Alive Inside (Book one)

Innocence Part Two

Ch. 4

'Innocence Part two'

[Dusk, Ucon, ID]

The warm, hazy afternoon would be beautiful if it weren't for the sound of decaying monsters growling all around the group, watching as one of their own climbed a dangerous wall of stacked cars filled with corpses.

"See?! Not so hard!" Blake called down to the rest of the group.

"Says the mountain climber," Ruiz quips, with his arms crossed.

"He's not wrong!" Summer concurred with Ruiz, shifting her weight from left foot to right foot nervously.

"Who wants to go next?" Ruiz asked, scanning the group on the ground.

The trio in front of him went silent and avoided his gaze; after a moment, Ruiz turned to look up at Blake again.

"What do you see, Blake?" Ruiz called, his hands resting on his hips.

Blake stood up straight and turned to look behind him; Blake disappeared from the group's sight for a long moment before returning.

"I think everyone's probably dead..." Blake answered solemnly.

"Do you see any garages or auto shops?" Ruiz asked, pushing aside the thought of another town's fate.

Blake turned back around; Summer hoped they could find something to fix the car; she didn't know how well the group would do walking somewhere.

"Ruiz, come up here," Blake called over his shoulder. "Watch the glass!" Blake added before Ruiz started his climb.

"Yeah..." Ruiz said to himself, looking up at the four rows of cars stacked on one another.

Ruiz jumped up to the second row catching the window sill with his hands, pulling himself up, and putting his feet on the window sill of the first row; Ruiz jumped upward, grabbing the sill above him with his right hand, he swung his other hand up to grab the sill as well, bringing it down on glass protruding from what was left of the window that once was there, crying out in pain, Ruiz put his feet in the second row's window sill, holding himself in place.

"Shit!" Blake exclaimed, dropping to a prone position on the top row. "Gimme your hand!" Blake shouted, holding his right hand down for Ruiz.

Ruiz, who now had glass lodged in his hand, which he held close to his chest, was the only hand free.

"Come on!" Blake yelled, extending to his maximum reach.

Ruiz swung his left hand up, and Blake caught it, immediately feeling the glass; he winced, almost letting go, but instead, gritting his teeth, Blake pulled the officer up to his level; Ruiz rolled onto his back and sat up, and looked back at the climb he just endured, the officer started to pick the glass shards out of his hand, that was now slick with his blood.

"Not so hard?!" Ruiz exclaimed in pain as he continued working the shards out.

"Said the mountain climber?" Blake offered, pulling bits of glass out of his own hand.

"What the hell'd you want me up here for!?" Ruiz asked impatiently with his hand now clear of glass.

Blake stood up from a sitting position and turned towards the sounds of corpses. "This," Blake said simply, gesturing to the horrific scene.

Ruiz turned around, and all his anger left him as he stood up in terrible awe, witnessing the vast amount of corpses congregating below. "There must be half a thousand..." Ruiz said in disbelief, observing the horde of undead.

"Still wanna get your shit here?" Blake asked, crossing his arms and turning to face the officer.

"We'll run out of gas before we make it any farther..." Ruiz explained, watching the corpses shuffle aimlessly.