The giant monster thing had again disappeared from view, but we could still feel the road shake and vibrate from its footsteps. A car stacked up precariously high in one of the mountainous piles of twisted metal and rubble began to waver. A second later it tumbled to the ground.

“It’s coming,” Daniel said, with a surprisingly calm voice. “It’s getting closer. We have to go. The tunnel, it’s our only hope.”

“Are you a hundred percent sure? I mean, it could be a goddamn death trap. We don’t know what’s in there.”

“We can’t stay out here with that thing walking around,” Daniel said as he pulled the handbrake on. “Wait here.”

“What? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m gonna check it out,” he said as he snatched the rifle back out of my hands and switched on the torch. “Maybe see if we can roll that abandoned car further out of the way. See if there are any other wrecks blocking our way, further in.”

“It’s too risky!”

“Look, we’re in the middle of a warzone, everything we do is risky. We have to take chances. Doing nothing will get us killed. We have to take risks, but we have to be smart about it.”

Unfortunately, he had an excellent point. And the way he talked about taking risks and being smart reminded me of Kenji. I guess they must’ve had similar survival training.

“OK, well, I’m coming with you,” I said as I picked up the other rifle.

“Fine. Just stay behind me,” he said as he opened his door. “We have to be quick. We don’t have a lot of time. That thing is getting closer and if I had to take a guess, I’d say it was hunting us.”

We got out of the car and started walking towards the tunnel and all of a sudden it stopped being a tunnel in my mind and turned into the mouth of a monster. The mouth was inviting us in, telling us not to worry.

Come on in, just a little further.

We were about to cross the threshold of the entry when suddenly we heard a gunshot. It was muffled, soft. It sounded like it came from a fair distance away. A second later the bullet hit the sign above the tunnel with a loud ping of metal on metal.

We ducked and took cover, instinctively diving for the ground, flattening ourselves against the road. The shot could’ve come from anywhere.

“Who the hell is shooting at us?” I asked as I looked up at the buildings, at floor after floor of glass walls and tinted windows.

“Could be the military, or maybe just a civilian, a lone survivor maybe? High up in one of the skyscrapers. They probably think we’re infected.”

“Come on. Seriously? Do we look infected?”

“We need to get back in the car,” Daniel said. “We gotta get into the tunnel. It’s too dangerous out here.”

Just as we were about to make a move for the car, there was another gunshot, the bang echoing through the buildings. There was a split second delay and then the bullet hit the sign above our heads again.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“Get under the car!”

We took cover, sliding on our bellies underneath the Range Rover. We looked all around, trying to see where the shots were coming from but we couldn’t see a damn thing.

“Can you see anything?” I asked.

“No.”

“Where’s it coming from?”

“Shh.”

“What?”

“Listen.”

I could feel the road vibrate again. There was a deep rumbling noise coming from the direction of the tunnel.

I twisted myself around on my belly, so I was facing back towards the tunnel.

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Shuffling out of the darkness came a lone dark figure. A man. He was missing his right arm. He was infected. And just behind him was another infected person, and another.

“Oh no,” I whispered under my breath.

Daniel grabbed his rifle and was about to slide out from underneath the car so he could shoot them, but he didn’t need to. We heard the distant gun shots again, and one by one the heads of the infected exploded.

“What the hell?”

We looked around some more. But again, we couldn’t see anything.

One of the infected that had been shot was still twitching.

Daniel inched forward on his belly towards the tunnel. “I’m going to check this out. I’m gonna make sure that one is down for the count.”

He moved out from underneath the car, crouching in front of the hood.

“I’m going with you,” I said.

“Stay close to the car. Stay low to the ground. The shots are coming from back down the road. Keep the car between you and them. I’m not entirely sure but it looks like they are providing cover fire. But they could just be shooting at anything that moves. They still might think we’re infected. So keep the car between us and them, OK?”

I nodded my head as I slid out from underneath the car and pressed my back against the front grill. I crouched down in front of the hood, feeling the heat radiating from the engine.

Daniel crouch walked cautiously towards the corpses. I decided to follow his lead. Not wanting to be left behind more than anything. I made sure to stay low and keep the car between me and the unseen sniper, using the car as a shield.

