“Sure thing, Keith.” Jack walked over to the cinder blocks, wondering what Keith had in mind. It became clear to him as he was gathering the second cinder block though. Keith was fashioning anchors for the antenna, using the nylon rope he had with him.
A few minutes later, the antenna stood proud and straight, with three ropes attached about one quarter of the way up on the antenna on one end and tied to solid cinder blocks on the other ends.
“I think we’re ready to send the cable down.” Keith stated as he moved the rolled length of cable closer to the edge of the roof. The other end was securely plugged in to the antenna.
With a nod, Jack started to move towards the hatch to relay the message. The two men compulsively high-fived as they passed one another.
“Boosh?” Jack asked. Keith chuckled.
Jack jogged over to the hatch and passed the message to Ethan, who ran off immediately to relay it to Emily and Joe. Once Ethan was off, Jack jogged back to the edge of the roof near the corner and got down on his knees to started feeding the end of the cable over the edge. Keith held on to the antenna, to prevent it from being accidentally pulled down.
When he felt that he had fed enough cable, Jack poked his head out past the edge of the roof. With a few minor adjustments, he had the cable dangling in front of the open window. For a second, he grew worried that somebody would try to grab the cable with their hands. Reaching out the window would be risky, especially seeing as the cable was swinging in the wind. His worry was for naught though, as somebody had fashioned a hook out of a clothes hanger. The end of the cable disappeared into the open window in a matter of seconds, and the slack started to pull in. Jack played out the cable as it was being pulled in. There was still about five feet of slack when the pulling stopped. Jack heard the window swing shut below him.
“Ok, I think that does it.” He said to Keith. Keith released his grip on the antenna, as Jack grabbed a cable bracket and hammered it into the roof, securing the cable.
Jack was just getting up on to his feet when he felt Keith’s hand on his shoulder. Jack looked at the Oriental man and noted the intense look in his eyes. Keith pointed. Jack looked over and could see a person moving just over a block away. The person moved around in jerking motions, with the knee-bent gait that seemed to be common to the undead. Jack and Keith watched in silence as the figure would take several steps in one direction, jerk its head in another direction, and proceed to take several steps that way. It seemed to be heading towards the school.
Jack shuddered. He worried that his hammering had attracted the zombie, but just then there was a crashing sound further away. The zombie turned and scampered in the opposite direction.
Keith pointed again. Several more figures were moving around about a block further away. The lone zombie must have sensed or heard the group, because he had made a beeline for them. The lone zombie was lost from their view, and Keith and Jack took a knee to talk about it.
“Looks like that confirms that they are attracted to noise.” Jack said.
Keith nodded. “If they are the only ones making noise, then it stands to reason that eventually they will create groups.”
“I wouldn’t want to run into a group of them. One is bad enough!” Jack exclaimed.
“We should let the rest know.” Keith said.
The two men got back to their feet and stared out into the world. The last rays of sunshine were bathing the two in warmth and light. The world was silent. Keith took a deep breath.
He looked over at the younger man standing beside him. “The air is fresher.”
“Yeah.” Jack contemplated for a moment. “I think I’d like to come back up here soon. It feels so... confined inside.”
Keith acknowledged Jack’s thought by taking another deep breath. “Ok. Let’s head back.”
Jack didn’t move though. His gaze was far away. After a moment he spoke. “It’s hard to believe that almost everybody is gone. We’re the lucky ones. I guess...”
He turned to face Keith.
“Hey Keith.” Jack hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Do you have anybody ... out there?” Keith could tell that Jack was embarrassed that he had asked. He knew that the kid meant well though.
“Yeah. I do.” He replied. He took a step closer to the edge of the school and looked out at the horizon. The last rays were fading in front of them, and behind them darker shades of blue were encroaching the skyline.
“My family.” He looked over his shoulder at the young man. “And my girlfriend.”
Jack waited for him to continue. A spasm of worry crossed Keith’s features. “My mom and dad live out on the west coast. I have a younger brother and sister too. They’re all out there.”
He faced the darkening western sky with a contemplative look. “I haven’t heard from any of them for several days. It sounded like they were all sick, except maybe my little sister.”
Keith took a breath and sighed. “My girlfriend... She’s a reporter. She was at the safe zone.”
“Really? Channel Eight?”
Keith nodded.
“Cool! What’s her name?”
“Cindy. She was amazing. I was the luckiest guy in the world.” Keith’s looked sad. The term ‘was’ wasn’t lost on Jack, and his expression turned somber as well.
“The last time I heard from her was a few days ago. She thought that she was infected.” Keith said with a sad nod of his head. He dropped his gaze to the roof at his feet.
Jack took a step closer and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Sorry man.”
Keith glanced at the hand on
