Fire Away

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

John didn't sleep much that night. After the second flare, no activity came from the other roof. But that didn't extinguish his hope, for at the moment those two flares gave him enough to last a lifetime.

By dawn, the infected below began to return to their normal habits. Straggling aimlessly through the streets. But John decided today would be different. Instead of keeping his routine, he stayed on the roof as the sun came up, fueling the signal fires more than ever. With no other activity, he wasn't sure he had really seen anything. Maybe he had imagined it. Where had this mystery person been the last twenty four days? Why did they just now come onto their roof? But he knew what he saw, and he was determined.

He sat beside the fire with his eyes glued onto the distant roof. After what felt like forever, he saw it. A person. Someone was on the other roof right then, all alone. John stood up and shouted, waving his arms to try and flag them down. He had caught their attention, but it didn't seem to matter much to them. He could tell whoever it was acknowledged him, but made no attempts to yell back.

John slumped back, thinking of anything he could do. The radio! He thought. He quickly grabbed his handheld and adjusted the volume, covering his eyes from the sun.

"Hello? Is there anyone out there that can read this?" He spoke into it. Nothing came back, so he tried again.

"My name is John Palmer, I'm a lieutenant at Fire Station Three on Smith and Monroe. I'm standing on the roof. If you copy, please respond." He said.

Again, nothing. The silence became deafening as he watched the other person wander their roof.

He couldn't make out anything about them, but their movements were weak and slow. He looked around anxiously as he held the radio to his mouth. Instead of making another transmission, he let out a sigh and turned it off.

He thought of his next move, then scurried over to the fire. He grabbed his rifle and axe before rushing back inside to go downstairs.

John searched around the station for anything that could help him. He paced back and forth, looking around the bay. He noticed the American flag draped on the wall and smiled with delight as he thought of an idea.

Moments later, he found himself atop a large ladder, trying to get it down. The ladder shook slightly as he tried unpinning the corners. As he got it free, the flag fell over him as he pushed it off with an annoyed grunt. Once he got it off, he watched it float to the floor as he smiled and climbed down the ladder.

John searched around, finding some rope and a rag. He lay them over his shoulder and headed to the gym. He grabbed a couple small weights and made his way to the stairwell.

Once he made it back up, he set the supplies down next to one of his fires. He stomped it out until and wiped up the ash with his rag.

He turned the flag over and painted the ash onto it, writing something. He gave it a few blows to make sure it stained well enough, then grabbed the axe. He tethered the rope through the corner holes to make an improvised string to hang it from.

He held the rope as tight as he could as the wind tried to pull the flag away from him. He kneeled down, fastening it to a vent protruding from the roof. The flag flapped in the wind as he tried to wrestle it down and pull it to the edge. He used the two and a half pound weights from his gym and tied them to the corners.

He dropped the flag over the edge and watched as the weights held it in place, reading:

IF YOU SEE ME
FIRE AWAY

John quickly reached for his flare gun and cocked it back, firing a bright red flare into the sky. It caught the other person by surprise as they watched it soar above. The infected below grew chaotic as they chased after the flare. John put his hands together and prayed as he watched the person.

They walked over to the edge of their building as if they were trying to read it. After a few moments, they pulled something from their pocket and aimed it to the sky. Another flare shot from their gun, meeting the other one on the ground. John's eyes grew wide as he became ecstatic.

"Yes!" He shouted. But they couldn't hear him.

He could tell they were trying to communicate as well but the buildings were too far, especially with the noisy infected below. It didn't matter to him now. He had made contact.