The Fall: The Apocalypse Diaries

by Brock, Dianah

  Randy turned his attention to where I had pointed. I saw him place his hand on his gun.

  “Yep. It’s all alone. Poor thing.” Randy said as he removed the gun from his side. He raised his weapon and took his aim. I watched as he concentrated and inhaled a deep breath right before he fired his shot. I watched as the walker fell to the ground.

  “I swear, I don’t see how in the hell you do that. There is no way in hell I could have hit it at this distance.” I stated. Randy lowered his weapon and placed it back in the holster.

  “Yeah, that’s why you brought me along. I’m Super Man.” Randy commented with a smile. I rolled my eyes at him. He did have a bit of a cocky attitude, but it was enough that I could tolerate, and even found amusing at times.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Once Tara finished with her shower, we met Randy and Tyler in the hallway.

  “Does anyone know how to get up to the roof?” I asked. Randy looked around the hallway.

  “There is a set of stairs over there. We could follow them up and see if that’s where it takes us.” he said.

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I need to talk to Jim and Jay and see if there is some way we can get out of here around that horde and get home. We have too many people that will worry about us if we don’t make it back tonight.” I informed.

  The four of us walked down the hallway and Randy opened the door to the stair well. The four of us went inside and made our way up the stairs. There were so many to travel to get to the roof top. This was one of those times that I was thankful that I was in good shape. Tara and Tyler took the stairs with no problem, but then again, they are only fourteen years old so it shouldn’t be a problem for them.

  Randy made the travel well too. He was also in good shape. Actually, he was in great shape. When the apocalypse began, Randy was a construction worker. It was still evident by looking at him. He was well built, and I had noticed that because, well, I had seen him shirtless a lot in seventeen months.

  I shook my head. That wasn’t the thoughts I wanted going through my head. In fact, I didn’t want any thoughts of Randy in my head except those that pertained to our situation and survival. Ever since the kiss Randy had forced on me on the steps of my apartment that morning, I had done nothing but think about him in ways that I knew I shouldn’t, in ways that should they be entertained, they would get us both killed.

  We made it to the top of the stairs and sure enough, there was the door leading out onto the roof top. I opened the door and stepped out onto the roof top. Sure enough, Jay and Jim were both there, along with Mark, the guy they stationed on top of the roof.

  “Well there is our house guests.” Jim said as he saw the four of us coming toward them.

  “How was those showers?” he asked us.

  “Wonderful, thank you.” I said, answering for all four of us.

  “Not a problem. Glad we could be of service. Hey, did one of y’all take out that zombie that came out of the woods?” Jay said.

  “Yeah, I did.” Randy said

  “Good job. I was just about to shoot the bastard myself when all of a sudden, he fell to the ground. We didn’t even hear a shot.” Jim commented.

  “That’s because we use silencers on our guns. It doesn’t attract as many in our direction if the shot can’t be heard.” Randy informed.

  Jim nodded as he spit a big puddle of tobacco filled saliva on the roof top. Again, my stomach churned.

  “That’s real smart thinking. We don’t have silencers cause our guns aren’t made for them, but they do hold more rounds than those cop guns y’all carry.” Jim said.

  “They still get the job done.” I answered him.

  “That they do, and to hit that thing from this distance, that makes you a damn good shot boy.” Jim said to Randy.

  “I am pretty good.” Randy said.

  “So, how is the horde looking that was headed this way? Have they changed direction at all?” I asked.

  “Here, see for yourself.” Mark said as he handed me a pair of binoculars. I took the binoculars and looked through them. Sure enough, the horde was still headed in our direction, though it seemed they had calmed down a bit. They weren’t running full speed anymore. I could also see how big it was from where I stood. There had to be at least a hundred or so of those things. The worst part was, they blocked the way home.

  “That’s our way home too, and it’s too many just to plow through with the truck.” I said as I handed the binoculars back to Mark.

  “Yep. Judging by their direction, they are headed right for the hotel. Looks like we need to divert them a little bit. Make ‘em turn away from the hotel. I hate hanging out in here for days not making a sound.” Jay said.

  I was definitely interested at this point.

  “How do you make them change direction?” I asked. I really wanted to know the answer to that. Hell, it might be a tactic that we could use in the village to have as an extra precaution. We had a bird’s eye view over our village as well. We always stationed one watcher on the top of the city hall building. Though, we had never had a horde come through that was that size. We had never faced anything that we couldn’t kill.

  “Well, we have us a dare devil in the group. His name is Nick. Nick set up zip wires all around here and he can travel from roof top to roof top without ever touching the ground. He goes to the roof top that leads away from us, and he fires several shots from his gun, or fireworks, or something like that. It makes the herd turn and go toward the noise.”

  That was interesting. I had never thought of that before. In my group, noise was always dangerous. We had never considered using it to distract the hordes and lead them away from us. It definitely would save bullets, not that we were in short supply or anything. We had raided enough gun stores and pawn shops to fight off zombies for quite some time. Not to mention, we did use other weapons like our spears and knives to kill as well. I suddenly felt proud of my little village. I wondered how things were going there.

