Rooftop Meeting Part 1

Chris: Crackle, crackle. Worn out shoes upon dirty old pavements and a pair of blue eyes scanning the quiet neighborhood. It was amazing how a tiny sound that you'd usually not notice becomes as loud as sirens when you're trying to be quiet. Especially if you're trying to be quiet to make sure you won't get noticed by hungry monsters.

Christopher let out a soundless sigh, trying to decide which house to climb onto. He needed a view of the town, he needed to know what places to avoid when going into the centre to search for supplies. Usually they'd be a little group going out, but this time they'd all decided to split up. That'd make them quicker and less noticeable.

At the end of the street was a big house, probably once owned by someone who had way too much money in his hands. A little smile formed on the young man’s face, it was perfect. Pretty much untouched, which meant it'd be safe to climb, and it was probably built to mimic the Victorian era, so it even had a small tower.

It didn't take long until he was at the porch, peeking in through one of the windows. And when he did, his brows furrowed. The house had looked completely untouched from the outside, but what he now saw was like looking through the window of a scenography. Because behind the glass there weren’t any rooms or walls, it was just a skeleton of burned pillars and floors.

"Shit." He mouthed and went to open the door. Looking up, he could even see the sky, but at least the little tower seemed to have survived what looked like one of many accidental fires caused by people forgetting their ovens when they all fled. But would it be strong enough to climb?

Well, he didn't weigh much and knew very well how to watch his steps. And it was pretty much the perfect vantage point.

With a determined look he climbed out on the leftovers of the hallway floor and started making his way up.

Cry: Cry was wandering around as usual, since those in the safe house started snapping at her. She’s learnt that people don’t like her around when they’re being moody. A little walk around with the less verbally aggressive zombies appealed to her.

She’s gotten used to the silence that seemed to muffle the air within the cramped streets of the city. Maybe a little walk around residential area today? She’s squatted in a few nicely furnished houses when she was soloing, but they tend to be ruined by whoever had previously squatted there.

She walked down to the older section of town to scout for any goods lying around. People neglect to scavenge this area since it was too close to centre for safety. She stopped in front of a nice vintage looking house and peered into enclosed area. Not bad, maybe a future squatting place? Brilliant vantage point as well, with the small tower at the top. She entered the dwelling and explored the interior. 

Chris: The roof of the little tower was the perfect spot, and it wasn't even hard to reach. As soon as he'd gotten to the roof of the rest of the building, he'd just had to swing himself up on the tower. The copper roof was green from oxidation and on top of it was a golden cross shining in the pale sunlight. He climbed up the steep tilt and grabbed the thin pole on which the cross was attached. Using this to keep himself from sliding down the roof and fall tree floors down to the ground in front of the house, he looked out over the city.

And a perfect lookout it was. He could even see the church from here, and the view of the town was to die for. This might just have to become a regular lookout, and he might also have to show it to the rest of the scouts.

Moving like a mass of rotting flesh a herd was located close to a mall at what used to be the grand square of Iceacre. He could also see a few smaller groups scattered between the streets and houses of the neighborhoods nearby. He quickly made the deduction that the mall was to be avoided, but a supermarket some blocks away was empty, and it didn't look like anyone'd dared to enter it yet. Perfect.

Cry: The interior was pretty messy. The black charred mess of various items crumbled beneath her touch. Well, at least this place was definitely free of any runners. It was a miracle that the foundation was built well enough so that it remained largely unaffected by the fire. If this place was ever going to be deemed inhabitable, new furniture would need to be moved in. Cry rummaged through some collapsed cabinets and came out with a fistful of ash. There was probably nothing worth looting here; the real value of this house was the tall tower she saw earlier. 

She walked over to the little tower and peered up at the footholds. A little strange, it seemed like someone had the same idea as her and had disturbed the ashes. Chances of someone being there right now was low though, since she saw no visible evidence of inhabitancy here. She shrugged and started climbing upwards while slinging her bo into her hands, just in case. There were probably no walkers; therefore the bo was more suitable, since humans didn't exactly enjoy a tomahawk to the face.

Chris: A sound caught his attention. Not a big sound or an obvious one, but there was a sound. As if someone was coming up the same way he'd gone. He could hear the silent whining of the house frame.

But how? As far as he knew, zombies couldn't climb, at least not this high. Had a new kind of zombie developed? Climbers?

Another protest from the house, closer now. He let go of the top cross and slid down to the edge. Where he then grabbed the end of the roof and swung himself down. Aiming for the roof of the house, his feet landed nicely on the green copper, his hands carrying his crowbar in a firm grip. Just in case.

Cry: Christ, climbing buildings isn’t easy. The window ledge sounded like a dying cow. She hoped that the sound didn't carry too far. She reached the edge of the roof and struggled like a fish on shore. So much for stealth, she was going to need to practise climbing things in the future. Just as she flopped herself ungracefully on the building roof and lay panting for a few moments. There was a sound of sliding and a muted thump. What? Did she drop something? She looked around her confused. Nope, everything was in place. She stood up and brushed herself off; admiring the scenery from her hard earned climbing. There was another sliding noise. What the hell? The tower was blocking her view of the other side of the roof. She crept over to check, not really expecting anything to be there.

