Chapter 14: Going Back Up
The group was too much in a panic to greet Ryver. Muffled sobs could be heard as reality was beginning to sink into some of them.
A middle aged man suddenly stepped out from the huddled group. His face wasn't looking too good as he said.
"If we keep accepting more people into the group, it's only a matter of time before we are discovered. Moreover, there's barely any room for more survivors! The group is barely able to keep silent as it is and at this rate, even the slightest sounds each of us makes would turn out to be no different ftom shouting!" Although the middle aged man tried his best to whisper his words, he couldn't contain the agitation he was feeling.
Jacob's face darkened. "I do not remember you making such suggestions when we decided to take you into the group."
Jacob ignored the man and turned towards Ryver and pointed at the middle aged man. "This is Jonathan."
Jacob then turned to the crowds of and pointed at four other people; two females and two males, they appeared quite young.
Each of them had weapons in their hands. Baseball bats, iron rod, fire axe, etc. It was no wonder he couldn't find another fire axe while coming down.
"This is Glinda, Daveen, Peter and Katniss. They all have reached 2 points in one or more attribute, we are a team and we take votes in deciding our next move."
The four people turned towards Ryver and nodded towards him as a sign of greeting. It was obvious they were quite wary of him, something which Ryver didn't concern himself with.
Ryver also nodded and didn't say any more. He stood at the corner of the office, close to door, observing them quietly.
"The third floor have all been cleared, we have more floors to clear before we reach the 40th floor. We head out in a single file like we did before. I will be at the forefront, Glinda and Davin, you stay with the group while Peter and Katniss will remain at the end of the group in case of any unexpected situation. Ryver, your stat is high, we can better protect the group if you're in front with me."
Ryver squinted his eyes at Jacob, staring at the handsome man who seen to have gained the role of leader amongst the survivors, giving out orders to the members and even gave him an order.
Ryver smiled and nodded. Seeing this, Jacob sighed as though a rock had been lifted off his chest.
"Remember, we move in a single file, there should be no pushing and in the presence of any zombie, please remain calm, we will take care of it. The more sound you make the more zombies you attract and we don't want that. Alright, let's move."
Ryver shook his head slightly and couldn't help but think that Jacob was too naive.
Jacob carefully opened the door. This floor has been cleared of all zombies, and no other zombies wandered here.
Ryver walked with Jacob as they headed for the stairway. Jacob opened the door to the stairway to reveal a slight crack which he peeked through.
"It's clear." He left the door ajar and started walking through the door, Jacob looked up checked the entire row of staircase. There was only few zombies at the stairs, courtesy of Ryver
"Come on." He urged the crowd as he began walking upwards the stairs. The twenty some people had fear on their faces but they tried their best to keep silent, not to make too much noise.
Going down the stairs was eazy, but moving upward is a lot more difficult. They had only reached the 12th floor when the crowds started to get tired.
But when Jacob mention taking a break, the crowd were fearful about resting admist the corpses and organs littering the stairways. It wasn't something they would get userd to easily no matter how strong minded they are. Moreover, the stench of blood and organs was way too strong in this part.
They reached the twentieth floor before some people started to collapse exhaustion.
"We should rest here for now." The others collapsed on the stairs, exhausted and drenched with their sweat.
Ryver wasn't feeling the slightest bit of exhaustion, he had been trained to walk on rougher terrain and to remain moving for several days with little food and water. So this little walk wasn't really affecting him.
After roughly twenty minutes, Jacob and the team resumed walking up the stairs. They were quite surprised that there was not even a single zombie in the stairs, which gave the team a little more freedom as they started to murmur amongst each other.
The murmuring was getting louder and louder but as Jacob was about to complain, the door leading to the 27th floor immediately released a loud banging sound.
Immediately, the entire crowd kept silent as they held their breathe in fear and terror, hoping the door wouldn't open and let the zombies come swarming in.
The banging sound they hoping to stop didn't stop, instead the intensity seem it be increasing as though other zombies were joining in the attack of the door.
"Go! Go! Go!" Jacob immediately whispered / shout.
The crowds immediately started moving up the stairs as fast as they could go. As the reached the next floor, they also heard banging sounds from the metal door. It seems the sound created by the zombies from the floor below is attracting zombies towards the stairs from the other floors.
The crowds rushed upwards as fast as they could, white fog covering their transparent improvised gas mask as they huffed and puffed.
Finally, they got to the 35th floor. In this place, they could no longer hear the moaning nor listen to the groaning of those life reapers.
The crowds rested on the steps, drenched in cold sweat as they imagine what would have happened had the doors not been locked.
"That was exactly what I was talking about!" Jonathan immediately stood up as he growled in anger.
"You should keep quiet now Jonathan." The brown-haired mid-thirty Katniss reprimanded with a frown.
"No, I kept quiet before and we almost died because of it. What about next time? Uhn?" His voice raised a few octaves.
"You should know we can't just turn our backs on survivors when we meet one, it's during times like this that we must unite. With our numbers, we can comfort each other and deal with any unexpected attacks." Peter adjusted his glasses and whispered.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone