“I dunno,” David replied, the words coming dryly from his mouth. “We can’t stay here. I don’t know if there’s anyone to—”
Nicole quickly cut him off. “Someone will help us! They have to! They have to.”
David turned away from the sight of the fire. Nicole was shivering, despite the great rush of heat that came from below them. She ran her hands up and down the straps of the backpack—her survival kit—had she even taken it off since they’d arrived at the school?
Some survival kit if we all burn, David thought.
Nicole turned to look over at St. Joseph’s, not all that far away, but still impossibly far. David followed her gaze. It looked so calm. After a moment, it seemed like Nicole couldn’t stand to look at the other building any longer. She sat down beside Ryan, and silently held his hand. He didn’t acknowledge it.
David quickly realized that it might be up to him and his options were not good.
On the ground were things which would kill them horribly.
On the roof was fire which would kill them slowly.
There was nothing in between.
Frantically he darted around the roof, hoping to find some last-minute rescue; hoping that somehow the school had installed escape pods for just such an occasion.
When he got to the side farthest from the fire, he looked down. Things didn’t look that bad there. No one was around, a few trees waved gently in the breeze, the little brook at the rear of the schoolyard slowly dribbled by. Beyond that, he saw their salvation.
“Hey!” he yelled back to his sister, who looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
Nicole came over, glaring at her brother, clinging to the hand of the little boy she had just met this morning, whose arm hung down limply from hers. “Keep your voice down, spaz!” She spat at him, wiping her eyes. “What do you want?”
David smiled and pointed. “That’s where we’re gonna go.”
“How are we gonna get over there, David?” she snarled at him.
“The path’s all clear,” he said. “Fire’s only on the other side.”
“And no ...” she paused, “deadies?”
“What?” he asked, though he figured it out before he even got the word out. “No, none of them either. Look for yourself.”
Nicole looked down and saw the same peaceful space that David had. “Okay,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “So we go down there. How?”
“Um ...” David hadn’t thought that far. “Gimme a second, okay?”
Suddenly the opposite corner of the school began to collapse, smoke pouring through cracks.
“Think fast!” Nicole said.
“Um ...” He couldn’t think fast enough. “Jump?”
“Ugh!” Nicole pushed him aside, peering over the edge. “Here,” she said, shoving Ryan into David’s arms. “Take him.”
As he took the boy, he watched as his sister slowly crawled to the edge and lowered herself down, legs first. She glared up at him. “Keep an eye out for deadies! I swear to God, David, if there’s anything down there when I land—” She didn’t bother finishing the threat. He was just glad that she had gotten her confidence back.
She dangled for a few seconds, then dropped the remaining fourteen feet. She hit the ground with a thud, landing on her feet then rolling onto her side. She quickly sat up, rubbing her elbow.
“You okay?” David shouted down at her.
“Shut up! You want them to hear us? Stupid.” She quickly looked around as she got to her feet. “Lower him down. I’ll catch him.”
This would prove to be much more difficult than David had anticipated, especially considering lifting Ryan onto the roof had gone well. This time he seemed heavier, his clothes were soaked through with sweat, and he was not helping. Plus, David realized he had much less adrenaline forcing him to move. Holding the boy clumsily around the waist, he lifted him over the edge and lowered him as far as he could. Nicole stood, arms outstretched, a few meters below them.
“Is that seriously as low as you can put him?”
“Now who’s yelling? And yes! That’s it.”
“Okay,” Nicole said, bracing herself. “Drop him.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yea—”
Before the word was out, David lost his grip and Ryan fell. Watching the boy in the air, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was in free-fall, it was as if he was standing in the air, his arms staying by his sides, and legs still outstretched beneath him. He landed on Nicole, knocking her flat under him.
David waited until she started moving. “You okay?”
“No!” she sat up, rolling the boy from her. “That really hurt! God! Ow! Probably sprained my wrist! Ugh!”
She continued making pained noises, as her brother watched from the roof above. “Okay. Well, I’m coming down now!”
“I’m not catching you!” she called up.
He expected as much.
He lowered himself quickly over the edge, again much quicker than Nicole had, and then hung, holding on. He peeked down through his arms at the drop. Even though he knew he was closer to the ground than he had been when he dropped Ryan, it felt much higher. He froze and his hands tightened.
“Come on! Just let go!”
“I ... I can’t!”
“You have to! Now!”
“I can’t!”
“Right now!”
“Fine!” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
He landed with a thud, his legs buckling under him. His feet and ankles instantly ached. He rubbed them. “Can you at least help me up?” he asked, still looking at his feet. “And way to yell a whole lot! We’re lucky that you didn’t—”
He stopped when he looked up. Hoping to see a hand ready to help him up, instead he saw three of those things—deadies—stumbling toward him. About five feet away, his sister held Ryan up by the armpits.
“David,” she said calmly, though he could hear the terror in her voice. “Get up now and run.”
The things lumbering toward him looked right at him. Just like the one from the window had, only now there was no glass between them. Now they were going to get him.
Despite the pain in his ankles, the terror he felt, and the