Chris: Just as he had landed he heard some loud sounds from the roof where he'd just been. Well, if the zombies had developed a climbing technique, it sure didn't sound efficient.

A little bit careful, though still not trying to hide, he moved to a point of the roof from which he could see the front of the tower. And there was someone there alright, though not a climber zombie. He made a slight sigh of relief, so at least they couldn't climb. Yet.

He sat down on the roof and looked at the girl for a moment before intruding her gazing.

"Pretty nice view huh?" He said with the hint of a grin.

Cry: As she peered around the other side, she saw a dude sitting so casually he could be posing for a new roof commercial. She dropped her bo out of fright and it began rolling towards the edge. More colourful words followed as she clomped around trying to stop it dropping from three storey building. She barely saved it and turned back to the dude observing her. He looked alive, so probably not a zombie. Human, check. He was sitting down with a crowbar resting at his side. It took a few seconds to calculate, but she deducted that he was not being aggressive. Ok check, she was not in danger of being crowbar whacked. Not yet anyway. He said something before? She didn’t catch it; too busy freaking the daylights out of herself. She continued to stand there with her bo tightly clenched in her hands. Her adrenaline filled brain only has room for analysis of the stranger, but none of her own actions.

Chris: Oh god. He couldn't help but laugh, it all just looked so ridiculous. Poor girl.

"You okey?" He asked, not really being able to cover up the laughter in his voice. She didn't look ok though, she looked like a dear caught in headlights or something. He almost felt bad for her. He tilted his head to the side. Well, at least he was fairly certain this one had never showed up at the church, at least not while he was there.

"You a Cherrie?" He asked. Cause if she wasn't, she was probably a lone survivor, and those were rare.

Cry: Laughter. Ok check, he was not being angry. Unless it was the sarcasm sort of laughter.

Cherry? She thought for a few moments, the image of the bright red berry hovering in her sight. No wait, people can’t be cherries, so he must mean the safe house. She certainly had not seen him around the shabby place, and he did certainly have a nicer mood around him. So how did he know about that place? Unless he was from that other group. The uh, um the marge place? Something religious she remembered. She smiled a little sheepishly and slung her bo back on her back. He was young looking and in pretty good condition, compared to the other hopeless cases who mumbled all day long.

“I um, er, sorta uh, yeah. Not really. I mean like, I am kinda part of them but not really.” She stuttered all the while blinking erratically. “Like, they don’t really like be around since I’m new with them and all that. I think. I don’t know why else they wouldn't like me around. People don't really like sharing things so I probably just came along and used up a bit of their stuff.”

She scratched her head and looked out over the town. “Can I…?” She gestured to the spot next to him.

Chris: He shrugged.

"Sure, I'm not gonna kill you." He said with a little smile. "Unless you try to bite my arm off, that is." He added with an almost serious look before scooting over a bit. Seriously though, he'd seen very alive people doing crazy things in the last couple of months.

"Well, people are getting more selfish with every day so I guess that's no wonder." He commented on the behaviour of the group, which he really didn't know much about except they were probably located somewhere in the apartment neighbourhoods. And that the relationship between the two groups was a little strained.

Cry: She plonked herself down next to the dude and admired the great scene of the town. His comment was very true; she thought to herself, there were definitely some people who had killed each other because they were starving to death. The breeze was nice up here. It carried a little hint of salt from the coast.

“Tense groups eh?” She said to the no one in particular. “I've never enjoyed the idea of a large amount of people coming together. They get scared. They get angry. No one can control anyone else properly. It’s madness really. That’s why I was normally soloing.” She shook her head at the memory. “Any specific reason? Last time there was tension in a group I was in, the leader ended up getting butchered in the dark because of his limp. They thought he was a walker.”

Chris: "Well what are you doing with the cherries then?" He asked. It seemed strange for a person who didn't like big groups to be in one. Especially if she'd been in one that went to hell. If the church was ever gonna get even a bit nasty, he'd probably leave. But for now it was pretty good. Yes, they were low on food and so on, but at least there wasn't way too much tension. At least not amongst most of them. Of course there were some exceptions, but he liked to ignore those people.

He took a deep breath of the fresh air and sighed. It was nice to be outside. Because of a cold he'd been stuck inside the church for almost a month, it's hard to get rid of even the tiniest infections when you're low on food. You don't have a lot of energy over for the immune system. And he'd been dying to get outside those stone walls.

Cry: “It was getting harder to solo these days. Easy loot areas have been picked clean with only dense malls left behind. I was thinking of getting a bit of muscle power from larger groups to raid those places.” She explained, then with a little tinge of sadness, “It’s also been quite lonely wandering around without someone to watch your back. The world turns around and around but no one rolls in the same circle together.”

She was scanning the roads and observing the strange behaviour of the zombies. A group of what appeared to be spotters were hanging out near another church on the other side of town. A few clumps dotted the public park, but what was the most concerning were the tiny wanderers who drifted away from every other zombie activity. Then curiosity turned her back to observe the dude next to her. He looked a little older than her but with a ... edgy kind of air. Maybe it was her personality defect thinking, but he seemed to have a shadow lingering around him.

She lay back on the gentle slope of the roof.

“Too trusting. Too paranoid. Humans are such strange playthings.” She mumbled.

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