Initial Outbreak
Sirens screech throughout the city blocks. Abandoned cars packed to the brim with supplies litter the streets. Smoke billows up over the buildings in every direction.
Tonight, the world is at a standstill, and a permanent silence ensues.
"Keep climbing," the man commands from behind me.
I hadn't realized that I stopped.
I look back up at my hands wrapped around the bars of the fire escape, and reach my right hand out for the next rung.
As I climb further towards the sky, I begin to feel heavy.
Jagged, rusted patches from the ladder's rungs painfully dig into the palms of my hands. Bands of sweat roll down my arms and back. Every inch of my body is an aching mess.
It has only been about six minutes since we started, but the weight of today's events makes my body feel almost paralyzed.
I can feel the eyes boring into the back of my head.
"Hey kid, we don't have all day. The National Guard should be here any minute. We need get as high up as possible for them to see us," he says.
I look down at his face. His forehead is creased in frustration, but his eyes can't conceal his worry and fear.
"Ok," I reply.
A short distance away a loud crash reverberates through the alleyway. The bars shake in protest, but remain sturdy.
I look to down and to the right. Smoke filters through the alley's entrance.
A shadow stumbles through the smoke. As it draws near, slight moans become audible.
The shadow emerges from the smoke. A woman, no older then twenty-five, now stands to the right of us. The left side of her face has been smashed inward. There is a hole in her stomach encrusted with dried blood where her intestines had been before being ripped out. She continues shambling towards us.
I look back up at my shaking hands and continue to climb. The heaviness I felt earlier subsides as adrenaline surges into my limbs.
Finally, my hand takes hold of the building's ledge.
When I'm about to pull my body up over ledge, I hear a moan. I immediately retreat a few rungs back down the ladder.
Loudly, the man asks, "What the hell do you think you're doing, kid?"
"They're on the roof," I whisper.
"I haven't heard a damn thing the entire time we've been climbing. I think you're losing it," he replies.
I stare blankly at the night sky. Gasoline invades my nostrils. The earlier crash must have been a car.
"That's it. I've had enough of dealing with your sorry ass. I'm getting up onto that roof. Stay here for the rest of your life, for all I care," he says as he begins climbing over me.
I grab hold of his pant leg, "Wait! If you go up there you'll die."
"Get off me," he yells. He kicks my hand.
I stumble for a moment as I fight to keep my balance.
A scream erupts from above.
I whip my head up just in time to see the man being pulled over the roof's ledge by several pairs of hands. His legs are a frenzy of kicks. A chorus of moans accompanies the man's scream.
Tearing noises ensue from above.
The man's mangled lower half falls over the ledge and plummets to the ground. A sickening crunching noise rings through the alley. The screaming has stopped.
Tears stream down my cheeks. I put a hand over my mouth to muffle my heavy breathing.
I hang there shaking for what feels like hours. The shock of the day's events makes me oblivious to what is going on in the world around me.
When I finally regain my sense of the world, I hear it. The sounds of moans have turned into an impenetrable wall.
On the ground below the ladder is a horde of the dead. Their lifeless eyes look into mine as they claw at the air.
One pair of eyes stands out from the rest, the woman from earlier. She stands at the very bottom of the ladder. The look on her face is begging me to come to her. I can't look away.
This is when I make the decision.
I climb up a few more rungs on the ladder, angle my body, and let go.