Bury Me Not

"We..." Mama began, "Have to climb up that ladder?"

"I think so. The windows look like their boarded up," Roman said slowly but his voice was strong and sounded not afraid. Lexi always thought of him as fucking crazy so of course he wouldn't be scared or anything. He was living through one of those silly games he used to play on the TV.

The hotel was a big white building but looked scarily omminous from the dark of the night but what made it seem somewhat safe was the few lights on that could be seen through some of the windows. Lexi could see a few people holding onto the ladder from one of the balconies and a few cars parked in front of the hotel, but there were tiny clusters of zombies surrounding them. When they saw the headlights of the van spotlight them, they ran to the van.

"Shitshitshit," Roman said, looking at them. They were surrounded by the bloody, thisty, hungry beasts. They smacked at the windows, smudging the class with their grimy fingers and their moans could be heard through the windows. The van shook with the comotion going around them. Roman looked angrier than anything and Lexi could see the craziness in his eyes. Eli was looking around, scared as hell and Mama. Oh, Mama.

She was trying to hold on a strong front but she could see the tears welling up in her ghostly eyes and her hands were clutched onto her white Bible, her knuckles blending in.

Roman stepped on the gas and Lexi flew back from her spot between the driver and passenger's seat, smashing into a box that had contained their lone duffel bag with their few supplies, and she flew back into the back doors, slamming her head into the handle. Her eyes began to water and she cracked the same spot on the handel again as the wheels traveled over something bulky... bodies of the zombies that Roman must have ran over.

Eli grabbed onto his shotgun and opened the window a crack, shifting the nose of the gun into the open crack and taking aim as best as he could into the cluster. Lexi did the same and didn't really flinch as she heard the blast of her little brother's gun shooting and rattling sourly against the glass and the top of the window sil.

Lexi couldn't aim as perfectly with the nose of her gun through the tiny crack of the window, but she just aimed and fired. She cought one of the zombies square in the chest and it fell, scrabbling at the dark pavement with its unearthly white fingers. She cought another at the side of the neck and the zombie's neck fell to one side as it did, the neck hanging by thick sinews of muscle and veins.

Roman skidded the van to a halt under the ladder. Lexi peeked from her window, light from the quater moon shining in her eyes. Shadows of a few people standing on the 2nd floor balcony could be seen and they were motioning with crazy hands for them to hurry up and to climb.

"Mama. Go!" Roman said, grabbing her hand. Mama looked at him strangely, as if she had just noticed him before, for the first time. She was scared now, the tears dripping slowly from her eyes in big fat drops, her stringy hair flying around her like a halo as Roman began to roll down the window.

"You have to climb, Mama," Roman said, squeezing her hand again. He took the bible from her other hand and said, "I'll bring it to you, I swear."

Mama's eyes were wide with freight and Lexi tried not to glance her way as she began to climb out of the window. Roman grabbed his shotgun and pointed it out of the passenger window and started blasting the heads off the zombies that were close to their mother. Mama climbed atop of the car, Lexi could see from her window and grabbed onto the ladder and began to climb, nervously. She felt scared, as if something would happen to her, or one of them. Something horrible.

"Eli, go," Roman said, pushing him up from the back of the car. Without question, he struggled out of the window, shotgun still in his arms not wanting to leave it behind, he climbed on top of the roof. Lexi glanced up at the ladder as she reloaded her shotgun and grabbed their duffel bag. Mama was up on the balcony, looking over at the van and her youngest child begining to climb.

Lexi grabbed the bible from Roman, a feeling of dread comming into her stomach and her stomach felt as though she had a cramp. It was the worst cramp she had ever felt in her life.

"It's your turn Lexi," Roman said, pulling at her arm to help her over the seats. Lexi didn't complied helplessly and let him pull her over and she settled herself onto the window sil.

"Just do it," Roman said, not showing a bit of emotion to his only baby sister. Lexi nodded though, used to it, used to her brother's strong, solider like attitude. She pulled herself up atop the van's roof, the metal of the car's frame slippery against her sweating fingers. She noticed that her shirt was stuck to her, she was drenched in sweat. She stood up on the van's roof, the metal bowing just a bit under her feet.

She grabbed onto the metal ladder rungs and began to pull herself up, slowly but surely. Lexi glanced up at the people looking down at her. They were sweaty and as anxious as she was, hopeful too. They were helping more people, she thought, so they were glad. She pulled herself up another few rungs, the duffel bag strap slightly slipping down her damp shoulder. She let go for a moment to pull it up and she glanced down.

They always told you to not look down...

A zombie had grabbed onto Roman's foot as he began his climb of the roof top, pulling on his boot. Roman looked and began kicking wildly at it, kicking it in the face. The zombie fell back slightly but lunged at the leg now. She could see it grab hold of her elder brother's leg with both hands and sink its teeth through the material of the pants and into the muscled flesh. Roman screamed like she had never heard him scream before.

He slipped from the window sil and fell face first into the hoard the zombies collecting around him and his captor. Lexi stopped, hand that had clutched the strap of the duffel bag fell to her side, the ladder swaying in the bathwater warm wind of the night.

The wind felt cruel and harsh to her damp skin.

She watched the zombies pull at her brother's skin and limbs, ripping him apart.

Lexi lost her footing on the ladder rung and she slipped, the world falling from under her.

She grabbed at the rungs as fast as she could. The weight of her body pulled devilishly at her arm, she almost thought her arm would be ripped right from it's socket.

Lexi screamed, the ladder swaying dangerously. She grabbed onto the ladder rung that was closest before her duffel bag hanging on her shoulder fell. She relished in the feeling of holding onto the ladder but was shaken when she heard a girl's voice:

"Come on! Hurry! I can help you! Climb!"

Lexi looked up to a see a golden haired girl holding her arm out from above, her eyes flashing with passion. Lexi knew she had to get to this girl.

She pulled herself up the rungs, rung by rung, climbing as fast as she could, feeling almost as though the zombies were chasing after her insted of being some feet below, waving their hands in the air, trying to reach her.

When she made it to the balcony, the girl grabbed onto her hand and helped pull her up. When she got her feet onto the cement of the floor of the balcony, her legs swayed from under her, glad to be back on actual ground and safe. Before she could blink or even say a world, Mama and Eli had her in a big bear hug, sobs filling her ears. She felt hollow inside.

Author's Note: Rest In Peace Tammy Faye Messner. I know you won't be suffering anymore and you'll never be in pain again, you're in such a better place now.

And I guess on that depressive note... I had major back surgery on October 24th 2006 for cure my scoliosis and kyphosis with instrumentation (aka titanium rods, 4 feet of it with plenty of screws) and was out of school in just absolute pain for 2 and a half months. Well. I have to have the surgery preformed all over again to cure the rapidly growing scoliosis in my lower back. Yep. What a life.

Just keep positive I guess. :[