The Last Days (13 page)

“It’s too high!” Barb protested.

“I wish we had a ladder but we don’t.” John looked serious. “I’ll drop down first. You hand Cindy down to me. Hold her hands and lower her down and I’ll grab her legs and lower her down. Then you hang down. I’ll grab your legs and let you down easy.”

“I don’t know if I can do that?” Barb looked worried.

“It will be easy. I know you can do it. It’s not that high.” John said. He was lying through his teeth, but it was that or they stayed on the roof.

“Then what? Are we going to go to the truck?” Barb asked.

“No. There are too many of them out front. We are going up the hill behind the house.” John answered.

“Up the hill? What’s up the hill?” Barb asked.

“They can’t climb.” John smiled. “They can’t get us on the hill. After we get up on the hill, we’ll find somewhere to go. We just have to get up on the hill first.”

Barb looked out at the hill. She listened to the roar of unhuman voices coming from inside the house below. She nodded uncertainly.

“Come on.” John whispered and began to slide down to the edge of the roof. He moved over to the back corner to get as far away from the activity at the back door as he could.

The two zombies he had seen trying to go up the hill to get at the rabbits before, were still standing , falling and repeating the process.

When Barb and Cindy moved next to him, he picked up a piece of plasterboard and motioned for the girls to stay quiet.

Barb nervously watched the two zombies fall to the ground again as they tried to reach the three rabbits. The rabbits sat and watched. You could tell they somehow knew they were safe from the dead in their spot on the hillside.

John picked up the first piece of plasterboard. He tossed it like a Frisbee across the top of the roof towards the shed at the front corner of the house.

A second later they heard a loud vibrating crash as the plasterboard collided with the tin shed.

John waited a minute and threw the next piece of plasterboard. Another loud crash followed.

John looked down over the edge of the roof. A few of the dead moved awkwardly towards the corner of the house, but the two that were trying to reach the rabbits continued their cycle of standing and falling.

The group struggling to push into the back door, continued with their efforts to get inside the house.

John had hoped for more of a reaction from the dead, but decided this was going to be the best he would get.

If he had another day he might be able to create a better distraction, but by then he would have maybe two hundred more of the dead to distract. If they were going to do this, they needed to move now. Their odds would only get worse the longer they waited.

John picked up the last piece of plasterboard and tossed it towards the area where the shed was.

The loud crashing sound didn’t follow this time. He had either missed the shed, or if he was lucky, he had hit some of the dead.

“Time to go.” John said.

Barb looked terrified.

John took a quick look over the edge of the roof, smiled at Barb, then slipped his board into the waist of his pants. “OK. Lower Cindy down to me.”

John disappeared over the edge. His hands clung to the edge of the roof for a few seconds. Then his fingers let go and disappeared.

John landed on his feet. He glanced to his right. The back door was only thirty feet away. Twenty of the dead struggled to push inside the door.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The dead at the back door didn’t look this terrifying from the roof.

He might have tried to think of a different plan. He felt like he was part of the group trying to get in the house.

He hadn’t been noticed yet, but if one of them spotted him, he would be swarmed in a matter of seconds.

Barb looked down. John was about to signal for her to lower Cindy but was startled by a loud cry coming from the back door.

John glanced to his right. The twenty dead creatures trying to get in the door all turned and looked at John. In one loud voice they started to groan and began to come towards him.

He pulled the board from his waist band. He looked up at Barb and yelled. “You and Cindy stay there. I’ll be come back for you.”

The first of the dead was now only feet away from John. He swung his board and hit the creature on the side of the head. It went down but another creature took its place before he could pull back the board.

He took one more swing then turned and ran for the hillside.

The two zombies that were focused on the rabbits turned and moved towards John as he ran their way. John swung the board as he ran by them, knocking the first creature into the second staggering figure and they both once again fell to the ground.

The rabbits saw John coming up the hill, they glanced down at the dead and decided to stay where they were. They were willing to take their chances with John. Their instincts telling them below with the dead they had no chance at all.

They just sat still as John ran up the hill past them

John was breathing heavily as he reached the half way point up the hill. He stopped, putting his hands on his knees and bending forward as he tried to catch his breath.

He watched as the dead came around the house and staggered towards him. Then the dead began to pour out the back door, their eyes locked on John.

He breathed easier as he saw the dead begin to fall back into the crowd pushing ahead towards the hill.

Soon half the mob of the dead was on the ground flailing their arms and legs as they struggled to get to their feet to continue their journey.

Barb looked on in horror as they dead poured from around the house and moved towards John. The groaning from the dead flooding out of the house made shivers run down her spine. Tears began to run down her face as she hugged Cindy tightly against her body. Cindy shook as she cried and sobbed.

Barb held Cindy’s face against her so she couldn’t see what was happening.

Barb stopped sobbing as John started shouting at the dead, calling them names she preferred Cindy not hear. Then he began picking up stones off the ground and throwing them into the mob below.

Barb stared in amazement when she noticed the dead crowding into each other at the base of the hill. Then she remembered John saying the dead couldn’t climb. John was on the hill and they couldn’t climb the hill to get at him.

