The Fast and the Dead - Day 30

For all his protestations that he was okay, they ended up staying put for some time anyway. The crowd of the dead that had gathered after the racket they’d made took hours to disperse enough that they could even think about moving on.

“We’re only a couple of blocks away, the street will be safe enough.” Ben awkwardly paced the edge of the roof, partly to make sure he could move when he had to, and partly because he was anxious to get going.

“And how do we get down to it? We made it through the night because we were up here after all the noise the fire escape made. If we go down on it, we’ll be right where they’re gathering!” They’d been having the same argument for a few hours.

Ben threw his hands up in dismay. “Fine then, we don’t go down that way.” He glanced over the side he was on; there was another building abutting the one the were on in the direction they wanted to go, but it was a couple of storeys down to its roof. Claire could make it easily enough but it would be difficult for him. His eyes followed a drain pipe that dropped straight down the wall. “We’ll go down here. Once we’re on the next roof we’ll figure out where to go next.”

Claire frowned, inspecting the route. “Better than the fire escape, I guess. Are you going to be able to manage it?”

“The pipe runs down next to windows, that’ll give me a way to brace myself with my working foot. Won’t be easy … but it’ll be easier than climbing up out of that pub was.”

By early afternoon the risk of moving was outweighed by the pressure of waiting so long that they were moving by night again, or stuck in the open on the roof. Neither option sounded appealing. Claire grabbed the plastic bag containing their food and water to let Ben focus on getting himself down safely. “We’ll have to try and find something better to keep this stuff in. The cans are too heavy, the plastic is wearing. It’s going to break soon.”

Ben nodded. “Should’ve grabbed a few more bags while I was there, but I didn’t expect to be carrying cans in the thing. We’ll make do as best we can, I guess.”

As predicted, it wasn’t easy, nor was it silent. Ben made it down safely though, and from there it was a relatively painless crossing of several roofs at the same level to get them across the first of the remaining two blocks. The small amount of noise they’d made in their descent hadn’t drawn any extra dead back to the area that they could see.

The smell of the water was getting stronger, strong enough at times to clear the air of the smell of the death they’d been so used to they hadn’t even thought of before. The unexpected relief lifted their spirits and cleared away some of the tension, too.

The Fast and the Dead - Day 29

As soon as he grabbed the first rail of the fire escape’s ladder, he expected a spontaneous swarm of the dead to appear. The instant he put weight on it the whole thing creaked and groaned with an ear-piercing loudness.

Having no other choice, they double-timed it upwards, every step they climbed bringing more noise and causing the structure to rattle and vibrate until Ben was convinced it would soon tear itself off the wall entirely.

The awful metal stairs ended at the top floor, but a short ladder section brought them the rest of the way to the roof. They forced themselves through a quick perimeter check to make sure they were alone, then collapsed near the ladder.

“That was much easier than the last ascent, at least,” Ben commented.

Claire nodded. “Loud though. How long do you think we’ll be stuck up here?”

Ben was about to reply when sleep came crashing down on him.

<>

The sky was bright and the sun high enough that it must’ve been about 10am by the time he woke up again. The first thing he was aware of was the dull, gaping ache in his belly; he hadn’t had a chance to eat yet. The next was the dull, roaring background sound of the dead.

His eyes snapped open and he looked around, expecting to find them surrounded, but it was just the two of them.

“We’re okay, for now,” Claire said. She looked much better after some sleep, and she’d eaten as well. She tossed him a half-eaten can of something that smelled incredibly good with hunger as a sauce. “Lucky for us, a few of these cans are pull-tops. We’ll have to get a can opener somewhere for the rest.”

“How many dead are there?” Ben asked as he started scooping stew out of the can with his fingers. It wasn’t elegant, but they weren’t in an elegant world, he thought.

As the food started hitting his stomach, he felt immeasurably better and he almost relaxed. “Looks like there was a bit of a crowd overnight, but we’ve been quiet long enough that they’ve been drifting away. There’s still too many out in the open for my taste. If you ask me, we’ll be here a while longer.”

