Wither With Me

CHAPTER 4 - SURVIVAL

Upon reaching the second bridge, Nora felt her heart sinking.

"Oh god..."

The bridge was in similar condition to the previous one. Equally desolated, equally full of ruins and car wrecks, and equally populated with shamblers. If anything, it was even worse, since the midsection of the bridge was completely blocked with several totaled trucks, with cars piling up around them all over the place. Besides, the nearby streets were also infested with zombies.

"We can get across this one. Look underneath." William said, pointing to the lower sections of the bridge.

Upon more detailed inspection, Nora noticed what he was talking about.

"Oh...! I see, we can use that...!"

Running along the entire lower section of the bridge was a structure of metal beams and catwalks, most likely for maintenance purposes. It was empty; a metal gate had seemingly kept the shamblers out.

"The previous bridge also had a similar structure below, but that one was destroyed. Probably some kind of sabotage to aid in the quarantine efforts, who knows." After locating a nearby fire escape, he put down his backpack and started rummaging through his supplies. "Get ready to move. We'll clear the street, but I don't think we can completely clear the area near the bridge. On my signal, we get down and run for that maintenance catwalk like a bat out of hell."

Nora gulped. The idea of running around the shamblers wasn't exactly appealing. But they had no other choice. She watched as William pulled out an old mobile phone. It was a classic model, with a keypad and a lid.

"Every phone works for this purpose, but I prefer to use the old ones. Compact, sturdier, more likely to survive the process. It sucks when you go retrieve it later only to find it in pieces." he added, as he finished setting up the phone's alarm.

He closed the lid, pulled several strands of foam and a roll of duct tape from the bag, and proceeded to cushion and package the phone with several layers. Then, he got up and threw it down the street, away from the bridge.

"It should ring in a couple of minutes."

Nora followed him down the fire escape, floor after floor, until they got to the very last platform before hitting the street level. Several shamblers spotted them, and started dragging themselves towards the building.

"William...! They've seen us!" she said, in a fearful tone.

"It's inevitable. Don't worry, they can't get to us here, as long as we don't drop the ladder." The bottom platform had a ladder that needed to be deployed downwards in order to reach the ground. "We don't do anything until the alarm rings."

"But we won't be able to get down anyway if they're beneath us!"

"Remember how they left your car alone when they heard the alarm? They are more sensitive to sound than their own sight. High-pitched noises can easily shift their focus. Stay calm, and wait."

...

It might have been only a couple of minutes, but they felt like an eternity. Nora felt the cold sweat stream down her face. The growls and squeals of the shamblers below them sounded more disturbing as time went by. Every second that passed, she found herself more focused on them. She felt shivers down her spine. Most of them were still wearing ragged and blood-soaked clothes, that did little to hide their disfigured bodies. Gray skin, terrible wounds and bite marks that wouldn't heal but wouldn't get infected or rot either, empty white eyes that stared back at her filled with primal hunger. All of it was only a shadow, a remnant of what they once were. These were normal people six months ago, and nothing but mindless cannibal monsters now. And she had to get down there and run among them? Now?