The Stairwell Fight
646 Words
Chapter 2 — The Stairwell Fight
The door exploded open.
Rusty metal slammed against the wall as the dead poured into the rooftop stairwell.
“Move!” Marcus shouted.
The first zombie lunged forward. Its mouth hung open, teeth black and broken.
Marcus swung his crowbar.
The metal bar crushed the creature’s skull and dropped it instantly.
But three more stumbled over the body.
Jade rushed beside him, her knife flashing. She drove the blade into a zombie’s eye and shoved it backward.
“They’re piling up!” she said.
Tyler swung his bat at another zombie. The hit knocked the creature sideways into the railing.
It kept crawling.
“Why do they never stay down?” Tyler yelled.
Jonah stepped forward calmly.
Boom.
The shotgun blast filled the stairwell. The nearest zombie collapsed in pieces.
The noise echoed through the building.
Everyone froze.
Luis looked terrified.
“That was very loud.”
Jonah reloaded.
“They already heard us.”
Below them, a terrible sound rose from the darkness.
Dozens of groans.
Marcus realized what that meant.
The entire mall was waking up.
“Back to the roof!” he ordered.
The team retreated quickly as more zombies climbed the stairs.
Aisha slammed the door shut.
“Block it!”
Samuel and Luis dragged a heavy bench across the floor and shoved it against the door.
Immediately the pounding began.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The metal rattled violently.
Evelyn stepped back nervously.
“That won’t hold forever.”
Marcus ran to the edge of the roof and looked down.
The pharmacy across the street was still there.
So close.
But the gunshot had already drawn attention.
Several zombies were wandering toward the mall entrance.
Marcus cursed quietly.
“We need another way down."
ade pointed across the rooftop.
A rusted ladder hung from the side of the building.
It led to a narrow alley.
Luis stared at it.
“That ladder looks like it’s one sneeze away from breaking.”
“Then climb carefully,” Marcus said.
The pounding on the door grew louder.
The metal began bending inward.
Aisha climbed over the rooftop edge first and grabbed the ladder.
“I’m going.”
She climbed down quickly.
Samuel followed.
Luis sighed and went next.
“Please don’t break,” he whispered to the ladder.
Evelyn climbed down carefully with her medical bag.
Tyler hesitated.
“I hate this plan.”
“Move!” Jade snapped.
Tyler climbed down.
Jade followed.
Jonah climbed after her.
Marcus stayed behind for a moment, holding the bench against the door as the zombies pushed harder.
The door suddenly dented inward.
Rotting hands forced through the crack.
Marcus stepped back.
The bench slid across the floor.
The dead were breaking through.
Marcus jumped onto the ladder and climbed down quickly.
The moment his feet hit the ground—
The stairwell door burst open above.
Zombies flooded onto the rooftop.
Their hungry growls echoed down the alley.
“Run!” Marcus shouted.
The team sprinted through the alley.
Trash scattered as they ran.
Tyler glanced up.
“They’re climbing down!”
Marcus looked ahead.
The pharmacy was only thirty meters away.
But the street between them was no longer empty.
Zombies shuffled toward them from both directions.
Aisha slowed down.
“We’re surrounded.”
Within seconds the group stood trapped in the middle of the street.
Rotting figures closed in.
Jade raised her knife.
“Well,” she said calmly.
“This is going to be messy.”
Marcus tightened his grip on the crowbar.
Eight survivors.
Dozens of zombies.
And nowhere to run.
“Fight through them!” Marcus shouted.
The first zombie lunged.
Tyler swung his bat.
Jonah fired again.
The battle began.
But as Marcus knocked one zombie aside, he noticed something strange.
Movement inside the pharmacy.
Someone was standing behind the broken glass door.
Watching them.
Alive.
- Writer