John called out to Barb. He had to shout at the top of his voice to be heard over the sounds of the dead.

“Barb. Stay there. I’m going to try and lead them away from the house.”

He waved at Barb and Cindy.

Barbed waved back, but under her breath she said. “Asshole! You better not get yourself killed.”

Barb watched as John continued to shout and yell at the dead. He moved across the hillside towards the far end of the yard. The dead followed him. Five minutes later the house and yard around the house was clear.

For the first time in the last twenty-four hours, the horrible drone of the dead in her ears eased. The pain in her head stopped and she could finally think again.

“Where is Daddy?” Cindy looked up at Barb.

Barb looked towards the far end of the yard as John and the dead disappeared into the woods.

“He’s leading the bad people away.” She said.

“Is he coming back?” Cindy looked worried.

“He’ll be back in a little while.” Barb smiled. “He wants us to wait here. OK?”

Cindy nodded her head as she buried her face into Barb’s shoulder and started to cry again.

Barb rocked her body back and forth trying to relax Cindy as she listened to the sound of the dead off in the distance, John’s voice shouting sounding far away in the woods.

After five minutes, Barb began to get worried. She couldn’t hear John shouting any longer, but she could still hear the sounds of the dead.

She was worried. “Why would I still hear the sounds of the dead, but not hear John’s voice?”

In fact the sound of the dead was getting louder, but still not a sound from John.

Tears started to escape from her eyes and run down her cheeks.

The tears started to flow faster.

She didn’t know what she and Cindy would do without John. In the best of times that thought was unimaginable. That thought, with what had happened over the last day was a nightmare.

“Mommy I’m scared.” Cindy cried.

Barb looked down at Cindy and began to cry harder. She watched as her tears dropped from her cheeks and landed on Cindy.

Barb didn’t want to think about what could have happened to John. If she did she was going to lose it.

John was trying to save them all from these things. If he had just given his life to save Cindy and her, she wasn’t going to let his sacrifice be for nothing.

Barb leaned forward and looked at the ground below.

If in fact her worst nightmare had just happened, she wasn’t going to let it be for nothing. She had to save Cindy. John did what he did because he wanted them to live.

If she stayed on this roof, they would not live for very long.

She listened to the terrifying sounds of the dead get closer.

“Cindy. I’m going to jump down.” Barb said. Cindy started to shake harder. Barb started crying harder herself as she saw the terrified look on Cindy’s face.

“We have to wait for Daddy!” Cindy cried.

“We are going to meet up with Daddy.” Barb cried.

“OK.” Cindy replied.

Barb had to do something before she broke down and she didn’t want to do that in front of Cindy. Not now, at least not yet.

“When I get down, when I call you, can you hang from the roof?” Barb asked.

“I don’t know if I can.” Cindy sobbed.

“I just want you to try, but don’t worry, I’ll catch you.” Barb said. “OK?”

Before Cindy stated to cry again and before losing her courage, Barb let go of Cindy and moved to the edge of the roof.

She turned around like she had seen John do and lowered herself over the side of the roof. She hung off the edge and looked down. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Barb thought as she realized the ground was further down than it looked.

She wasn’t as strong as John and held her breath as she felt her hands losing their grip.

She hit the ground at an awkward angle and let out a shriek as the pain shot through her ankle and up her leg.

She rolled onto her hands and knees. “At least I didn’t break my neck!” She thought as she tried to stand, but fell back to the ground as the pain again shot through her body.

She forced herself to stand. The sounds of the dead were now almost at the end of the yard. The dead were coming back towards the house. She wouldn’t have much time.

She looked up at Cindy.

Cindy knelt at the edge of the roof.

Cindy’s eyes were getting huge. Her body started to shake as she looked down.

She looked terrified and couldn’t move.

As Barb started to say something to get Cindy to jump, it looked like getting her hang off the roof was not going to happen. Barb dreaded the thoughts of trying to catch her as she jumped off the roof. But she didn’t appear to have a choice. She had to get Cindy down before their time was up. She only hoped that neither of them got injured too badly that they couldn’t run up the hill and away from the dead.

Barb began to open her mouth when she heard the loud cry from the creature behind her. The creature that had come out of the house unnoticed.

Barb froze as Cindy screamed.

Barb was pulled viciously backwards by a hand that had latched on to her hair.

She fell on her back and stared up at the creature as blood flew from its mouth as its scream vibrated through her bones.

The blood splattered across the front of her clothes as the creature’s body fell down towards her.

Barb began to panic as she anticipated the creature’s weight falling on her.

Instead of falling directly down on top of her, the creature fell to her left.

Barb began to roll to her right but before she could get to her feet, she felt something grab her arm and begin to pull off the ground.

The next thing she knew, two arms wrapped around her. She was unable to move.

“Barb! It’s me.” John said.

“Daddy!” Cindy called down from the edge of the roof.

“My God!” Barb yelled. “This must be how the next cow in line at the slaughterhouse felt when the five o’clock whistle blew.”

“Don’t get too comfortable.” John said as he handed Barb his board that he had been using as a weapon.

John turned and ran under the end of the roof where Cindy was standing. “Cindy Jump!”