I took Mina's hand and we turned and dashed beyond the limits of the first aid area. This opened up into a further section of the cordon. Several soldiers were a few feet further ahead of us, unaware of the chaos unfolding within the first aid area. We rushed up to them breathless.
"We have people that have turned within the first aid tent. They are breaking out."
The soldiers looked at us with stern expressions, and then I saw fear sweep over them when they looked beyond us.
Several fast zombies had now emerged from the corridor that we had just exited through. These creatures did not seem to have a need for reflection, or pause. They moved instinctively and with an immediacy that was unsettling and jarring. Mina and me stepped away from the soldiers who raised their guns, and even as they brought them up into shooting position were already seeing the zombies close the gap between them from ten feet, then eight, and then six.
What I had seen on Edgeware Road was now being repeated here. Shots on moving targets, especially ones moving at speed such as these, seemed to be a futile task in such close proximity.
We ran backwards while seeing this group of armed soldiers unloading their guns into the marauding undead. Flesh ripped from the zombies bodies as the ammunition tore through them. They were knocked off balance, and yet continued on their unrelenting forward path.
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I saw arms reach out for the soldiers and then a mass of bodies falling to the floor as the guns were silenced, and a deadly struggle for survival began with desperate hand to hand combat between the living and undead. Cries, and screams were soon the only sounds coming from this group of troops.
Mina opened a gate, and we stumbled through while looking desperately for a safe haven. We had emerged into a civilian holding area where dozens of people were milling around on cot beds and makeshift seating areas on benches.
We screamed at them to get up and run. Some reacted, but most did not. As we moved through the area we saw a number of frightened faces watching us. Maybe they simply did not know in which direction to go. Maybe they had simply become too tired and numb to run. But as we moved to the rear of this civilian area fresh screams and shouts erupted as the first of the fast zombies reached the area.
More people were now on their feet, and now there was a surge of momentum towards the gates that me and Mina were aiming for. Troops were running through these gates too as we were approaching, and we almost came to a standstill as we were crushed between the troops rushing towards us, and the surge of civilians now frantically running away from the threat that had appeared just moments ago.
I lost my grasp of Mina's hand, and cried out her name as she got pushed away from me. She called out my name as she appeared to trip and fall beneath the running crowd.