Dahmer Flu Read Free

advance, as quickly as their broken bodies would allow. Seconds away. Then moments. I steeled myself for death, ashamed at the hope that I would go first, and quickly.
    The window.
    Towards the horde, on the Eastern wall, the closest window.
    “This way!” I shouted, with a renewed, sanguine vigor. I wrenched Aimee by the hand pulling her roughly to her feet- now was not the time for moderation. Surprised, she kept her grip on Madi and Jacob, dragging them directly and trustingly into the advancing maw of the bloodthirsty crowd. Madi dug her feet into the carpet, but Aimee, believing in me, pulled and refused to let go. Survival, if we were to find it, was to be won by only a matter of moments.
    We reached the window just feet from disaster. Madi fell to the ground, pushing her small body the wall to gain every precious inch- she was crying and afraid. With a strength I didn’t know I possessed, I launched my shoulder into the plate of glass. The curtain offered a slight cushion, but the pain was excruciating as I felt the glass tear at my soft flesh and my shirt begin to grow damp. I could hardly care, with death closing in, and cleared the remaining jagged shards of glass from the windowpane with the curtain before tearing it down to clear our exit. Fruitlessly, I threw the curtain at the group. Unsurprisingly, it failed to slow them.
    “Aimee, go!” She hesitated, her eyes flittering to the children. “Go!” I yelled, sharper than she had ever heard from me. I pulled Jacob from her arms before she scrambled over the window sill. She winced as the remaining glass cut at her knees and legs, but she didn’t slow. As she turned back to me, carefully perched on the very small landing that ran the length of the roof, I plunged Madi at her, who cleared the sill and clung, fearfully, to the roof tiles, afraid to look down. Next, I forced Jacob into his mother’s arms, and she held him tightly while trying to balance.
    My opportunity was gone- the fingers, hands and stumps of arms reached me and greedily tore at my clothes and limbs. The teeth gnashed closer to my flesh while I desperately pushed them away with everything I had in me. The throng pushed forward, greedy to reach me.
    With the last of my strength, I pushed the chest of the closest man, afraid to get close to the teeth or running open sores on his face. This granted me a moment’s respite, which I used to scramble over the glass razors still within the window sill; Aimee and Madi both desperately pulled at me to free me from the home. I kicked, my bare feet finding both rotted flesh and greedy hands, finally collapsing, barely on the narrow edge and balanced only by my two girls. After a moment, I gained enough balance that I wasn’t going to fall, and rose to my knees.
    I crawled, backing away from the window, pushing against the others as they, too, scrambled along the narrow ledge. Greedy arms stretched through the window, the remaining glass tearing at their flesh. Again, no reaction and no howl of pain- only the same desperate moaning and relentless pressing.
    In their desire to reach us several bodies fell from the window, bouncing off our lifesaving ledge and tumbling in a mass to the ground below. I didn’t look down and didn’t see them land, although I could hear the snap of bones when they hit- my only desire was to reach the relative safety of the flat rooftop at the far end.
    Away from the creatures inside, we crawled inch by careful inch along the ledge, Aimee ahead and I behind. Madi closed her eyes tight, relying on feel to inch along- she had always been afraid of heights, but she had little choice now. Gradually, we reached the end and crawled from the ledge, pulling ourselves into the flat rooftop, exhausted, bloodied and terrified. We sat together, breathing heavy and puzzled, but alive.
    I looked, finally, out to the street. My heart sank and my mind swam- I could hardly comprehend what it was that I saw. The streets, as far as I could