Page 2

Another 2pm found me startled awake in a classroom. The chalkboard before me still had the last classes' assignments neatly written in the upper left corner. I walked to the frosted window and peered at the street below. A light snow had fallen during the night blanketing the city in a thin white powder. The streets directly below me were beginning to disappear under the accumulating flakes. As the snow continued to fall, I noted the long silence that came with it as well. Where normally I would hear moans and wails echoing the pain death brought the creatures, there was only silence. I grew more tempted to step outside and experience the peace before it proved only a dream. Not certain as to how long the snow and safety would last, I decided to visit the playground early. Since the snow was beginning to accumulate, I knew I would find my sign buried under a few inches and unreadable. I pulled my coat and gun from the child-size closet with a cookie monster painted on it and head for the fire escape.

It was bitterly cold outside, and upon touching the first metal rung on the fire escape ladder, I realized my skin would quickly freeze to it and necessitate painful removal. I ducked back into the school and searched for something to cover my hands with. On the shelf in one of the classrooms was a single pair of gloves. A cartoon-like design on the top of them made me realize that they were made for a child and the fingers would have to be cut to allow my large hands through. I managed to crudely alter them with a pair of scissors, and was soon climbing carefully down the icy fire escape. Moving cautiously I gripped each rung tightly with the knowledge that a fall may prove my undoing. The bottom half of the escape had to be lowered down to the ground from the last ledge. The construction served as another safety feature of my residence for no creature would be able to scale my entry (and exit) if the steps were not lowered. The hinges had frozen overnight so lowering the stairs caused a horrific metal on metal scraping noise to disturb the silence. I winced my eyes and bore the awful sound since I was not able to cover my ears. Before descending the ladder I stayed on the ledge for a moment looking and listening to see if the noise beaconed any creatures to the school. When several minutes went by I dropped to the ground and began walking to the playground.

Ice crystals formed on the many frozen pieces of playground equipment, and on the branches of the trees above. Since the air was still cold they wee able to cling to their bases free from the danger of melting and crashing to the ground below. The chains on the swing were also frozen so that the driving wind did not bend its many links. Even I became still so that the only movement in the whole area were the millions of snowflakes that danced at the will of the wind. My eyes scanned the playground slowly. In the many years of my residence here I became aware of not more than 12 different locations where a creature (or an unfriendly person) could hide and approach me before I would be able to respond effectively. Each time I wandered out to my sign I was careful to scan these areas and continue only when I was assured there was nothing hidden within them. On this day it was not an attacker hidden in one of the nooks of my playground which caught my attention, but rather the set of footprints that led away from where my sign lay hidden beneath the snow.

They were human size 7. The creatures shuffle slowly and travel in packs, so would leave several deep drags in the snow. These were from a single person and it appears as if they were in a hurry. My breaths grew quick surrounding my face with a white fog. Around me the wind began to carry some distant zombie voices drawn by the noise my ladder made (perhaps earlier I should have listened longer). They came quickly around the corner their top parts covered with snow and ice. The saliva that normally ran from their mouths had crystallized so that their lips were frozen in eerie grins. They did not take long to pass the iron gate surrounding the yard, and soon began to walk over the same footprints I was so enthralled by. Quickly I began to kick away the snow on the ground so that the letters from my sign were visible under a thin layer of ice. Though the chalk was faded I could decipher a new message hastily scrawled beneath my own, its words causing me much joy so that I could barely shoulder my firearm to defend myself from the approaching creatures. From other directions came others, many of whom wore clothes that did not adequately shield their bodies from the sudden cold. Many dead limbs were frozen in ice and would shatter as the creatures bumped into the iron gates. I began to laugh loudly as thoughts of an end to my isolation flooded my mind. The lens of my rifle had fogged and it became obvious I would not be able to aim accurately. I shouldered my rifle and started for the steps when suddenly I slipped on the ice and fell to the asphalt. I was shaken for a moment. My sudden incapacitation gave my attackers renewed vigor and they quickened their approach. A dull pain pounded in my head in unison with the quickening pace of my heart, I feared I would never see the writer of those beautiful words carved beneath my own. I could hear the snow being dragged beneath the creatures approach. Some slipped on the pavement as I had and soon shared my view of the world as their feet came up from beneath them. The badly frozen ones who fell had some of their limbs shattered and they looked at the pieces in surprise. Though I was hurt I realize it could have been worse, for had I not forgotten to disengage the safety of my rifle I would have shot myself in the back with my flesh and blood poured out into the snow for the dead to gather around and consume. Reeling from my fall I slowly lifted myself up and was immediately ceased by a pair of cold hands reaching for my gun. I turned quickly and succeeded in pulling the creature's hand off as it had quickly froze to the metal barrel of my gun. Instinctively I hurled a crushing blow at his head and felt bone and flesh cave in and swallow my gloved hand. I jarred it free and ran towards the fire escape that was still unblocked. Shaking my head with pain I mounted the ladder and painfully climbed to the first balcony where I turned and pulled the ladder up behind me. They gathered beneath me for a few moments reaching feebly for my body that lay well above them. Realizing I would not be forced down they lowered their hands (those who had them) and meandered around the playground among the snow and some of their shattered limbs. I was finally able to stand and view with clarity the message left my visitor I had hastily cleared snow away from.

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