“Nice work,” Robyn said, climbing through the gap. “Come on, we’ve still got work to do.” As she returned to an upright position on the other side, the red light of a passive infrared detector caught her eye. Her mouth fell open in horror as the incapacitating scream of a burglar alarm made her feel like her very bones would vibrate to dust.
✽ ✽ ✽
“What’s that?” cried Ruth as a new, terrifying sound joined in the hellish concerto already being played out from below.
Wren thought she had heard a loud crash over all the other noises, and now, as she heard this ugly shrillness rip through the morning air, she realised that Robyn had gained access to the building behind them, but in so doing, she had triggered the loudest alarm Wren had ever heard. “I think it’s a burglar alarm, Ruth.” Rather than feeling relieved, Wren began to feel more nervous. She was in a burning building, probably just a few minutes away from being turned into finger-licking barbecue ribs for the zombies, and now, the one hope she had for a discrete exit had just issued forth a call to the town that made an air raid siren sound like a penny whistle.
“I want my mummy!” Ruth shouted, plonking herself down on the floor in a frightened tantrum. She jumped back to her feet, screaming.
This scream was different from the others. It was not one of fear or frustration, but of pain. Wren turned to look, and the little girl was staring down at the roof’s surface as if a thousand needles had jabbed her. “What? What is it?” Wren asked.
Ruth pointed downwards. “It burned me,” she said, beginning to cry.
Wren crouched down and placed her hand on the surface, quickly bringing it back again as if she’d just touched lava. “Oh shit!”
✽ ✽ ✽
The group ran up the first steps, doing their best to block out the deafening siren in the narrow confines of the stairwell. They reached the first landing to find a decorator’s sheet, paint buckets, and a long extendable ladder lying horizontally along the hallway. An undercoat had been applied to half the paintwork, and despite the protective covers, white paint had stained the brown cord carpet.
Robyn’s foot got caught in another protective sheet, and she would have stumbled if Susan had not caught her arm. “Thanks!” she shouted, but her gratitude went unheard over the sound of the siren. They made their way up the other flights, not allowing fatigue or the eardrum piercing noise dampen their resolve. Eventually, the door to the roof appeared in front of them, and Robyn smashed against the panic bar and a little of the bone trembling cacophony dissipated as they emerged into the morning air.
Smoke drifted towards them from the burning hotel, and Robyn looked up to the other rooftop. She could make out the shape of her sister and Ruth. Wren was waving frantically as smoke started to rise behind her.
Robyn slid the quivers and rucksack from her back as Matthew peeled an end of the string. He handed it to Robyn, who tied it tightly to an arrow. “Hurry,” she said, looking towards Matthew who was walking backwards, frantically unravelling the string as he went, creating a long, straight line on the rooftop.
“How far do you think it is?” Susan asked, leaning over the side, and then looking up towards the other roof.
“I don’t know…about twenty metres?” Elizabeth answered with a question.
While she was waiting for Matthew to attach the end of the rope, Robyn looked down, beyond the tall dividing wall between the two properties, and to the delivery bay of the hotel. The charred corpses of the dead littered it. They were stacked against the doors almost in a single, melded mass. “Gross,” she said under her breath, and then she looked back up towards her sister. Although the burglar alarm still screamed, the ringing in her ears had stopped for the time being, and now above the noise of everything else, she could hear the shouts from her sister.
“Bobbiii! The roof’s starting to cave!”
Robyn looked back as Matthew attached the rope he had taken from the boat to the laid-out length of string. He knew what was at stake; he knew all eyes were on him, and as soon as he was satisfied the two were knotted firmly, he ran across the roof towards Robyn with the rope in his hand. They both gauged the length of string, visualising it travelling across and up in their mind’s eye. They heard something like the sound of masonry collapsing, and their heads swivelled to look at the roof of the hotel. Ruth was looking backwards, screaming at the top of her voice and Wren yelled, “Hurry!”
