• The streets were quiet, not a footstep within hearing distance. Tony said we had about five blocks to walk till we get to the cop shop. On the way, none of us spoke. We all just walked quietly and, in my case, following Tony. I didn’t recognise the streets that surrounded me. I figured we must be far away from my house now.
    Just as we got to an alley, Tony put his hand up, signalling us to stop. I could hear some grunting coming from down the alley. From the sounds of it, there was only one. Tony put his finger to his lips as he slowly disappeared from around the corner. I peaked around the corner and kept my eyes on Tony. It was going through the large dump bin near the end of the alley. Tony paced himself very slowly, until he was about a metre away from it. Then Tony leapt at him. I heard a crack and then it laid it on the ground in front of Tony. He signalled us to follow him, as he crouched behind the large dump bin. Felicia and I followed him.
    “That’s the police station, there.
    Tony pointed to a rather large building in the middle of a park. There were trees around it, however, not enough so we would be hidden in it. I frowned and Tony saw my face.
    “I know. We’ll be out in the open if we run straight out there.”
    “We can’t risk being seen. There are too many in the city,” said Felicia.
    I looked around. There was a bridge near the park just about 100 metres away from where we were. There were many of them standing around something. I couldn’t see what they were doing but I’m guessing they are feasting on something. Probably an animal. Then an idea came into my head.
    “We could distract them.”
    Felicia looked intrigued. “How?”
    “Well,” I said, thinking hard. “We could make an explosion. Or make a loud noise that will make them think that we are in that place. When really we are here.”
    Tony thought about that for a moment, looking around the police station. Then he looked up at the building to his left. “What about in that building there?”
    I examined the building. “There could be anything in there. That’s a bad idea, Tony.”
    “No, it’s a great idea,” Felicia commented. “Look, we can just blow up the windows on this side. That will attract their attention enough so they either come this way or run away.”
    “Well, where are we going to hide in the mean time?”
    “Two buildings down. There’s another alleyway. We can hide in there. There are some dump bins in there too, so if we have to, we can hide in them.”
    I had to admit, it was a pretty decent idea. There was only one problem.
    “With grenades, we probably only have about five seconds until it goes off, that is not enough time to get to the other alleyway before they all come charging at us.”
    Felicia frowned, knowing I was right. I watched her as she looked around. First in the bins and then at me. I looked down to see where she was looking at and she was staring at a thread that was loose on my shirt. Then, she looked up and smiled at me.
    “No...”
    “Oh, come on. This is the only way.” She smiled a smile that said ‘it’s going to be alright’.
    “What’s going on?” Tony asked.
    “She wants to shred my shirt!”
    “Not all the way! Just enough so we can bet at least a building over.”
    I grinded my teeth together. She was right, it was the only way. “Fine.”
    In the corner of my eye, I could see Tony smirking.
    “You, shut up!” I tried to whisper it but it came out slightly louder. I signalled Tony to turn around and he did so. Felicia held the thread really carefully and pulled it around my body, it getting longer with ever inch. I made a face the entire time she was stripping me of the shirt.
    When she finally used her teeth to break the thread, I only had about four inches of short from my breast down. The white singlet was now a crop top. Great.
    I unhooked a grenade from my belt and handed it to Felicia. She carefully tied it to the pin; smiling at herself when she was done.
    “Okay. You two get to the alleyway while I hook this up to that window.” She pointed to the window, and I could feel Tony tense up.
    “You’re not tall enough to reach up there. I should do it.” I couldn’t help but smile at this.
    “No. I’ll use a trash can or the dump bin to get up there.”
    “That will draw too much attention,” I started. “You don’t want to do anything that could make noise or anything else that will draw them here in anyway. Tony has the height and the strength. Let him do it.”
    Felicia looked worried, but reluctantly agreed. She handed the grenade and the, now very long, thread. Tony wrapped the thread around his finger while Felicia and I got ready to move.
    “Oi,” Tony whispered. I turned around to see him holding the grenade in one hand with just enough thread from the from the pin to his finger to not cause drama. “Thanks. For taking my side I mean.”
    I nodded. “It was logical.”
    He gave one more look in my direction and then turned his attention to the window about 4 metres away from him. I gave a quick prayer and crouched down, crawling along the side of the building behind Felicia.
