Embrace The Madness: Cataclysm

6. Hope

[Day 3]
Patrick was the first up, it seemed he was more hopeful for a bright future than anyone else.
He watched as the sun rose from behind the assorted buildings and scarce vegetation.
As he felt the warmth of the sun on his face, his mind wandered, eventually landing on Sam, his girlfriend.
Looking for her should have been the first thing he did, he was on his way to her before the world collapsed.
He took a deep breath and lowered his head to the ground. It was his first time praying, so he was quite rusty in his approach.
All he asked was that Sam was alive and well.

"Gone back to sleep?" The old man whispered from his shadowy corner.

Patrick's head jolted upwards. Caught off guard, he scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat.

"Oh no.. I was.. just waiting"

"I've been awake for five minutes" the old man replied in a flat tone.

Patrick was impressed, he hadn't even heard breathing in his direction.

"So who are you calling?" Oliver asked.

Patrick looked over to Oliver. How many other people were awake?

"An old friend of mine owes me a favour from way back," the old man said, turning his head to both Oliver and Patrick, "I wanted to give him a call, if he's alive, that is."

"So our survival depends on your friend somehow surviving all of this?" Kiara asked, who had also been awake.

"What are the chances of that?" Asked Oliver, genuinely curious.

"Well, he's living in the countryside, so he's off grid," the old man added, "hasn't seen anyone but his daughter since his wife passed."

As the rest of the group rose from their slumber, the old man, Kiara and Patrick discussed how they'd get next door.

"We'll, we can't just walk out the door" Patrick looked out the window to see that a large crowd of the undead had wandered towards them, presumably from the supermarket, or maybe they'd begun migrating.

"Then we use the roof," Marco suggested, who was listening in to the conversation, "go up the ladder."

He pointed to the hatch on the ceiling.

"Nice thinking" Patrick exclaimed.

He stood up and reached for the latch, only to find he was too short.

"Here" Oliver butted in and he began jumping to reach the latch, still not reaching it.

Kiara shooed the two away as she brought over a sturdy looking stool. She stepped up onto it and undid the latch. She used both hands to lower the heavy hatch as a folding ladder slowly unraveled itself until it straightened and touched the floor.
She was the first up, making three steps at a time up the ladder.
The chill of the outside filled the room, but it did a great job of airing it out, Dylan was particularly thankful for that.

Patrick followed after her and when he reached the summit, the strong breeze almost knocked him over. He took a few moments to balance himself as he held out his hand as to offer help to the old man, who also came up the ladder, though he rejected it.

While he waited for the old man, Patrick gazed upon the desolate streets. The building was tall enough to o eel oil hundreds of other smaller buildings, and the skyline of what was once great Birmingham stood on the horizon.
Though, the sight directly below was not as grand. The former residents were aimlessly wandering, bumping into each other and hissing and growling at one another.
Patrick wondered if they knew what they were, or if they knew that they were, if they had any idea they existed at all. He had been so used to seeing the undead rampage through pop culture, movies and video games, but seeing them in person didn't feel real. He still held hope that this whole thing would sort itself out, but his hope was beginning to falter.