Clara.“Hey guys.” Wheelers voice dragged me from my dream into reality, my body coming to alert on what was fast becoming instinct, it took me a moment to remember that I was at the compound, in Jake's bed and that we were safe. Somewhat.My attention focused on our team leader as I clutched the blanket to my chest and tried hard to ignore the feeling of Jake's warm body behind me. “Our shift starts in twenty, we're in D block.” He stated with a slight shake of his head before retreating out of the room.I looked to Jake, not knowing what to think. Sleep still fogged my brain as I tried to process everything. I felt content, happy, relaxed but there was something niggling at the back of my mind that just wouldn't go away some worry that I couldn't identify.“Come here.” He suggested instead, his warm hand on my waist tugging me into him and I relaxed back on the cot sighing

  Clara. The rest of our shift guarding D block had been exhausting, emotionally more than physically as we spent hour after hour answering the same questions but not really having an answer to give. The team refrained from idle chit chat, barely speaking at all unless it was to try and calm the fears of one resident or another but Jakes silent presence by my side was more reassuring than any words could have been, he was my rock, my shoulder to lean on and that fact had a small smile building inside me, even given the circumstances.I had resigned myself to the fact that this would never happen, that we would never share comforting looks or the slight brush of a hand on my back, that I would never get to see him relaxed and carefree but the reality of our relationship was better than anything I had imagined.We had escorted the kitchen staff to their work posts after change over in D block and left for our six hours o

  ClaraThe room hummed with nervous energy while we waited for Jake to return with the Leaders everyone once again on high alert now that we knew there actually was a way for the infected to breach our walls, the impenetrable compound no longer seemed so safe.A shuffling of bodies shifted to reveal the grim faces of our leaders, each one looking tired and haggard, as though none of them had slept in a week and I contemplated that just maybe they hadn't.“Mr Jones said that you found something?” Jade questioned.“Yes, there are sewer tunnels running directly under the compound, the closest point of impact would be D block showers, none of the other tunnels are large enough to fit bodies. The tunnels run in either direction and fork off to four surrounding towns then carry on to the towns after that. They could literally enter these tunnels from anywhere and sneak up on us at any moment and we w

  Clara.The noise in D block had settled considerably since the residents had calmed down, Peters Trundle and I spent close to an hour answering questions as best we could before they gave up and settled into their temporary housing, my parents were sharing a cell with an elderly woman by the name Bridie when I finally got around to speaking with them.“I cant believe that you are okay with that, with dealing with that every day.” Mum muttered glancing out the cell door towards the ground where the dead were still making a racket as they tried in vain to climb towards the higher levels.“It's my job Mum.” I state not knowing what else to say, this job, my job wasn't for everyone, I had known that before I signed up but more so now that I was an active soldier and had been out in the world, I still saw visions of my fist kill behind my closed eyelids, dreamt about the horrors in the world. I hid

  ClaraI wiped the tears from my cheeks and followed Jake out onto the landing. He was right, there was work to do. I hadn't known Wheeler all that well but still my heart hurt knowing that I wouldn't get to see him again, and my heart hurt for Jake too, the look on his face when Porter screamed just about ripped me in two, he had been close with the team leader I knew that, hell he was close with all his team mates. He pushed his back straight and walked across the landing towards a guy I didn't recognise, he hadn't been with us earlier.A glance around the room let me know that the fighting here was over, the dead were nothing more than heaped bodies on the ground and the first floor landing was filled with soldiers. I spotted the chief across the landing and I sighed, at least he wasn't harmed, the last thing we needed right now was for one of our leaders to fall. Which briefly had me thinking about the other leaders and w