ZOMB-POCALYPSE BOOK 2

Chapter Five

Ryder staggers to his feet. Even crazier than getting up from a twenty-foot nosedive off the roof, is the fact that the zombies aren't attacking him.

I lean forward to get a closer look, and Silas clutches at the back of my hoodie, probably afraid I'll be the next one off the roof. "He's a zombie," I say when I get a good look at his blank eyes and broken bones sticking out at odd angles, and my mouth hangs open in shock. "Did the fall kill him, and he turned that fast?" I ask, even though I know Silas doesn't have the answers.

"Maybe when you die the zombie infection takes over, and you come back like that?" Silas suggests, and it's a grim thought until I remember Kyle's mother.

"No. I don't think so," I say with a frown. "Before we met up with you, we went to a house where the woman had killed herself in the garage." Remembering Kyle is like a bucket of cold water getting dumped down my icy spine. "She didn't turn," I say quietly.

Silas looks relieved to hear it. "He must have turned on the roof, that's why he was grabbing for you, and that's why he was clumsy enough to fall off the roof," he says and then frowns. "That sonofabitch. I asked him if he got bit, and he lied to my face!" Silas looks mad enough to spit nails, and I can see his point. Ryder put us all in danger, but I still feel the need to defend our would-be zombie murderer.

"Silas, you shouldn't talk like that about the dead." I say, feeling pity more than anger towards Ryder. He was probably terrified and didn't want Silas to shoot him while he still had a pulse.

I reflect for a moment about how awful it would be to die alone, or even with a bunch of strangers. It makes me think about Ryan. "Let's finish up," I say with a fresh flood of determination. I get up and go back to my position, reloading Silas' magazines with the AR-15 cartridges.

It doesn't take much longer to clear out the zombies. I watch them fall one by one and feel nothing until he shoots Ryder, and then I have to look away.

"That's the last of them, Blondie," Silas says proudly, standing up and stretching, making his back pop loudly.

"Good," I say, getting up as well. Spending the last hour crouched on the cold cement hasn't done me any favors, and I need to stay limbered up for our venture back down through the mall.

The thought of fighting our way through the mall makes me tired just thinking about it, but we need to find Ryan, so I put on a brave face.

Silas digs two flashlights out of his pack and hands me one. "The staircase is going to be dark, and I don't know if those things can climb," he says, making me feel even more daunted by the task at hand.

I chuck the Glock and spare ammo into my pack, feeling the added weight settle not just on my back, but around my heart. I hand Silas the other one, and he packs it and his share of the ammo into his own bag. He also throws in the spare magazines for the AR-15 and then hefts the AR up onto his shoulder, leaving his pistol at his belt.

"Ready to go Rambo?" I ask, and Silas chuckles.

"Born ready," he quips, throwing the door to the staircase open and stepping back in case zombies surge out. "There were at least ten beating against the bottom door the last time I came through," he warns when we see that the stairwell is clear all the way down.

The stairs are empty, the concrete thankfully doesn't leave any places to hide. We reach the bottom without incident and pause to listen outside the door.

"I don't hear anything," I whisper, and Silas nods, bringing the AR-15 up to his shoulder and motioning for me to open the door.

I pull the door open and jump behind Silas, and the rifle goes off as soon as I'm clear. The sound is deafening against the concrete. Silas takes a step back, and I get ready to retreat back up the stairs. I want to look over his shoulder and see what's going on, but the empty casings are being flung from the gun and I don't want to get hit in the face.