Day 10: On Parade

“I’ll go,” Reggie spoke up. “It’s my restaurant, I know what to do. But, I’m not going alone. Someone needs to be lookout in case there are more of them on the roof. Someone, preferably with a weapon.” He glanced towards Johnathan and sighed. “Well don’t all speak at once.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Daddy, no!”

“Nina, you’ll be fine. I’m not going far, I promise.” Johnathan stood and slowly approached Liz. “Keep an eye on her for me, please?”

“Sure.”

Fadil waited at the door as the two men exited and quickly closed and locked it behind them. “This way.” Reggie led him up a set of stairs to an exit marked for employees only. “Be ready with that thing,” he motioned towards Johnathan’s gun. Slowly Reggie pulled open the steel door. It squealed its complaint before the spring bolt locked back. He placed a cinderblock between the jambs and started forward. “This thing gets real finicky in cooler weather. I’m actually surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

“Yeah well, let’s hope we can get it started again. Like you said, our best bet is to try and hole up here for as long as the food sustains us.”

Reggie tinkered with something beneath the metal face plate on the large box and then flipped a button. “There, that oughta hold it.”

“Jesus, take a look at this.” Johnathan moved farther along the edge of the roof and peered down the side of the building. From up here, he could see for miles. The city was lit up like a Christmas tree, and not from the lights in the buildings. Multiple fires had been ignited around town, many blazing so high they threatened to destroy everything in its path. “How long you think before that reaches us?”

“It would have to cross the water before it got here. I think we’ll be safe for now,” Reggie replied. “But that, on the other hand, is worrisome.”

Johnathan turned in the direction Reggie pointed and his eyes widened in surprise. Heading in from the south of the building was a rambling group of mindless zombies. “I don’t believe it! They’re grouping! This is…” he stopped himself and glanced at Reggie. “Scary.”

Reggie’s eyes narrowed at the man and he slowly backed away. “Let’s get back to the others. If that group does make it here, we’ll need to be ready for when they attack.”

“Yeah…sure thing,” Johnathan replied, stepping backwards as he continued gawking at the cluster.

“You did it!” Nina shouted and ran towards her father. “I knew you could.”

Reggie stepped behind Fadil who was seated once again at the corner desk and gave his shoulder a pat. Fadil moved aside and Reggie typed in a few keystrokes to bring up the security feeds once more. “Pretty soon we’re going to have company and lots of it.” Fadil and Liz inched closer, both reacting in terror as they witnessed the meandering clutch of monsters headed their way. “They’ve already torn through that back fence. If they make it up the ramp, they could break inside from the patio. It’s mostly glass over there.”

“Shit,” Liz uttered and backed away.

“Shit is right,” Reggie agreed. “What we need to do is gather weapons and prepare ourselves for a fight. I don’t see any other way to avoid what’s coming.”

“Wait a second,” Fadil replied, turning over Reggie’s words. “If they get in here, we’re as good as toast. We’ve already seen them on the front. The only exit is through the door you came from earlier and even that seemed compromised.”

“There’s another way,” Reggie rejoined. “It’s a set of maintenance tunnels leading under the streets. I don’t know how far they run or where they let out. All I know is there is an access to them from the storage room in the kitchen.”

“Maintenance tunnels? You mean sewers?” Liz corrected. “That can’t be sanitary.”

“Sanitary or not, it may be our best option of getting out of this restaurant alive if those things get in here. But that’s a worry for later. Like I said, right now. We need to ready ourselves just in case.”

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