"NOOO! GET AWAY!" The man was attempting to outrun a large swarm of what he could only describe as mindless, demonic freaks. Finding himself otherwise surrounded, he realized his only option was to climb the chain-link fence behind him. He started climbing the fence, but froze in horror at the sight of the barbed wire at the top. And that moment of hesitation was enough for one of the monsters to grab his leg, and for another to bite it right on his femoral artery. He screamed in horrific pain and kicked both of them away, and climbed the rest of the fence, cutting his hands on the wire as he got over the top of it. As he began his descent down the fence, the massive blood loss in his leg caught up to him, and he fell to the ground, passed out, and died, barely two minutes after the bite. Twenty-four minutes later, the man began stirring, now another mindless creature like what had bitten him. He, now an "it", began figuring out how to stand up, and before it could completely figure out how, a loud and fast behemoth roared past it. Now finding biological motivation, it got to its feet, and began wandering along the train tracks, following the red tail lights of engine 4197.

…

Sgt. Thompson leaned against a pillar on the station platform, utterly lost. In the decade he had been a soldier, he had never doubted his decision to enlist, but the thought of a disaster of this magnitude never even remotely occurred to him. Now he was responsible for the lives of not only fifty fellow soldiers, but nearly five hundred civilians as well…"This isn't the time to panic," he said to himself. "Do your job." He took a deep breath, and stepped away from the pillar, and saw Devin approaching, having finished his inspection.

"Everything's in order," he told Thompson, "but there's someone you'll probably wanna talk to." As Devin spoke, he never broke stride as he walked back into the train, so Sgt. Thompson was unable to ask who he could possibly be referring to. He decided to head down to the other end of the platform to investigate, and as he walked, a woman staggered out of the train in front of him.

He instinctively raised his M4 assault rifle at her. "Stop! Put your hands up!"

Charlotte raised her hands with an indignant grimace. "Thought only cops said that," she quipped.

Sgt. Thompson was confused. "Who are you?"

"Charlotte Brody. Of CBInternet." The sergeant just stared, still confused. "Y'know, like CB radio? Except…modernized…because I'm on the…internet…" She realized the fruitlessness and awkwardness of her explanation. "Never mind."

"What the hell are you doing here? How long have you been on the train?"

"I hopped on when it was leaving here." She paused. "And yeah, I saw them."

"Goddammit…"

"I'm a journalist. The internet was blocked in the station so I had to improvise."

"No!" He snapped. "You were SUPPOSED to follow our instructions, and stay in the station!"

She sighed. "I saw them, and I saw what they do." The sergeant stared pensively at her, as she continued. "Look, I'm not stupid, okay? I know that if you tell everyone in there about those things, best-case scenario is that they think you're a joke and stop respecting your authority. Worst-case, they panic, and people get hurt or worse. I understand why you're keeping it from them, but you need to understand something else."

"And what would that be?" He asked with a hint of impatience.

"You can't keep it from them forever. And when they find out, they're gonna be pissed that you kept it from them. You ARE doing the right thing keeping them in the dark for now, but when they find out, they're not gonna be immediately rational."

Thompson no longer had merely a hint of impatience. "Are you actually trying to make a suggestion, or even a POINT?"

"Get them on this train and get them outta here. Break the news to them somewhere out of immediate danger, because this train station? It isn't safe."

Sgt. Thompson sighed. "Look, I hear you, alright? But I'm not the one giving orders, at least not orders of evacuation barring an imminent breach. Plus, between my men and the civilians, there are almost six hundred people in there so it's not like I can do anything swiftly."

"Then start now! I'm telling you, there IS an imminent breach, and those—"

"I'll take it under advisement, okay? Nevertheless, you're still a civilian, so get back inside with the rest of them. There'll be a guard at the door; just say you're with Sgt. Thompson, he won't give you any static. But please, just go."

Charlotte merely nodded, and walked to the door as Thompson started pacing around the platform, contemplating the right move. He worried that any course of action he took would result in chaos and ultimately disaster. When Charlotte opened the door into the station, he could hear the roar of the crowd inside, nearly on the verge of a riot; Charlotte looked over at him, to see his response to the loud clatter inside, and he merely put his hand over his face and turned away, which unsettled her greatly as she walked inside, not being greeted by a guard as Thompson had expected. After taking a few minutes to compose himself, he finally walked back inside.

