Ok, Who Got Bitten?

A Walk in the Park Part II

One by one they shed their hoodies, sweaters, and even pants; the pants generously donated by Cassandra and Amanda, who stood in their underwear shivering in the cold night air.

We tied the articles of clothing together into large knots and stretched and pulled them, testing to see how they worked. This was a good thing, considering one of the knots I tied pulled apart easily and nearly sent Madison sprawling backwards as she tugged. After nervously laughing I retied it, fully realizing that if we hadn’t tested it first someone would have fallen to their deaths.

Once everything was ready I lowered the clothes rope and turned to my friends.

“Well,” I said, “who’s first?”

They looked at one another in anticipation. No one volunteered.

“Look at it this way,” I said, trying to sound convincing but ending up sounding desperate, “we’ll die anyway up here. So it’s either die, or die trying.”

Savannah nodded and stepped forward. “I’ll go.”

“Alright, but I want you to take the machete. In case, you know, the zombies are in the room.”

Savannah’s face went pale but she solemnly took the blade anyway. It took a bit of time after we lowered the rope for Savannah to get into the mindset that she was going to be stepping over the end of a very tall building, relying solely on the strength of a couple clothes tied together and the combined strength of a handful of relatively weak girls.

But as she swung one leg over the railing and slowly lowered her other leg, I looked into her face and saw resolve. There was no fear there. She was willing to do what it took to survive. 

I took a deep breath and gripped the clothes rope tightly.

“Alright. I want the taller, heavier of us to go first so I can have the help of other people in holding this thing. So Cassandra, you’re going last.” They nodded and all grabbed the rope as Savannah began to descend.

It wasn’t so bad when she first started, but about halfway between the roof and window Savannah’s full weight began to tug on the clothes rope. The rope jerked and I held my breath, focusing on one large knot where a sweater was tied to a pant leg. The knot pulled and slipped slightly, causing my heart to start racing, but it held. The rope bounced and lurched; all of us tightened our grips. Suddenly it became slack and the weight was gone.

We ran to the rail and looked down. The rope swayed in the wind, the curtains from the window below billowing in the breeze. It was quiet.

All of a sudden Savannah popped her head out and flashed the thumbs up before disappearing back into the room. So one by one we slowly lowered each other down the one story to the open window; Rachael, Amanda, then Madison. Finally it was just Cassandra and I.

Cassandra looked at me nervously and I shook my head, smiling wearily. My muscles ached from supporting the weight and I was anxious to lower her to safety.

“I’m scared,” she whispered, looking over the railing, her face pale.

“Don’t worry; I am too. Just don’t look down and stay focused.”

She nodded and swung over the side, gripping the rope so tightly that her knuckles turned stark white.

I began to lower her slowly, and although she wasn’t too heavy my muscles were pushed past their limit; it didn’t help that gravity seemed to make her weigh a ton. I lowered until I finally neared the end of the rope, knowing the ledge by the window was close to her, that she must be just within reach. I waited for the weight on the rope to be lifted and was eager to give my screaming muscles a break.