Dead or Alive

Chapter 15

As we walked, I turned to talk to Hailey and Levy.

"So, how do you know that there is no way in or out of the residential district?" I asked.

"We had the same idea as you guys when we got here. We reached the district and there was a large wall that went all the way around. We walked all the way around, and there wasn't a way in that we could see," Levy answered.

"I hope we can find a way in," I said.

We walked for about fifteen minutes, talking to each other as we went. Suddenly, we saw the wall and we quickened our pace towards it. When we got there, we began looking for a way inside. 

"Have you found anything yet?" I called.

"No, nothing so far!" Aaron called.

"Nothing over here either!" Scarlett called back.

I sighed and continued looking for a way inside. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something lying on the ground. I looked over and it was a corpse. I pulled out my machete and slowly advanced towards the body. I noticed that its head has been bashed inward. I put my machete away and crouched down next to the corpse. It was a man that looks like he was no older than thirty when he died, although it's hard to tell considering it looks as if he has been dead for quite some time. He has a look of fear that will be etched on his features until the end of time. I sighed and began searching the dead body for anything that might be of use. In his pockets was a protein bar, and some matches. I tucked both of these items into my jacket pocket. As I was about to leave, I noticed that there was a rope laying next to him. I picked it up, and it seems to be long enough to get over the wall.

"It looks like he was either trying to leave or get in. Either way, it didn't go too well for him," I whispered to myself.

I walked back to the others, rope in hand. 

"What did you find, Amala?" Levy asked.

"A long piece of rope. It looks long enough to get us over the wall!" I exclaimed.

"It's certainly worth a shot! Let's do it!" Scarlett exclaimed.

All of us walked over next to the wall.

"How are we going to make it so that our weight won't knock the rope down?" I asked.

Everyone went through their stuff, trying to find something. 

"We could tie a pistol to the end and maybe use the curve of the gun to hook onto the edge of the wall," Hailey said.

Aaron pointed to a nearby tree and said, "We could climb the tree and use one of the branches to get on top of the wall, then use the rope to get down safely."

"That's a good idea, Aaron! Let's do it!" I exclaimed.

All of us began climbing the tall tree that overhangs the wall. Thankfully the wall was wide enough for us to stand on while we figured out how to get down safely. Scarlett looked over the edge and her eyes doubled in size. She grabbed my arm tightly and suddenly squeezed her eyes shut. I wrapped my arm around her, trying to calm her down. I handed Aaron the rope.

"Find a way to tie it so we can get down safely," I said.

He nodded and began carefully walking along the top of the wall, trying to find a place to tie the rope. I turned and grabbed Scarlett by the shoulders and made her look at me.

"Listen to me carefully, Scarlett. I will not let you fall. You are going to get down the wall safely. I promise," I said.

She didn't say anything but nodded. She kept a firm grip on my arm once I let go of her shoulders. I looked over and saw Aaron waving at us from another part of the wall.

"Alright, we have to walk carefully over to Aaron. If you see someone in front of you stumble, try your best to help them," I said.

All of us began walking. I was in the front and Scarlett was directly behind me. She was holding onto my jacket as we walked. I heard someone cry out behind me. I stopped and turned my head to see Cody about to fall off the wall. Levy who was behind him, grabbed Cody from under the arms to try and steady him. Lyndsey who was in front of him turned and grabbed onto his shoulders. Once Cody was no longer about to fall, we began walking again. We reached Aaron relatively quickly. When we got there we noticed that he had tied the rope to a piece of metal that was sticking out from the wall. 

"Alright, so each of us will climb down one at a time. Aaron will go first. Once the person in front of you has reached the ground, then you can go. Don't start climbing down while someone is still on the rope," I instructed.

Everyone nodded. Aaron began climbing down the rope. He made it down quickly. I followed after him. When my feet hit the ground, I looked up to see Scarlett trying to climb down. I noticed her struggling quite a bit. 

Then she suddenly froze.