The Fall of Society (Book 2): The Fight of Society

by Rand, Thonas

  The four of them burst through the door and fell onto the roof. Paul was on his back and saw the undead coming up the stairs for them, just a few feet away. He kicked the door and it slammed in their faces. Luckily, the latch engaged.

  The dead slammed against it.

  Paul got to his feet and ran the length of the roof perimeter looking for a way down. There was nothing. “Oh God,” he muttered to himself.

  Linda was on her back and stared up at the sky with dilated eyes. She was dead, but they hadn’t noticed yet. Henry and Katie saw the massive amount of her blood seeping on the roof. Henry tried to redo her bandages, and then Katie looked into her eyes. “No. No. No,” she gasped.

  “What is it?” Henry asked in a panic.

  “Henry, she’s gone…Linda is gone,” she told him whimpering.

  “What? No, she’s not,” he said in denial. “Linda? Babe, wake up!”

  “I’m so sorry,” Katie said as she fell back and sat in tears.

  Henry shook her and there was no response. He felt for her pulse, but there was none.

  Paul looked at the next building over. The distance between them was over twenty feet and equal height—too far. He ran over and looked at the building on the other side. Its roof was lower and the gap was only about ten feet—it was possible to jump the distance. He ran to Katie and Henry. That’s when he realized Linda was dead. “Katie, we have to go,” Paul said and held his hand to her. “Henry, I’m sorry, but we have to go.”

  “Where?” Henry asked.

  “We can jump to the next roof over,” he said.

  “Jump?” Henry said. “Are you mad? Linda is dead, Paul. I’m not leaving her.”

  Paul looked at the roof door—it was getting weaker fast from the brute force of the dead on the other side—“Henry, that door isn’t going to hold much longer, we have to go,” he said and grabbed Katie to get her up.

  “You two go,” Henry said in despair.

  “Henry, please,” Katie begged.

  “Just go!” Henry shouted.

  “Come on,” Paul said to Katie and they headed to the roof edge.

  Katie kept looking at Henry and Paul had to pull her away. “We can’t leave him,” she said.

  “He’s made his decision. Come on,” Paul told her.

  The buildings in this neighborhood were old and had virtually no guard railing around the roofs, so it was possible to jump to the next building. Paul walked Katie up to the edge and all she saw was the nine-story drop. “I can’t do this!” she protested.

  Paul pointed back at the roof door that was about to give way to the dead. “We have no choice! It’s not that far. You’re a fast runner, Katie. We’ll step back a ways and you’ll do it!”

  “You first?” she said out of fear.

  “No. You go first!” he insisted. “You can do it, Katie. You have to do it, for our child.”

  That got her attention and her fright changed to determination. She forgot about Paul as she looked ahead, breathed deeply, and sprinted for the edge. Her arms and legs flailed wildly as she flew across the gap between the buildings. She landed on the other roof and rolled after contact. She scraped her elbows, but she was fine.

  Paul was next.

  “Henry, please come with us?” Paul said.

  “I’m fine, mate. Linda and I are going to stay up here until this blows over,” he said, now out of touch with reality.

  “Take care,” Paul said and ran.

  He landed on the other roof with Katie. His landing was harder, but he made it. They both looked back to see if Henry was coming—he wasn’t. Paul rushed to the door on this roof and it was locked. “Shit!”

  Henry still sat there with Linda in his arms, content just to be with her. Part of the roof door busted off and the dead reached out with clawing arms. They saw Henry sitting there and wanted out even more feverishly. He decided he wanted to leave after all. “Goodbye, love,” he said and kissed her on the cheek. He put her head down gently and went over to the edge. “Wait!” he shouted.

  Paul and Katie were on the other side of the roof, but came back to Henry’s call. “Come on. Jump!” Paul yelled.

