A walk amongst the Dead

Part 4

Genesis:

Genesis frowned in Addison's general direction. She was almost afraid to make too many movements on the platform. It was so unsteady. She took note of how Addison was keeping a distance between them to balance the weight out a little. She wouldn't have thought Addison had that kind of logical thinking in her.

"There's a window...a small one...way on the other side of the warehouse. It's near the ceiling, probably just for a little ventilation. The problem, from what I can see, is that the entire wall over there is completely bare. Nothing for us to climb up on to get to the window and shimmy out. The other major problem is that the zombies seem to be coming from that direction, and there are a lot of them between us and that window." She said, staring at the small window, then letting her eyes move to the zombies that clamored for her guts.

"There isn't anything for us to push under the window that I can see for us to even reach that high. And there's so many of these rotting things..." She then said, her tone exasperated.

The platform gave another shift, more pops and squeaks as things came undone. Genesis growled low in her throat, a snarl on her lips. "We can't stay up here forever." She ground out. "What I wouldn't give for my handguns and rifle..." She sighed out softly, more to herself that to Addison.

She looked back to Addison, the wheels in her mind turning. There had to be a way to get through the mass of zombies. She could, in theory, and if the herd was thinned enough, shift to her Crinos form and boost Addison to the window. Her Crinos form was large. Large enough. However, could Addison in turn be able to pull her up in her Crinos form? And being left on the ground floor left her vulnerable to a zombie.

She sighed, looking down at the rotters again.

"Addison...what if we divided the herd? You know, you draw half to your side of the platform, and I can draw the other to my side of the platform. Maybe we can get them bunched up, leaving a near clear path, at least for a few seconds unless the faster ones catch on. We could sprint for the window, I can shift and lift you up, and then you drag me up?"

She eyed Addison as the woman seemed to think it over. Well, she thought Addison was thinking it over. It was hard to tell. Addison seemed to be looking elsewhere.

A sudden lurch made Genesis give a yelp, clutching the railing of the platform. She looked above to see the cables popping. One in particular looked as if it was going to give way any moment. Her eyes then traveled to the cause.

It is what seemed to be the center of attention for Addison. Zombies were moving at the broken metal stairs that led to the platform. Their weight was distressing it further.

There wasn't too much they could do about either.

"Damn it all..."

++++++

Addison:

Addison listened to Genesis, understanding her completely, but was too fixated on the mass of dead things at the bottom of the broken stairs. The stairs held together by some of the same cables holding the platform up. She bit her lip, calculating different scenarios and moves, to see if it would be possible to take a few steps down, slice open some dead heads and get back to safety.

She was answer in a violent 'no' as the cables started giving way naturally under the added weight of those zombies actually smart enough to climb upward.

She had no choice but to inch her way back, closer to Genesis. Her best bet was to allow some of the zombies to share their space, as confined as it was, and dispatch of them. She could just let their bodies fall from the platform, alleviating the added weight.

The chink in her chain of thought was that the zombies were causing way too much movement on the fragile platform. It gave violent lurches, pops and pings as the suspension cables cried in protest.

She was nearly side by side with Genesis, giving the Lycan a despairing look. The platform shifted again.

The good news was that the zombies weight had broken the stairs off completely from the platform.

The bad news was that the sudden spring from the missing weight sent the platform rocking violently, one main cable snapping completely.

Addison fell across the railing, sheathing her sword quickly to gain a good handhold. It did no good, as the railing snapped, sending her falling down into the depths of the moaning, sticking mass of death.

She landed hard on her back, the air knocked from her lungs. She scrambled, however, to stand.

She came face to face with a zombie. It appeared to be female. A chunk of her cheek was gone, completely, exposing the teeth. Her nose had been bitten off and a mass of squirming, hungry maggots had taken up roost in each nasal cavity.

The dead thing opened and closed it mouth, moaning, its teeth snapping and clattering. Lawdy...the smell.

However, it made no move against Addison. She stood there, very still, wide eyed and staring into the rot and decay of this dead thing.

Her hand was on her sword, ready to pull it free.

None of the zombies were moving against her. They all clamored for Genesis, still clinging to the damaged platform. Their wiggling bodies clawing for the Lycan.

Addison blinked.

"What the fvck..."

This was definitely an advantage to be exploited. And yet, it raised about a million and one more questions about the situation the two crewmates had found themselves dumped in. There was no time to mull it over, however.

Addison unsheathed her sword and went on with attacking. She cleaved rotted skulls in two, sliced limbs from decayed bodies and took down as many of the dead things as she could. They still kept coming from the other side of the building though.

Her choices were few. But she had this weird advantage of seemingly being unappetizing to the dead things. She swathed a path through them, heading for the point of which they were flooding in.

She had found it. A large cargo door. There were all sorts of wires, very new looking, attached to it. It seemed to be releasing the zombies into the warehouse, probably from a freight truck, either by way of automatic timer or remote control.

She made short work of leaving those control wires in a heaping mess. The doors slammed shut, and wouldn't be opened again. She took to one knee, resting for just a moment.

She turned back, however, to clear away more of the rotting husks. She could see Genesis clinging to the platform, staring wide eyed at her.

Addison took her sword and banged it against the metal door. The zombies, or at least some of them, turned their focus from Genesis to Addison herself. Or at least the noise she was making. The lumbered to her, making it easy to dispatch them.