    When we were at the alleyway, I leaned against the wall watching down the street for Tony while Felicia quietly moved another dump bin towards the other wall, so we could hide behind it when the grenade goes off. When she was done, she joined me.
    “Any sigh?”
    “Of what? Tony or those things?”
    “Both.”
    My eyes widened as we caught a glimpse of Tony as he walked along the building. The thread was slowly unravelling around his finger as he walked. He was almost half way over the first building when I saw something appear in the corner of my eye.
    One of them was looking straight at Tony. I quickly leaned against the wall and gave Felicia a look. She was confused until I tilted my head towards the woman that was gaining on Tony. Without even making a face, she flicked one of her knives out of her belt and threw it hard towards the woman. The knife got her straight in the neck and she fell to the ground. The light thump of her body on the concrete road caused Tony to turn around and look. He gave us a thank-you look then continued to slowly walk towards us.
    When he stopped, he signalled us to get down. Both Felicia and I crouched and crawled towards the dump bin. Once safely behind it, we waited.
    “Once the grenade has detonated, we have to wait for most of them to get to the scene. Then we run. Hopefully, they will be looking around the site to notice us. You can run right fast, right?”
    I grabbed a pistol out of my belt and armed it. “Hopefully fast enough.”
    The place was quiet for two more seconds until there was a light clip somewhere in the distance. Before we knew it, Tony was running towards us, holding his machine gun to support it. As soon as he jumped behind the dump bin, there was an explosion. It wasn’t terribly loud, but it was loud enough to attract attention. All three of us braced ourselves.
    Several of them ran straight past us to get to the scene. We waited about twenty seconds after the last one ran past. Then Felicia said, “Now.”
    Before I knew it, I was running. All three of us ran straight towards the police station. We jumped over bushes and dodged the few trees. Tony was right behind me and Felicia was about two metres in front of me. I dared to look back, but no one was following us. I couldn’t see any of them. The must have went into the building to see what was going on. I hope they catch on fire.
    Felicia ran up the steps straight to the door and flung it open. She held it open for both Tony and me. Once we were both inside, she closed the door and locked it. All three of us put out hands on our knees and panted. Once I could form words, I stood upright again.
    “Did any follow us?”
    Tony gulped then walked towards the window. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on something.
    “Yep.”
    I rushed to the window to see for myself. A small pack of about six or seven was walking this way. One was a kid. He walked in front of the rest. I shuddered slightly, not because they were both ugly and horrifying, but because I couldn’t imagine myself killing a kid. Not even that one.
    Felicia must have read my mind. “He isn’t human anymore. He’s a monster.”
    I knew this, and yet it didn’t matter. I would still feel like the monster if I had to waste him.
    I looked back out the window and was surprised at what I saw. Now, the pack had doubled. And they were all heading this way.
    I gave a terrified look at Tony. He saw it and looked around the room.
    “Come on.”
    Felicia and I followed him to a large cabinet. Tony started pushing it towards the door.
    “We need to... barricade the door.”
    I started to help him while Felicia pulled the cabinet, leading the way. When it was in front of the door, all three of us looked at it for a moment. Then there was loud smashing and grunting at the door. They were trying to get in.
    ‘Let’s get what we need and get out,” I said.
    After that, the three of us split up and went in different directions. Felicia was looking for coms and anything that could help us keep track of each other. I was sent to look for more firearms and Tony was going to see what else he could find.
    I found myself in a long hallway with several doors along it. I readied myself for whatever might be there; you never know. As I passed each door, I peaked inside to see what was in there. There were a couple of debriefing rooms and a closet with nothing in it. Finally, there was a rather large room at the end of the hall. I stood in it for a moment, looking around. There was a very large metal cupboard against the wall furthest from the door. I opened it and slid the doors way. I was so shocked at how many guns were actually in there. This must be where they store confiscated items. There were so many types of weapons. Knives, guns, guns that looked like knives; it was incredible. I was just about to take a 9mm off the hook when I heard glass break. I quickly got a pistol out of my belt and armed it, looking around the room. The glass came from somewhere else. I ran out of the room, still with my gun ready. When I passed a certain room I saw figures in the corner of my eye. I quickly took a step back and aimed.
    It was Tony and Felicia. They were standing next to the broken window, looking out of it.
    “They’re here.”




    Chapter One

    More of My Stuff