He finished off the stew and turned his attention to his ankle. It was still horribly sore, and the color was ugly, but the swelling had gone down overnight. He pulled himself to a fully-upright sitting position and groaned. Sleeping out in the open, in the cold, and on a gravel roof made for very sore muscles.

“I’d tell you to walk off the stiffness, but …” She glanced at his ankle in concern.

“Might as well try. Gotta see if I can put weight on it anyway.” He stood awkwardly and hobbled a few steps. He grinned, though it was more of a grimace. “You ever see that old zombie flick where they acted their way through a street full of zombies? Maybe this walk’ll fool ‘em.” He lurched and limped to the far side of the roof and back.

“How is it?” she asked.

“Hurts, but not as bad now. I can make it.” He’d seen the water when he got to the far side. They were only a couple blocks away. “I’m not letting this ankle stop me when we’re this close. I’ve gotten this far on it. I can rest it when we’re on the water.”

The Fast and the Dead - Day 28

The street looked safe enough when Ben did a hurried check. He couldn’t see anything that wanted to eat them alive anywhere within the nearest fifty meters or so, anyway. They advanced up the street a short distance, wary eyes open for more of the dead.

He spotted what he took to be the two he’d seen before, the crawler and the walker, but they were some distance away up a side street and facing the wrong direction to spot them. He was watching them and hoping it would stay that way when Claire grabbed his shoulder and bodily turned him, pointing.

He followed her outstretched arm and finger, puzzled until he spotted it; a subtle red glow in a dark corner. As they got closer they were able to make out what looked like a crude covering that had slipped out of place. The glow came from behind it. “Another camera?”

Ben frowned. “Two still working, this far out?”

There wasn’t much they could do about it; they kept walking. They maintained an easy pace. Ben’s ankle was swollen and painful and he kept his weight off it as best he could with Claire’s help. They couldn’t take it too easy though, as the zombie Ben had started calling Duster in his head was still behind them. Not close behind, but they couldn’t stop.

They’d made it several more blocks when Claire again pointed. This time when Ben followed her arm he found himself staring at an old fire escape.

“Really? After all this time, this close to the lake?”

“We have to stop, and we can’t do it down here. You can’t go much farther like this, and I’m getting awfully tired. Adrenaline only goes so far.”

She was right; he was exhausted. They both were. They had to chance the old and probably rusty fire escape.

The Fast and the Dead - Day 27

Ben froze; by the sound, Claire did the same. They moved back into the black hall; Ben kept a hip firmly against what must have been a kitchen counter so he wouldn’t run into anything. Once there they could see the lighter grey patch that marked the end of the hall; they practically ran for it.

As soon as he was back in the larger, more open space, Ben dumped the bag and its contents on the reception desk and looked around frantically for the source of the noise. It was the same one they’d seen before, duster and all, and it was making a bee-line for them. Sunken eyes stared dully at him, jaw hanging loosely. He hefted the wrench in his hand, half to get a good grip on it and half to stop his hand from shaking too badly. It’s just one zombie, he told himself. It helped. It’s just one. It’s just one.

It was less than halfway across the space between them and the door, and it was a big room. “Through or around?”

“Around!”

He scooped up the bag again, managing to keep any cans from falling out in the process. Clutching it tight, he moved at as quick a pace as he could straight to the other side of the room, keeping behind the reception desk. Claire was right behind him.

The dead thing came as close to lunging across the desk as a zombie can when they crossed paths, making them jerk back involuntarily into the shelves that lined the wall on the other side, away from it; it ended up more as a fall against the other side of the desk though, and Ben was elated when it lost its footing and collapsed to the ground. They pressed on, leaving the building the way they’d gone in.

The Fast and the Dead - Day 26

Several thoughts flashed through Ben’s mind all at once. The lit camera light; the presence of people in an area of town that seemed long abandoned; the apparent presence of canned food, for there was no other possible way to get beef stew or anything similar these days that he knew of.

