Ascension

'What about the building next door?' asked Max, 'I think I could make the jump.'

'Yeah, you me and everyone who isn't injured, what about the wounded?' asked Bill.

'We can't save everyone.' Ruben said, 'And I ain't in favor of dying with them either.' Another grenade went off on the side of the building.

'Can you make the jump?' Bill asked Ruben.

'Watch me.' with that he got up and took a running start towards the edge of the building. The four of them, including Javier, who had crawled over while they were talking looked open mouthed as the old man took a running leap and disappeared over the edge.

'Oh fuck, did the old fool make it?' said Stewart, rising to a crouching position to see.

'Well?' asked Max.

'Yeah, he did, he made it! I'm going, c'mon!' she rose and ran towards the edge as another grenade landed on the roof and blew behind her. Stewart made the jump look easy, clearing the other roof by ten or more feet. The grenade wounded more people and after seeing the jumpers the remaining able bodied rose and started to make the run too. This worked out well for some of them, but two people were a little too focused on the run and not on where they were running; they bumped together right at the roof edge, one man tripped and fell over the edge and the other barely managed to reach the other side where he clung to the parapet with one hand. Gunfire rang out and he dropped like a stone a moment later.

The grenades stopped, but people still kept trying to make the jump, now their actions were accompanied by gunfire from below and screams from some of the men as they were hit.

'We gotta go.' said Max, 'From there we can jump to the next building and then maybe down to that one behind it. Or we could go down and try to weave our way through the building to the south.'

'Max, we can't just leave these guys.'

'Bill, you have family to think of, I have family to think of. And what about Ruben and Stewart? We can't leave them to fend for themselves. Javier and you need to jump over then we don't rest, we just go for the next one immediately to take them by surprise.'

'You first.'

'No, 'cause you'd do something stupid. You first.'

'You just want me to draw their fire.'

'That too.'

'Don't leave us.' said a patient nearby.

'Look man….I…' started Bill, then he was pulled up by Javier and half pushed by Max in the direction of the other building.

Ruben, on the other side, had climbed on top of a heating unit on the other building and had his rifle aimed at the green. Javier and Bill leaped at the same time and bullets from both above and below rang out. Neither man was hit by the wild fire, but down below a zombie with one of the rifles had a bullet put through his skull by Ruben. Ruben immediately pulled himself away from the edge near the green, trying to hide from the zombie gunmen. It didn't seem to matter to the other zombies; they didn't notice that one of their own had been shot. For a moment everything was quiet, when Max rose up to make the jump the pleas of those around him rose in volume begging him not to go. Ignoring them Max focused on the run, picturing his children on the other side as motivation to make the leap. More gunshots rang out, but Max landed safely. The group on the other building huddled together near the door to the stairs.

Bill stood as Max came over and said, 'We are going to jump for the next one. It should be easier, they can't see us from the green.'

Down below they heard a scream, a high pitched wailing. Cautiously they crept to peep over the parapet to the lawn below. The zombies had their prisoners held up above the crowd body surfing them around the green, most of the men were still whole, but a couple had been attacked and were bleeding. As they watched another one of the men was grabbed in a tug of war between two groups, the man's arm was pulled out of its socket and then from his body completely as the game played out. His scream rose in pitch until any who didn't see him would have sworn that it was a small child, not a grown man. As if that were a signal the other body surfing prisoners were pulled into the mob and torn apart, with the crowd forming feeding circles around them.

'Now! We go now, while they are distracted!' Bill said. He didn't have to tell them twice. Only two other men made the jump with them, the others broke into the building and were heading down the stairs.

'We can jump down or across again.' Bill said, pointing out their options, no one seemed inclined to go down yet like the others.

'I say we go across and see what is on the other side of that building.' said Stewart, 'Even if it isn't a good one to jump to we are a little closer to the southern edge of the campus if we have to go down inside.'

'Everyone agree?' asked Bill.

Everyone did, once on the other building they found that the next one was two stories lower than than the one they were on, a distance none of them wanted to try. While they pondered their choices, a third option presented itself.

Chapter 8 — Katie

Katie went back into the corner office to pick up the gym bag, she put three of the table legs into it along with the least soiled of the hand towels. Whatever towels the man had for drying off from the shower were missing. 'Maybe it was laundry day.' she mused to herself as she stood in the doorway checking for zeds a few moments later.

Her goals were now clear, she was going to head downstairs and west, cross over to the building where she and Randy had parted ways with Heath and then go through there to the vehicle they had left on the other side. She remembered that Heath had put the keys on the seat and she hoped that the blinker he had left on hadn't run the battery down to the point where it wouldn't start the car. The car should be on a street that was clear of the devastation, once there she would decide where to head next.

After pausing for a moment to make sure the way was really clear she ran from the office doorway and sprinted towards the stairwell on the west side of the building. Katie didn't encounter any zombies, but did catch the oversized shoes on an office chair that sent her sprawling. Cursing softly she kicked off the shoes, she felt sure she could keep going if her feet were cut and no longer felt that the protection they offered was worth the risk of tripping in front of the next zombie she ran into. She did toss the shoes into her bag, in case she changed her mind later.

Cracking the door to the stairwell she listened closely. Nothing. No noise other than that coming from behind her as debris settled and wind blew through the shattered windows of the building. Easing the door shut behind her she quickly made her way down to the next landing, then paused and listened again. Katie did this at every stage of her descent, cautiously creeping along so that any zombies would not get the jump on her. With steady progress she made it to the ground floor, seeing no one living or dead in the process. Now she stood staring at the metal 'emergency only' fire door exit, another door led into the building itself, but Katie wanted to leave and thought this was the way she needed to go.

Pushing the door open she was surprised when the speaker attached to it started to chirp wildly. She pulled the door back and bashed at the metal box holding the alarm system until the noise stopped. 'The damned thing has made my ears start ringing again!' Katie counted to a thousand as slowly as she could, listening for anything coming down the stairs, then she slowly opened the door again. Nothing. No zeds at all. 'Where the fuck are they?'

Darting across the street Katie walked into the building she had passed through earlier with Health and Randy and out of the other side, where the sport utility vehicle was parked. Only it wasn't. 'Someone stole our fucking car! Damn Chicago, I always knew it was filled with the descendants of mobsters and criminals.'

The body of the other soldier, Lewis, lay on the ground where the car had been parked. His gear was