…

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOORS!" Gordon was at his limit, and the crowd gathering around him was now rallying behind him. Though it wasn't his intent, he was garnering support and was starting to be looked at as a leader. Josh, Alice, Ryan, Quentin, and Ethan all stood by him, ready to back him up if need be, and many others gradually started to gravitate towards his authoritative tone.

"LAST WARNING!" Corporal Wilson, the most vocal soldier at the main entrance, was reaching his own limit. "GET BACK OR I WILL OPEN FIRE!"

Danielle and Dr. Vaughn looked on helplessly. "Oh sweet Jesus…" Danielle said with a worried sigh.

"We just have to go," Dr. Vaughn said. "We don't need to be stuck here in this. We're medical personnel, they'll let us out."

"We can't abandon everyone here!" Danielle was disgusted by his cowardice. "Besides, what makes you think they'd even let us out at all?"

Dr. Vaughn paused for a moment to think, and saw Greta and Elaine standing nearby. "Them."

"What?"

"We tell the soldiers we need to get them special care. We'll say they need to go to an actual hospital. They have a medic, he can stay here to help whoever needs it."

"What are you talking about?" Greta interjected, aware that she was a pawn in the conversation.

"C'mon," he said, "I'm getting you two out of here."

"You're actually going to abandon all these people?" Danielle was increasingly aghast. "You absolute fucking coward."

"Don't speak to me like that. You wanna stay, fine, but I'm getting out of here because maybe there are other people out there I can really help." He turned to Greta and Elaine. "C'mon, let's go."

"I'm not going out there," Elaine said, as a quiver came through her voice. "I saw those things…I saw what they do…"

Dr. Vaughn was getting even more annoyed. "Look, the hospital is safer than this place. It's only four blocks away, we'll make it."

"No!" Greta said, starting to cry again. "I won't go near anymore of those things…"

Dr. Vaughn suddenly kicked a small table in frustration. "Fucking worthless!" He then stormed off; Danielle turned to console the two still-grieving mothers.

Back by the entrance, Ben was also making his voice heard; Henry and Danny remained by his side. "You don't have the right to keep us here! It's a free country; we wanna leave, we can leave. So step aside and let us out of here!"

Cpl. Wilson turned to Ben. "I have a RESPONSIBILITY to keep you all in here!"

Gordon spoke back up. "So you're gonna keep us safe by shooting us?" The crowd cheered for his words; Ben was irritated that he wasn't getting the crowd's support, but he decided that if he ultimately got out, he'd get over it.

Gordon continued. "You either gotta let us out, or you gotta tell us why we need to stay here!"

Charlotte climbed to the upper level of the station, taking in the gravity of the panic setting in amongst the crowd. She felt bad for all the soldiers for the tension of this situation, but she still felt that everyone deserved to know why they were here. She scanned the crowd, noting the two men (Gordon and Ben) who were becoming the most vocal protesters, and saw her cohorts Ryan, Quentin, and Ethan standing near one of those men. She was torn; she wanted to let them know she was okay, but wasn't sure how to break the news of the monsters to them. As she was lost in confused contemplation, Quentin happened to glance up in her direction.

"Oh shit," he said to Ryan and Ethan, gesturing towards her, "she's back."

Ryan nodded. "Ethan, you go talk to her, we'll stay here to back this guy up if we have to." Ethan nodded back at him, and made his way to Charlotte. She saw that he was coming, and she knew she was past the point of no return and would have to tell him something.

Ethan went up the stairs and made his way to her. "Thank god," he said, relieved. "Where were you? What happened? Did you get any info?"

The weight of what she knew was finally starting to become clear. Charlotte knew that whether she told the truth or not, she had invited some of the liability onto herself. She took a deep breath, and decided her words. "Ethan," she said softly, "there's something real bad going on out there. I can't get into it because I literally don't even know how, but right now all that matters, is convincing these people we need to get on that train and just leave. If we can convince enough people, the soldiers will load everyone up."

Ethan was confused. "What the hell? What's going on out there?"

