His heart had seemingly frozen for the ten seconds he waited, every one dragging on for an eternity. But, though he banged it once or twice more, there was no answer. This left Leon a little exposed in a hallway whilst the zombies prowled onto the floor.<br/><br/>It only took another two seconds for the first of the enterprising group to spot him. The thing’s yellowing eyes seemed to grow brighter as its distended jaw rasped something.<em>Probably it’s joy at finding food</em>, Leon mused. The zombie seemed to be a big eater in its past life, it’s bloated greying form taking up a large part of the corridor.<em>Old habits.</em>Though in a way this was a positive, for he could see the rest of the pack clawing at the leader, trying to get around. They weren’t the most coordinated punch these ones.<br/><br/>Leon was on tenterhooks, caught between flight and fight. Faced with fear, his knuckles were white on the baseball bat. As it came to within steps of him, something clicked inside and without thinking his arms swung. His lean muscles obeying with relish, imparting quite a force into ol’ Slugger, which contacted into the fat zombies head with a sickening and resounding<em>Crack!</em><br/><br/>The thing instantly fell sideways into another companion, pinning them to the wall whilst yet another stumbled over its immense frame. Leon momentarily marvelled at his swing, before he brought the bat up again for an overhead strike at another zombie.<em>Crack!</em>It buckled to the ground, he had managed to split it’s skull open.<br/><br/>Disgusted but wired, Leon weighed his options. And having incapacitated the two and held up the rest, he turned tail and ran. Back the way he came, back down the other stairwell. His car was parked around the back of the building. He hadn’t remembered seeing zombies around there earlier. He could only hope that this was still the case.<br/><br/>As Leon burst through the fire escape he found himself in an empty alley, though the drone of the living dead could still be heard nearby. And there it was, his precious Volkswagen Golf GTi (http://www.carpages.co.uk/volkswagen/volkswagen_images/volkswagen_golf_gti_20_07_05.jpg) sat unmolested, save the one zombie that seemed to be walking it in circles.<em>Only one!</em>His spirits lifting he sprinted for the car. Taking the zombie by surprise he used his momentum to deliver a flying swipe at its head, splaying it across the bonnet before it slid down and crumpled in a pile.<br/><br/>“Oh man you<em>had</em>to get blood on my car didn’t you?!” he yelled at the ‘dead’ corpse. Realising the stupidity in yelling at this moment, he quickly unlocked the car, threw his stuff in the back, stowed his bat in passengers seat. He was on the verge of gunning the engine when he saw on a street not far in front of him, a purple car zipping past.<em>A survivor!</em>He wasn’t as alone as he had thought he was. With not a moment to spare he accelerated off in pursuit.<br/><br/>Though he never quite caught up, he did catch glimpse of it now and then; turning a corner, its lights in the distance. Leon didn’t think he or she had noticed him, wouldn’t it have stopped? At times he was merely guessing the way it had went.<br/><br/>After a while he figured he had lost it. A panic almost stole over him now. What would he do? Where would he go? Aimlessly following the roads, he figured that going north would be the best idea. Maybe he could outrun the infection to somewhere safer? It was just as he was about to pull up his map book that he found him, or rather, them.<br/><br/>He saw the outlines of two cars parked in front of a battered, old-fashioned road cafe. “The Joker,” he whispered to himself as he slowed his approach, hoping not to startle anyone, “sounds like a great place in a time like this. Laughter’s the best medicine right?”<br/><br/>He got out cautiously, acutely aware of the eerie silence this far out of town. He reached back into the car for his things and, gripping the baseball bat tightly, walked towards the door that hung ajar. He decided against calling out, in case the zombies had already got this far and the car-owners had already, ‘changed sides’ so to speak. Creeping up, he peaked through the door and found inside two people. A lady, rather dressed-down for the occasion, leant on the counter talking to another man around his age.<br/><br/>With no more ceremony, he pushed the door open slightly and cleared his throat. “Uhm hi... didn’t mean to surprise you,” he called out, feeling slightly awkward despite the situation. Maybe he should’ve knocked? “I’m Leon. So is this a hideout? Mind if I join you? I can make a good coffee and there’s a bit too much ‘Zombie flick’ going on here for my liking,” he added with a wry smile, leaning on the doorframe as he waited on their answer.