Claire looks at the number four floor number sign by the door. "Up, down and back up. Look just ten more to go!" She whispers while breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" Derek whispers.

She grabs the railing and looks back at him. "Yeah, I'm fine." She forces a smile.

"I mean it's been a tough day and I'm really struggling to go up these steps, but you're looking pretty tired. Sure you don't want to rest?" Sarah steps closer to her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm really hungry and tired, but once we get to the roof I can rest." Claire continues to walk up the stairs.

Derek begins to climb the steps after her, but stops when Sarah places a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, do you think she's actually ok? She's not looking too good." She whispers into his ear. Her eyes heavy with concern as she stares intently at him.

He looks at Claire.

Breathing heavily and struggling to climb up the steps, she's plodding somewhat uneasily with shaky legs. Her white tank top is translucent with sweat and clinging to her skin. The temperature in the stairwell isn't pleasant, but she's perspiring more than normal.

Turning back to look at Sarah, he shakes his head and sighs. "I don't know. I've been a little worried—," he stops himself when he notices a change in Sarah's features.

What appears to be the feeling of suspicion and anxiety is laced within the worried look in her eyes. Her hands are clasped tightly together and fidgeting with one of the buttons on her beige cardigan.

He smiles nervously at her. "It's been a pretty long day for all of us and it's not over yet. She's swung that tire iron more times than Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. That's something that would wear anyone out. It might be nothing serious. After a day like this we're bound to be a little sensitive and paranoid about things."

Sarah blinks up at him. "Hmm, I guess you're right." She nods before they continue to ascend.

He mutters to himself. "It's not like she's puking her guts out or anything. If that happens, then I'll really start to worry."

When they reach the tenth floor, the stairwell door suddenly opens.

A screaming woman holds the door with a bloody hand. Smearing a red trail over it as she shakes. Her brown bloodshot eyes pool with tears with mascara streaks lining her cheeks.

"Help me!" She screams and reaches out for Claire.

"Your shoulder!" Sarah points to the woman's wounded shoulder where blood travels down her arm. Several teeth marks line the open area.

She desperately pleads with the group. "Please!" Two pairs of arms reach out for her from behind. "No!" She grasps Claire's arm.

Claire hits one of the zombies on the head. Derek and Sarah try to help remove the second one, but they notice another zombie appearing.

"Her screaming is attracting more of them! We have to get out of here!" Claire says.

"No! Please, you gotta help me!" The woman pleads.

"We can't just leave her here!" Sarah says.

Derek looks uneasily at Sarah. "No, Claire's right. There's going to be more of them showing up and we don't want to get trapped in this stairwell."

"But ..." Sarah looks at the woman.

"Run!" Claire grabs Sarah's arm.

"Noooo!" The woman screams as she reaches out for them.

They run up the stairs with Derek leading them. The roof's door is slightly ajar and he cautiously opens it and peers around.

"Coast is clear! Come on." He runs back inside and helps Sarah. Claire is lagging behind and struggling to keep up. "I'll be right back. Going to help Claire."

Sarah nods as she catches her breath.

"Just a few more steps, Claire." He wraps an arm around her waist and places her arm on his shoulder. When he sees her beet-red face, "this isn't going to work. I'm going to pick you up."

"I can make it!" She heaves.

"Too slow!" He picks her up and shoots up the final ten steps, gently setting her down on the rooftops surface. She sways and her breathing is labored.

When he tries to close the door, he hangs his head and sighs loudly. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about getting stuck up here. The door handle is broken." He flips the metal handle with his finger. It makes a clicking sound when it bounces back up, followed by a squeak.

"Umm? Tell me that was the handle." Sarah croaks.

Claire gazes back. "Sarah ... You might want to turn around right now!" She grips the tire iron.

"Something's behind me, isn't there?" Sarah quickly turns around and sees a large rat charging at her.

As it lunges at Sarah, Claire attempts to push her out of the way, but the rat latches onto Sarah's ankle. Digging its front sharp teeth into the flesh.

Blood sprays from the wound, as Sarah screams loudly and smacks stomach first onto the roofs floor.

"Get off her!" Claire screams as she hits the rat. Coughing out of breath and angrily swinging the iron on its skull.

Derek hits the rat on its back. It turns and screeches at him. He jams the end of the bat in its mouth, causing the rat to sink its teeth into the wood. It attempts to release its mouth from it, but can't. Claire continuously hits it over the head until it dies.

Sarah moans. She holds the bottom of her ripped skirt up.

"Sarah!" Claire and Derek run to her and inspect her wound.

A flap of torn flesh hangs out and blood pools under her foot.

"We have to wrap that up and put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding." Derek says.

Claire grabs the skirt and rips off a strip. When she presses down on the wound, Sarah screams through gritted teeth and smacks the floor with her hand. "Sorry! I know it hurts!" She says as she tightly wraps Sarah's ankle. "There done!"

"That might become infected before tomorrow. What do we do?" Derek says.

Claire sighs. "I can't go down the stairs right now and go search through apartments. Maybe we can try calling one of the local stations? I mean, they have helicopters right? They can pick her up from this rooftop, without having to worry about going through this damn building full of zombies!"

