The End Of Life

She motioned Steve to come upfront. Steve slowly checked out the situation of the zombies and the staircase from the other side. He nodded to himself after coming up with a plan and went back.

"Ok now, listen up, there are 5 zombies in the lobby out there, which is not our target, but the stairs are. We need to close the door to prevent any more zombies coming into the floor, while we transfer the people above. We can not have the zombies breach the door after we close it."

All the soldiers nodded in unison and Steve proceeded, telling the plan to the soldiers. Mona, stood by the side as she can not get involved in this situation to stop the door, would be a death trap for her, who fights at close range.

After a few more minutes of discussion, Steve conveyed the plan and all the soldiers got ready. A few of them came to the front with guns in their hands, ready to go out when Steve gave out the signal.

"You both should follow behind the soldiers and make your way towards the hallway you need to take," said Steve, turning towards Mona and Denton.

Both of them nodded and Steve gave out a signal for the soldiers ahead and all of them went out into the lobby. They slowly shot down the 5 zombies in the hallway, which attracted a few zombies from the stairs, which got shot down as they entered.

The soldiers made their way towards the door with Mona and Denton behind them taking cover. As a few more zombies continued to come inside, the soldiers quickly shot them and finally reached the doors.

Mona and Denton took a turn when they reached the hallway as the soldiers continued forwards. They both peeked outside to observe the soldiers as they did their work. After getting near the door, they closed the door and held it.

"Create a barricade to stop the door," said Steve, giving out orders to them.

A few of them remained to hold the door, the others hurriedly moved things near the door. They bought the whole furniture available near them and kept it against the door. As they continued to hold the door, the force from the other side stopped.

Feeling the force stop, they backed away from the door slowly. The furniture kept against the door was enough to calm the zombies on the other side. Steve continued to observe the door and after he felt they were safe here turned towards the soldiers and said, "OK good work. Now 5 of you come with us to help the elderly." and walked towards Mona and Denton, who were already in the hallway.

"Let's continue forwards," said Steve as he reached them with 5 soldiers behind him.

Mona nodded and went towards the end of the hall with the others behind them. She slowly stepped on the window frame and caught the ladder before getting on it. Denton followed behind her, gesturing Steve to do the same.

As the soldiers one by one came up, Steve looked at all the people on the roof. Some of them were crying in relief seeing the military come for them while others were brimming with happiness. Steve looked at the soldiers behind him and said, "Check all of them and if they have received any attacks from the zombies." making all of them nod and scatter.

Denton and Mona stood beside him and looked at the soldiers, checking for any wounds on the people. Steve said, without turning his head, "You guys did a splendid job rescuing at least these many people."

Denton simply shook his head and replied, "It was because of Mark finding the ladder and helped us as we got up." making Mona nod.

Steve said nothing back and continued to observe. After 15 minutes, the soldiers came back and reported everything was fine and Denton said, "Ok! Let's start moving. Help the elderly first, and then the others can continue right behind them."

The soldiers slowly helped some elders to get up and get down from the ladder. It was hard as they were already very weak from no proper nutrition for the past day but completed the task with no problems. After all the people got down, the last to leave was Mona, Denton, and Steve.

Mona made her way down and noticed the people in the lobby and went towards them. Steve came by after her and said, "Ok! Let's continue. Let's go slowly and carefully." leading the soldiers to the other hallway. This time Mona and Denton were the last in the group to follow as the people guarding in the lobby also came out of their spots and followed.

They slowly continued on their way down as a group, taking more time than they got up. After everyone reached the first floor, Steve slowly checked the situation and found it was peaceful as the people guarding the floor were still paying attention.