They could see the hand of Herb fishing through thefurniture, but the pile wasn't going anywhere. Herb could get no leverage, andeverything was jammed tight. Joan and Clara climbed the stairs and sat in thehallway. There were two rooms apiece on the left and right of the hallway, butthe floor was good enough for Clara. Besides, from the way things looked, theyhad already shoved all the chairs downstairs.
The banging was less insistent upstairs, dulled bydistance and walls. She could almost pretend that she was sitting in her ownapartment, trying to ignore noisy neighbors. From the room on the right side ofthe hallway, Clara heard grunting. She leaned sideways and saw the feet of thedead woman disappear into a hole in the ceiling. Mort pushed her feet upwards,and she assumed Lou and Katie were above hauling the rest of the corpse up ontothe roof.
Clara sat up straight and the scene in the roomdisappeared. Joan plopped down next to her, and they sat, breathing heavy. Nowthat the immediate work was done, her mind began to focus on the impossibilityof the situation and the dread of having lost another good person. The morningcouldn't get here soon enough. Clara closed her eyes for a brief second. Shewas almost asleep, her head resting on Joan's shoulder when Mort shook herawake.
"Come on," he said. "I need yourhelp."
Clara didn't ask what he needed help with. She justfollowed him without thinking, down the stairs and over to where Blake's bodyrested. Mort bent down and hooked his arms under Blake's armpits. "Grabhis feet," he said.
She bent down and lifted Blake's feet by the well-wornheels of his boots. Together, they maneuvered him upstairs. Her ankle screamedat her as she climbed the stairs. It was now an everyday pain, something thatshe had decided she could live with. She didn't know if it would get worse, butit didn't seem to be getting better. She could run on it if she had to, butwhenever she stopped, the damn thing throbbed like it was going to explode atany second.
In the old security office, the room now empty offurniture, Mort propped Blake's body up. "Lift with me," he said.
Clara squatted down, and they raised Blake up off theground. She saw Lou appear at the entrance to the hole, reaching downward withhis hand. Blake's body was just out of reach. Mort hugged Blake's body chest tochest, lifting him in the air as high as he could, but it wasn't high enough.
"Get his arm up to me," Lou said.
The task was left to her to help with. She grabbed hisarm and tried to point it straight upward, but gravity and Blake's limp armconspired to make that technique useless. "Shit," she muttered, thesecond time his cold, dead arm flopped over her shoulder.
Mort grunted as he set Blake's body down gently on thefloor. "Couldn't hold him up any longer," Mort said apologetically ashe doubled over, his arms hanging limp.
"That's alright," Lou said. "Take abreather. We'll try again in a few."
Mort sat on the ground, his knees drawn up to his chest.Clara walked around looking at the pile of disconnected wires on the ground. "Whydon't we just leave him here?" she wondered.
"No way," Mort said. "There's no way we'releaving him here. I don't want those things poking around him if they get inhere. He'll be better on the roof, in the sunshine, away from thosethings."
Clara just shrugged and picked up a length of electricalcord; she sat next to Blake's body and looped some of the cord around his wrist.She pulled the cord taut and then tested it out. It wasn't perfect, but itmight hold long enough for Lou to get a hold of Blake's hand.
"Ready to try again?" she asked.
In reply, Mort stood up and walked over to Blake's body."Lou! We're gonna try again." He wrapped his arms around Blake'swaist, and then hugged his body, lifting it up as high as he could go, whichwas still some two feet below the hole. Clara grabbed the loose end of the cordand tossed it in the direction of Lou who was once again hanging down in thehole. He grabbed the wire with his hand and then stood up, pulling backwards.
"Help me out with this," he said, and thenKatie appeared, tugging on Blake's dead body. He rose upward, as if God werecalling him to heaven, and then his boots disappeared over the edge of the holein the roof. He was up there now.
Clara walked back to her spot in the hallway. Joan wasleaned completely over, her eyes closed. She sat back down next to her andclosed her own eyes. She was asleep in no time, dreaming of the pounding of asteel drum as bodies rose in the sky above her, drifting away up to a light inthe sky.
Chapter 18: A Hooptie for Us
When the sun came up, the temperature in the buildingrose instantly. It was going to be a scorcher. Joan sat on the roof, soaking upthe sun as it rose overhead. They had agreed to leave at noon, come hell orhigh water... well, hell was already here, so that just left high water.
They waited in silence, like monks mediating in thecourtyard of a monastery. Flies buzzed around the entire building, just as thedead themselves buzzed around it. Their exit strategy involved more of thatfamed, "Let's jump off of this" strategy that they had become knownfor. By the end of their journey, Joan fully expected to be over any fear ofheights she had ever had... or she would be dead. She wanted to laugh, but thenshe remembered what had happened to Rudy the last time they had jumped out of abuilding.
Had he woken up yet? Would he follow after them, or wouldhe and Amanda just sit tight with those military boys? It was a crap shoot inthe end. She had only known Rudy for a couple of weeks, and for the most part,he seemed like a typical young adult... meek,