Charlotte closed her eyes in involuntary exasperation. "Ethan…just trust me on this, okay? Trust me when I say the only part I can explain is that it's bad."

As they went back and forth, Danny had noticed them from downstairs near Ben, having what seemed to be an intense conversation. He could sense that she knew something, and decided to investigate. He quietly slipped away from his new buddies and made his way up to them, out of sight but close enough to hear them.

"Dammit you're a journalist!" Ethan said. "You have to report on what you find, isn't that like the Hippocratic oath or something?"

"First of all," Charlotte said with an almost audible eyeroll, "that's for doctors. Second, I'm NOT a professional journalist. I started investigating things on my own, and it's not my fault if I'm better at it than the 'real' ones are. Finally, my devotion is to public interest and safety, and right now, we aren't safe, so we need to get on the train. THAT is what matters right now."

Danny heard enough to justify being suspicious. He ran back to inform Ben. "Hey man," he said as he tapped on Ben's shoulder.

Ben turned around in irritation until he saw who it was. "What is it?"

"Up there," he said, motioning to Charlotte and Ethan. "That girl up there knows something we don't."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Henry asked, butting in.

Danny proceeded to relay what he'd heard to both of them. "We should go up there and try and get it out of her," he concluded.

Ben eyed Charlotte hard. What did she know that no one else did? "Okay." He started walking to the stairs, and Danny & Henry followed suit.

Upstairs, the argument continued. "Listen Ethan, we just need to focus right now, and convince the soldiers that we need to get out of here or else there will be panic and chaos and bad decisions!"

"And why would that be?" A new voice asked. Charlotte and Ethan both turned their attention to the source of the sound: a tall bearded man, who had two friends flanking him. "I'd very much like for you to elaborate," Ben said, "after all, that's what journalists do, right? Tell the truth, or whatever you wanna call the truth at that moment?"

Charlotte could sense he was trying to intimidate her, but she was unfazed. "I'm not gonna say something that endangers people's lives. There's a time and place, and I will share what I know when it is opportune, but right now, you should help me convince everyone that we need to get on the train!"

Ben shook his head, with an angry grimace on his face. "You people are unbelievable. We're supposed to TRUST the media, yet they serve us bullshit and assume we won't smell anything. The fact that you think we're that stupid is an insult."

"Listen Limbaugh, I'm not in the mood to get into an ethical discussion with you about journalistic integrity, although if it makes you feel better I work independently online, not one of the mainstream media outlets I'm sure you rant about whenever you can."

"The outbreak…" Danny said softly, before upping the volume. "That outbreak in Europe! That's what this is, isn't it?!" Charlotte's eyes widened slightly; just enough for Ben to notice.

Ethan was confused again. "What? Outbreak? What's happening?"

Ben smirked. "So it IS that, huh? Son of a bitch…"

"What's really happening here?" Ethan asked softly but worriedly, as he turned to Charlotte. She was now getting frazzled as she weighed her current options, as the three strangers' respective postures became visibly more impatient. Finally, she sighed as a response came to her.

"The outbreak…" she began, before pausing for a few seconds to fine-tune her words, "the outbreak is affecting people in…violent ways. It's giving people an urge to attack and kill others, and whoever comes down with it, seems to turn into the same thing." She paused again, silently reassuring herself that she hadn't technically lied to them. "It's like a Hulk plague; you get infected and you just attack. That's why we're all in here."

Ben just stared for a moment, and finally broke out laughing. Danny and Henry quickly followed suit. "Wow," Ben said as his laughter subsided, "what an absolute load of horseshit!"

"Please," Charlotte begged, "just trust me. I didn't wanna say it because I'm well aware that it sounds unreal. But it is, and if you try and force your way out, you'll be endangering everyone in here. And if you tell everyone, you'll cause either a panic or a buttload of disbelief, and both lead to the same level of danger." She took a deep breath. "THAT is why I'm asking you to just trust me, and keep this among just us."

Ben shook his head with a bemused smirk. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna say a fucking word." He paused; she sighed with relief. "Because I don't believe you, and I'm leaving right now. C'mon boys, let's move!" The three of them turned and went down the stairs towards the platform, which was deserted by the civilians (as everyone was demanding to get out through the front door, since there was no street access from the platform), and only guarded by one Guardsman, a fresh recruit sent over by Sgt. Thompson after finding the door unmanned.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" The young soldier asked with firmness.

