This serial started 9/16/14

Max hurried over to where the girl, Jennifer, had dropped the ladder into the alley, but she had already scrambled down the back of the next building.

Damn it, He cursed silently. I just saved her. How could she betray me like this?

Reality set in and he realized she’d done what she’d done. The only thing that mattered would be for him to find a safe way out of this mess and with him perched on top of a roof of a building surrounded by a few hundred zombies, this might be no easy feat.

Looking around, he didn’t see much on the roof that could help him. He had his sword and a few knives, but he needed to figure this out. He did a quick circuit of the roof. As he had suspected, far more zombies trashed around the front of the store than the back, but there was still plenty back there. He might have been able to fight his way through, but again, he might not.

Then he spied the entrance that led down into the store from the roof. After looking down and insuring no undead lingered inside, he hurried down the ladder.

Dust and the flailing arms of zombies veiled the light and created a grey obfuscation, like his eyes looked through a dirty glass. Any hopes of finding weapons evaporated when he saw he was within a former flower store. Besides a few pairs of shears and some old boards, there wasn’t much he could have used as a weapon.

Then a thought came to him and he moved toward the rear door of the place. His stomach churned as he thought over his options. No need to delay, he thought. It will just give them time for more of their kind to show up. They always do.

After grabbing the door handle, he took a deep breath and pulled. “Damn it,” he cursed out loud this time, when he saw the bolt was still driven home. He pulled back the bolt and then banged his free hand on the window a few times. “I’m in here you losers.”

That got their attention and with a quick jerk he opened the back door.

The zombies came pouring into the store, but Max had already started moving. He dashed to the ladder and sped up to the roof. After sneaking to the back of the building, he looked over the side.

As he had hoped, the undead back there had funneled into the building. After giving them another minute, he felt himself smile once only a few remained in the alley. Max climbed down and only had to hack through a couple to clear a way out for himself. Two minutes later he sprinted back to him apartment, cursing Jennifer the whole way.

* * *

The commotion down the street must have lured most of the zombies camped out around his apartment away and it was a simple matter to climb his emergency ladder to the second level and then pull it up after him.

It had been a tiring and horrid day and he collapsed onto the bed he’d been using without even taking off his boots. For a while he allowed himself to wallow in self pity, but soon that got old. After throwing an old tie-shirt over his eyes, he willed himself to sleep, and hoped tomorrow might be a better day.

* * *

He awoke an indeterminate time later. Darkness had fallen across the desolated city, but for some reason a chaotic jumble of lights played over his bedroom wall. Outside it sounded like the zombies were going crazy and that was what had probably woken him up.

Rushing to his window, he froze. Somehow his building had been lit on fire. Flames rose and already licked at the second floor windows. But what grabbed his attentions was a giant monster pick up truck driving in wide circles just beyond the fire’s light.

The window rolled down and he spotted Jennifer at once.

Her angry voice screamed up at him. “This is what you get for killing my friends, you prick!”

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