The zombies were tearing her apart. Shaking her entire body violently in their frenzied attack.

"ANNA!"

She batted weakly at them, knowing it was useless but not willing to give up without a fight.

"ANNA! WAKE UP!"

She opened her eyes a crack and saw Hoffman staring down at her, his face pale and drawn. She was lying on her back and he was yelling at her... shaking her.

"...stop... please..." She gasped, and pain like a bolt of lightning shot through the back of her skull. "Stop it!"

A look of relief spread over Hoffman's face and he lifted her to a sitting position against his legs.

"Holy shit Anna... I thought you were... I mean I..."

It all came back to her then. The helicopter, the apartment building, the zombies... then that pain and falling. How were they alive?

"Where are we?" She asked each word set off another bolt of agony in her head and for a moment she wavered on the edge of consciousness. Bad concussion... real bad... but no time for that.

"We hit a roof a few buildings over, look?" He pointed and she followed his finger.

Zombies covered the roof of a building less than a block away. More were still climbing the walls even though the helicopter was long gone.

She coughed, and this time she did pass out. Hoffman slapped her cheek and her eyes fluttered as she came back to herself.

"Anna... I'm bit. That zombie fucker bit my neck... but I'm gonna help you get out... before I... you know." Hoffman looked away from her.

"Don't worry about Carl. I'm bit too. We're both fucked."

His face fell. Where? Where are you bit?" He began moving her roughly trying to find the wound and she felt awareness drifting again.

"Stop!" She cried, and he let go of her as if he had been slapped. "Please, Carl... My head..."

"Sorry... tell me where. Let me take a look." He sounded so lost and young it broke her heart.

"My leg... right leg."

He gently lay her down on the cold damp surface of the roof and turned her leg slowly.

"I don't see anything, Anna."

"Upper thigh... at the back."

He carefully rolled her on her left side.

"Oh yeah... upper thigh alright." He let out a small laugh.

Why the fuck was he laughing? "What's so funny, Carl?"

"You're not bit, Anna, you're shot... in the ass." He laughed harder now.

"I'm shot and you're laughing?" She asked incredulously.

"Sorry... sorry... you're right. Here..." He reached around, unbuckled her belt, loosened her pants and slowly pulled them down over her rear end. Hoffman stopped and covered his mouth to stifle another chuckle. Under her uniform, she was wearing a green, camouflage thong. He shook his head in amazement and checked the wound.

"It's a through and through, Anna. Went right through the meatiest part of your bum, but you'll survive."

"Great." She said with little enthusiasm.

"I think your panties are a right off though!" He added.

"Fuck you, Carl." She pulled up her pants and rose unsteadily to close them and buckle her belt. She felt nauseous but did not think she was going to pass out again. Once she had regained the little bit of dignity remaining to her, Anna turned to Carl looking very serious.

"You sure you're bit?" she asked.

"See for yourself." He turned his back to her and pulled his fatigues away from his left shoulder. Anna saw it immediately. A huge crescent of flesh had been ripped away just to the left of his trapezius muscle. The shape of the wound was enough to know it was a bite, but just in case there was any doubt two greenish-grey teeth were lodged in the outer perimeter of the gash.

Anna delicately pulled the teeth out and tossed them away.

"Shit, Carl..."

He shook his big head dismissing her reaction. "Fuck it, Anna. Twelve hours incubation before I turn, that's the low down on this... sickness... disease... whatever. Twelve hours is long enough for me to get you out of here, but we gotta start now."

Anna looked back over at the mass of zombies still lurching around on the roof of the building less than a block away. They did not have a chance and Carl knew it. They would be better off to just eat a bullet each and be done with it.

As if reading her mind, Carl asked. "Do you still have the gun?"

Anna looked around and shook her head. "I dropped it... it was empty anyway."

As it turned out, Carl had bullets but a quick search of the roof yielded no gun to put them in, so it was a moot point.

Now it was Carls turn to look back at their original landing site. There were fewer zombies than before. Still a lot but less. Without the noise and movement of the helicopter and marines, they seemed to have lost interest and direction. As Carl and Anna watched a female zombie mounted the waist-high wall, climbed over the edge of the roof and fell three stories to the ground. She lay there twitching for a moment and then rose up on a badly broken leg and began hobbling down the street.

"Holy shit..." Anna breathed.

"We gotta go over there," Carl said quietly.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. There are at least three dead marines in the stairwell. I saw them go down."

"So what... those fuckers left us! I'm not risking my life to go back and..."

"Three dead marines... with guns and grenades." Carl interrupted. "We need their equipment."

"Oh, yeah, I guess we do."

"Come on, Lieutenant Stigg. We have work to do."

He took off at a jog towards a door at the far corner of the roof and Anna started after him wondering how long they would last. Not long she imagined but at least they were going to try. That was something.

Author's note: I hope you are enjoying the story. If so why not vote or comment? I would love your feedback!

- Allan