Welcome to the End

Chapter 29: Above it All

The final ladder was about to be pulled up, and those remaining were in a state of full hysteria as they pushed and shoved to climb on. George defended them as best he could, and the rifle fire from above was proving to be a great benefit in protecting his blindside.

A woman slipped from the last rung and was approached by three zombies with more following gradually behind. George leapt to her side, and a horizontal pass of his sword removed the top half of all three zombies' heads.

Stabbing his sword into the ground, George used both hands to haul the woman out of the dirt and lift her up where she could gain a handhold once more. He felt the pain when a zombie bit into the side of his neck from behind, but he maintained his focus until the woman was safely on her way.

More of the undead were latching onto him, biting and tearing at whatever they could get between their rotting and blackened teeth. He took up his sword and did his best to cut them away, and a series of rifle shots provided him temporary relief.

His strength waned, and he stumbled to his knees, blood coursing down his neck, arms, and legs. His eyes turned upward to the canopy and the survivors who had made it to safety. After all the lives he'd taken as an assassin, and the innocent blood on his hands, dying here to save so many was fine by him, a fitting end.

He turned his sword around and pointed it toward himself. Glancing over his shoulder, he checked the position of the zombie approaching from behind. As it bent down to feed on him, George drew the sword powerfully toward himself. The blade pierced the skin under his jaw and exploded out the top of his skull in a perfect thrust into the brain of the approaching zombie. George Navarro and the corpse attacking him fell together in death.

***

Kevin was exhausted when the last refugee scrambled off the ladder and onto the net serving as the base of their treetop colony. He took a moment to look around and do a quick count. Including George, twenty-three others were missing. He laid back against one of the rafts, tears forming in his eyes.

Memories of friends and family he'd lost over the past ten years drifted through his mind, Isabella and George being the most resent additions to the casualty list. Despite the weariness in his muscles, Kevin forced himself up. He wandered away from the group, heading for the furthest edge of the net to be alone.

***

Kevin slid down the rope and landed on the deck of the ship, shedding his extra momentum in a shoulder roll across the metal floor.

It had been nearly three months since the refugees had taken shelter in their treetop colony. The undead had started a permanent residence below them, waiting for the living to come down. The jungle floor had become nearly solid with zombies packed together in close proximity.

Kevin had wanted to make the journey back to the ship much sooner, but the immediate needs of the colony had taken priority. A small mountain, complete with a cave network and freshwater spring, had provided the basis for their sanitary needs. A few hollowed out tree branches diverted a part of the water to a large cave area where wood partitions created individual showers below a series of artificial waterfalls.

The remaining water of the spring had been diverted to either drinking water storage or to a different cave where Kevin and others had set up a crude but functioning latrine. The sheer cliffs outside the mountain made certain they didn't have any unwelcome visitors.

Using the knowledge imparted by Isabella before her death, the colonists had successfully grafted the fruit tree branches they'd brought back from the orchard into the trees around their encampment, bolstering the fruit supplied by the jungle and ensuring an ample supply of food.