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for any signs of life, or lack of it. My eyes scanned the far from empty street, taking in every minuscule detail.
     
    A white van law on its side across the road, missing one of its back wheels. The underside lay exposed for all to see. An arm stuck out from underneath the van, its fist clenched as though the person had tried to stop the van before it hit them, a messy fate.
     
    A wooden baseball bat lay unattended on the floor beside the vehicle, Dave slowly walked over to it and grasped it firmly in his hands. Not a very reliable weapon, but it would have to do for the time being.
     
    "Not bad. This place is a mess." Dave uttered, turning the bat over in his hands. As he did, I rummaged around in my bag until my hand found the little butterfly knife I had been keeping there.
     
    "I guess I'll have to use this." I said, flicking the knife open with a single fluid hand motion.
     
    "Niiice, where'd you get that?" Dave exclaimed in surprise as I pulled out the butterfly knife.
     
    "Honestly? I don't remember, I've had it for a couple years now." I replied, playing with the knife in my hand.
     
    That's when I noticed it.
     
    A HGV truck lay on its side across the end of the road, completely blocking the way ahead. Dave's face fell suddenly as though he had fallen into a pit of despair. I then noticed that the second floor window of an office building next to the truck was open and a plank of wood had been placed from the window ledge onto the truck. I nudged Dave and pointed this feature out to him.
     
    "We should be able to get over this thing, just gotta get onto the second floor of that place there." I whispered to him, trying to keep the tone of my voice down to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.
     
    "Yeah, I get it. We just gotta keep the noise down." Dave replied, with a disgruntled tone of voice. He'd come to the same conclusion that I had; the infected were attracted by excessive amounts of noise. He followed up with a quick remark. "Hey, look. If I get infected, put me out of my misery while I'm still me, understood?"
     
    A grim thought, I immediately dismissed any possibility that it may occur. Nodding silently, I thought again about my belief that I would rather be killed than to become one of the infected. But I wasn't sure if I had it in me to kill someone who wasn't infected.
     
    Was I capable of such a thing?
     
    We approached the steel-frame double doors that gave entrance to the abandoned office building. My hand stretched out to try the blood-stained handle.
     
    Locked.
     
    Upon further inspection, I noticed a hole in the glass, where someone had clearly punched through it. Carefully sliding my hind through the jagged hole, I fumbled with the latch on the other side; a satisfying click was heard as I slowly swung the doors open. A sickly stench filled my nostrils.
     
    Death.
     
    "Damn it, they're here.." I muttered to myself, raising my knife slightly as a loud groan echoed through the corridor. The sight of blood-stained flesh, dirty clothes and burnt shoes came into view as an infected staggered into the room, exhaling loudly.
     
    Upon noticing the two of us, it dashed forwards. I swiftly kicked it back and walked forwards, pushing it against the wall. I raised my arm and swung it at the man's head. A dull thud could be heard as the knife in my hand planted deep inside the man's skull. He staggered for a second or two before crashing to the ground into a crumpled heap.
     
    I slowly walked towards the man, giving it a brief tap with my foot to ensure that it was indeed dead before I leant down and yanked the knife out of its head.
     
    "Nice.." Dave grimaced, looking away from the bloody mess as he clenched the handle of the baseball bat a little tighter.
     
    Treading carefully over the heap of cloth and flesh, we headed into a narrow corridor; the interior paintwork was peeling and a wooden staircase leading to the second floor was visible.
     
    There was just one thing blocking the