  Henry stepped back and prepared to jump . . . behind him, Linda rose to her feet . . . he ran with all his might, but he was overweight and it slowed him down. He jumped and flew in the air, but hadn’t gained enough momentum. Henry slammed onto the edge of the building with his chest. The wind was knocked out of him, but he held on as half his body dangled over the edge. Paul ran to him and locked onto his friend’s arms. He had him, but then Paul glanced up and his jaw dropped from disbelief. The thing that had been Linda jumped off the roof with enraged, infected eyes and flew at Henry, the loose, blood-soaked bandage around her neck trailing behind, making her look like the red baron of death.

  She landed right on Henry’s back and clamped on him hard, the impact easily breaking all of his ribs. Linda tore into Henry’s neck and back to consume his flesh. “Jesus!” Paul shouted as he tried to hold on, but the weight was too much and he lost his grip. Henry and Linda fell, with him screaming all the way down. Paul looked over the edge and saw the smashed heap that had been his friends splattered in the alleyway. A shadow came over Paul’s face.

  “Paul, lookout!” Katie yelled.

  He looked up to see another undead midair between the buildings. He pushed himself back just as the corpse hit the edge where he was. The thing tried to grab hold, but lost its grip and fell. He saw more on the other roof, so he got off his ass. “Run!” he shouted to Katie.

  They ran to the other side of the roof and looked at the next building, it was about the same height as the one they were standing on and a little closer. They had no choice, as they looked back to see several of the undead jumping across to their roof, some missing completely and falling, a few managing to nail it and hanging on.

  They clawed themselves onto the roof with Paul and Katie…

  “I don’t think I can make this jump!” Katie said in a panic.

  Paul thought about it. “I’ll go first so I can catch you.”

  “Okay,” she answered with uncertainty.

  Paul took her face in his hands. “You can do this.” he kissed her and stepped back for the jump.

  He ran full stride and jumped off, landing on the roof safely. Katie saw that he made it, but she was still scared. “I’m heavier than you and I made it. Come on!” Paul shouted across to her. Katie readied herself to jump; she glanced back and saw a few of the undead get to their feet behind her. She cried out in fear as they ran toward her. Paul could see them as well. “Run, Katie! Jump! JUMP!” he shouted.

  Katie’s heart was a trampoline and fear was a child on it as she ran for the edge and jumped off. Paul was ready with open arms as she sailed toward him. She landed in his embrace and they fell to the ground, but they didn’t have time to waste as the first fast mover ran off the other roof after them. It got a face full of bricks as it hit the side of the building and fell screeching madly—more were coming.

  Paul and Katie hurried to the roof door, but this one was locked as well. They had no time to check for another way down as many undead were trying to jump onto their roof, most falling because they didn’t remember how to jump. Some were barely making it as they hung onto the edge and pulled themselves up.

  The desperate couple ran to the other side of the rooftop and looked at what was before them. The next building was two-stories higher than the roof they were on and it was a little over fifteen feet away. There was no way they could jump to that roof. Desperately, Paul saw the fire escape in front of them. “We have to jump for the fire escape!” he told Katie.

  “What? I can’t!” Katie replied, near hysteria.

  Paul looked back and saw the undead at the other side of the roof—they saw them—“We have no choice! They’re coming!” he shouted at her. “Together. We’ll jump together!”

  He took Katie’s hand…

  Several of the creatures ran for them…

>   “Ready?” Paul asked her.

  “No!”

  The undead were halfway across the roof, less than twenty feet behind them…

  Paul spoke fast. “Ready, steady, go!”

  They ran together with everything they had, their feet pounding heavily as they approached the edge. They jumped and quickly arced down toward the iron fire escape. They crashed into it in unison and were just able to grab the railing before bouncing off to their deaths below. They winced from pain as they climbed over the railing and onto the landing. Suddenly, they felt and heard an impact into the fire escape and caught a glimpse of a fast mover falling down past them after attempting to jump. Three more jumped and bounced off the fire escape before falling to a crushing demise, trailing shrieks thinned out to nothing until impact.

  “Are you alright?” Paul asked her.

  “Yes. Very bruised and scratched up, but I’m fine.”