  “So you are going to have someone travel a zip wire to another roof top and fire shots to draw the zombies away?” Tyler asked.

  “Yep Son, that’s what we are gonna do.” Jim said with a smile.

  “That is awesome. Can I watch?” Tyler asked with excitement in his voice.

  “Sure you can. You might learn something kid.” Jim said as he rubbed the top of my son’s head.

  “I believe I would like to stay and watch as well.” I said. I truly was interested in this tactic. I wanted to see it in action.

  “No time like the present.” Jim said as he removed the radio from his side.

  “Hey Nick do you copy?” he spoke into the radio.

  “10-4 Jim. What can I do yam for?” I heard a voice say through the air waves.

  “We got us a herd coming our way. Time to send ‘em to the Ramada.” Jim said.

  “10-4 chief. On my way up.” Nick replied.

  Jim placed the radio back on his side.

  “Now I don’t feel so bad.” I said with a smile.

  “How’s that?” Jim said.

  “In my village, everyone calls me Commander. Now I don’t feel as bad considering I have heard a few people call you chief.” I said.

  “Yeah, it wasn’t my idea. I thought when the shit hit the fan, I would lose my title. I was the chief of police for Murray County. Seems like the title just stuck with me.” Jim stated.

  He was a long way away from home. Murray County was at least a thirty minute drive from here in normal road conditions. I wondered how Jim came to be in Bartow County, but I wasn’t going to pry. My mind thinks of too many questions, and analyzes too much information as it is. Whatever had happened, Chief Jim was here now, and I was glad he was. I was learning a lot from him.

  The door to the roof top came open and a young guy came through the door. I was surprised to see a boy, not a day over seventeen come through with a harness fastened to his body, and a back pack on his back. He had short dark red hair and shimmering green eyes.
He definitely looked like the high school jock type. He was built well for his age.

  “Hi there chief. You say we got us a big one?” Nick said as he took the binoculars from his side and looked through them in the direction of the horde.

  “Woo wee, that’s a big one. Probably the biggest I’ve seen. Where the hell did that come from?” Nick said, still looking through the binoculars.

  “Followed me up from Acworth up 41.” Jay said as he lit a cigarette.

  Nick lowered the binoculars and clipped them back on his side.

  “They seem to get bigger and bigger.” Nick said.

  “Yep, they are coming up from the big cities down south. Guess they finally ate all the people and animals they could find down that way. Now they are migrating up this way looking for food.” Jay said.

  That was a horrible thought. If the hordes were migrating, I wondered how long it would be before they made their way up to our village. We couldn’t handle a horde of this size. We would all have to go inside and hope for the best while we waited for it to move on. The thought terrified me and I was suddenly worried about my little village. I had to get back there to warn them.

  We all watched as Nick made his way over to the edge of the building. He knelt down and clipped the harness he was wearing to one of the zip lines. Once he was attached, he checked to make sure his guns and pack were secure on his back. He looked over at us and smiled.

  “Time for some fun.” he said as he let himself fall on his back over the edge of the building.

  Knowing how far we were off of the ground, it made my feet hurt to watch him do that. I for one was afraid of heights. Better him than me. That was all I could think. We all made our way over to the edge of the building and watched as Nick pulled himself across the street using the zip line. I listened. It was actually very quiet. It was a pretty good distance across the four lane highway to the Ramada Inn that rested at the foot of a hill. Once Nick was half way across, he let go of the zip line, and he slowly glided toward the roof top of the other hotel.

  I just didn’t see how he could do something like this. It made my skin crawl. I had to admit, he was a brave young man that was for sure. Nick was finally out of sight. He looked like nothing more than a speck in the world. We watched as he climbed his way up the side of the Ramada Inn, and up on the roof top. He unfastened himself and climbed up.

  I could no longer see him well enough to see what he was doing.

  “Hey, can I use those binoculars?” I asked Mark.

  “Sure.” he said as he handed them over to me. I placed the binoculars up to my eyes and looked over at the roof top to the Ramada. I could see Nick again, and this time I could make out what he was doing. I watched as he removed the pack from his back and placed it on the roof top. He went digging inside of the pack for a moment. I couldn’t make out at first what he pulled out and sat on the roof top.

  I continued to watch as he set something up. From my line of view, it looked as though he was setting up fireworks and planned to shoot them off to attract the horde in his direction. I watched as Nick reached into his pocket and pulled something out. I imagined it had to have been a lighter or matches. He knelt down and touched the item he had set up on the roof top.

  All of a sudden, we could hear them as they shot up into the air. Sure enough, he had set up fireworks on the roof top, and was shooting them up in the sky. I watched as he grabbed his pack and made his way away from the firework display. He looked as though he was unlocking a lock on something. He was. I watched as he removed a tent and set it up on the roof top of the Ramada Inn.

  I then turned my attention to the horde that was moving in the direction of the Best Western. Sure enough, they had changed their direction, and were now sprinting in the direction of the Ramada. The diversion had worked. I would definitely have to share this information with the soldiers at my village.

