'This is it,' Jim yelled back. 'Just the four of us. Martin, you go first.'
The preacher hesitated.
'What's that smell?'
'They lit the house on fire. Now go. We're out of time.'
Martin's eyes widened. Carefully, he crawled out onto the ladder. Gripping the rungs, he began to edge himself across on his hands and knees, silently praying as he did.
He wobbled in the center and all of them gasped, but then he covered the remaining distance. Don clutched at him, hauling him inside.
Jim stared down. So far, they hadn't attracted the creatures' attention.
The majority of them were gathered on the front and back lawns. The narrow swimming pool and the small strip of ground between the houses stood empty-for the moment. Jim hoped it would remain that way. He glanced at the black object at the bottom of the pool, but it wasn't moving. Probably leaves or a deflated pool toy. He couldn't be sure in the darkness and the weird shadows cast by the flames.
'Danny, you're next.'
'I'm scared, Daddy. I don't want to!'
Jim knelt before him. 'I know you don't, son, but you have to. Martin was scared too, but he made it across fine. Just don't look down.
Frankie and I will be on this end and Martin and Mr. De Santos are on the other side. You'll be okay.'
'But what if I fall? What if the ladder breaks? What if the monster people see me?'
Jim heard zombies on the stairs. He grasped Danny's shoulders.
'Danny, you have to do this. You have to trust me, okay? I know it's scary, but if we stay here, the monster people are going to get us.'
Whimpering, Danny peered out the window. Next door, Martin and De Santos quietly urged him on. He turned back to his father.
'I can't. I want you to come with me!'
'Danny, I don't know if that ladder will hold us both at the same time. I need you to be brave for me, okay? Be a big boy.'
Smoke seeped under the attic door, and the smoke detector on the second floor wailed in harmony with the other one.
Swallowing hard, Danny inched onto the shaking ladder. He glanced back at Jim, fear shining in his eyes. Jim smiled and nodded in encouragement. Danny turned back to Don and Martin, hunkered down, and began to crawl toward them, carefully edging from rung to rung.
'That's it, Danny. That's it. Don't look down. You can do it!'
The smoke grew thicker. Coughing, Frankie and Jim pulled their shirts up around their mouths and noses.
Halfway across, Danny looked down and froze.
'Daddy, I can't do it! I'm scared!'
He hugged the frame, wrapping his arms and legs around the rungs. He closed his eyes and began to tremble.
'Come on, Danny,' Martin urged. 'You're almost here!'
Eyes still closed, the boy shook his head.
'Shit.' Frankie shoved Jim forward. 'Get out there!'
A muffled explosion rocked the lower level, rattling the house on its foundation. The ladder swayed. The crackling flames grew louder and the temperature in the attic continued to rise.
'Danny,' Jim called. 'Hang on, squirt. I'm coming across!'
He slid out onto the ladder. It groaned beneath his weight. Holding his breath, he crawled as quickly as he could toward his petrified son. He glanced down, relieved to see that the zombies were still clustered on the other sides of the house. Smoke poured from the lower windows.
Below him, the black shape in the pool moved. It disengaged itself from the bottom and floated to the top. A head broke the water and stared upward in surprise. A zombie. And it had been in the water for quite some time, judging by the bloating. Then Jim saw why. Its arms were missing, and there was no way for it to climb out of the pool.
It opened its mouth to sound the alarm, and water and insects gushed out before it sputtered, 'Here! They're here!'
'Go!' Frankie screamed, pulling a fresh magazine from her pocket and slamming it into place.
'Come on, Jim.' Martin held his arms out, helpless. 'Hurry!'
The pool zombie shouted again, and Frankie raised the weapon, trying to draw a bead on it. It ducked below the water before she could fire.
Jim's heart lurched as one of his legs slipped between the rungs. Panic seized him and he slipped farther. The aluminum frame scraped his back. He dangled from the waist down, clutching the rungs. His heart pounded in his throat. Then he pulled himself back up, took a deep breath, and continued across.
As he reached Danny, the creatures began to race around the house, converging below them.
