He wandered toward the platform reaching across the track. The scrapes and snarls became a little louder. Bucky reached the ladder and placed the boots on top of the platform as silently as he could. He then reached up and ascended the rungs. The solid, round metal he stepped upon pressed blunt and uncomfortable against his feet but the silence of a bare foot served him much better. He ascended onto the platform and stepped over the boots. Only a slight ruffle from his clothing signalled his whereabouts. If his plan worked, it was a price well paid.
Bucky took a boot in his right hand and stood facing the direction he had just walked from. The gunner perched opposite him. Below the gunner, Bucky just made out the shape of his boots in the dim safety lighting.
His ears opened, ringing in the silence. The infected were there. He heard them emerging from the depths of the factory, but his friends offered no signal to their whereabouts. Bucky stood motionless, listening to the thud of his heartbeat within his ears. The sound of intermittent flapping approached from his left. Bucky recognised it as the sound of bare feet walking across a solid surface, the same as the giant had made in the corridor during the breach back at the football stadium.
Bucky listened as the bare footfalls drew closer. They stopped. Bucky squinted, attempting to see through the darkness. The safety lights were screwing with his vision. His night senses could not engage because they omitted just enough light for him to see. The scraping noise stopped somewhere in the darkness. Bucky strained to hear something, anything, but the area remained silent. A short, sharp gust befell his hearing. It happened once, then twice. Butterflies danced within his body. Someone sniffed the air close by. Out there, not far from his position, Snitchers approached.
Bucky lifted the boot in his hand. The flapping footfalls began, approaching the platform from the left. Bucky drew a breath and held it. The footfalls stopped. He stood motionless above the factory floor. Groans emerged from the darkness. Bucky ignored them. Somewhere close by Snitchers was hunting him. The footsteps sounded again. In the darkness below, Bucky noted movement. A hunched shadow ambled past. Its nose lifted into the air as though tracking a scent. It was. Bucky’s scent. He looked on, unable to exhale as the shadow wandered around the track and came to rest at the foot of the ladder. It was Snitchers. He recognised the tacks from the video. Snitchers peered upward to him and took a deep breath. Bucky perspired. His heart thudded into overdrive. Snitchers curled his mouth into a snarl and screamed. Bucky launched the boot from his hand. It flew across the factory and thudded down near to the boots he left at the start. Snitchers jolted and span at the noise, turning to the direction it came from. The snarling abomination sprinted through the darkness and descended upon the boots, swiping the air about him as he attempted to locate the source of the smell.
The zombie wailed and snarled as Bucky descended the ladder and took the footwear he could carry, two under one arm, one clutched in each hand. Snitchers reached down in the distance and grabbed the boot. Bucky watched as he lifted it to his nose and drew a deep breath. Snitchers threw his head into the air, wailed like a banshee and threw the boot into the darkness. Bucky darted into the factory, almost silent on his tip toes, attempting to put as much space between him and the zombie as he could. Metal crashed somewhere behind him. Snitchers screamed. Bare footfalls sprinted toward him. Bucky froze. The flapping feet rushed from the darkness. Snitchers dashed by. Bucky watched on, motionless as the zombie passed him but stopped. Snitchers stood a moment, looking as though he had forgotten something. He turned his head slightly, cocking an ear to the air. From the darkness to their left more banging emerged. Snitchers wailed and dashed in that direction, leaving Bucky alone.
After a moment to collect himself, Bucky set his foot forward and began the walk into the darkness once more. The shrill wailing of the infected sailed through the air. Bucky prayed that his friend remained safe. The White Witch had vanished, at least to his ears. Bucky guessed that some of the screaming could have expelled from her, but the sound of her scythe dragging across the floor had ceased.
As Bucky looked to his left, he froze. A faint, white figure wandered by in the distance. The White Witch. She had lifted the scythe from the ground. Bucky stood silent as she moved by, slow and methodical whilst stalking them all. When she vanished from sight, he moved onward. Two zombies had passed him by already. He toyed with the idea of dropping the boots and sprinting to the end. The law of averages told him that in a factory this size the odds of him bumping into the other infected were minimal. But seeing how fast Snitchers had sprinted across the factory to the boots, there would be no way he could out run him. If Snitchers gave chase, he’d be dead.
Bucky continued into the darkness, past the tracks and pallets until he stumbled upon a mountain of stacked boxes all wrapped in industrial film. To his right, they ran toward a white wall. He stood motionless behind them for a