"Yeah," Ben replied curtly, "you can let us out of here."

"Doesn't need to be any problems here kid," Henry jumped in. "I know you're just doing your job, but you've been lied to about why you're doing it. So just let us out."

"Sorry," the soldier replied, "but the platform is closed just like the front. Now get back to the others before I call my sergeant over here."

"He's already here," Sgt. Thompson yelled from behind, with Charlotte by his side. "Listen fellas, I let you out of holding in good faith, so the least you can do is not make me regret doing so."

Ben stared inquisitively, both at Thompson and at Charlotte, and started to doubt his sureness about her story being a lie. "Listen Sarge," he said calmly, "we know. She told us everything."

Thompson stared at Charlotte, annoyed. But she stood her ground. "First of all, these three weren't very subtle with their threats. Second of all…" She turned to Ben. "A minute ago, you didn't believe me."

"I don't," Ben snapped back, "which is why I want out. But just because I don't believe you, doesn't mean no one else will. I've been staring at these idiots for hours now, and they seem just dumb enough to believe some bullshit by a sensationalist blogger pretending she's a fucking JOURNALIST!"

"Go fuck yourself!" Ryan yelled, having arrived with Quentin and Ethan after the latter informed them of the situation. "She knows what she's talking about. Far more than you do, I bet."

Ben laughed in disbelief as Thompson tried to shoo him away. "Are you serious? Do YOU even know what's going on? Last I checked, you weren't there when Katie fucking Couric told us about the outbreak!"

Thompson closed his eyes tightly in annoyance as Ryan stared, clearly shocked. "What outbreak?" Quentin asked, also surprised and confused.

"Sir?" The young soldier butt in. "What are they talking about?"

Thompson turned to the soldier. "Not now Hall! Do your damn job as you're told!" He turned back to the civilians around him. "There's privileged information that none of you are privy to, at least not at this time. And if I have to have you ALL locked up until then, I won't hesitate to do it. So either go back with the others and keep your mouths shut, or I'll have you all detained!"

Ben refused to back down, but was also now convinced that Charlotte may have actually been telling the truth, at least to an extent. "Let us out, or we go public." Thompson went for his radio to call for backup, but Ben stopped him by grabbing his arms, and Henry restrained Private Hall. Ben was taller than the sergeant, but he wasn't a soldier and therefore knew that he couldn't hold him for long. "DANNY! Open the door!"

As Danny went to follow Ben's orders, Thompson broke Ben's grip and punched him in the face, staggering him. Thompson then charged Danny and body-checked him right to the ground, and as Thompson went for his zip-ties, Ben ran and tackled him from behind. Thompson managed to stay on his feet, but now Ben was hanging on his back.

Charlotte, Ryan, Ethan, and Quentin all watched as the mayhem unfolded. "Charlotte?" Ryan asked. Charlotte turned to him, and he continued. "How badly does that door need to stay closed?"

She paused for a second. "Very."

Ryan asked because he could tell Danny was gonna try and open the door again as Ben wrestled with Thompson. Sure enough, the young man slowly recovered from Thompson's tackle, and went for the door again. Right as he put his hand on the door again, Ryan grabbed him; Quentin ran over to help him, while Ethan punched Henry to make him release Pvt. Hall. Meanwhile, Ben remained on Thompson's back, arms wrapped around the sergeant's sternum and legs flailing about in the air. Thompson was finally able to properly steady himself, as Ben's movements had left him struggling just to stay on his feet, and ran in reverse towards what he thought was the wall but was in fact the door; Ben was still forced off the sergeant's back, and fell just beyond the threshold into the platform area. Before he could completely recover, Thompson grabbed him by his leg and pulled him back inside the station. "Close the door!" Thompson yelled to anyone up to the task as he was preoccupied with restraining Ben. Pvt. Hall, successfully released from Henry's grip thanks to Ethan's assistance and who had been helping Ethan to restrain him, went to the door in an effort to close it. Unfortunately, Sgt. Thompson accidentally slamming Ben into it snapped the latch off, and as a result of Hall's frantic state, he didn't notice the door fail to properly seal and ultimately drift slightly ajar.

