Joe said, “The responsible thing to do here would be for me or Yassa here to go first.”
Pete, who really wished he could just not have to speak, said, “I’d like to volunteer, please.”
“Trying to earn your keep already, Pete?” Joe asked.
“No, I don’t really want to explain myself; I don’t think you’ll like the answer.”
“Well now I’d really like to know it, Petey boy,” Joe replied.
His shoulders began to slump and he finally gave in. Pete slowly said, “I don’t know if the ladder is going to hold you. It might, I’m sure it is a great ladder. I know Drake doesn’t skimp when it comes to buying anything, but it's been outside for a year, not moving. We didn’t have a very easy winter, and well it just makes me nervous what condition it is in.”
Joe looked over the edge, unsure exactly how he felt about going down this many floors. There’d be no salvation for him if he fell, and if by some chance lived, the further outcome of that would be him in a lot of pain and paralyzed down on the ground waiting for one of the Turned to come out and make him a meal. On a positive note, maybe he would get lucky enough to just snap his neck and put him out of this nightmare of a world.
“If you or any of the lighter people would like to go first, that’s probably a good idea.”
Pete didn’t wait for someone else to say anything or to attempt to go first. He shook his hands out, realizing they were shivering like it was February in Iowa. He knelt down and began crawling, one rung at a time, on the ladder. The metal dug into his skinny shins and knees as he started making his way across. Pete looked down; the Turned were beneath him now, not knowing what tasty treat was above them. Pete slipped, his hands were covered with sweat and he hit hard. He immediately clung onto the ladder, and once he had a good grip on it, made damn sure that his glasses were well in place. The last thing he would want to do would be to lose those. There were not many eye doctors open right now, he thought, and his vision was shit without it. A pen fell out of his pocket, landing conveniently on one of the Turned. It did not appreciate that and looked up at what was above.
Pete cursed under his breath as the dead looked up, slowly seeing him on top of the ladder looking like he was going to shit his pants. The living and the dead locked eyes and only one of them was happy to see the other, if the Turned still knew happiness, which he didn’t think they did.
When they realized that there was a fresh meal dangling like a shish kabob above them, they raced into the building right next to them. Pete was thankful that it wasn’t the building where Bethany and all the others were. But the building standing across from it was just going to lead them to himself. He froze on the ladder, thinking that going back was maybe a good idea. He felt like if he could rethink his earlier decisions about accepting an offer that he might decide it wasn’t quite as good of an idea coming with these, at best, strangers. For all he knew, they were crazy and were lying, and would eat him when they got back to this magical base with a cure. God damn, how stupid could he be? Pete screamed, “God damn it, I don’t understand what is happening. I don’t know what is going on. I can’t deal with this. How am I supposed to trust you guys, why am I on a fucking ladder?!”
Yassa yelled, “You volunteered to be, dipshit. Now get moving, so we can get through and across.”
“You saw those things running into the building, where do you think they are going?”
“Probably coming for you,” Yassa replied.
Pete thought head diving off this ladder might be an easier solution. But he figured if he got someone else over here with a gun, that might be a good thing to have. Pete took one step on his knees at a time until he got across the ladder to the roof. When he made it near the end of the ladder, he had mixed feelings if this was a good thing. He felt a warm feeling in his pants when the door to the roof busted open. Pete realized they’d had extreme motivation because they’d gotten to the top in seconds.
The Turned saw the small meal on the ladder and they raced towards him. Pete started going back as quickly as he could. He felt the rungs digging into his knees. He didn’t care though, and wanted to make sure that he didn’t feel their teeth digging into his flesh. He went back as quick as he could until his knees slipped off the side and his one thing holding him up disappeared. He slid down, clinging onto the side of the ladder, his feet dangling with nothing to save him, including the people on the other side of the roof.
Ellie didn’t need to be told what to do. She yelled, “Come on, let’s not lose him in the first five minutes we’ve had him.”
Jon, Kya,
