Together they repaired the fence, the familiar din of the mallets thankfully drowning out the perennial tinnitus. They had almost reattached the last splintered section when Lewis asked if Mackenzie had heard something.

Immediately she dropped the mallet, hands automatically finding the familiar leather grip of the spear, yanking it from where she had thrust it vertically into the withered grass. She perked up her ears for any extant sound but all she could hear was that godforsaken [i]eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee[/i], and the silence of the deserted street. "I didn't hear anything, but the way my hearing's gone that doesn't mean much. What was it?" she asked, speaking in a low voice. It wouldn't be zombies in the daytime... raiders? Some new abomination created by the virus? She took a few steps back from the fence, cursing herself for giving up on martial arts all those years ago.