Once Bitten

Monkey-ing Around (8)

With a radio, MK could listen in and hope they were broadcasting information. They always did that in movies and in apocalypse movies, it worked out for the protagonist. Would MK be a protagonist in this situation he wondered? He sure hoped so because protagonists didn't really die in movies. Unless it was a series and then at the end, they might. If MK were a side character he might die though.

He shook the thought aside, this wasn't a movie anyway, this was real life and MK was going to make sure he and Bai He survived. He wouldn't let her down! 

Deciding the radio idea was worth a try, MK remembered to stop at the next town. It was evening so he made Bai He dinner in one of the houses, making enough for the next day too just in case, and then while she was inside with Kitty he went around the neighborhood carefully, checking each house for a radio. 

He was on his eighth one when he heard something while leaving the house. There was a shuffling sound and he listened silently, waiting with prickling nerves until he heard a groan. The sound was something he recognized and it made him freeze, slowly closing the front door and letting out a breath he hadn't even noticed he was holding. 

He was really, really starting to hate zombies. 

He went to the second floor and got onto the roof through a window, taking a deep breath in as he looked over the edge of the building and down into the streets below. Sure enough, there was a zombie there, walking and shuffling slowly by itself and MK sighed, flicking his gaze over to the next house. 

It was about a seven-ish inches gap from the edge of the roof and MK winced, trying to judge the gap and figure out if he could make that jump. He guessed there was only one way to find out and after staring at the gap for a few minutes MK gathered his courage and backed up away from the edge, shaking out his hands and psyching himself up as he tried to convince himself to jump.

He took a running start but when he got to the edge he stopped instead of jumping, his heart fluttering like a hummingbird in his chest as he gasped, adrenaline burning through his nerves as he looked at the ground below. 

"C'mon MK, you've got this." He whispered as quietly to himself as he dared, taking a deeper breath as he backed up again. He ran forwards, pushing his foot off the roof and jumping, the feeling of weightlessness flipping in his stomach for a second before he was falling, feeling too far away from the roof as he yelped, the tips of his toes missing the next building.

His arms and torso crashed into it instead, hands holding onto the gutter as he scrambled for a better grip, pulling himself up before he could even think about it and rolling away from the edge, landing on his hands and knees and gasping in air greedily. 

That was awful. His head felt like it was filled with cotton and bees and he rested his head on his knees for a while longer, wondering if the radio was worth this panic. 

It was, he reminded himself, pulling himself up because if he let himself stay on the ground any longer he wasn't sure how long he'd be likely to quiver there, and then he broke open a window from the top floor, breaking into the house and continuing his search. 

The houses were about the same distance apart all along the block so he did the jumping method for about thirty houses, finding several more wandering zombies along the way and getting better and better at making the jump every time until he came across a break he definitely couldn't jump. This is where he stopped, pulling out his water bottle and taking several long, gluttonous chugs to satiate his dry, dehydrated mouth.  

His legs felt like they were on fire with how much they burned and ached and he really didn't feel like getting up but the sun was setting and he needed to get back to Bai He to tuck her into bed so with the thought of his little sister in his head he got up, making his way back to the house she was safely inside the same way he'd left there. By jumping across roofs and hoping the next jump didn't miss and send him falling to his death.