Don't Let Them Get You.

Like Hiroshima

I never thought in my life that I would have to stare death in the face. Literally.
But here I was. A ragtag group of people. It was almost too cliché.
The loner girl. The punk boy. The strong gun wielding man. A lost child. Having to work together to survive the undead wasteland.

My eyes scanned the faces below me. Sagging skin and rotting teeth. The smell of them was warring up. The air was thick and hot in the Louisiana Spring. Teeth gnashed together like the gators in the swamps.

"Alright Ripley. Any ideas?" I turned my back to the scene. Nails ripping at the walls and the hairs on the back of my neck raised. Gage was holding Michael and he watched me with scared eyes.

Ripley walked up to me and looked down at the truck in the alley. "Well, there are our guns." He pointed down at the guns which were enveloped by the dead.

"Okay, well I don't think we have enough bullets anyway. They probably followed us here. Or heard the truck and came out of the woods." I slid my hands in my pockets as sweat beads formed on my forehead.

"Look guys. There aren't anymore coming down the road." Gage pointed out. "We can make a run for it. There's a fire escape that we can jump onto. Climb down. We're only half a mile from the house.."

"You're gonna run with the kid?" Ripley almost scoffed.

"I'm fast." Michael finally spoke. He had a raspy little kid voice.

I took a deep breath. "We have to jump across the alley." It wasn't a question.

"I'll go first." Michael said. He jumped out of Gage's arms and took off running. He leaped off the edge of the roof, over the moaning crowd and landed onto the rusty ledge of the broken fire escape. It rattled and groaned along with the voices below.

"Jesus Christ." Gage muttered.

"Alright. Ashley, it's all you." Ripley motioned for me to go.

"It's Ash." I gulped. And then I took off. A few bounds and then pushed off the roof with the balls of my feet. I landed on my hands and knees. The whole structure shook and wobbled and my arm was searing hot with pain. I bit down hard and stood up next to Michael. I didn't know how much more this thing could hold.

"Wait Gage!" I screamed before he started his run. Michael and I climbed up to the top and opened the door. The room was empty and Michael went inside to wait. I stood in the doorway so my weight wouldn't be on the old fire escape stairway.

Ripley decided to go next. He leapt across the gap and jumped with ease, landing on his feet. He started to climb up as Gage leapt from the other roof. His foot slipped and he didn't jump quite far enough. He hit the stair landing with his chest. His legs dangled from the edge and the mob below screamed for their lunch to fall.

Ripley reached for his hand. Suddenly the air in front of us turned bright yellow and my ears went deaf for what seemed like forever.

As soon as the light faded and the sound was only an echo, all of the roamers turned and scurried toward the huge mushroom cloud in the distance. I could see it above the trees. An orange/yellow/gray cloud, the air around it was hazy- like the asphalt in the hot summer sun. A mirage of a lake in the middle of the Sahara.

"What the actual hell is that?!" Ripley screamed, pulling Gage onto his feet. I joined them down on the wobbly landing and little Michael followed like a puppy.

"A bomb. A fucking atomic bomb by the looks of it. Like Hiroshima. How far away do you think it is?"

"The city." I practically whispered.