The Most Uncommon Cold I - Life in the Time of Zombies by Jeffrey Littorno Page B

cold.   Maybe her husband and two children had left the house that morning thinking she would be fine when they got home.  But now it was pretty clear that nothing was going to be fine for a terribly long time, if ever.
         Finally, I felt my body shaking by itself.  Without having realized it, I had been crying.  My face was wet with the tears that rolled down my cheeks.  I started to say something but found that I could not force the words from my mouth. 
          Glen moved next to me and gently turned me away from the scene and toward the wall behind us. 
          “We need to get out of here,” he said quietly.  “The ladder to the roof is over here.”  He led me over to the wall like a parent would lead a small child to bed. 
         Directly in front of me was a weathered white metal ladder bolted to the cinder block wall.  I looked up to see it leading into the darkness above.  I am not sure just how long I stood there gazing upward, but Glen broke my paralysis by nudging me toward the ladder.
         “Let’s head up to the roof.  I’m not sure how long before these things find their way up here,” he said.  “I’ll be right behind you.”
         I shuffled forward without thinking and grabbed the cold metal of the ladder and began climbing.  Behind me was the sound of Glen climbing and the occasional groan from the things below, but I did not look back.  I simply kept climbing.   When I was two rungs from the top of the ladder, there was a crash of some metal barrels beneath us and a shout, “Here!”
         “Sounds like they’re coming!”  Glen yelled up.
         I scrambled to the top of the ladder and swung around to stand on the roof.  I spun around to help Glen onto the roof.  He was breathing as if he had just run a marathon.  It was the first time that I had noticed just how large he was and worried about his ability to move fast enough to stay away from our pursuers. 
         As if my thoughts had been spoken aloud, Glen said through heavy breaths, “Guess I should have spent a little more time treating my body li ke a temple.  Don’t worry I won’t slow you down.”
         “I know that,” I answered and tried to show a bright smile. “Now what?”
         Glen looked at me as if the question made no sense.  After a moment, he said, “Well, to tell the truth, I didn’t seriously consider anything beyond getting up here.  Sorry.”  He looked genuinely apologetic.
         “No need to be so rry, Glen,” I answered.  “I don’t think either of us has been in a situation like this before.”
         He was clearly pleased by my comment. “I have only been up here a few times before...When I...uh...needed a break, but I’m pretty sure this is the only way up here.  There’s a storage shed up here where the building owner stored maintenance supplies.”
         We both looked down to see those creatures had gathered.  Some were still under the place where we had pulled up the ladder, stretching to reach it.  Others were bunched up to the right.  Neither of us had any idea what may have captured their interest there.
         “Looks like they may find a way to get up here,” Glen said with a voice that cracked with fear.
         “It does seem they move on instinct, doesn’t it?”  I continued without waiting for an answer.  “Well, most of them just shuffle along, but not a couple spoke.  They seemed smarter.”
        “Yes, but I ’m not sure that this is the right time to discuss their behavior. It may not be long before they figure out a way to get to that ladder.” Glen had replaced the fear in his voice with determination. 
         I looked at the ladder and then at the young pastor.  A thought occurred to me, and I asked, “Are there any tools like wrenches or hammers in that shed?”
         “I think so,” he said as he started across the roof in search of the shed.
          I