The rope had blistered and burnt his hands , even with the gloves . His wrists were in pain and his stamina had dropped after running for nearly three floors . This meant Lesley didn't have any strength to hold onto the window sill and he began to plummeted to his death .
But a hand reached out and took hold of his wrists .
Lesley was pulled up , through the window , the broken glass cutting his forearms and tearing a bit of his uniform . When he was inside , his body was dropped onto the floor .
" Get . Up . "
Lesley raised his head and looked at the person who had spoken . What he saw made his eyes bulge out of their soceckts .
...
Mel was sitting down stairs , his face hodded and his mood as sour as a lemon .
Two humans had been infront of him and he'd not attacked them , he thought . As a zombie it was a betrayal to his kind but to himself it was a confusing mistake .
Why had he just watched ? Why did he not charge forward and attack ?
Mel looked around the empty hallway and then he looked at his hands . Brown from dirt , with dry blood and a green tint to the skin . He made them into fists and growled , then he lifted himself up and walked into the hallway .
" Come ."
The word was a whisper , barely lighter than a breeze and yet it resonated through Mel's head like a thunderclap . He turned around trying to find where the voice had come from, and as he was , more zombies from the lower floors rose up the stairs .
They moved around slowly and with the stiff grace of frogs doing the toga . They had come because they too heard the voice and it tugged at them , the zombies felt drawn to it . Soon they were all gathered around Mel , looking and shuffling left and right . They were a massive hord , more than a hundred .
A small green spark of light appeared above Mel's head and the whole hord looked it , even those with no eyes . The spark moved in a small circle and then it rose up , fazing through the roof .
The zombies turned to the stairs and started to follow it .
....
" Why are you glaring at us kid ? We just saved your life . " Darwin said taking his shades off and looking down at Lesley .
Lesley was leaning against the wall , right below the window he had been pulled through . He was checking the injuries on his body ; two long cuts on his fore arms , a sprained knee from that running and a massive headache .
The headache was because of the people infront of him .
Will was crouched infront of him and Darwin stood behind with his arms folded and mouth in a grim line . Justin , he was told , was in the floor below , killing any leftover zombies that squad 19 had missed on their way up .
" You really shouldn't glare , you know . " Will said narrowing his eyes as Lesley continued to ' look ' at them .
" Why are you here ? " Lesley asked and Will scoffed before looking back at Darwin .
" Can you believe it ? Not even a God damn thank you . " He said to his teammate and turned back to Lesley , " Clearly you have no manners . Maybe we should have let you fall , you'd learn some respect on your way down . Maybe by the 19th floor ."
Lesley opened his mouth to insult the guy when he realized that he was right . They had just saved his life and Lesley may not like them , but he had to be civil . It would mean he was better than them , he thought .
" Thank you for saving me . " He said and Will raised his eyebrows .
" Oh , there are manners in there ? Great . " Will gave him a soft smile with closed eyes.
Before Lesley could move , his hair was grabbed and he was pulled forward screaming . Will held his hair like a thick wad of rope , pulling Lesley toward the staircase . The resistance Lesley attempted did not help as Darwin gave him a kick in the legs and a$$.
Finally when they reached the stairs , Will stopped and let Lesley go . He placed his hands on his hips and leaned down until he was eye to eye with the redhead .
" Do you know what's happening now ? " Will asked him and Lesley spat at his face .
To hell with civility ! He thought angrily , and Darwin came and gave him a hard smack on the cheek making it red as an eggplant .
Will wiped off the spit and gave a soft chuckle . Then he lifted his leg and gave Lesley a hard kick in the gut , making sure to aim near some ribs . The pain , like the kiss off a crocodile bit into Lesley as he fell back onto the floor .
Will moved forward and kicked him again and again and again and again and again and again !
Darwin winced from the sidelines and turned his eyes away . He didn't want to see that .
After a few minutes , Will stopped himself and gave a deep breath out , chuckling as if Lesley had just done something funny .
The redhead didn't hear the laugh , it was blurred under the agony . So much agony that Lesley didn't know if his chest was not open and bleeding out his insides bit it felt like it . His mind tried to make sense of it but it couldn't .
It just hurt , everywhere hurt .