"We can try." Derek takes the phone and battery out of his pocket.

He searches through the internet and finds the number of the nearest ambulance station. After waiting for someone to pick up, he looks at Claire sadly. "No one's picking up."

Sarah holds her ankle. "Is this ever going to end? I mean ... zombies aren't the only thing that can come up here. What happens if there's more of those rats and they decide to come up here while we're sleeping?"

"Well, I for one, would really hate to wake up and find some rat munching on one of my butt cheeks ... or worse." Derek says.

They look silently at him. Claire clears her throat.

He looks sheepishly at her before looking at. "But I don't think there's that many of them at the moment. We saw the group that showed up with black Bettie's trio gang, this was just one."

"Yeah, but before that, it was also just one. Then that group showed up. What if more show up now that we just killed another?" Sarah looks around.

"Then we'll deal with them, just like we've dealt with everything else during this seriously fu—messed up day. Right now is not the time to give up." Claire grips Sarah's shoulders and shakes her lightly. "Ok?"

"How long do you think we can keep this up for?" She stares sadly into Claire's eyes.

"However long it takes." Claire briskly nods.

Derek places a hand over the door. He leans his head against it and rests for a moment.

"What if I'm infected now, because of this bite?" Sarah looks down at her wound.

Claire shakes her head and smiles. "You said so yourself, the rats aren't zombies."

"Ow!" The door hits Derek on his head. He stares wide-eyed at it for a moment.

"But they tend to be carriers for diseases, what's to say this is any different!" Tears run down her cheeks.

"We've got problems!" He pushes himself against the door. Something in the stairwell bangs against it.

"Sarah, right now we need you! Derek can't hold them off forever. Even if we hold the door together, how long do you think we can do that for?" Claire walks over to Derek. She hands him the knife and grabs the bat. "We have to fight! Use the bat. Bash them over the head until they're actually dead." She holds out the bat.

Sarah closes her eyes and nods at her. Gripping the handle tightly, she breathes in heavily. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Claire points at the door. "No matter what happens, no matter what comes through that door, if they don't look like us, you swing that bat like hell."

"Well, I was always one for accepting differences and equal rights, but I guess this is a bit of an extreme situation." Sarah chuckles meekly.

"Having a bit of a hard time keeping this door closed!" Derek says.

"Ready?" Claire holds her hand out.

"Yes." She nods and grabs Claire's hand to stand up.

"Derek, release the kraken!" Claire waves the tire iron over her head.

He runs away from the door and stands in line with the two women.

Sarah screams, "all right m*+#*?£€%*#!s, I'm ready for you!"

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"Wow ..." Derek and Claire stare at Sarah.

Four zombies struggle through the door. The one in front is an older, balding man in sandals.

"We can just whack them one by one like that!" Sarah yells as she runs forward.

"Be careful and be ready to back up in case they burst out! You don't want them falling on you! Claire says.

"Hold on!" Derek taps Sarah's shoulder and then attempts to stab the old man on his forehead, but it doesn't pierce through his skull.

Several arms reach out from behind the old man and his shoulder comes loose from behind the doorframe.

"Zombie splash! Back up guys!" Claire yells.

The zombies push forward and they stare for a second at the second zombie limping towards Derek.

"Katherine?" Sarah says.

Katherine's mouth is torn apart, revealing her gums and teeth. Different areas of her body has been chewed into and torn apart. Her ribs are exposed on her side, she's missing her right hand and a shoe.

"Katherine, I can say that your personality has definitely improved since you've turned zombie!" Derek says while dodging her arms. Katherine growls.

Claire hits an old woman zombie across the face, but a male zombie walks out from behind and lurches towards her. She moves back, taking a moment to swing at the back of Katherine's head. The male zombie continues forward and reaches for her. He's missing the top part of his skull. His brain is visible and has been partially gnawed. Claire takes turns swinging the iron between him and zombie Katherine.

Sarah is hitting the old man on the head and knocks him the floor. Yelling a battle cry while crashing the baseball bat repeatedly over his head, hitting him even after he's stilled.

Claire holds the male zombie back and jams the end of the tire iron through the exposed brain matter, killing him immediately. When she looks for the old woman, she notices her behind Sarah. "Sarah, behind you!"

Before she could notice, the old woman latches onto Sarah. Pulling her back, while digging her long pink fingernails into the side of her head and her shoulder.

Sarah lets out a piercing scream. Her neck gushes out blood, as the old woman's teeth tear the flesh from her neck.

Claire runs over and bashes the old woman's head, causing her to release Sarah and stumble back. She continues to wail on the old woman as tears roll down her face.

Derek runs over to Sarah and applies pressure to her wound. "Don't try to speak. We need to stop this from bleeding!"

Sarah holds his hand gently and shakes her head. "No." She winces. Her breathing weakens and she expels a long sigh.

"Sarah?" He shakes her. Placing his head on her chest, he listens for a heartbeat.

Claire runs over after killing the old woman. "Is she ..."

He looks up at her. "Yeah."

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[2,110 words]