by Bible, Jake
Emmerson swung a punch at Jackson and the two men fell in a heap, punching and hitting each other as they rolled about on the roof. With their feet tied, neither of the men could stand up to fight properly. Warwick unleashed a volley of bullets into the air above them and the fighting immediately ceased. Both men scrambled to their feet, knuckles bruised and noses bloodied.
“All right, party’s over,” said Warwick. “Let’s get on with this. You are now officially on American soil. Over there to my left is a ladder. Sort of. You must exit these premises using the ladder until you reach the other side of the perimeter fencing. Once you reach the other side, you are free. Any questions?”
“You’re joking, right?” asked Izliev. She jutted out her prominent jaw and took a small step forward. “I’m not going anywhere with these people.”
Since the gunfire, the murmuring Roach heard earlier had grown in volume and he now knew where it was coming from. It was all around them, just out of sight. It was coming from below them, surrounding them on all sides. There was nowhere to run to. He knew the ladder would almost certainly not lead to freedom.
“The Grave? This is a joke. Where are your superiors?” asked Min.
“No way, man, no way you can do this,” said Jackson.
Roach could sense the panic building in the prisoners. They knew what it meant to be here and why they were here. Freedom was not waiting for them on the other side of the fence, only death. Roach could see Dwight looking confused and scared. He didn’t know what this place was. At that moment, Roach noticed the other man, the one who had until now kept quiet. He was elderly and small, not like the other men. Warwick had ignored him when listing their names.
“Sergeant Warwick,” said the man clearing his throat. “If I may?”
“What is it, Quentin?”
Quentin turned to face the prisoners. “You’re not being freed. Far from it, you’re expected to die here. I’ve been working with the authorities trying to find a cure for them. Until about a year ago anyway, then it all changed. I found out what’s really going on here. This place is...”
“All right, Quentin, that’ll do,” said Warwick. He took a step toward the man.
“Fuck you, Warwick, I know all about you,” said Quentin.
Roach was surprised. The man looked so small and frail, yet he spoke with determination and fierceness. He was glaring at the sergeant now and Warwick almost stepped back. Roach looked around and could see the ladder they had been told to cross. It was perched perilously on the edge of the rooftop and went across the yard with the other end resting on top of the tall fence. A fallen tree was leaning against the fence on the outside, no doubt conveniently placed for them to make their escape to ‘freedom.’ Beyond the beech trees, he could not see. What was below the ladder, the things making the moaning sounds, was too terrifying for Roach to contemplate. Perhaps, this Quentin would be able to help them. He seemed to know what was going on.
“What’s out there?” asked Emmerson. “What’s with this place?” The man might have the muscled body of a weightlifter, but he had the look of a man who knew he was about to be in some serious shit, thought Roach.
“If we take a step onto that ladder, we are dead,” continued Quentin. “The Deathless live here. They have this island all to themselves. I, for one, am not going out there. If the dead don’t kill you, the infection will. Sergeant Warwick, I demand you take us back this instance. A lifetime in prison would be preferable to being condemned to The Grave.” Quentin began shuffling forward toward the helicopter.
“Hey if he’s going, I want out too.” Jackson began shuffling forward too.
Roach stayed where he was. He watched as Sergeant Warwick raised his gun and pointed it squarely at Quentin.
“Freeze, now!” shouted Warwick, but Quentin kept moving closer to the soldiers and the helicopter.
Roach watched as the other soldiers got up, realising events were getting out of hand. He heard Warwick tell Quentin to stop, and then gunfire shattered the peace. Quentin’s body exploded as a barrage of bullets smashed through his body, sending his blood all over the rooftop. The man crumpled to the ground, dead. Min screamed as Emmerson and Jackson dropped to the ground, shielding themselves from the gunfire. Roach instinctively ducked, but was too shocked to react. He heard Izliev next to him begin crying and Leone muttering in Spanish. When Warwick stopped firing, there was near silence again. All Roach could hear was the murmuring from below. It was definitely louder now and he could hear thumping noises and bangs as the Deathless tried to climb the building.
“Jesus Christ,” said Brooks.
“If you lazy fuckers had been paying attention, we could be halfway back by now. He would’ve exposed us and you know it. We’ve got our orders. Pick up his body and get rid of it. Now!” screamed Warwick.
Brooks and Springman reluctantly picked up Quentin’s bloody body and dragged it to the edge of the roof where they dumped it over the edge. Roach felt sick. He knew that if they didn’t leave now, Warwick was likely to shoot them all where they stood. He put his hands up. “Warwick, I’ll go. I’ll go first. Just give us a fighting chance. Okay? How about these leg braces, eh?”
Warwick motioned for another of the soldiers to go over to Roach and his legs were finally unshackled. Warwick kept his gun aimed at the prisoners the whole time, as did the others behind him now, alert for any more trouble.
Roach walked slowly to the ladder. “Min, Jackson, everyone; you should follow me. I don’t think we have much choice here.”
As he got closer to the ladder, he heard the others being released and their leg braces collected. The roof began to plateau and then he saw them. Below the roof, trapped in the yard by the fence on all sides, were hundreds of them. There were men, women and children, all pushing and shoving each other, all moaning and baring their teeth. Hands and feet banged on the walls, picking at the masonry, punching the bricks as if they could make the whole building fall down. Roach was terrified, but he felt pity too. These poor people that were before him; they had not deserved this. The infection had taken them and they had been abandoned here on The Grave. They no longer thought or acted like the living because they were dead. The terrible poison that man had created to save them from death had only hastened them toward it.
Roach reached the ladder and knelt down. He put his hands firmly on the rails and shuffled onto it with his knees supporting him on the rungs. He reasoned it must be about fifteen feet to the fence. He quietly said a prayer and looked down through the ladder. The dead were reaching up for him, jumping, scrabbling over one another, and fighting each other to get to him. If they made it, he would be eaten alive. He began to crawl forward carefully and hoped he could make it past the Deathless.
The Grave is available from www.severedpress.com and Amazon here