  Paul didn’t like what he saw through the window in front of them—there were dark shadows running around in the hallway of this building. Shadows that were on the attack. He quickly moved out of the window’s view so he wouldn’t be seen. He looked down and besides the smashed up undead in the alley, he saw some cars on the streets. “We’ll climb down here and see if we can take one of those vehicles,” he told her.

  “Alright then,” she answered.

  The dozen or so corpses on the roof across from them just stood there without knowing what to do. They swayed in place like ghouls and a couple more decided to jump after Paul and Katie, soon joining the heap in the alley. As Paul led the way down, he examined the handgun. He depressed a button on the polymer grip, and ejected the magazine. It fell before Paul could catch it, tumbling down the fire escape, hitting it many times until it landed in the alley. “Damn it,” Paul said in annoyance with himself.

  “What was that?” Katie asked.

  “The bullets for the gun.”

  “So we don’t have a gun then?”

  “I have the gun, but the clip or whatever they call it, fell out.”

  “You better hurry down and get it,” Katie said.

  “Right,” Paul said and climbed down a little faster.

  He made it to the bottom of the fire escape, which was one floor above ground, lowered the iron ladder as quietly as he could, and climbed down to the alley. Jumping off the ladder, Paul looked around cautiously for any signs of danger. It seemed clear but, at both ends that led to the streets, chaos could be heard and seen. He looked for the handgun magazine as fast as he could, but didn’t see it anywhere. Katie got the first floor landing on the fire escape, but decided to wait up there while Paul searched. Not too far from him was where all the undead had landed; they were mangled piles of permanently dead flesh—their brains had splattered on impact. Paul moved closer to look for the magazine and as he did, he noticed that one of them wasn’t totally dead—this male had landed on another one—its body was so destroyed it didn’t matter that its brain was still active.

  Its arms were bags of skin that held completely shattered bones, the thing tried to move, but only shoulder muscles worked and it couldn’t lift its mushy limbs. Its legs looked intact, but it didn’t matter—the creature’s spine was protruding out its stomach—there was no brain connection. Paul’s face wrinkled in disgust at the innards wrapped around its spinal column and he looked away to continue searching for the magazine. He did a double take at the broken beast as something caught his eye—the Glock magazine was stuck in the stench’s bloody guts. “Bollocks.”

  The magazine was pointed up, with only three quarters of it immersed in the infected entrails. The top end was clean. Paul moved in closer to the immobile corpse to grab it. He reached down, but quickly withdrew his hand as the thing lifted its head and took a bite at him, barely missing. It could reach farther than Paul had anticipated. “Be careful,” Katie said. She noticed something at the end of the alley. “Paul, behind you,” she said quietly.

  He looked over his shoulder and saw the corpse of a fat woman; it had seen him and was coming, but because of her age and size, was barely running—more like hobbling along. Even though, it would get to Paul in a matter of moments. He reached for the magazine again and was almost bitten by the snapping monstrosity. He couldn’t move to the other side of the thing because the ground was littered with bodies and he’d have no footing. The fat beast began to run faster as it caught the scent of Katie. “Hurry, Paul!”

  He wanted to shoot the fat thing that was running up behind him, but he had no bullets in the gun—he had to get that magazine. He reached for it again and the wretched thing almost got his fingers.

  The fat runner was almost there…

  Paul wouldn’t get the magazine in time.

  The thing was just steps behind him…

  He needed the magazine with the bullets.

  He had no choice but to turn and fight it barehanded…

  “Paul…?” Katie said in fright.

  He raised the empty gun with the intent of bashing its face in, then suddenly remembered something, but wasn’t sure.

  He had to be right or he was dead…

  At the last second, he aimed the gun at the charging corpse, and pulled the trigger…

  BANG!

  Paul flinched from surprise and, when his vision focused, he looked down at the dead thing that had a bullet hole in its eye. He looked at the gun in his hand; the slide was locked back, the gun now empty. He remembered that semi-automatic guns like this always had a round in the chamber once the weapon was loaded and fired, the bullets were automatically cycled into the chamber after each shot—he learned that from action movies.