Robyn placed the nock of the arrow against the anchor point on the bowstring. She brought the weapon up and aimed, guiding it across so there was no danger it would hit Wren or Ruth. She fired, and everybody’s eyes were transfixed by the arrow as it tore a path through the plumes of rising smoke.
Wren watched it glide by, and before it even landed, she plucked the string from mid-air and began to pull. The rope started to unfurl, and thin smiles appeared on the faces of the group as they realised the plan was working.
Almost in slow motion, the rope lost tension and fell as the knotted string around it unravelled.
Wren looked on in horror as the crackle and heat of the flames behind her crept closer.
chapter 17
“Nooo!” Robyn screamed as they watched the string that Wren was still holding float away from them. “What kind of fucking knot was that?”
Matthew looked physically shaken by the anger in Robyn’s glare as she closed in on him.
“We’ve got more string,” Elizabeth said, pulling the ball from Matthew’s pocket. She quickly unfurled metre after metre, giving one end to Robyn who tied it to another arrow. Elizabeth reeled the end of the rope back in. She had tied a thousand ropes together on her father’s boat, but never a rope to a piece of string. She started to tie a double fisherman’s knot but could see that would not work because of how thin the string was, so she improvised. The result was not pretty, but she tugged hard, and it was the best she would manage. “Okay, ready,” she said to Robyn.
Robyn aimed and fired again. Wren realised this was going to come down to vital seconds now as she grabbed another length of string out of the air. She slowly began to draw it in once more, hoping the knot would hold this time. “I’m scared!” cried Ruth again.
“Yeah, you’ve said…like fifty times,” Wren snapped as she continued, glaring towards the fickle marriage of rope and string as it continued towards her like it was part of some Indian mystic’s magic show. Ruth began to cry...again, but it was the sound of more falling masonry from behind that Wren was listening to as the heat began to feel far too hot for comfort against her back.
The rope was tantalisingly close now as she eased it ever nearer. Finally, it edged over the side of the safety railing, and she grabbed it tight in both hands, before tying it firmly onto the railing. She wasn’t an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but she tugged hard against the knot, and she was happy it would hold their weight. She waved towards the other roof; the sounds of the alarms, the creatures, and the fire made being heard impossible. Wren watched as Elizabeth wrapped the remaining rope around the safety barrier on the other roof before tying it into place.
Wren tested the line, and, happy that it was secure, climbed over the barrier onto the ledge. “Come here, Ruth.”
“No!” said the little girl, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Okay. Suit yourself,” Wren said, moving towards the rope.
“Don’t leave me!” Ruth cried, shuffling closer.
“Ruth. I can’t sugarcoat this. If you don’t come here now, we’re both going to die.” Ruth’s eyes widened, and she climbed out onto the ledge, gripping onto the safety barrier with all her strength. Wren picked her up. “I need you to wrap your legs around my waist and your arms around my back.” Ruth did as she was told. “Now, whatever happens, Ruth, you hold on, and you don’t let go. Do you understand?” The little girl nodded, but Wren could not see it or feel it. “I said, do you understand?”
“Yes,” Ruth whispered.
Wren grabbed the barrier behind her and turn
ed around. She watched for just a second as the flames continued to lash through the roof, consuming everything they touched before she sidled across to the rope. When she felt it against her thigh, she turned once more and stretched out, feeling Ruth tighten her grip. Wren locked her hands around the rope and straddled it with her legs before crossing her ankles and swinging around. Ruth screamed at the sudden movement, and for a split second, Wren’s heart jumped as there was a little give on the rope before it settled. The pair of them swung there for a second like a mother and baby orangutan. When she was sure the rope was going to hold, Wren started to climb down the diagonal line. “Keep your eyes closed, Ruth, you’re doing fine.”
“I will,” Ruth said as her vice-like grip around Wren eased a little.
