I n f i n i t u m

Chapter Ten

My eyes snapped open and I registered the sound of wood splintering.

I shot up, head swiveling wildly, trying to quickly make sense of what was happening around me. Marquis disappeared around the corner leading to the front door, where I heard a number of curses spill out of Neil's mouth.

"Hold them back! They're getting through!"

Instantly, I was on my feet just as Teejay and Aliyah burst into the room, struggling to get their backpack straps over their shoulders. I spun around, looking for my mom, and found her asleep on the couch. I shook her arm non-too gently and she immediately woke up, looking about as confused as I probably did a few seconds ago. My hands began to shake as my adrenaline kicked in and I grabbed my bag— thankful that I hadn't unpacked before I fell asleep —swinging it over my shoulder.

"Run!" Neil screamed from the other side of the wall, "Run to the roof! NOW!"

We didn't hesitate. I followed close on my mom's heels as we all but hauled ass up the stairs, the sound of something crashing down below following us up a second later.

They were in the house. I didn't know how many, but it sounded like a whole lot of them. Teejay threw the door to the rooftop open and we all filtered through the opening, Neil following a second after Jess and Marquis coming in last, just as the first zed darted past the doorway.

The thing didn't make it another step before Neil swung the pipe he'd been holding like a baseball bat, and the thing went down in a heart beat. He then continued to beat its skull in as Marquis slammed the door shut, thuds colliding against it a moment later as the zeds tried to force their way in.

"They're gonna tear right through if we don't think of somethin' fast!" Marquis wheezed.

I took a step closer to the edge of the roof, eyeballing the distance between the ledge and the closest rooftop of the next building. It was only a single yard drop, but it had to be at least five meters away.

"It's gonna hurt," Teejay whined from beside me.

"But it's possible," Neil interjected. The door to the roof creaked and the zeds' muffled screams seemed to rise an octave.

"Tuck and roll!"

I threw one last nervous smile to Teejay, who looked scared shitless, and leaped off the ledge. My body soared through open air for what seemed like forever before I tucked instinctively and rolled into the fall. I reached up for my mom and she jumped, my arms absorbing most of her fall. Neil landed right next to me and Jess followed soon after, Marquis next, then Aliyah, and finally Teejay. He was the only one who screamed on the way down.

I rose to my feet and watched in horror as zed after zed fell from the rooftop we'd all just jumped from, the few lucky ones who'd managed to land on our side meeting the same fate as the zed who had its head bashed in by Neil. When Marquis killed off the last of them, we all seemed to release the breath we had been holding.

That was a close one.

Jess suddenly threw the guitar she'd been holding and I watched shell-shocked as it careened over the side of the building. When did she get a guitar? Was that her weapon this entire time and I just didn't notice?

"Fuck!" she hissed out in rage, "I forgot the fucking left-over tomato soup on the stove!"

My mom sighed, "I can cook more if we find another can."

Aliyah swiped back the loose strands of hair that fell over her forehead, "It's okay. More importantly, we need to find a place to hole up in. It's gonna be night soon and it just started to drizzle."