Chapter 7 - Rooftop

After snapping out of the shock, he went into after seeing her skills. He stepped on the window frame and got out of the window. He slowly reached for the ladder. Once he gripped the ladder with one hand, he left the window frame and hanged on to the ladder with one hand. He held on tighter as he saw a zombie fall through the window. Looking down, he couldn't see the road below due to the height. 

Gulping at the height of the building, he looked above. He couldn't catch the ladder with both his hands with the rod in his hand. He threw the rod over and gripped the ladder with both his hands. He pulled himself up and finally reached the rooftop. As he got on the top, he quickly sat down as exhaustion took over.

As he slowly collected his breath, he noticed Mona standing in front of him with his rod in her hand. He reached out for the rod and Mona handed it to him. Setting it aside, he noticed that the light was completely out. Mona sat down beside him and he got a view of the people there.

The people were eating biscuits and fruits handed out. Even though he had rations with him, he had no reason to hand them over to him. He wasn't going to give them up for them, who knew who long it would be before he would find found again. He observed a few of the people were also slowly falling asleep. 

Mark could only hope that the night goes quietly. He slowly stood up and noticed the vast roof. It was easily half the size of a football field, and there were various wires and some blocking everywhere.

He slowly made his way to one side of the roof, far from the group. He noticed Mona following him and frowned. Turning around he asked, "You need not follow me around, you know."

Mona simply shook her head and said, "I feel it's better if I stay with you."

"You might want to rethink that. I can protect myself and in case anyone from the group faces any unexpected danger, it would be better if you stay with them."

Even though he said that cause he wanted to be alone, there was some truth to Mark's words. Even if the possibility of something happening on the roof is low, it would never be bad to be cautious at the current time.

Mona nodded and returned to the group. Finally getting some alone time, Mark scouted the roof. He first looked at the edges for something which might help him. He slowly peeked down and could roughly see that the number of zombies on the street were more than before.

He continued to scout the place, and he finally found some wood and a toolbox on one of the steel shelves inside a small room. He checked the rest of the shelves and found some more metal items and various bolts.

He took out some of the wood and the tool kit along with some petrol he found inside. He continued to search for more items and found a can of deodorant and a cigarette lighter, which was already half empty. 

As he completely searched the entire room and bought out some more things from inside like a saw, he found and a couple more stuff. He looked around for a place to keep them and saw a ladder leading to the roof of the room.

Keeping all the things on the roof of the room, he continued to search for more things in other places. After some time he could only return with a big knife in his hand and get on top of the roof. Feeling the rough ground, he decided to lean against the wall with his bag behind him.

He took some more energy bars and snacks out with a water bottle and devoured them in an instant. Feeling satisfied, he finally looked at the materials he bought with him. He noticed the big knife he found on the pile of things and took it. He slowly took out the blade part of the knife and threw away the plastic.

He noticed the blade itself was almost at his elbow length. He wondered what work the company planned on the roof for all these things to be found. Shaking his head, he checked the sharpness of the blade and brought it down on some wood he had.

He noticed the blade going past the halfway point of the thick wood and found it sharp enough. All he needed now was a handle for the blade to make a machete. He immediately grabbed some lighter wood that he had and shaped a simple handle.

Feeling a burden on his hands and the grip a bit rough to get a hold on. He wrapped rubber he found inside the room. Tightly wrapping the wood, he bought out the lighter and deodorant to molt the rubber down to make it stick.

Spraying the deodorant on the lighter flame, he slowly molded the rubber into sticking with the wood. After cooling it down for a few minutes, he lifted the machete and found it was a bit heavy but still manageable. He found his mobility getting restricted and kept the machete back.

He wanted to use this when he had to kill the zombie quicker as a blunt weapon like the metal pole he had with him took 2 to 3 strikes before the zombie died.

Feeling a bit tired, he did not continue to make more weapons and kept his bag on the ground and slept on it as a pillow. He looked at the starry sky and couldn't help but think how this all happened.

He wanted to die and thought that the one hour was his only time left. But the crazy things which happened extended his time. He clutched his hand as he thought about how he wanted to die and the reasons which led to it. Several faces flashed through his brain but shook them out.

Looking at the current situation, he felt the world was more suitable for him. He could do what he wanted to, not feel restricted by anything. He thought of the life and death situation he is constantly in, more thrilling compared to the life he had till now.

"This is probably better. I shall see how far I make it in this world from now one." and slowly closed his eyes for a peaceful nap.