  I turned my attention back to Nick. He was removing the harness from his body and he appeared to be making himself comfortable on the roof top.

  “Is he going to camp out over there?” I asked.

  “Yep. If he tried to use the zip wire to get back over here after he got those bastard’s attention, then he would just lead them right back in this direction.” Jim said as he spit over the edge of the building.

  “How long will he be over there on the roof?” Tara asked.

  “About one or two days, depending on how long it takes them to realize there isn’t anyone over there.” Jay said.

  I realized then that Nick’s job wasn’t one that I would want to have. I would hate to be stranded on a roof top for a couple of days all by myself. However, if I had to in order to save my village, I am sure I would. That is, if I could ever make it across the zip wire as they called it. I don’t know. If my village depended on it, I suppose I might be able to swallow my fear and do what needed to be done. Hell, I had done that over and over again since all of this shit started.

  “So what are we going to do now?” Randy asked. I turned my attention to him, handing the binoculars over to Mark once again.

  “Looks like you guys may need to stay here for a day or two, just until those things clear out.” Jim said.

  “Yeah, but they will be all around the Ramada by tomorrow.” I said.

  “True, they will, but they will still be close enough to hear your truck leave, and then you will lead them in the direction of your village. You have a lot of people, and the only walls you have are over turned buses. You don’t want to lead those things to your village.” Jim said.

  He was right, I didn’t want to do that. I knew that we had no choice but to stay, but I was worried about everyone back home. I knew that the village would worry, especially my family. I sure as hell hoped they wouldn’t send out a search party. I wouldn’t want anyone in my village losing their lives when we were perfectly fine. Too bad cell phones didn’t work anymore. I looked back in the direction of the Ramada. That is when it hit me.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “The horde is moving north now.” I said, I was sure the worry was evident in my voice.

  “Yep, it sure is. Nick is good at what he does.” Jim said.

  “No, you don’t understand. It’s moving north now. Adairsville is north of here.” I said, still not taking my eyes off of the Ramada.

  “Oh shit!” Randy exclaimed. He quickly turned his attention to Jim. I was surprised I noticed considering I was in a state of shock.

  “Quick. You have to radio him and tell him to draw them in another direction.” Randy said.

  “Oh my God! Granny and Pawpaw!” Tara exclaimed, bursting into tears.

  “Hey man, you don’t understand. Nick can’t use the zip wire anymore. It will lead ‘em right to us.” Jim said.

  “Something has to be done. We are talking about the lives of nearly seventy people!” Randy exclaimed.

  “Man, I am sorry, but Nick is stuck there for at least two days or so. There is nothing we can do now.” Jim said.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had to find some way to get to my village. I had to save the lives that I had worked so hard to save. We worked so hard to build a civilization. There was no way I could let my village fall victim to a horde of a hundred or more zombies. There was just no way!

  I had to take a seat. I crossed my legs where I stood and sat down. I buried my face in my hands. I couldn’t help the tears that began to fall. I couldn’t fight past it. I didn’t even have the desire to try. I needed to shed these tears. They were tears of fear for every life at my village.

  We had families there. My family was there. I always knew how lucky I was to have so much family left. There was no way in hell I was going to lose them to a hungry horde. There was just no way. I turned my attention to Randy.

  “Randy, we have to do something. Please, we have to do something. Everyone I love is in that village. We have to find a way to warn them.” I cried.

  Randy came to sit beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and I
laid my head on his shoulder. I continued to sob. The fear that consumed me was overwhelming. I couldn’t remember a time in my life that I was so scared.

  “Shh. It’s ok Amber. We will figure something out.” Randy said as he tried to comfort me, running his fingers through my semi wet hair.

  Something has to be done. Something has to be done. The words continued to repeat themselves through my mind. I searched franticly in my mind for some idea, something we could do to save the lives in the village. To hell with the village itself. We had somewhere to move. We had been preparing for it for a while.

  I thought about the plan our council had been discussing for a couple of months. The old middle school in Adairsville would be the perfect place to relocate our village to. It was a strong structure, and there was a tall fence that surrounded the football field and the parking lot. We could safely store our cars and grow more food on the old football field, using it as a garden. We had even began stocking the building with supplies.

  It wasn’t ready yet. We didn’t have any beds, covers, or anything like that in the building. All of the food and weapons were still in the basement of city hall and the church annex building in the town square. All of that would have to be moved, and fast. All of the people would have to be moved, but we had enough vehicles to pull that off. That wouldn’t be a problem. But how in the hell would we get word to the village about what was happening?

  I don’t remember leaving the rooftop of the building. Randy must have led me down. He hadn’t left my side since I realized our village was in danger and broken down. He was sitting beside me now in the dining room, still holding tightly to my hand. Was I really that much of an emotional wreck that I had finally hit female stage? Apparently so.

  I looked down at my plate. The food looked wonderful. Fried chicken breast, biscuit, mashed potatoes and a side salad. There was even cheese for the salad. Had I not been so worried about my village, I would have been as overcome by the wonderful meal as I was the wonderful lunch.