The city of London looked beautiful, especially from the view on top of the 30 St. Mary axe, yes the oval shaped skyscraper. Even after two years of no care or cleaning, the architecture of the city was astounding. From up here I could see everything, Buckingham palace, the river Thames, the tower of London, I felt like a goddess viewing the land from my perch in the sky. I heard the sound of a struggling 14 year old, more specifically my best friend Will, trying to ascend the long rope ladder up to the roof. When he finally reached the top, I could tell he wasn't happy. His dark brown eyes seemed to stare straight through me, his Auburn hair flowing in the wind.
"Bell! What were you thinking, coming up here when there a raging storm just a few miles off."
He was right, just off to the west, a collection of dark menacing storm clouds were forming. The faint sound of thunder was present in the air. Will has always been a little over concerned about everything. I still have no idea how we became best friends, he is always careful, I'm a bit reckless, he was the smartest kid in our class, I nearly had to repeat the 6th grade. I guess its works a bit like magnets, you know, opposites attract. Well, we have been together ever since we were born back in the states. Will's parents were one of the first to die of the disease, my family, being lifelong friends to his, let him stay with us until he finished his7th grade year, so he wasn't shipped off to his aunt and uncles house in Kansas. How we ended up in London you ask, well we were on our annual Christmas vacation visiting my Grammy in London; it's a shame we were still here when the full force of the disease hit, inhibited to return to the good old U.S. of A.
"Be there in a second," I yelled back to Will.
At this point, the first few rain drops were staring to trickle down my face. I could tell winter was upon us, there was a cool nip in the air. I always hated the cold; I preferred the warm weather of southern Florida. I sat still for a bit longer, letting the rain drops slowly wipe of the dirt and grime off my face. Eventually is stood up, making sure I didn't slip on the now wet panels of glass and climbed down the rope into the top floor bar. Will was standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
"Please use some common sense before doing something that stupid next time!" he yelled. "I can't even imagine what would happen if you fall."
"I won't fall, I made the rope was secure around my waist and tied correctly to the roof, "I muttered, a clear annoyed expression in my voice. "I take a lot more precautions than you think.
"I know it's just… It's a scary thought, loosing you and having to lead these kids back to safety by myself, I don't know if I would be able to do it."
I wouldn't call myself the leader of our little rag tag group of kids, I'm no hands down the best fighter, and the rest of my group seems to look up to me, but without some guidance from Will, I wouldn't be surprised if we got gobbled on by some adults in the past two months. We were originally a part of a bigger group, about the twice the size of our seven man team now. We came from the Homestead, well that's what we call it, it's pretty much just a giant store that we transformed into our base. We had a good life there, around seventy kids, plenty of food, but we were fairly lonely. Josh, the kid that organizes everything there, decided it would be a good idea if we sent out a scouting party to try to find other groups of survivors. Where we come from, not many diseased folk are left; we were totally unprepared for what awaited us in the rest of the city. Just a few hours after we left, we were ambush. We were unprepared; four of our best fighters were killed before they could get out their weapons. In the confusion, we got split up. Most of the group followed Will and I, have no idea what happened to the rest of them, probably tracked down and killed. We were lucky though, found a nice stockpile of food in sn old office building, found the tallest building around and started to climb, we figured the adults had no business being so high up, that why we settled on the top floors of the 30 St. Mary axe. I strolled into main living area, taking note of our group. Dylan, wearing his ever-present red Beatles shirt, his long black hair tied behind his head. Cindy, her blond hair falling over her face as she paints her nails, she is always making a big deal on how she looks, she was so happy when we came across the beauty section of a high class shop. There was quiet Joseph, reading a book in the back of the room. Minnie was practicing her aim with a crossbow on an old chair, don't let her sweet looks fool you, she's a cold blooded killer. Lastly there was Jake, sitting in and office chair, staring out the window at the streets below us.
"They're nasty little beasts, ain't they? "He was referring to the group of adult fighting over a scrap of meat at the base of the building. "I'd be happy if I could just go down there and show them a lesson."
"Leave them alone, "uttered Cindy. "No need to get into a scrap when we can avoid it."
"C'mon, I just smash a few of their skulls in, show 'em who the best fighter in London is."
"You?" Minnie intervened with laugh.
"You sayin' I ain't? " Jake replied, bolting up from his seat. "Want me to prove it!"
"No need," Minnie continued as she reloaded another arrow. "You sure proved it to me when we got into that scuffle a few weeks back, showed them savages, they nearly died of fear from you run away tactic. Took Bell nearly half an hour to calm you down."
"They caught me off guard," Jake was now red as Dylan's shirt. "if they came from us head on and I was ready, it woulda been a walk in the park."
"Shut it you guys!" I shouted, "We got some serious business to talk about."
"Like what?" questioned Dylan.
"Will and I have been talking… We were thinking about leavin' this place and heading back to the Homestead."
"Finally! I'm sick of being stuck up here," Jake exclaimed as he walked over to grab his homemade spear."
"Not so fast Jake," I returned, "we can't travel in this weather." As if on cue, the sky outside flash followed by a boom that shook the entire building. The adults outside were now completely obscured by the rain. "How about tomorrow, around mid-day, we can make it back to the homestead in about two hours, sound like a plan?"
"Yes!" they all yelled at once, except for Joseph who was still buried deep in his book."
"Get some sleep now, we got a big day tomorrow."
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