From the looks of the body, the sniper had probably died of dehydration. An empty black water flask lay on the ground beside him, along with a radio. Floyd remarked to Mikki that these guys never expected to be deployed for more than a few hours without backup. Poor sucker probably ran out of water and died waiting for an extraction that never came.

Mikki picked up her trophy, unwrapping the sling from the dead sniper's left arm. In a belt pouch, she found several more clips of high-powered ammo. Unlike the guys on the street or the men who cleaned out the inside of the building, the sniper saw no reason to waste ammunition in a lost cause. Mikki snapped the ammo belt low on her waist.

“Cool!” she said, inspecting the rifle. “Silencer and an infrared night scope. Don't know how long the battery will last, but I just flipped it on and it's still workin'.” It was obvious that Mikki loved her knew toy, even if it didn't blow something up.

“Well, let's get outta here before we need to use it. I don't want to be anywhere around here when night falls.”

“Yes, sir! Mr. Man, sir!”

“Will you please stop saying that?!”

They headed over to the lid and Floyd grabbed the handle to lift it up. Nothing happened. It didn't budge. He pulled and pulled.

“Oh, shit! It must have locked from the inside! No wonder that poor bastard got stuck up here. Now we're in the same boat!” Just then, Floyd's receiver started beeping. He looked and saw numbers six and seven were red. Mikki didn't need to ask what that sound meant. She ran to the edge of the roof and looked down.

“Hey, Floyd, did you order a pizza?”

“Not for over three years, now. Why?”

“Pizza delivery guy just showed up. And he brought friends.”

Floyd gazed in the direction that Mikki was looking and saw a brain-eater shuffling through the street wearing a Domino's Pizza delivery uniform. A couple of others had entered the area, as well. Floyd knew they had to get out of there fast before there were a lot more.

“Sorry, no tip for you today, buddy,” Mikki said as she tried out the new rifle. A small hole appeared in pizza dude's forehead and a big hole blew out the back.

“Shoots a little to the right,” Mikki remarked as she made an adjustment to the sight. Then she lined up another shot but Floyd stopped her.

“Don't shoot 'em,” Floyd ordered. “You'll piss 'em off!”

“Now all of a sudden you don't wanna shoot creepers? And just how the hell are we gonna get out of here if we don't?”

The two other shamblers started howling. Not the kind of moan when they smell prey, but the kind of howl when they realize they are under attack. They understood their buddy was no longer with them and they were calling for reinforcements.

“Oh, shit, too late now!” Floyd lamented.

“Let's figure out how to get off o' this damn roof first, Floyd! Otherwise it won't matter!”

Mikki was right. Floyd looked around and saw nothing they could use. Six stories up was too far to jump, and there was no outside fire escape they could jump down to either. However, he got an idea when he looked up.

There was an electrical box on the roof that no doubt powered the entire building, but there was no electricity, so the wires would be safe. Floyd swapped out his drum mag for slugs and aimed for the far end of the cables where they connected to an electrical tower. He fired once and a cable broke loose, falling down to the roof and over the side. He fired again and the other cable joined it. Unfortunately, they slammed against the side of the building, making a lot of noise. That meant there would be more of Pizza Dude's buddies showing up soon.

Mikki followed Floyd's lead as he grabbed the cables and pulled them over to the side of the building nearest the connection box. They threw the ends of the cables over and pulled. Then they hung on the cables momentarily, bouncing as hard as they could. Satisfied that the cables would hold their weight as they climbed down to the ground, they moved to the edge of the roof, ready for anything.

Or so they thought. They were, in fact, not ready for what they saw.

“Damn, Floyd! Where the hell did they all come from?”

“I don't know, but I don't think they're goin' back any time soon.”

The entire area below was already filled with Pizza Dude's fan club. There had to be a couple hundred already and more were pouring in through the streets. Although the sun hadn't set yet, the shadows had left the city dark enough for the creepers to feel like it was nighttime. Fortunately, despite the occasional howling and other odd noises, the zombie ravers below had not started moaning, indicating they were not yet aware of Floyd and Mikki's presence up above them.

“Floyd?”

“Yeah, Mikki?”

“You know how in every monster movie, there’s that one 'Aw Shit' moment, when it's totally hopeless, and you wonder how in the hell the heroes are gonna get out of it?”

“Yeah.”

“This is our Aw Shit moment, ain't it?”

“I reckon so, Mikki. I reckon we're on the express elevator to hell and the cable just broke.”