The soldiers manning the barricades opened fire on targets they identified. We were facing away from them and quickly span around and joined them on the barricade. Down the road came a group of six zombies moving quickly. The soldiers didn’t hesitate and after marking targets, opened fire. The zombies never even got close to the barricade.

I went out to check the corpses. Inspecting the bodies, I realised that the fresh kills amongst the civilians had risen like earlier. This was another terrible portent on a terrible day. I returned to the barricades and informed Greco of what I had seen. I wondered where they had been killed and how long ago.

The sun was now high in the sky and beating down on us. To say that I was uncomfortable in the armour that I was in was an understatement. I used this quiet time to open my armour up more to let the heat out. It helped a little but not much.

Greco had binoculars out and was looking up the road.

“The zone has just passed the road overpass.” She told us.

“We have more trouble soon, then.” I said, zipping my armour backup. She nods to that.

“I expect we will be pulled back at any moment.” Gregson added.

“I expect we will be….” Greco stopped mid-sentence, suddenly listening to the radio.

It was clear that something was happening as in the distance, we could hear repeated explosions off to the east. I could make out several helicopters in that direction quickly. Greco snapped orders to the soldiers and they tensed up.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“The units at the southern end of Mont’s Acro are being overwhelmed by a horde. Undead and different types of creatures have been spotted.” She told us. “We’ve been ordered to hold here as long as we can and retreat along the road.”

“Okay, how is this going to affect us?” I ask.

“This is how.” She showed me her map. “This is where the collapse is taking place and this road bridge here crosses the Aniene is still up. The last civilians are crossing it and it’s the main escape route for the military units there. If the horde can cross it, they will be able to sweep through this area of the city and we were trapped against the park.”

Gregson and I both looked at the map and saw the danger as she pointed it out. I noticed a large number of X marks on other bridges. I realise that that meant that they had already been taken down.

Greco was again listening to the radio. Several jets flew overhead at low altitudes, which surprised us. Or heading east. The tempo of explosions increased dramatically.

I cannot lie to myself. A big part of me was glad I was not over there. It sounded like a full-scale war was being waged.

I pulled out my pistol. I checked the weapon to ensure I was ready and the safety was off. Many of the soldiers were checking various weapons and equipment they had. Gregson was included in that.

His sat phone went off suddenly and he moved away to answer it. Greco was focused on her map and listening to the radio. As I had nothing else to do, I scanned around the area. For the moment, it was quiet.

That weird feeling I had earlier returned. That chill up and down my spine. I stopped wondering what it was earlier and stopped thinking about it. Now it was back. I was concerned. I looked around, acting as calmly as I could.

That was until, at the corner of my eye, I spotted movement in the treeline. I wasn’t sure, so I calmly turned my head in that direction. The movement I thought I noticed was again from behind us.

I was unsure if I saw something and Gregson was the closest to where I saw the movement. I try to walk over to him as casually as possible. He looked at me from his call and frowned. He was wondering what I was doing from my body language.

I lifted my shield and placed my gun along the edge. He realised that I was preparing to engage something behind him. I began walking forward towards me in a similar slow manner as I approached him.

As we met, another tiger-like creature left from the trees charging towards us.

God, it was fast!

I quickly pointed my Glock at it and squeezed the trigger. I didn’t stop with the first shot sending another two in his direction. The first two missed, but the third scored a hit.

It slowed the creature enough for the soldier facing south to swing his rifle around and join in firing on it. Several more bullets impacted it and Gregson quickly joined in as well.

I didn’t fire again as my pistol can compete with two assault rifles in terms of damage. The creature quickly fell to the fire directed at it.

Both men stopped firing but kept their rifles aimed at the creature. I moved over to check it. It was dead.

“Dead!” I called back to confirm its status. I returned to the rest.

“Christ! That was close. Thanks, John.” Gregson said to me.

“No problem. We were lucky that I spotted it.” Both of us reloaded. Greco noted what happened but continued to listen to the radio.

“The call was from command. I found out that we are the easternmost of the British operatives. The rest are all the West in the old city.” He told me. I nod to this. I don’t say anything because there’s nothing I can say.

“Major Hawk has also arrived in the city with the additional support personnel.”

“Are we being reassigned?”

“No, to continue as we are. But our main evacuation point is the airport we arrived in. If required, I have been informed of a rallying point in the old city.” He told me this, leaning in so we were not overheard.

I thought it was shitty, but I understood. The odds of stopping this were incredibly low. Our command had made sure that we had an evacuation route, as operatives are a highly valued resource.

To the north, the zone edge kept moving forward.

I kept my main intention now to the west and south. The most dangerous attacks had come from this direction. A terrible thought formed in my mind. The park is full of those tiger creatures. If this were true, we would be in an awful position. I walked over to Greco and indicated for her attention.