  The dead thing with the magazine in its guts still tried to bite him, so Paul dropped his boot on its forehead and crushed its brain. He should have done that from the start, but these were his favorite boots. Not anymore. He picked the magazine from the dark slime and wiped it on the shirt of another dead thing. The magazine was made of steel that was encased in plastic, so it wasn’t damaged much from the fall. The bullet on the top still had a sliver of blood on it and Paul wiped it again. He looked at the magazine and saw the small holes in the back that displayed the amount of rounds in it. If he was looking at it correctly, five or six shots remained. He didn’t know that guns like this could hold so many bullets. “Come on down,” he said to Katie.

  Paul inserted the magazine into the grip of the gun and it locked into place.

  “Now how do I load it?” Paul thought.

  He remembered another film and pinched the back of the slide, pulled back until he heard a catch release. He let the slide go and it snapped forward. It was loaded. “Who says American cinema isn’t educational?” he said to himself.

  Katie made it down and joined him. Both ends of the alley looked equally bad, with people running for their lives from the undead. It was difficult to distinguish who was what. A car crashed into a wall at one end of the alley and Paul decided to go the other way. When they reached the street, they took cover behind a parked car. There were so many people embattled with one another, Paul didn’t know what to do—they heard screeching tires—they saw a vehicle stop because of people in the street blocking them. The female driver, who looked Indian, couldn’t run them over heartlessly, which was her mistake.

  Two of the people were cannibals and they reached in through her open window and yanked her out. The man in the passenger seat got out and ran to her aid, but other fast movers took him down. There was nothing Paul could do for them, but their car was just sitting there with its engine running. He grabbed Katie by the arm. “Come on.”

  They dashed for the car and hunched over to avoid being seen by the undead that were killing the couple on the other side of their car. Paul jumped in first and slid over to the driver’s seat, Katie got in and closed the door—two undead heard them and attacked—“Look out, Paul!” Katie shouted. Paul rolled up the window and locked the doors. One fast corpse slammed into the driver’s door and the other jumped on th
e hood and pounded on the windscreen.

  Paul put the car in gear and rammed his foot on the accelerator; the tires peeled rubber and they left them behind. One stench was still on the hood—the windscreen cracked and splintered—Paul jammed on the brakes and the dead thing flew off, tumbling head over feet until it settled on its back. He hit the gas and ran it over, hitting its face with the car’s grill as it sat up. Its brains showered the windscreen and Paul turned on the wipers to clear it, first smearing the tissue across the glass like two red rainbows.

  Once his view was semi-clear, Paul increased speed and the mid-size sedan sped away from the macabre scene. As they drove, they passed other outbreaks of undead attacks on the streets. Like packs of wolves, groups of the dead attacked anyone they saw—on the sidewalks, at doorways, in people’s cars—anyone in sight. A few of them ran at the car and Paul struck them without slowing down. He wasn’t sure if they were all infected, but he couldn’t slow down. A body burst out of a window in a ten-story building ahead of them and almost hit their windscreen, but Paul saw it. “Jesus!” he exclaimed and reacted at the last second by tapping the brakes—the car skidded and the body hit the street directly in front of the car—he sped up again and ran the thing over. The car jolted up and down as they smashed it.

  A car rocketed out of an alley ahead of them and crashed into a parked car, the windscreen of the car shattering as the driver and the passenger were ejected, along with four of the undead that were on the hood. Paul had to think fast. He jerked the wheel and steered onto the sidewalk to avoid a collision. The car jumped the curb and barely squeezed through as it hit a few parked cars, knocking off the side view mirror on Paul’s side, and scraped the hell out of the side of the car. Paul got back on the street after passing the blockage and continued their escape. They reached the bridge that Paul had crossed to get to Katie’s, but by now, many cars were on it as people tried to flee London. “Can we get across?” Katie asked with uncertainty.