Leon heard them coming before he saw them. The odd, guttural yowls and moans echoed off the alleys and lanes in and around the streets of his out-of-town, Washington apartment block. It was just luck he was eating noodles on his windowsill and had the perfect view of their shambling, sometimes frantic, sometimes lethargic, approach.<br/><br/>At first he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. It was like something out of a movie. The oddly-postured silhouettes dipping in and out of the yellow streetlight, it might've been some kind of Halloween parade. 'Cept Halloween was more than a month ago. Then he saw how the 'masses' leaped on a shop-owner closing up for the night. They way they tore at him, baying for blood...<em>Or brains</em>, he thought horrified to the point of inaction. He'd actually dropped his plastic cup of dinner, watching it fall towards another group of undead far below. He never saw it hit though, Leon was already inside locking the doors before it reached the ground.<br/><br/>Sliding the bolt shut on his bedroom window he paused, struck by the immense stupidity of his actions. Lock himself in his apartment? At the top of a building whilst the living dead stream into the foyer? If those late night horror movies had taught him one thing, it's that locking yourself inside always turned out badly. So he turned his mind to escape.<br/><br/><em>This is nuts. I'm no survival expert... No Van Damme-Rambo motherfu-</em>The noises that echoed up the stairwells stalled his cynical thinking. He thought he'd heard a scream mingled into the dull moan and shuffling. Leon knew this was do-or-die. He had to move.<br/><br/>Without any self-questioning he picked up his favourite leather sling-bag (http://leathereden.com/images/medium/Postbagtan_MED.jpg) emptying out its contents hurriedly. A small wad of cash and his treasured green iPod the only things he put back in. Next went in the first few shirts he found lying around his bedroom, some jeans, a leather jacket and, with some forethought, a metal flashlight.<em>Almost done</em>, he thought pulling on a grey hoodie (http://www.us.allsaints.com/downloads/Image/product/xlarge/MKJ537-107-1.jpg), some slim, black jeans (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PSI1L9Db3wQ/SRMRO4JCNYI/AAAAAAAAlzg/UO0ge4OKrR8/s400/Mens%2BCrafted%2BBlack%2BSkinny%2BZip%2BJeans.jpg) and hurriedly lacing up his red Chucks (http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/b/0/0/66/9/AAAAC-ercA4AAAAAAGadeA.jpg?v=1250149938000). Jumping his couch before sliding up to the door, Leon paused to check the peep-hole. It told him that at least the one yard outside his door was clear.<em>Good enough</em>.<br/><br/>He looked back, surveying his home. How could he have forgotten?! He dashed back to the window he came in from and pulled out a nicely worn-in Lousiville Slugger (http://www.groomsonline.com/store/graphics/00000001/PER.jpg) from the umbrella rack. There was something awfully fitting about it.<em>Time to go</em>.<br/><br/>Quickly and quietly opening the door, Leon breathed a sigh of relief to find his corridor deserted. With no where else to go he took the closest stairwell down a level and caught a glimpse of a scantily-dressed lady dashing back in her apartment whilst, on the total opposite side of the floor, several corpses crept up the other stair well.<br/><br/>Feeling like he was trapped between a rock and a hard place, Leon rode the wave of fear that swept over him and dashed up to the door which not moments ago slammed shut. The dead had not yet noticed the young man and so, gripping his bat tightly, he pounded on the door, not ever taking his eyes off the threat.<br/><br/><em>Please open...</em>