“We need to move soon.” I was stating the obvious but had to ensure we were ready. Before I could explain why. Suddenly one of the soldiers called out and pointed north. The zone boundary was still expanding and much closer now.

“Time to go!” I said and Greco got her men moving. Two of the soldiers try to carry the body of their recently killed comrade. But they were soon forced to abandon him and join us as we withdrew.

The zone edge was still some distance from us but was rapidly approaching. It would have reached us within minutes if we had remained where we were. Even moving down the roadway away from the edge, it was still advancing on us. I pulled my axe out of my belt and held it in my right hand along with my shield strap. I lowered my faceplate and made sure that my pistol was in my left hand.

Greco quickly organised us into two groups. Once the guards while the other moved to a new position further back. Leapfrogging like this, we were moved down the road. We dodged the abandoned civilian vehicles and a few military ones on the road. We checked them to see if they still worked, but we found none.

Adding to the stress that we were moving along was that danger could come from any direction now. As well as looking at the zone edge, we scanned the trees and vegetation along the road.

We fell back down the road with no engagements. We all knew that this would last and only added to the tension we were feeling. We continued down the road until we reached a large junction where several routes came together.

“Zombies, right!” Gregson called out behind me. I turned to my right and identified the threats. I turned the counter and charged as they ran up the road.

I did not run at full speed but with a steady gait. This allowed me to line up the pistol along my shield edge again as a brace. And when they got close enough, I stopped and began firing.

I fired three rounds and took down two zombies before I dropped the pistol and grabbed my axe. I was able to brace before the first one collided with me.

Grave chill flooded through my body and mind. I was suddenly not so hot anymore, but this was not how I wanted to get cool. This was adding to the bout I had already experienced.

The shock of the impact ran up my arm into my shoulder. I stood firm. The only bounced back but soon was on the attack again.

The zombie in front of me was a female one. A lot shorter than I was, I had to drop my shield a little to address the height difference. This didn’t stop the ferocity of the attack, however. My right arm was feeling the impacts through the shield.

Shots rang out around me, but I was focused on what was in front of me. I was still braced, looking for an opportunity to hit back. Then I saw it and struck.

My axe only clipped the side of the zombie’s head. This didn’t stop its attacks and I was forced to use my shield as a blunt instrument smashing it forward.

This gave me another opportunity. I took it, driving the axe deep into the zombie’s head. Right into the front of the skull, it quickly collapsed and I ripped the axe back.

I looked around and found that the soldiers cared for the others. Another four zombies lay unmoving on the ground. I recovered my pistol.

Looking at the distance between the soldiers and the zombies, I called out to Greco.

“Check your men for grave chill effects.”

She quickly understood what I was concerned about. She quickly spoke to her men to check on them.

“We are clear!” She told me.

Looking to the north, I could see the zone was much closer than I would have liked. The skirmish had allowed it to close the distance. Greco quickly got us moving again. The zone edge was now on our heels.

Greco was talking on her radio as we moved, but it was clear that she was encountering more interference, even on the digital channels.

I didn’t have time to ask what was going on. Another group of zombies emerged from the zone edge. Embracing the pistol again along my shield, I moved forward. I fired four times, taking down two more. The soldiers behind me took out the other six.

We were soon moving again and as we moved, I reloaded. So did the others around me. I had a slight ache in my right arm and shoulder from the earlier impact. Adding this to the shock from the bombing and grave chill, I was not having a good day.

We could hear increased weapons fire and screams to the east in the built-up housing area. It seemed that all civilians had been evacuated. I could see the zone above the buildings and noticed something odd. I looked to the west to confirm what I was seeing.

“Greco! The zone is expanding faster to the east than the west!” I pointed out to her.

“Command just notified me. We are abandoning the east of the city. The cordon we were trying to set up has just collapsed.” She told Gregson and me. I knew that some of the soldiers also understood.

We were losing the city.

A roar followed by screams of pain dragged my attention back to the west.

As we left the junction passing the Piazza di Priscilla, a Tiger creature leapt on the soldier nearest the tree line to the west. He was quickly savaged before the others could gun down the beast. We were forced to leave his body now as well. The other member of the squad found it challenging, but they scavenged what they could from his body.

Part of me was becoming disturbed at how easy it was becoming to see the wrecks of what were once men and women. Once when I first started, the sight of that mangled body would have had me throwing up. I was becoming desensitised to death. This worried part of me.

Gregson was standing next to me now. His face was set with determination.

“Any word from command?” I asked.

“No. But we are the furthest east of all UK operatives, as you know, so there is not much they can offer.” He told me.

“Why am I not surprised?” And the sad truth was I wasn’t.

I took a deep breath listening to the voice in the back of my mind telling me that this would be my last day.