Open up, Survivors Inside

Chapter 25

When Puffer heard Lee's groan of pain, he sighed in relief knowing Lee was waking up. "Thank god you're alive," Puffer said, helping Lee stand up.

"Jesus, this hurts so goddamn bad..." Lee grunted, "I hope this works."

"Do you think you can travel?" Christa asked, "You lost some blood."

As the door creaked, Puffer knew there wasn't much of a choice to be had, "Duck got the doors open the rest of the way while you were out," Puffer said as Ben rejoined after Travis helped him avoid the sight of blood.

"I'll bring up the rear," Lee said as everyone started to move, "I don't want to bleed on anyone." Getting in, the elevator was right below them. Knowing this, it was easy to reach the ladder. As they did climb, one walker fell to its death, and Puffer was starting to fully understand just how stupid they really were. At the top, the door opened to the roof of the hospital.

Looking down, there were thousands of walkers wandering throughout the city. This would suck getting back to the house. Puffer was half tempted to just have everyone leave Kenny behind, but a part of Puffer knew that wasn't going to happen. "Clementine is somewhere out there, gobbled up in that..." Lee frowned, and Puffer knew just how much Lee was panicking on the inside.

"We'll find her," Puffer promised, noticing that Lee was bleeding through his bandage, "But now it's your turn to take it easy."

"It wasn't my favorite hand anyway," Lee joked.

"Really? Without ol' lefty I would be done for," Omid snickered, although Christa wasn't amused.

"Seriously though, don't treat me any different," Lee said, "I got one goal, you hear me?"

"Yeah, we do," Christa replied, but it was clear she was still worried.

"We're too high up to walk to another roof," Travis said after getting a better look around them, "We have to go on the ground level somehow."

Puffer saw the bell, and had an idea, "We can lure the walkers to the other side of the hospital with that bell, just like Molly did. It would make the trip back easier."

"There's a ladder over here," Ben said, pointing to said ladder. It was covered in dry paint, but it should be safe.

"I got this," Puffer said, grabbing the ladder, "You guys have been doing the hard stuff for a long time now, it's my turn." Getting the ladder in place and extending it, it barely managed to reach the bell tower. Puffer crossed quickly, having almost perfected climbing a ladder with one foot. As soon as he made it across, the pin holding the extension out snapped, sending the ladder plummeting down below. At least the ladder took a walker with it. "Fuck sakes..." Puffer grumbled, but he could worry about that later.

Puffer turned and grabbed the rope. With all his might, he pulled, letting the bell ring. The ringing in his ears at the loud noise made Puffer stumble a bit, but he was fine. Looking back over, Puffer knew he would have to make the most Olympic worthy jump of his life. "Back up!" Puffer warned as he pulled out his ice pickaxe from its loop on the belt. He took a deep breath as he backed up, needing a running start. He would have to many an Olympic worthy jump while wearing a peg leg, fantastic.

Taking one more deep breath, gripping the cane with one hand and the ice pickaxe with the other, Puffer ran. As soon as he made it to the edge, he jumped. His jump was too short for a hand, but the ice pickaxe managed to cling onto the edge of the hospital roof. Omid and Travis ran over and grabbed Puffer's arm, pulling him up. "That was awesome!" Duck exclaimed.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Puffer said, eager to leave this damn city behind as soon as possible. The way back, everyone was quiet to avoid drawing walker attention. Puffer was pissed they hadn't found Clementine yet, but with all the walkers around it wouldn't be a good idea. When they did get back, the door to the boat was closed with a shovel, and shouting could be heard.