But suddenly Eric thought of something else that would.
6.
“Sit back against the wall,” Eric told Kara and Rebecca. “I’ll give you a nod when it’s safe to go down. And don’t forget the duffel bag or the mace.” He gestured to the weapon and bag by his feet. There was no sense in trying to carry them while he climbed across the front of the neighbouring house. The awning tiles looked old and Eric wasn’t certain they would hold his weight as it was.
Best to leave the heavy things on the scaffolding, let Kara and Rebecca take them down the ladder when it was clear.
The plan was for Eric to carefully climb to the far end of the awning, then once he was there, make plenty of noise to lure the group of snappers over to him and away from the ladder. At his signal, the women were to get down off the scaffolding as fast as they could and start taking out the snappers at the back of the crowd while they were focused on Eric. The snappers would then begin to notice the two easier targets on the ground and shift their attention again – or so they hoped – at which point Eric would jump down from the awning, and the three of them would make a break for the road where the bus had veered off through the fence.
“We’re ready when you are,” Kara said.
Eric nodded. He was as ready now as he would ever be. The plan wasn’t a fool-proof one, and he knew that if he spent too much time deliberating over it he might find more faults with it. It was best to go ahead with it before the doubt had a chance to sink in.
He turned to the edge of the platform. Took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, stretched as if he was warming up for a workout. Then he positioned himself for the small but treacherous jump to the awning.
Eric counted down from three.
On one, he sprang across the gap like a cat. Landed – and instantly slipped, falling against the sloped surface.
Twisting onto his back as he fell, Eric spread his legs and planted his heels in the gutter pipe to stop himself from sliding off the awning. A panicky moment passed where a tile shifted under him with a grating sound and he was sure they were all about to come loose and send him sliding down to the pavement.
But the moment elapsed and none of the tiles had dislodged from the awning. He was okay.
The wind groped at his shoulders, almost unbalancing him as he leaned forward to see how many snappers were following. Five had broken off from the pack surrounding the ladder. A sixth twisted it’s head toward Eric just as he looked back.
The tricky part was over; he pulled in a few steadying breaths.
Keeping his legs wide apart so his weight was spread out on the gutter, Eric shimmied across the tiles. His hands were grazed and stinging. The plastic creaked under his feet, drawing more pairs of undead eyes.
When he reached the end of the awning, half of the snappers had noticed him and were now congregating around the bay window.
“Hey! Up here you undead fucks!” Eric yelled at the nine remaining by the scaffolding. “Come get me!” Soon their vapid gazes were on him and they were shuffling to join the rest of Eric’s following.
He looked down at the knot of hands, teeth and frozen eyes below the awning, all the snappers focused on him. Then he looked over at Kara and Rebecca on the scaffolding – gave a nod. The women crept to the ladder and began to climb down.
Eric watched as they slipped down to the road with none of the snappers noticing, the duffel bag in tow. He waited for them to start taking out the snappers and drawing them away from the awning so he could get down.
But Rebecca only turned her back to the snappers and sauntered up the road, away from Eric. Abandoning him.
Kara rushed after her friend – no, her lover, Eric reminded himself – grabbing her arm and trying to stop her from leaving. But Rebecca kept going, tugging her arm from Kara’s grip, and Kara reluctantly moved with her down the road. It looked like they were arguing but Eric couldn’t hear what was being said as they were too far away. Kara offered one last guilty glance at him before giving up and going with Rebecca. The couple disappeared around a corner.
They were leaving him stranded and helpless.
Now that the snappers were fixated on Eric, he couldn’t get down without the help of Kara and Rebecca. He didn’t even have a weapon on him – not that he’d stand a chance in hell of fighting them on his own.
Eric’s rationality had just about run dry after the day’s endless challenges; he tried to formulate a new plan, improvise something from nothing, as he’d always done. But all he found was anger – anger at Rebecca, and anger at his own complete and utter helplessness.
That was when a loud bang came from behind Eric’s head, startling him. It sounded like a bird flying into a window.
Eric looked over his shoulder at a snapper inside the house, beating on the window behind him. And now he was angry at his jumpiness and his racing heart.
But Eric had jolted when the sound startled him – the sudden sharp movement enough to dislodge a tile from the awning. Next thing he knew, he was sliding toward the edge. The gutter pipe snapped as more of his weight shifted onto it.
It wasn’t a huge fall but it felt like he was falling for several vivid seconds, time moving slow enough for Eric to wish mid-air that he would hurry up and hit the fucking ground already. He was definitely fucked.
Unprepared for it, the landing might have
