobias reasoned subconsciously moving between Alex and Daniel as he spoke.

"Son, I don't care whose idea it was. What I want to know is why both of you were out over the fence and came back with Vincent bitten."

"We would have starved." Alex said again. "Everyone here is still under the illusion that the army are coming back to save us. Nobody would have listened and we all would have died anyway. That's why we went out. That's why everyone has been able to eat every day for the last 2 weeks."

"We could have waited!" Daniel bellowed. Tobias flinched but stood his ground between father and daughter. "We could have given it at least another week before..."

"Waited for what exactly? You don't actually believe that they're coming, back do you? They said 3 days at most, dad. It's been two and a half weeks. If they were ever coming back, they would have turned up by now. We're alone and must look after ourselves. And that doesn't mean letting the group starve because we're scared of what's out there."

Daniel was taken aback by the truth of his daughters' harsh words. He looked at his feet in silence.

"These two kids took matters into their own hands. And by all accounts they did a pretty good job up until I messed it up for them." Vincent mumbled. "Like she said, we wouldn't have listened to them and probably would have died because we were too stubborn, or too scared to see the truth. Now you know what needs to be done, help them do it. It's just a shame I'm going to have to die before that can happen."

"It's just a bite." said Daniel weakly "We don't know what it means. Not for sure"

"Look at me, mate." Vincent sighed "I was bitten less than an hour ago and I already feel like someone is pumping acid through my veins. My throat feels like someone has hacked at it with broken glass and trying to keeping my eyes open makes my head want to explode. I'm burning up but it feels like I'm lying in a bath of ice. We know that can't be good news."

Tears began to roll down Vincent's cheek as his voice wavered.

"I don't have long left an... and I don't want to become one of those things. Please don't let me become one of them."

Peter stepped forward and took his hand reassuringly.

"We won't mate don't worry. We wouldn't let that happen."

Vincent let his head slump backwards onto the sofa and closed his eyes.