[center][h1][u]Chapter One[/u][/h1][/center]

[center][h1]Quarantine[/h1][/center]

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/tt2ILJy.jpg?1[/img][/center]

[u][center][i]A few blocks away from Three Towers.[/i][/center][/u]

[b]Erik Wright[/b]

"There's too many of them!" 

"Put them down! Put them down!" 

"I'm out, I'm fucking out!" 

The line of police cruisers, parked haphazardly across Gwen street, was alive with gunfire and panicked screams. S.W.A.T personnel and officers alike were manning their impromptu barricade as if it was the wall of a medieval castle, running this way and that, barking commands, firing off their weapons and pushing back any of the infected that got near them. 

They'd done a good job, and had stood much longer than any two-bit National Guard formation would have done. They were all that was left of their precinct, and had been prescribed suicide orders by some National Guard ass hole ten miles away in the Safe Zone. They were to hold the main junction, where Gwen passed over into Evey, and where drone imaging had shown a build up these [i]things[/i] moving south. 

It had been an hour of chaotic battle - the healthy few facing off against the countless sick. The police had taken few losses, but each felled was a known friend; and there was only one way to deal with a friend afflicted by this disease: A clean shot to the brain.

The sick had piled up against the crooked line of police cruisers, trying to climb over them only to be driven back by a fresh wave of hot lead. The police were taking no prisoners, knowing all too well by this point what they were really up against. They cursed, fired, hit and stabbed at anything that tried to grab hold of them, but it was only a matter of time. 

"Wright!" Chief Hornby roared, discharging his 12-gauge at the mangled face of what was once a young woman. Brain fragments splatted him, and he winced briefly. "Wright, where the fuck are you?" 

Sergeant Erik Wright appeared from the chaos. 

"We're bugging out of here, sergeant," the Chief said, shoving more shells into his weapon. "We're low on ammo, and these fuckers are about to swarm over us. Let the Guard take care of this, I'm not losing any more good men to whatever .... to whatever this is!" 

Right on cue, the crowd of infected on the other side of the cruisers reached its critical mass, and one of the vehicles on the far left was pushed steadily to one side - even as three S.W.A.Ts unloaded onto that particular part of the crowd with their submachine guns. The infected stumbled through the gap, grabbing hold of anyone that was too stupid or too petrified to move. The defenders rounded on this breach, unleashing a devastating volley onto the rapidly expanding bulge of sick people. Some fell, others staggered, but most continued as if the bullets meant nothing to them. 

The defenders didn't need the Chief to tell them what was what. They fled, jumping in the squad cars that had been parked further back for just such an occasion. 

"Sergeant," the Chief yelled, his face red with exertion. He pointed at the nearest cruiser. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" 

[b]Erik butted away an infected, and made his way to the cruiser, ignoring the screams of his dying comrades who were not fortunate enough to escape.[/b] Chief Hornby wrenched open the passenger side door and threw himself in. 

"Drive, damnit, drive!"