To Kill a Corpse

Prologue

Just outside of what used to be Minneapolis, two men stood on the roof a seven-story office building. The first was kneeling uncomfortably close to the edge, but was too busy staring into a pair of old binoculars to notice. The other paced nervously behind him, his hands loosely clutching onto a small pistol.

"Shit. Ian, We have to get outa here." The pacing one spoke.

Ian nodded in agreement, but his body didn't move. Instead, he continued to stare wide-eyed through his binoculars.

"Ian, I'm serious. Hurry up."

Caleb attempted to seem calm, still his voice was riddled with fear. Hurriedly, he began snatching up the equipment they had laid out across the space. He made a feeble attempt to carry it all at once, but quickly enough it clattered to the floor.

"Ian. If you don't get up and help me carry all this shit, they're gonna reach the car before we do." Caleb rambled.

Ian looked to his friend and saw the impatience in his expression. He sighed, and reluctantly snapped out of his trance to grab some things from Caleb's arms. A rifle with no ammo, a compass, an unusable radio,

"Is this all?" Ian spoke for the first time, revealing his thick accent.

"Yeah, yeah I think so."

Caleb motioned for Ian to follow, then hurriedly lowered his body down the hatch. Ian began to make his way towards the exit, but paused when he reached it. Just one more look, he thought, and slowly lifted the binoculars to his eyes.

A couple miles away from their perch, on the once-busy streets, a crowd of thousands of monsters slowly stampeded towards them. Each one resembling the body of a being that had once lived. Men, women, and children marched as one, their only desire to tear flesh from bone.

When they made this discovery, Caleb was horrified, worried for the safety of their group. Ian on the other hand, was fascinated. His curiosity spiked and he began to think up questions.

What had inspired them to travel in a group like this? Most of the time they didn't even like sharing food with eachother.

Why were they going down this street? In was particularly narrow compared to most of the city's roads.

Where had they all came from? Despite the dense population in the cities, they seemed to spread out into their own little territories.

So many questions danced through his mind but still, all in the instant of Ian taking that last glance, they were answered.

"Caleb! Get back up here!"

Ian dropped all the things he was carrying and scrambled to the edge of the building, desperate for a better look.

Within seconds, Caleb's head popped up from the hatch, only to reveal a furious expression.

"What the hell is wrong with you! We really have to-"

"Fucking shut up! There's someone down there!" Ian interrupted.

Caleb expression changed from one of anger, to shock. The supplies he carried were too dropped as he pulled his body up, and rushed to his friends side. As soon as the binoculars were snatched from Ian's grasp, Caleb's mouth had twisted into an o shape.

"Shit."