Whether the soldier froze, or if his gun had simply jammed, it allowed the first fast zombie to barrel into the group of soldiers that were running to the first aid tent.

Their screams and yells carried to us as the second fast zombie ran towards us. It’s mouth was open, and from it rose a dry scratched roar.

We had not been disarmed, thank god, and in truth I did not know where in this hemmed in enclosure we could have run to. The fenced in area from the first aid tent to the station was one straight linear line. I braced for the impact as myself and Mina stepped back until we had our backs up against the first aid station.

There was no sensation of time slowing down. From my perspective it’s surge towards us was very much in real time and I raised my screwdriver and hammer to my sides and struck out with my screwdriver at the last moment before impact.

I had aimed upwards with this weapon. The screwdriver successfully pierced through the jaw, but it’s angle was too shallow. As the momentum of the collision bowled us both over I could see that the zombie was still very much animated, and that the tip of the screwdriver had exited back through the top of its nose instead of forward into the brain. It’s mouth could barely open as the screwdriver had impaled through both upper and lower palette. It’s face was a mere inch from mine and I panicked.

I was knocked to the floor, and with my backpack on I floundered like a rolled tortoise while this undead creature clawed at me with a barely audible croak now rising from its locked up mouth.

It’s hands scrabbled at me in a frenzy and I tried to hold it off me while I kicked out with my legs trying to right myself in order to give myself any chance of fighting back.

Mina had been knocked over in the collision too, but without the weight of the zombie on her she was able to get back to her feet. I turned my head away from this creature as I could see saliva hanging from its pursed lips while it continued to squirm and wrangle its way further on to me.

I could see Mina stand, and turn back to us. I was not sure whether she would flee and run, or come to my aid. Initially I am not sure whether she knew either as there was a moment where she looked around and I could see a resigned look of hopelessness spread across her face.

She looked back at me. She could not have known that the zombies mouth was sealed shut, but in that moment where our eyes made contact it seemed to break her spell of indecision and I saw her raise her screwdriver, approach, and plunge it into the back of the zombies skull.

It was killed instantly and I immediately could feel it become a dead weight on top of me. Once again I began to kick out with my legs in order to both get this thing off me, and right myself. Mina braced herself and pushed at it too. With our combined efforts the creature rolled off of me and finally I was able to move myself back into a position from where I could scramble back to my feet.

As I stood the sounds around me roared back into my thoughts. The yells, screams, groans and gunshots formed a wall of noise. Myself and Mina edged back around the first aid station away from the scene of chaos at the first aid tent where the soldiers were embraced in deadly hand to hand combat with the zombies emerging from the tent.

And as I watched I could see the soldiers weaken and succumb to the appalling injuries received under the onslaught of a relentless enemy that knew neither pain nor fear, and was driven by an insatiable hunger.