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absence of movement or sound made the scene surreal. The undulating moans of the zombie horde behind us provided a chilling score to the unnerving scene.
    The stairs waited temptingly at the end of this suddenly endless corridor. Beside me, B1's sidekick with the minor leg wound, B2, looked over his shoulder anxiously. "What should we do?"
    Before anyone could answer, slow moving figures started emerging from the wards ahead of us. By the pyjamas they wore, they were - had once been - patients. Now they stared at us with empty, implacable eyes and the ugly pallor of the dead. I barely noticed the gaping wounds that marked their bodies as they moved towards us.
    We backed into a tight circle, trying to keep an eye on both sides of the corridor. "Any ideas would be welcome, guys." I joked, trying to calm my panicked breathing. Emma sobbed quietly behind me.
    "Nothing for it but to shoot our way through this group, I reckon." Mike said dryly, nodding at the figures ahead of us. "A handful of them, a handful of us. Seems a fair fight."
    B1 laughed a bit hysterically. "Oh yeah, real fair."
    Jack suddenly spoke up for the first time since he'd received his injuries. "Someone take my gun." He held it out towards us. "My arm is...burning. I, I don't think I can shoot."
    I noted with alarm the flush in his cheeks. Ken stepped forward and took the gun, checking it in a surprisingly professional manner. "Let's do it."
    "Wait!" I cried. Crossing the hall, I opened the janitor's cupboard and pulled out a broom. Holding it at an angle, I snapped it with my foot and handed one half to a startled Emma. I quickly removed the broom head and smiled grimly as I wielded the jagged piece of wood like a dagger. "Now I'm ready."
     
    7
    As I plunged my stake through the eye of an old lady and into her brain, I experienced a moment of pure surrealism. How did a day that started out with porridge and babies become about fighting for my life? How could I, who had never killed anything bigger than a cockroach, be driving a stake through another human being?
    Reality came crashing back as the old woman collapsed at my feet, only to reveal another creature behind her. As its bloodstained hands reached hungrily for me. I screamed involuntarily and scrambled backwards into Mike's broad back. Swinging around quickly, he immediately assessed the situation and shot the zombie charging me as casually as if he were playing a carnival game. The zombie went down like a piece of lumber, giving me a few precious seconds to regroup.
    Emma cried out as one of the creatures grabbed her by the hair. Her eyes were wide with terror as she clutched her stake and struggled to turn around. Without hesitation, I jumped over the fallen zombie and launched myself at the creature. We crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs. With desperate strength, I forced its head away from me as I struggled to get up on top of it. Releasing my hold suddenly, I grabbed my stake with both hands and plunged it with all my might through the eye of the zombie as its teeth bared in anticipation. Blood and viscous goo splattered over my hands as the body stilled under me. Thank God a stake through the brain works as well a a bullet.
    "How are we going?!" Biggs yelled as he blew a hole through the head of another zombie. Around his feet lay a growing circle of bodies. It felt like we'd been struggling with these zombies for hours but it must have only been a couple of minutes.
    Mike coolly responded. "Almost clear on this side."
    A few feet away, B1 and B2 surged forward, blasting zombies with gusto, as Ken followed closely behind, supporting the injured boy with one arm.
    Glancing back, I saw the first of the zombie horde coming around the corner. A young woman in shorts, most of her left thigh and chest missing, ambled towards us. Oh God . A toddler moved unsteadily on little legs beside her, both arms chewed off. A woman in a nurse's uniform, her face so messed up that I couldn't tell if I knew