The light from upstairs barely reached where he was, sohe couldn't see anything, but he heard a large thump as someone or somethingslithered in the broken window and landed on the floor. That was enough forhim. Mort backed up the stairs; his entire body seemed composed of aches andwounds. He heard a couple more thumps, and then he heard the telltale sound ofshuffling feet, a sound he was coming to despise. When he reached the landing,he examined the hallway.
There were multiple doorways, but he chose one at random.He closed the door lightly. He was in luck; the door he had chosen was to thebathroom, and it had a lock on it. He stepped into the bathroom, closed thedoor, and turned the lock. At least he was trapped in a place that had water.Mort wondered if he would turn into one of those things if he died from thirst.
It wasn't long until there was banging at the door. Itwas uncanny how they seemed to find him everywhere he went. Mort loweredhimself onto the ground, and peered through the crack between the floor and thedoor. He could see a pair of shoes standing in the hallway. Behind that pair ofshoes he could see a corpse climbing up the last few stairs in the stairwell.The sun couldn't rise soon enough.
Chapter 38: Hey, Neighbor
The police weren't coming. Of that he was sure. He couldsee the beginnings of sunrise out the window. He had thought about running tothe fire escape, but he was frozen in place in the hopes that the cops wouldcome. They were still banging on the door, and Rudy had no idea what he wasgoing to do.
He was glad he lived in an apartment complex with thickdoors. He was even more glad that he had several deadbolts. Rudy's stomachgrowled at him. It wasn't a sound he was used to hearing; he usually did anexcellent job of keeping his stomach full. Part of him wanted to just run intothe kitchen, pop a Hot Pocket in the microwave and eat his last meal, but theother part of him thought that the added noise would just keep the freaksoutside banging on his door for even longer. They would have to get tiredsooner or later? Right?
Rudy rose from the ground, his legs quaking under hisbulk. He walked over to the window that looked out on the fire escape. Thefirst touches of pink lit the horizon to the east, and he could see peoplemoving in the street. It wasn't normal movement however. There were peoplerunning, and here and there he could see forms stumbling right down the middleof the street. The people weren't walking on the sidewalk, and he had seen thatshambling gait before.
Things were bad, and for the first time in Rudy's life,he knew that he was going to have to get himself out of this jam on his own. Noone was going to help him. With a groan, he unlatched his window and lifted itup. His breathing was labored, and he swore to himself when he looked over theledge that led to the fire escape. His head spun, and he cursed himself forever agreeing to live on the third floor of an apartment complex.
Rudy threw one of his legs over the edge of thewindowsill. The banging at the door continued. His head spun as he looked downat the street. He couldn't do it. Just as he was about to pull his leg backinside, he heard the sound of splintering wood. The banging at the door becameeven more intense, and there was no turning back.
He pulled his other leg over the railing and put all ofhis weight on it. He yelped as the fire escape shifted under his weight. Hecould see the bolts rattling ever so slightly in the holes that had once beendrilled in red brick decades ago. At any moment, the fire escape could giveway, but given the choice of being eaten alive or plummeting to his death, Rudywould just as soon tumble to the rain-soaked pavement.
Rudy inched down the stairs of the fire escape, graspingthe iron rails as he went. Wherever his hand touched the rails, the white paintflaked off to reveal rusted iron surfaces. The sun emerged over the top of thetall apartment buildings, and he was bathed in an orange glow. From up above,he heard the door to his apartment burst open. He had reached the landing tothe next apartment, and he peeked inside.
The lights were off, and the reflection of the sunprevented him from seeing anything other than his own freckled face. Withoutwarning, the window was thrown up, and a hand pulled him inside. He fellwithout grace, sprawled on the ground and in pain despite all of hisunintentional padding. A soft hand was placed over his face, and as he laythere, muffling his groans of pain. He realized that he had been saved by themost beautiful woman that he had ever seen.
"Shut up," she said.
He was too shocked to make any noise. She left himwordless on the ground, as she ran to the window and slammed it shut. That’swhen they heard them, the two monsters that had been banging on his door allnight. They clumsily clambered onto the fire escape, their footfalls echoingthroughout the not-so-quiet morning. There was a loud screech of metal, andthen the fire escape tumbled away from the building, bits of eroded brick dustglittering in the sunlight.
Rudy and his savior rushed to the window. With a gracethat matched her beauty, she threw up the window, and they both looked over theedge. In the street, the fire escape sprawled out on the pavement, lookinglike nothing more than