As Thompson finally managed to zip-tie Ben's wrists, he noticed the large crowd that had started to gather around after hearing the commotion; only two fellow Guardsmen were among the crowd, the rest remained at their posts. "Everyone stand back," he ordered, "it's under control!" He ordered Ryan and Quentin to bring the still-restrained Danny over to Private Hall; they did so, and Hall kept his gun trained on the two of them.

"Get up!" Thompson barked as he dragged Ben to his feet, and prepared to order the two soldiers in the crowd to help take the men into custody.

But he didn't get the chance.

…

The freshly-turned creature made its way down the tracks, entranced by the red lights on the horizon from a strange object that had whizzed by earlier. The light had gradually turned to a speck, and then went out. The walls and large fences around the tracks prevented any significant stimuli from diverting the creature for more than a moment before it resumed its trek down the tracks. After nearly two hours of clumsily staggering along, it finally reached King Street Station. It wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes before making its way towards a ramp leading up to the platform. It was a maintenance ramp blocked by a gate that was as high as the creature's waist. Failing to get over the gate, the creature gradually became disinterested and slowly turned itself around, to look for something more worth its time. Suddenly, it heard a loud crash from behind, up on the platform. Its curiosity once again piqued, it turned to the source: it saw a being similar to itself on the ground for a moment, before being pulled inside the large structure next to the being. The creature again worked to climb the gate, this time with a more powerful motivation than mere curiosity: hunger. This proved to be the key element, and it finally stumbled over the gate, and began making its way to where the being was. As it got closer, a commotion became gradually louder and more enticing. It approached a slight opening, deduced it as the source, and stuck its hand in and pulled the door to the King Street Station platform open as it heard a call of "Get up!"

…

Hall kept his attention trained on Henry and Danny, when suddenly, he heard a creak next to him. He instinctively turned to investigate it, and was greeted by the sight of an angry man (or so he thought) who snarled as he grabbed the private's shoulders. It happened so quick, no one, not even Henry and Danny from two feet away, had even processed the event when the creature bit into Hall's neck. As everyone's attention turned to Hall, the young soldier screamed in horror and accidentally fired off his automatic rifle. One of the first few bullets fatally hit Henry almost dead-center in his heart, and the remainder of them went into the crowd, killing a few civilians as well as one of the soldiers, and wounding others, including Charlotte who received a graze on her arm, and Bill who took a bullet to his leg. The rest of the crowd screamed in terror, as Thompson ran to Hall and pulled the walker off of him, despite knowing it was too late. Thompson pulled his pistol out and fired directly into the walker's head, killing it, and then he turned to Hall, who had fallen to the ground clutching his neck with pure terror in his eyes. He tried to speak, but was unable. Thompson figured he was asking for help, but he knew there was only one way to help him. Despite the crowd staring at him, he pointed his gun at Pvt. Hall's forehead, and pulled the trigger to end his suffering, resulting in even louder screams from the crowd.

Gordon, having arrived right as the shots rang out, furiously pushed his way to the front and began yelling at the sergeant. "YOU FUCKING MURDERER! YOU CAN'T DO THIS—" Suddenly, Sgt. Thompson pointed his M9 pistol in the air and fired five more shots to quell the crowd, all of whom ducked or hit the floor.

"QUIET!" Thompson yelled at the top of his lungs; the crowd hushed down to the sound of the few people crying. "I'll explain what's happening here, and why you're all here, but right now, we need to get the wounded over to triage, so please, everyone needs to clear a path RIGHT NOW!"

The crowd obliged, as Dr. Vaughn and a Guardsman medic made their way over to the wounded who couldn't be moved, while those who could move were led to Danielle at the triage; Ryan, Quentin, and Ethan walked alongside Charlotte and reassured her with calming words, while Chris put his arm around Bill and helped him limp over to the triage. Meanwhile, Thompson helped Ben to his feet; in the aftermath of the attack and the shooting, Ben's temperament had become considerably more subdued. Thompson pushed Ben over to Danny, who was still crouched over Henry's body.

"Are you gonna lock us back up?" Ben asked, assuming that Thompson would.

