Strangers

     So tired.  Struggling to keep my eyes awake as I watch the door.  several times I was tempted to see if it was open to peek in.  But the thought of alerting a nest of zombies was the last thing I ever wanted to do.  Daylight was beginning to flood the rooftop, bringing light to the apocalypse below.  The fires were still going, but it was harder to tell.  Moving towards the campsite, I hear gunfire and noises from the streets below.  I head towards the lip of the roof I see a group of people running down the street, armed with rifles and handguns.  Unable to hear their conversations, all I can hear is mumbles between the moaning and the gunfire. continuing my watch I see them head for this hotel.  I begin to panic.  What if they're infected?  What if they plan to steal our ride?   "Hey!  You need to wake up!  We need to go, NOW!"  I yelled as I shook everyone awake.  Time was running out.

  "H-hey, whats the big deal?" Jason stammered as he rubbed his eyes, up and squinting at the unopened door.  "Is there a problem Chris?" He said still looking at the door. "There is a group coming up here, they're armed and there are too many to take with us. It could get ugly."  I replied shaking Carmen awake, Jason sensing the fear in my voice as he goes to wake up Steven.  "Wake up Carmen, its time to go!"  I said as she came around, eyes alert even though she was somewhat asleep.  "Honey, w-whats wrong?"  Getting her up to her feet, I explain the situation again.  "I'll get the beds in the chopper, you keep an eye on the door." She said, already rolling her and Jason's sleeping bags up and securing them in the chopper.  Steven, awake and still silent, packs his bed up and gets on and straps himself in.  

           The blades whirring with life and gaining speed, I take one last look before heading to strap in.  I can hear gunfire getting closer, along with moans and yelling.  "Are we ready?  If not, we need to be!" I yell as I get situated, my safety belt locking in place.  Liftoff, the bird rising slowly but gaining speed.  As we circle the roof I see the door kicked open as five people rush and sweep the roof.  Waving their arms, ignoring the stream of undead pouring out behind them until its too late. One of the survivors takes his gun and fires in our direction.  "Duck!  Shots fired!" Steve screamed, his emotionless voice booming over the roar of the engine.  One of the bullets pinging off of the landing skid, causing screams from the crew on board.  Sailing away I glance back for one more look.  Four of the men on the roof were being ripped apart as the fifth one stands on the ledge, back to the lip.  As the crowd surrounds him, he jumps back, taking a ten story dive onto the concrete below.  

                       Everyone on board is silent, unsure whether leaving the survivors behind was a good decision or not.  Carmen breaks the silence.  "Was it...wrong to leave them behind?  I mean, could we have taken them?"   She looks around, then to the floor.  "No, we have no room for extras now, let alone the weight limit for this thing.   Plus, we don't know if any of them were infected or not." Jason replies, eyes focused on the sky in front of him.  "If we could have, theres still the chance of infection, and thats a game over for all of us." I struggle to stay awake, as I had input on the conversation.  But my eyes were heavy, and I was tired of fighting them.The roar of the chopper blades begins to dull and I find myself slipping off into a deep sleep.

     Hot, and itchy.  Unable to move I can only sit uncomfortably as I burn up, Itching like a mad man.  My hands begin to go numb, unable to even move them.  My stomach was churning and as hot as the rest of my body felt.  My thought were short and hard to latch onto.  Memories were fading fast.  I couldn't even remember how I got strapped into this chopper.  I should be freaking out but again I just sit there, staring at the floor, the conversation around me nothing more than a low murmur.  Hungry.  So damn hungry, and not for those cereal bars.  I needed real food.  I look over at Carmen and think to myself that that is what I wanted.  Suddenly I am able to move, but have no control over my body, I grab her arm and pull it towards my mouth, ripping a large chunk of her flesh off and lazily chewing it.  Screams bursting from within the helicopter, Steve draws out a 9mm and points it at my head.  But all I do is moan as bits of flesh escape my mouth before he pulls the trigger and a bright flash from the gun barrel-

        "Aaaaahhh!" I scream as I jerk my head up and crack it on the metal behind me.  A nightmare, it was a terribly realistic fucking nightmare. Breathing heavily I am aware that not only am I hungry, I'm freezing.  "You okay boss?" Jason looking back, seeing me gasping and soaked in sweat.  I wipe the grime from my forehead," I'm fine, just a really bad nightmare." Still trying to catch my breath, I reach for my backpack as I pull out a bag of gummi worms.  I pass the bag around, not knowing if they had a stash of food or not.  Everyone picks out a snack and begins to eat. The gummi worms tasted delicious.  At least I'm not a zombie I thought as a chowed down, wishing I had scrounged up a few drinks.  Looking around outside I look for a landmark of sorts, nothing but cornfields.  "We must be in either southern Indiana or Illinois." I said with a bit of a chuckle as I looked around.  "We passed through Indiana an hour ago, were about to hit Missouri If I've been reading the interstate signs right."  Jason said as he took another look below.  Taking another peek I realize we weren't as high up as I thought we were.    Coming to a river, I see a familiar monument standing on the opposite side of the riverbank.  The St. Louis Arch.  Flying over the city was another testament to whatever caused this outbreak.  Fires and body parts as far as the eye could see.  Just like the last town.  Just like every town most likely I thought as  I stared through the streets almost missing the sign.  "Hey. you see that Jason?  Theres a group of people still alive in that building!"  I said as I pointed towards the apartment building with the sign crudely hung between balconies on the top three floors.  "It wouldn't hurt to get some kind of human interaction would it?" Carmen asked as Jason was already making the motions to land on top of the roof.