“Stew. I haven’t eaten all day. You don’t suppose there’s any more around, do you?” Ben was irrational even to suggest they stop when they knew there were dead in the area and following them, but neither of them had eaten all day, and eventually they wouldn’t be able to keep moving if they didn’t eat. He still had his condiments from the coffee shop, but he didn’t have much and it wouldn’t do much for them.

He couldn’t see Claire’s face very well in the shadows of the building’s interior, but he thought she was biting her lip. “We need to eat something more than ketchup and relish.” She looked back to the broken door they’d entered through; nothing had followed them inside yet.

Ben was checking out the reception desk. He climbed on top, a little clumsily thanks to his ankle, and down again to the other side. A few seconds of searching in the dark turned up a new find. “There’s more dishes here,” he said, a note of hope in his voice. “Maybe they keep the food near by?”

There was a dark hallway deeper into the building behind the desk. Claire eyed it. “Yes,” she finally replied. “I think we need to check it out, at least a quick check.”

He started his own quick check of the rest of the space behind the desk. They needed not just food, but something solid and heavy they could use to protect themselves if and when the dead got close. There was lots of trash and debris, but nothing with enough heft to be useful. He regretted the earlier loss of the shotgun Claire had had at the pub when they’d met.

He was about to give up entirely when his hand closed around the handle of an old solid metal wrench. It was a big one, and plenty heavy. It was also awkward, and while big for a wrench, using it would require being closer to the dead than he wanted to get. But it felt reassuring in his hand, and was far better than nothing.

“Okay,” he said, showing her the find. “No more than a couple of minutes though. Those things are still behind us, and we need to keep it that way.”

She wasted no time replying, instead ducking into the dark hallway silently. He followed behind her, moving as quietly as his limp would allow. He was the only source of sound, which both bothered and reassured him; if there were any dead inside, they weren’t near enough for them to hear at least.

They hadn’t gone more than maybe 10 feet down the hallway when they found the door to another room in the blackness. It was open, and Claire was already inside when Ben reached it. “Here,” she whispered. She shoved a bunch of what felt like cans into his hands.

“Hang on, wait, wait,” he said. “I need to be able to use the wrench if I have to.”

“Pass me your bag then,” she said, and he did. She stuffed as many cans in as she could, working blind, without even knowing what was in them. She’d found stacks of them inside an old refrigerator that hadn’t seen power in ages.

She was grabbing a few last cans when they heard the snap-tinkle of breaking glass back the way they’d come.

The Fast and the Dead - Day 25

They ducked inside and Ben immediately felt the walls of the room closing in; he almost wanted to rush back out again. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to calm down.

Claire was feeling it too; he could tell by her voice. “Across or up?” she asked, voice brittle with tension. He interpreted that to mean ‘try to find another surface exit on the other side of the building, or head up to the roofs again.’

“Across. Our last trip up wasn’t fun.”

“Let’s go!”

They had to move slow; it was even darker inside than out, which didn’t make either of them feel a lot better about being inside again. They were in a large open area inside what might have been an office building or hotel once. Broad stairs leading up to the next floor faced them, and a long reception desk stood abandoned. The street-facing windows were floor to ceiling, so the room wasn’t completely dark, though it was awfully close. “Stick to this room, there must be an exit on the other side too.” He was able to make out Claire’s nod.

The long hours under the night sky had sharpened their night vision to about the best it was going to reach, but even so they found themselves with a hand on the reception desk for guidance. The floor wasn’t exactly empty; broken glass, dirt and debris were everywhere, and there were even patches of grass growing in places, just like the road ways outside.

They’d gone most of the length of the reception desk when Claire jerked her hand away from it with a grunt of surprise. “Ugh!”

Ben winced at the exclamation; her voice had been low, but compared to the near silence it seemed loud. “What is it?”

She picked something up off the desk. “Food. Or the dish it was eaten from at least.” She sniffed at it. “Beef stew, maybe. And it’s still slimy… it surprised me.”

“Still slimy?” That had to mean it had been eaten very recently, within hours, not days, weeks or years.

“A little… seems pretty dried out, but not completely. Someone was here recently.”