" Now , as i was saying . " Will said getting down so Lesley could hear him , " The reason you're here kid is because I don't like you . Actually I just don't like rookies . Why ? Good of you to ask . "
Lesley felt the tip of a Crux as it touched the back of his hand , instinctively he tried to move it but Will held his wrist in place . Slowly he moved it down , cutting Lesley's hand and drawing blood . Lesley tensed , whimpered and cried at the new pain .
Why was this happening ? He thought .
" When I was a first year captain , back in the first month of the Rising ( 1) , I was given three good soldiers . They were efficient and knew what they were getting into . " Will said with a happy smile , but then it turned to a grimace and his hand lowered further , digging into Lesley .
Will smiled again as Lesley cried out in pain , oh this was fun , " Anyway , it was a good few months but unfortunately it wasn't good enough for the people up top . They sent me a new teammate to help . Help ? I was given a scrawny , little baby bird with it's Mama's milk still on his chin . "
The Crux had passed through flesh ,vein , muscle and bone and it's tip was out ,on the other side of Lesley's right hand . When Will saw that the Crux had gone all the way through , he smiled and pushed it down so the tip touched the floor .
Lesley was consumed by the burning in his hand , the throb and pins of pain in his chest that made it hard to think . He was feeling each agonizing sensation on his body like it was caresses from a knife and then kisses by a hammer .
" The rookie was a good kid , " Will continued his story , " He was polite , did what was told of him and never complained. He was like a free servant and we got used to him being like that . Then one day , we're busy killing zombies , he is in the corner behind us and a zombie jumps past us aiming for him .
We yelled to move but the stupid idiot just stood there . A minute later he was bit , my teammate took a shot at the zombie , killing it . I got back to shooting whilst he goes to help the runt ,next thing I know , there are two zombies behind us . My other teammate and I split up , trying to escape and find help . I saw him captured by the runt zombie and killed , right before an attack team came and saved us ... me . I was the only one left .
All because of runts like you ! "
Will grabbed the Crux hard and pulled it out with a jerk . When he did ,the blood started to flow out of the redhead and it flowed very much . A puddle was there in an instant but neither men moved to help Lesley .
He wouldn't need it very soon .
" So you see ? I hate good for nothing's like you. " Will said pulling Lesley head up by his hair again and making him wince , " You are not experienced enough , not good enough and you will never be . You're as good as nothing . Absolute trash , got it ? "
Lesley didn't care. He didn't care about whatever shitty thoughts went off inside this crazy guy's head . He just wanted to esca-
" Justin is back , Captain . " Darwin said and Will looked down to see Justin running up the stairs .
The bloodthirsty glint in Will's eyes was obvious . He'd been glad to get the runt unaware , thankfully he didn't have to break more skulls or kill a whole squad team. Instead he had Justin go down stairs to lure some zombies and then they'd throw the kid to them .
The perfect plan , Will thought .
" Something is wrong . " Darwin said as he saw Justin trip as he reached them .
The guy was red faced , sweaty and breathless . His lips kept on moving but no words came out . Darwin leaned down to hear him and when he did , his eyes bulged .
" What did he say ? " Asked him .
" He said ' hord ' . " Darwin said softly and then they heard the sound of groans and growls from down below .
Will instinctively reached for his Skillet as did Darwin and even Justin got back up . They needed to fight together , a hord was no joke . They'd be lucky to make it out of there alive .
If only we had ... Will looked down at Lesley and then he smiled again . Why not , he shrugged , the runts practically dead anyway .
" Take him down stairs and leave him , we'll go to the other stairway . " Will ordered and they looked at Lesley's prone body .
Lesley was breathing shallowly and he had lost alot of blood , his body was battered and bruised , then there were zombies coming up to them . Both men knew he was probably going to die soon from the cut or just go unconscious from the pain .
He'd be better off downstairs , they thought cowardly and Darwin lifted him up . He moved down stairs as fast as he could without tripping and as soon as he reached there , he discarded Lesley like a garbage bag.
"Good job." Will said as Justin came back." Now let's ... what the heck ! "
All three men were looking down at a zombie . Actually no , it couldn't be zombie , the thing was a child . With blond hair and a blue shirt , bloody and bony body .
The zombie toddler looked at Lesley and then it looked up at the three men .
It's eyes were a burning fire.