DEGREES OF DEATH

14. CROSSING THE BRIDGE OF DEATH

 

The main lobby's concrete canopy felt like a gladiatorial arena in the middle of the apocalypse. It was only ten feet wide, surrounded by a fifteen-foot drop to the wet asphalt below. The heavy rain poured down relentlessly, limiting visibility and making every surface lethally slick.

One mutant stood before Daniel, growling with its torn jaw. Two more were crawling down the fire escape behind him. Beside Daniel, Xavier tried to stand while clutching his sprained ankle, his face pale with pain. Chania, Bianca, and Kimberly huddled at the far corner of the canopy, helpless.

"We're finished, Niel," Xavier whispered hoarsely. His baseball bat lay beside him, just out of reach.

Daniel ignored him. His cold, focused eyes were locked on the mutant in front of him. He gripped the teakwood beam in his left hand. The scratch on the back of his hand stung as the rainwater washed over it, but adrenaline masked the pain.

One on one, I can still win. The problem is the two behind me, Daniel thought, his mind racing to find an opening.

The mutant in front of him charged first, leaping with its mouth agape. Daniel didn't retreat. Instead, he took a step forward, lowered his body, and jabbed the sharp end of his wooden beam straight into the mutant's stomach.

The move wasn't meant to kill. It was a maneuver to throw it off balance.

The mutant was pierced, but not deeply. It roared in pain and staggered to the side, right toward the edge of the canopy. Daniel immediately followed up with a powerful side kick to the creature's chest.

The mutant lost its footing completely on the slick concrete. It slipped, its hands clawing at empty air, before plummeting to the asphalt below with a wet thud.

"One down!" Xavier shouted, trying to rally their spirits.

However, the two mutants from the ladder had already landed on the roof. They were now sprinting toward Daniel from behind.

Daniel spun around, preparing to defend himself. But before he could raise his weapon, an arrow shot past his ear with a sharp whizz.

THWIP!

The arrow embedded itself directly in one of the mutant's eyes. The creature collapsed instantly.

Daniel turned in surprise. Bianca was standing with trembling legs, her bow raised. Her face was a mixture of rain and tears, but her aim was deadly.

One mutant left. The creature ignored Daniel and ran straight for the weakest prey: Xavier, who was sitting helplessly on the ground.

"Vier!"

"Shit!" Xavier panicked. He scrambled backward, grabbing for anything within reach. His hand closed around a backpack lying nearby—the one with the food they had thrown from the window.

As the mutant leaped to pounce on him, Xavier reflexively swung the heavy backpack filled with canned meat at the mutant's face.

THWACK!

The blow didn't kill it, but it was enough to make the mutant stumble backward.

Daniel didn't waste the opportunity. He shot in from the side and slammed his wooden beam with all his might into the back of the mutant's neck. CRACK! Its neck snapped. The creature collapsed on top of Xavier.

Xavier shoved the corpse off him in disgust. "Damn… you're heavy…"

Daniel panted, leaning on his knees. Three mutants down in less than a minute. But he knew it was only a temporary victory. The sounds of their fight would have been heard.

"We have to get off this roof," Daniel said. He looked across the gap. The taller roof of the main library now seemed incredibly far away. "The fire escape isn't safe. We can't go up or down."

"Then where do we go, Niel?!" Chania asked, her voice nearly lost in the howl of the storm.

Daniel scanned his surroundings. His eyes landed on something extending from the library wall toward their faculty building. A semi-open connecting bridge on the third floor. It had a tin roof and glass walls, but one side of the glass was shattered, likely from an impact during the initial chaos.

The problem was, the bridge was one floor above them.

"We're going up there," Daniel said, pointing.

"How?! There's no ladder!" Alex protested.

"We'll make one," Daniel replied. He pointed to the concrete support pillars of the canopy that protruded from the main lobby wall. The pillars had gaps and architectural carvings that could be used as handholds. "We climb those pillars. From there, we can jump to the third-floor emergency balcony, then run to the connecting bridge."

The plan was insane. Climbing a ten-foot concrete pillar in the middle of a rainstorm was a suicide mission.

"Are you serious, Niel? Xavier's ankle is busted. Your own arm is useless. How are we supposed to climb?" Bianca asked in disbelief.