Daniel shined the torch on his rifle into the tunnel. We couldn’t see very far but there didn’t seem to be any more in the immediate vicinity. Then he shined the torch into the eyes of the twitching zombie. Its eyes rolled back in its skull. A second later it stopped moving altogether.

“Is it dead?” I asked.

“Ah, I think so.”

Daniel was about to check the other ones but just then we heard yelling and shouting off in the distance. We turned instantly at the same time, spinning and dropping to one knee. Daniel raised his rifle as did I. We both looked through the scope.

“Can you see anything?” Daniel asked.

“No. Nothing.”

We couldn’t see them but we could hear them shouting.

“Who the hell is it?” I asked. “What are they saying?”

“Not sure,” Daniel said. “Wait. I can see them.”

“Where?”

“Over there. Two guys running towards us, waving their arms back and forth. One of them has a rifle. They look military.”

“I can’t see them.”

“They’re right there!”

I was scanning back and forth but I couldn’t see a thing.

Then we heard the rumbling noise again, that threatening, deep guttural sound. The same noise we heard before the infected came out of the tunnel, the same noise I heard right before Griffin was speared through his chest and taken, never to be seen again. I turned back around.

More and more infected were pouring out of the tunnel. At first they were shuffling, almost stumbling towards us, but then they started sprinting. I opened fire in a panic, completely ignoring Daniel’s instructions about staying cool and only firing in short, controlled bursts.

Big mistake.

I must’ve hit ten of them, but I hit them in the chest, stomach and arms, a couple in the legs. Some of them didn’t even flinch or notice they were being shot at and kept running at full sprint. Some of them fell over but kept clawing their way forward.

Daniel turned and open fire. He must’ve unloaded a full ammo clip but it barely made a dent in their numbers.

“Get in the car!” Daniel shouted

We ran for the car and jumped in, slamming the doors. Daniel was fumbling with the gear stick.

“Drive!” I yelled.

“I’m trying!”

A couple of infected had climbed up onto the hood of the Range Rover, but as soon as they did, their heads exploded. We were definitely getting cover fire from someone. We were being helped.

Unfortunately the cover fire was not enough. In a matter of seconds the car was covered. They were swarming. The infected were smashing the windows with their hands and fists and their heads.

And then the engine stalled.

“Get down!” Daniel shouted. “Go as low as you can!”

We both dived for the floor of the car. Daniel had managed to turn on his back and get a couple of shots off out the front windshield. But again, this had no great effect on their numbers.

Suddenly a feeling of incredible claustrophobia consumed me. I realized that any second now we would be bitten, infected, ripped apart.

Daniel was desperately trying to hot-wire the car again. His hands were shaking as he tried to get the engine to tick over.

Suddenly there was a spark and the Range Rover came to life once more.

“Just drive,” I shouted. “Press the accelerator!”

Daniel was on his back. He reached up and yanked the handbrake off. He then pushed the accelerator with his hand. The engine revved loudly but we didn’t move. “Damn it! It’s not in gear!”

He started fumbling around for the gear stick again.

Well, that’s it, I thought. We’re done for. I guess it was only a matter of time, seconds really, before they smashed through and ate us alive. But what did we expect? We’d walked right into the middle of hell, the belly of the beast. We’d stirred up the hornet’s nest and now we were paying the price.

I think at that point I had closed my eyes and held my breath. I was waiting for that first bite, for the blood stained teeth to sink into my flesh. But the bite never came.

I’m not really sure what happened next, but just as decomposing arms and hands and black decaying fingernails were reaching in through the broken windows, the roof of the car began disintegrating. The infected were being ripped apart; they were exploding. Something was tearing through the Range Rover. Bullets maybe, I thought.

It was a constant barrage. The noise was so loud; I had to put my hands over my ears.

I curled into a ball and covered my head with my arms to protect myself from flying glass and shrapnel, completely helpless as to what was happening.

A few seconds later the onslaught had stopped as suddenly as it had started. I was frozen from fear, shell shocked.

Someone opened my door. Well, actually it was more like they ripped the door off its hinges. I initially thought I was concussed, or maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I was dead. I don’t know why I thought that. But standing there, helping me out of the wreckage, was Kenji.