99

In the center of the room, the group of survivors has re-assembled. Heavy footsteps from the Gathering draw everyone's attention to the archway. Emma and Tom run into the Sanctuary.

"Raiders tried to break in from the side of the Cathedral. They dug through one of the sealed off areas and broke through a gate. We caught them before they got all the way inside, " Tom says.

Mindy fills in Tom on the events in the Sanctuary. Her voice is ragged and shaky while she describes the explosions and the raiders attacking from outside. She looks around nervously, as if disoriented by the stress of the situation. Tom places his hand on her shoulder and tells her to take a seat.

From outside, a long, resonant wail calls above the clamour at the doors. Though it sounds like zombies, the intensity and powerfulness of the moan is overwhelming. Everyone is silent as the ear-piercing noise cries out. The banging of the raiders at the front gate has even stopped.

You and Tom rush up the catwalk and peer out of the broken remnants of the large stained-glass window over the main doors. First, you spot the raiders who are all standing still at the Cathedral steps, bodies turned to the main road. Your gaze shifts there as well, where an immense crowd of zombies shambles over the countryside toward all of you. Dozens and dozens of the infected pour out of the forest, heading straight toward the front of the Cathedral. It is more zombies in one pack than you have ever seen before.