Thompson sighed. "I would, but if we have to get out of here quick, I don't wanna have to waste time getting your worthless asses out. So…" He then loosened Ben's zip-tie. "I'm just gonna grant you your wish, and let you leave. Go out the back and hop the fence. C'mon, you wanted out, here's your chance, unless you change your minds." He stared them down; neither man took the offer into consideration. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You two pricks cause any more trouble, I'll throw you out myself. Because all these people that just died here? That's all on you." With that, he walked away, as several Guardsmen began moving the bodies.

…

Sgt. Thompson finished giving to the crowd the same explanation that he had earlier given to Devin. To his surprise, the crowd remained non-confrontational, although many of them were audibly freaking out. Gordon listened intently, and while he now understood the situation, he still had to speak up.

"How many other quarantines are there?" He asked, relatively calm compared to how outspoken he had been already.

"A few others have gone up in the city, and outside it, people are being shuttled to hospitals as well as schools and community centers and other high-volume places until a proper evacuation plan can be enacted. I know this is confusing and you're all probably scared, but we're doing our best and we've got a decent handle on things here. All I ask is that you just work with us. I hope that by telling you all the truth, you'll begin to trust us a little bit more." He looked at Gordon as he finished speaking; Gordon responded with a respectful nod, from one soldier to another.

Sgt. Thompson then walked away, headed for the triage area. As he left, Josh walked up to Gordon. "So what do you think man?" Josh asked, nerves permeating through his tone.

Gordon shrugged. "They finally told us the truth, and just one of those things got over a dozen people killed or shot. I don't think I wanna face more of 'em just yet." He paused. "I think we just need to stay put." Josh nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Thompson walked into the triage and asked for a damage report.

Danielle looked at him somberly. "Ten dead, twelve wounded, three critical."

"Zero critical," Dr. Vaughn said as he arrived, shaking his head. He and the medic couldn't save the three men who were unable to be moved.

The weight began crashing down on Thompson. Two soldiers and eleven civilians were dead, and despite passing the blame to Ben and Danny, he held some of it for himself. He looked over at Charlotte, who was sitting along the wall in the corner of the triage. Greta and Elaine were helping her keep pressure on her grazed arm as she waited for Danielle to be available.

"Are you okay?" The sergeant gently asked.

Charlotte nodded. "It could be worse. Frankly, I imagine the stitches will hurt more."

Thompson kneeled down to her. "You were right," he confessed, "I should've come clean earlier. Maybe if I hadn't kept them in the dark…" He stopped, feeling increasingly guilty.

"There's nothing easy here," Charlotte said, "and I don't know if there was a right way to go about this."

"That's not it," he said with a sigh. "I slammed that asshole into that door. Then that walker got in and…" He paused, trying not to choke up. "If I hadn't done that…"

Charlotte cut him off. "You're not a psychic," she said reassuringly. "No one can foresee things that way."

Thompson took a deep breath, not sure if he agreed with her but appreciating the sentiment nonetheless. "Thank you," he said softly. He then left the triage.

"Walkers…" Greta said flatly. "This can't be real."

"How'd this happen?" Elaine asked. "How'd it fall apart so quickly?"

Charlotte, having been deep in thought since she was shot, decided to speak. "In my bag. There's a camera. I need one of you to film me."

The two ladies were confused. "Are you serious?" Elaine asked.

"Just do it. Just point it at me and let me talk."

Though still confused, Greta reached into Charlotte's backpack and pulled her camera out. Charlotte pointed out the "record" button, and Greta began recording after Charlotte nodded in readiness.

"Hello world, Charlotte here again, still in King Street Station in Seattle. The quarantine is confirmed and no one is getting out of here…" She paused. "Though at this point, no one wants to. Some sort of plague has been killing people, and then turning them into hungry freaks called 'walkers'. One got in here, and that triggered a chain reaction that led to me getting grazed by a bullet. Don't worry, I'll live." She took a deep breath. "Ostensibly, getting bitten or scratched or otherwise infected by these things turns you into one…but I don't think that's it." Greta and Elaine stared in total confusion. "Specifically, that's not the only thing. If it was, that'd be a pretty easy thing to contain. I have a different thought as to what it is though." Greta and Elaine looked at each other, utterly dumbfounded.

"I think it happens no matter how you die."