Snippet #1370854

Chapter 3 - London Burning

Tom knew they were infected before they even got close simply by the way they walked, a sort of hunched over stance with no real rythm or pace. There was around ten of them approaching the packed platform from the outside after probably having climbed over a fence to get there or taking over another station further down the line. He looked around and noticed that the other pedestrians had seen them too and within seconds they were running in the opposite direction owards the exit to street level. This only excited the infected, the 10 distant figures picking up their pace towards their new victims.

Tom stood still, analysing his options before he acted but pulling out his pistol anyway and checking it was loaded. The old man at the gate was struggling to open the gate under the press of terrified people trying to get through it, but ironicaly the second he did a single infected jumped on him and tore him from the ground. He didn't see where the thing had come from and guessed it had probably come down from street level and was waiting for such an opportunity. The effect was instantanious, the old man rising from the ground in mere seconds to drag down a nearby woman holding onto her toddler son while the other infected who looked as though he was until recently a middle aged and physicaly fit business man began tearing into the packed crowd. The ten infected were almost there, with the lone armed policeman on the platform bravely stepping forward and gunning three of them down before he too was tackled and his throat torn out with an agonised gurgling.

Tom had made up his mind. He sprinted towards the tracks, pushing past several terrified people to do so and hopped onto the line. Without a backward glance he began running headlong down into the dark london underground, its dark forboding depths looming ahead infront of him. His chances of survival were now extremely slim, but staying on a platform with an expontential number of infected was simply suicide. After a minute he became vaguely aware that he was not alone and several other form were running closely behind him. Without pausing to think he spun round and put three rounds into the nearest vaguely seen form, its sillouette outlined against the now fairly distant daylight they had left. The person fell to the ground dead and he was about to fire blindly at the one coming up on his left before it was too late.

"Stop! Wait! Not infected!" the person screamed, and Tom released some pressure from the trigger but kept it firmly aimed at where he thought was the persons chest. The one who had spoken turned on a flashlight, brielfy illuminating another two forms standing nearby who did not appear to be infected either, one holding a baseball bat and another with what looked like a double barreled shotgun. "You killed her!" The one with the light said, looking from the reflected illuminations like a young asian male in a chef's outfit. The body on the floor was of a woman in her mid to late thirties, with pale skin and a good body. He had shot her three times in and around the chest so now her lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling, a large automatic pistol clutched in her dead hands. The young man reached down and took it, standing up to glare at Thomas.

"She was one of us, you prick. Her name was Bridg-"

"Don't give a shit. Now turn off the light and run, unless you want those freaks back there to see us" Tom said, not bothering to wait for him to do so and snatching the torch from his hands and pocketing it whilst turning it off in one move. As if they were waitng for thier cue they heard a blood curdling screaming coming from down the line where they cad just been. In the distance there were an indeterminate ammount of forms heading in their direction and undoubtably all infected. Their only chance was to run and hopefully lose them in the long dark of the underground.

"Run" Tom said with a cold calm, and sprinted off into the darkness. He heard the three men following behind not long after...