They Will Run You Down

Twenty-Nine: Higher Still

Reeling from the horror of what everyone had just seen, they stood silently above the sea of hideous shrieking animals and gazed down at the spot where Foss had only just been swallowed up.

Robby and Edvin were in shock as John stepped forward and placed his hand on Robby's shoulder, "We gotta go," he said sullenly.

Robby pulled his hat from his head to brush his fingers through his hair, eyes still locked on the horde just below.

Equally horrified was Perez, who paced back and forth and not so subtly wiped stray tears from her cheeks.

"We gotta move. This overhang won't hold our weight for long," Taylor insisted.

Managing to pull themselves out of their paralysis, Robby and Edvin turned and the group went to the window. Perez slipped out of the strap attached to her rifle and wasted no time rearing her weapon back and smashing into the glass. Edvin quickly joined and with two more powerful hits, the window shattered inward. The two scraped away the sharp shards that clung to the window pane and stepped back to allow everyone else entry.

The upper level of the cafe was a balcony that wrapped around the entire shop and overlooked the ground floor. A quick glance over the wrought-iron banister revealed a graveyard below, or more accurately a slaughterhouse by the looks of it. The place was in shambles, with no table left unturned, litter everywhere, and more hauntingly a collection of desiccated corpses lying in the dried spatter stains of their own blood. The virus traveled so quickly in those first days that people still went about their usual routines, including stopping by their favourite cafe for their morning coffee. Little did they know that fateful day a plague marched on their heels.

The group could hear the deafening cacophony of wild shrieks and breathy howls just as they witnessed the creatures begin to spill into the cafe below from the front entrance.

Acting quickly, Harley signaled to everyone to quietly back away from the banister, hoping if the Screamers didn't see them, they would have no need to climb the stairway up to the balcony.

"This way," John whispered, leading the group around the balcony toward the opposite side of the cafe where a row of closed doors stood, hiding the mysteries behind them.

John and Harley knew instinctively that they needed to take charge. The rest were trapped in their shock at how quickly Foss' life had been snuffed out, and so the original twosome combined forces once more to get everyone to safety.

John led the group to a heavy metal door which had an exit sign mounted above it and nodded at Harley to cover him. She raised her gun and aimed at the door as John pushed it open with one hand and aimed his gun with the other. The space was dark, but the light seeping in through the threshold revealed a stairwell; one flight moving downwards and one flight climbing up.

After making sure the space was clear, Harley and John led everyone into the stairwell, both using a flashlight to illuminate the otherwise pitch black space. They moved upwards slowly and quietly, listening for any sound or movement as they climbed, but heard only their own feet and breaths.

At the top of the stairs, they found another door and carefully entered into what looked to be a maintenance room, with exposed wires and control panels. Looking up, Harley saw what she'd been anxious to find; a roof access hatch. She jumped up, grabbed the thick cord that hung from the hatch door and pulled. A clattering sound began to erupt from the opened space, but John was swift in grabbing the retractable ladder as it fell, stopping it just before the base hit the ground and alerted the Screamers in the cafe to their location.

One at a time, everyone climbed the ladder up through the hatch and stepped out onto the building's roof.

Harley pulled the ladder back up and closed the hatch behind the group. For the time being, at least, they were safe.