The ravaging sounds of destruction continued as more of the hotel roof collapsed, and as Wren continued her bizarre monkey shuffle along the rope line, the searing heat from the fire behind them seemed to intensify. Wren had gone just beyond the halfway point when she paused for a short breath. She straightened her head to look towards her sister, and although the view was upside down, she recognised panic when she saw it.
The group were looking across to the hotel roof as if they were looking into Hell itself. Robyn looked back towards Wren and gave her the universal gesture to hurry up as she motioned with her arm. Wren knew this could only mean one thing: the fire was about to catch the rope, or the rope was already burning.
“Remember, whatever happens, Ruth, don’t let go,” Wren said as she began to move as fast as she could along the underside of the rope. Eight metres left, seven metres, six metres…and she felt something give a little. Her muscles were tired, she ached, and she was scared, but she mustered all the strength she had to raise her head and look back towards the hotel. “Oh shit!”
“What is it? What is it?” Ruth shouted, keeping her eyes closed as per their agreement.
“The rope’s burning, Ruth. It’s about to snap. Just hold on. Hold—Arghhh!” she screamed as they began to swing through the air like Tarzan and Cheetah. Wren hit the wall of the bank building with a bone shuddering crunch. She let out a cry but held on with everything she had as Ruth’s grip tightened around her.
“Are you okay?” Elizabeth shouted down.
“I’m great. Having a ball,” Wren muttered.
“Don’t try and climb, we’re going to pull you up,” Robyn shouted down.
“Okay,” Wren shouted back, closing her eyes and hoping desperately that she could cling on.
She felt the brick surface scrape against her back as she and Ruth were hoisted up like bags of cement. Wren fully expected to be dropped again at any second and go hurtling towards the tarmac below, but Robyn, Matthew, Elizabeth and Susan had no intention of losing this tug of war; Melissa stood there, ready to jump in if it looked like the rope was about to start sliding.
“Ruth! Ruth! Give Melissa your hand,” called Elizabeth as they reached the roof’s edge.
Ruth opened her eyes and saw Melissa’s hand, which had been bloodied by the coarse surface of the bollard, emerge through the safety railing. She grabbed onto it and clamped her other one onto the rail before being pulled to safety.
“Give me your hand, sis,” Robyn said, reaching down. Wren turned and grasped onto Robyn’s hand before climbing up onto the ledge and over the barrier. They flung their arms around each other while Elizabeth, Matthew and Ruth locked each other in a similar embrace. “I don’t really want to let you go, but I suppose we’d better get out of here.”
Eventually, they pulled away from each other, but wide smiles remained on each of their faces. “So, what’s the plan?” Wren asked.
Robyn laughed. “Seriously? The whole point of me rescuing you was so I didn’t have to come up with any more plans. This one took me everything I had,” she said, nodding towards the other building.
“That was pretty good for you.”
“Wow! Stop it, sis…my head will get too big, and I won’t be able to get through the door.”
Wren threw her arms back around her sister. “Thank you, Bobbi. You’re the best.”
“Yeah...I suppose I am.”
Wren released Robyn again and saw that her rucksack and javelin were on the ground waiting for her. “I didn’t think I’d ever see those again,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Matthew was good enough to lug the rucksack around while we were on the hunt for you,” Robyn replied.
“Thanks,” she said, nodding to him as she reached down and picked it up. “Right then. I think we’d better make tracks.”
The group headed towards the doorway, and the shrieking alarm became louder and louder. The moment they entered the narrow stairwell, it was deafening once again. It was pointless trying to talk over the sound, and even Ruth’s frightened screams could not be heard. Robyn and Wren led the way down flight after flight, looking forward to getting back out into the open and leaving this infernal dissonance behind them once and for all. What they would do when they got out there, they did not know for the time being. They could not scrounge a thought between them while this piercing noise ripped through their brains. They reached the second-floor landing, and froze as two creatures began charging towards them.