"I didn't say it would be easy," Daniel retorted. He tore a strip from the still-dry part of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around his wounded hand to stop the bleeding. "But our only other option is to wait here until the next horde arrives for dinner."

No one argued. Desperation was the best motivator.

"Okay, listen up," Daniel took command. "Bianca, Kim, Chania, you climb first. Alex and I will be down here to support you. As soon as you get to the balcony, lower anything you can use as a rope. Scarves, jackets, whatever. We'll use it to pull Xavier up."

The plan was set in motion. Bianca, being the most athletic, went first. Her slender but strong fingers found purchase in the concrete crevices. Alex stood below, ready to catch her if she slipped. With great difficulty, Bianca managed to reach the third-floor balcony, followed by Chania and Kimberly.

"Got it!" Chania yelled from above. She and Bianca tied three jackets together into a long, makeshift rope, then lowered it down.

"Vier, your turn," Daniel said. "Take off your belt, connect it to the jacket-rope. Make a loop around your chest."

Xavier winced in pain as he tried to stand. Daniel and Alex helped secure the makeshift harness around him.

"Pull slowly!" Daniel shouted up to the girls.

Chania and Bianca began to pull. Xavier was lifted off the canopy, his body swinging in the air. He let out a soft cry every time his injured ankle banged against the concrete wall.

Daniel and Alex looked up, watching the slow, torturous evacuation process.

Suddenly, from the end of the main lobby corridor below them, a figure crawled out through the barricaded glass doors. It wasn't an ordinary mutant. It was the Phase Two mutant that had attacked Daniel in the second-floor corridor—the one that crawled on the ceiling. Its skin was blistered, and its back was arched unnaturally.

The creature looked up, its cloudy white eyes immediately locking onto the helplessly dangling Xavier.

"Shit!" Daniel cursed.

Without hesitation, the creature began to climb the lobby wall with terrifying speed and agility, just like a giant gecko. Its long nails dug into the concrete crevices.

"PULL XAVIER UP, FASTER!" Daniel roared at the girls above.

The mutant scaled the wall. It was now only a few feet away from Xavier's dangling legs. Then a few inches.

"Niel! It's gonna bite me, Niel!" Xavier screamed, trying to kick with his good leg.

Daniel looked up, his eyes blazing. He looked around for anything to throw. There was nothing.

In a desperate move, Daniel leaped and grabbed onto one of the concrete pillars. Ignoring the screaming pain in his right shoulder, he began to climb. His goal wasn't the third-floor balcony. It was to intercept the mutant.

Daniel managed to climb about six feet, putting him level with the mutant crawling on the adjacent pillar.

"Hey, ugly!" Daniel shouted.

The mutant turned its head. Its hate-filled eyes recognized the prey that had escaped it in the corridor. It ignored Xavier and changed direction, crawling horizontally across the wall toward Daniel.

"What's your plan, Niel?!" Alex yelled from below, his face pale with fear.

Daniel didn't answer. He waited until the mutant was directly below him. Directly below his boots.

With a single motion that used all his remaining strength, Daniel let go with his left hand, allowing his body to drop. But he didn't fall down. He aimed his feet at the mutant's head.

THUD!

Both of Daniel's feet slammed into the creature's head with full force. The impact broke the mutant's grip on the wall. Daniel and the monster fell together to the canopy roof below.

Daniel landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. The mutant landed on top of him, but its head was already crushed from the impact with the concrete.

Daniel coughed, trying to get up. Above, Xavier had been successfully pulled onto the balcony. Now only Daniel and Alex were left below.

"Lex! You go first!" Daniel commanded hoarsely.

Alex nodded and began to climb a pillar. But he was only halfway up when a high-pitched shriek came from the fire escape they had abandoned.

Three more mutants appeared, scrambling down quickly.

"Niel! Behind you!" Bianca screamed from above.

Daniel spun around. Three mutants landed on the canopy roof, surrounding him from three sides. Alex, panicking midway up his climb, slipped. He fell back to the roof, landing awkwardly next to Daniel.

Now both of them were surrounded.

Daniel looked at the three savage creatures before him, then glanced at the trembling Alex beside him. Above, his friends could only watch in horror, unable to help.

"Shit," Daniel muttered under his breath. He raised his wooden beam. "Looks like this is our last round, Lex."