The unfolding chaos occurring along Edgeware Road funnelled me towards the gunfire further ahead. I had not yet seen military on the streets, and saw that this once again was from an armed police officer. The shooting was sporadic one off shots. I could see neither the zombies or the officer until I almost stumbled across them.

Very few British police officers are permitted to carry firearms and those that do undergo extensive training. This officer had climbed onto the first tier of scaffolding erected on an adjoining building overlooking Edgeware Road and was trying his best. But even from my short observation three things became immediately apparent. You can’t take the shot unless the zombie was in the open, you can’t shoot if people are behind the line of fire, and unlike the police officer who shot a stationary zombie back at the ambulance it would prove to be a far more difficult task getting a kill shot on a moving zombie.

I could not tell how many zombies were in this area due to the extensive traffic obscuring them. Several zombies were beneath the scaffolding, whether drawn by the noise of the shots I could not tell, and alarmingly had enough self awareness to be pushing on the legs of the scaffolding. I was myself in sensory overload trying to detect danger from all directions while also observing the scene unfolding ahead of me to my right. Every time I looked it seemed another zombie had appeared beneath the scaffolding and it seemed to be in concert that they were now pushing the scaffolding legs. The shooting had now ceased as the officer had wrapped his arms around the scaffolding to stop from falling. A terrible metallic screech was filling the air as the scaffolding moved and swayed under the pressure being exerted beneath. I moved as swiftly as I could again filtering between vehicles as horrified occupants looked on in fear both towards the events on the scaffolding while searching for other dangers emerging elsewhere.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I had gone another fifty meters before the metallic screech reached a crescendo replaced by a terrible roar. I sneaked a look back and saw the scaffolding topple and fall across those vehicles closest to it. Their screams rose higher, and only begun to fade as I moved swiftly further away.

Whatever debilitating affects my crash wounds had on my body were over rode by the adrenaline pumping through me. I had never been so scared, had never been more aware of my own mortality, had never felt so alive.