Robyn immediately pulled an arrow from her quiver while Wren placed her feet one in front of the other, balanced and ready for impact. Robyn fired; the arrow cracked through the forehead of the first beast, while a few seconds later, the second met the end of Wren’s javelin. Melissa threw up as she saw the gory remains clinging to it when Wren withdrew her weapon. Wren wiped it off on the creature’s clothing then carried on further along the landing. She peered over the solid bannister to see more creatures on the steps and more still stumbling through the gap in the broken door.
Wren immediately signalled for the group to retreat back up the stairs but then noticed the ladder leaned horizontally against the wall. She gestured for her sister to take the top while she grasped the bottom. Robyn looked confused, but she did so anyway before running back down the hallway.
Wren cast a glance back just as they manoeuvred the ladders around the corner to take the next flight. Another creature, its back to them for the time being, was just making its way onto the landing in search of prey, drawn by the din the alarm was making. Wren ducked around the corner, and they took the next flight, but she kept looking back to see if the beast was in pursuit. So far, they were not being followed, but as the building filled with more and more of these things, Wren knew it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out.
Robyn and Wren were the last to emerge back onto the roof. “What the hell is that?” Robyn shouted, fearful that one of the creatures had somehow beaten them to the roof as she saw a fresh bloody handprint on the inside of the door.
“It’s okay,” Elizabeth shouted, wrapping her blood-dripping fingers in a handkerchief. “It’s my hand. The rope cut it.”
Both girls let out a relieved breath, placing the ladder down and clunking the heavy fire door shut behind them, blocking out at least some of the sound from inside.
Wren fished in her rucksack for the straight-edged screwdriver and placed it in the small gap at the bottom of the door before sitting down on the ground and wedging it as far in with the heel of her boot as she could. It would not give them much time if any of those creatures made it to the door, but it might give them the extra few seconds they needed.
“Where the hell did all those come from?” Robyn asked.
“Remember, we’re in a town now. It’s not like being out in the sticks. If those things weren’t in a line of sight to the flares, they wouldn’t have headed to the hotel, but a blind man with cake in his ears couldn’t fail to find us with that bloody alarm going.”
“What’s the ladder for? You do realise it won’t reach the ground, don’t you?” Robyn said.
“No, really? Crap. My whole idea ruined,” Wren replied.
“Smart arse.”
“Dumb arse.”
/> “So come on genius, enlighten us,” Robyn said.
Wren carried the ladder over to the side of the building. An alleyway just big enough to get a small lorry down separated it from the building next door, which was a storey shorter. She bent down, examined the mechanism for a second and extended the ladder until she heard the lock click into place. She went across to the railing with the rope still tied to it and cut six, one-metre lengths, immediately placing four of them in the rucksack. Wren walked back across to the ladder and tied the remaining two pieces of rope to the fourth rung from the top. “Okay,” she said, looking towards Matthew and Robyn. “Give me a hand with this. We’re going to stretch it over to the other roof, but whatever you do, don’t let go until I’ve tied the ropes around the railing.
They lifted the aluminium ladder onto the safety rail, pivoted it around, and then took the weight as they eased it over to the other side. It landed on the opposite railing with a clatter, and they carried on until the fourth rung rested, ropes dangling, over the top of the railing on their side. Wren tied two firm knots while Robyn and Matthew kept a tight hold of the frame. Wren stood up and tried to budge the ladder, but the knots held it firmly in position.
“So, we’re going to climb across?” Melissa said, looking down over the edge.
“Got a better plan?” Wren asked.
“I don’t like heights?” Melissa replied.
“Well, you can go last then. We don’t want people to have to look at you splatted in the alleyway while they’re trying to concentrate on making it across, do we?” Robyn replied.
“You’re not a very nice person,” Melissa snapped.
“You’ve been pissing and moaning ever since we left the monastery. You don’t like heights, fine. Stay here. Otherwise, quit being a baby and get with the programme,” Robyn said.
Melissa looked like she was about to start crying. “Don’t speak to her like that!” Matthew said angrily, taking a step towards Robyn.
The End of Everything Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3] Page 50
