Summary: We all fall down

Author's note: dun dun dun! I nearly forgot today was an update day. Here you go!

Chapter 9: We All Fall Down

Sherlock shielded his eyes as he stared into the midday light. The constant obnoxious sound of the hungry below had lowered to a dull hum. Looking out, he saw a few stragglers still prowling the streets. "We should go." Sherlock said.

Everyone nodded following after him down the empty hall. "Alright, we need to get to higher ground." Sherlock mumbled. Everyone listened closely even if he wasn't talking to them. His dazed stared told them he was too far into his mind palace to be talking to them. Sherlock pushed a fallen chair out of the way. "I've been in this building before for a case. The roof should be close enough to jump to the next building."

They climbed up the stairs. A plethora of blood stains covered the walls. They stopped in their tracks at the staircase. Several desks and chairs covered the stairs case as a barricade.

John opened the door to the floor slowly. He looked into the closest conference room. Nothing moved. He looked on the wall for the floor number. "This is the fourth floor." he looked at the wall map. "We can get to the fifth floor from staircase A or B. They're down the halls."

Sherlock stared at the map. "Staircase A is closest." Moving past John, Sherlock walked out first. The halls were silent. Nothing moved in any of the rooms. Nothing they could see at least. Sherlock grabbed the staircase A's door handle. "We'll check here first." He opened the door.

Hungry eyes turned on him.

Sherlock slammed the door. "Move." He said pushing John back. The sound of combined fists shook the door frame. They bolted down the hallway.

Anderson made it to the door first. He skid to a stop in front of it. Grabbing the handle, the door knob refused to turn. "It's stuck." He grunted, trying to force it open.

The glass to the nearest conference room shattered and a sick pounced on him. With a sickening crack, the sick stopped in its track. It sank to its knees and Molly pulled the pipe free. Anderson stared, mouth agape. "Molly?"

Molly swung at the next sick. "Shut up and swing." she said. Ripping off the sick's head from the scissors with her foot. She braced herself as the next threw its body at her.

Anderson stiffened but did as he was told. They fought with whatever they could find. Wide, broken toothed mouth bite for them. Chipped fingernails clawed at them. They fought back with everything they had. Lestrade pistol whipped a sick aiming for his neck. "There's too many."

Donovan kicked another back. "Fuck this." she said. She batted a sick back trying to grab her shirt. Turning her head away from the glass, she brought her gun down on the glass of the staircase window. She looked inside quickly before reaching inside and opening the door. She waved her arm flagging everyone down and they ran for their lived.

Tearing up the stairs, the sounds of the sick never silenced. They crescendoed. John threw open the door to the fifth floor. Several sicks from the fifth floor turned their heads.

"Shit!" He slammed the door.

They climbed higher running floor to floor until they'd reached the very top. "This is the last floor." Lestrade said. A sick grabbed his foot and he kicked the hand away. The sick fell back knocking into several others in the sea of infected coming up the stairs. Lestrade's eyes widened when he saw just how many of them there was. He bolted through the door and slammed it behind him. Molly panted looking at the blood on her lab coat. She sighed handing Sherlock back his pipe.

He didn't take it. "You handle it better."

Molly looked at the pipe smiling.

John looked down the hall to the map. "The only way out is up." he said.

Everyone stared at each other. Donovan looked into the next room. The door behind them beat savagely. She kicked the leg of a desk and the leg sundered. Grabbing the new weapon, she tucked her useless gun away. She turned back to see everyone staring at her. "Well? Are we just going to sit here staring at each other for eternity?" she pushed past them. Sherlock smirked as Molly followed after her quickly.

John looked back at the door. "How long do you think it'll hold?"

"It won't." Sherlock said.

Molly's voice carried form the stairs to the roof. "You guys need to see this."

The boys followed up. "My god." john said, covering his mouth. The city was engulfed in flames. Distant screams carried from the ground. The masses of sick filled every block killing anything they could find.

"It looks like Hell." Anderson said.

Sherlock stared out it not the burning city. "It's worse than hell."

The sound of breaking glass shattered their thoughts and they turned to the doorway. Everyone stiffened as the dark shadows of the hallway clumsily moved closer.

Sherlock's head shot around. He searched for a way down. Paths came to a standstill in his head. He came up with nothing. There was no way out.

The sick attacked in slow motion, mouths open and ready to eat. Sherlock watched the others fight back. John fought back a sick, kicking it off the roof. Sherlock watched the sick fall all the way down. Its head split open like a melon on impact.

"Sherlock?"

He turned to see his army doctor staring at him. Looking out, he watched the people he knew and care for (some of them) fight, completely outnumbered by the endless stream of sick. Sherlock lowered his gun.

John beat a sick with his gun. "Sherlock?" he jumped back as a sick slashed at him.

Lestrade looked over. "What's he doing?"

Sherlock climbed onto a large steel air duct. Molly deflated first. "Is this the only option?"

Sherlock said nothing at first. "It's one of two." he said. He stared at the sick below him.

Molly was the first to join him and John was the last. They all stood higher up. Sick reached for them. The tips of their fingers barely reached the top of the air duct. Sunken eyes glared at their meal just out of reach.

Sherlock looked over the edge at the ground below. The fall would kill them, regardless of how they landed. He chose that over becoming one of the things attacking them.

John watched the detective. He could see the wheels turning in Sherlock's head. Sherlock looked at John and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he found his courage and readied to leap.