Hope?

Everyone sat in silence as they listened to the vehicles outside, tearing through the road like a pack of wild animals.

"Who is that...?" Max whispered.

"Could be military..?" Scott replied, shrugging with excitement evident in his eyes.

"Holy crap! We're saved!" Jess joined in.

"However...um, we won't be able to jump the gate in time to catch them as they pass." Mike butt in, sighing.

There was a loud explosion of angry cursing as he said this.

"Hold on! If we're quick enough, we could try and get their attention from the roof?" Bron suggested, the gentle giant hesitant to bring an idea to the table.

"We could, but we'd have to fight through the hordes of those things on the way up." Lorrie grunted, pointing upward.

"Ok alright. We have to think of something fast. Are we gonna fight those monsters or sit like ducks and let our possible rescue go to shit?" Max suddenly pushed out his chair, making an ear-piercing scrap on the hardwood floor, "Who's going upstairs with me?!"

Everyone was hesitant to answer. Max looked around expectantly and bounced his eyebrows. One by one, the others began to stand up, confident grins befalling their gloomy faces. Soon everyone was standing.

"Let's do this."

-o-

The crew geared up as fast as possible, Mike distributed some heavy artillery to everyone which was greatly needed. Max, Scott, and Jess were geared up with double barrel shotguns, and knives. They nodded to each other, and hesitantly stood at the door leading to the second floor.

"Don't be afraid guys. We've lived this long, we won't die now."

They grinned at him.

"NOW LET'S GO KILL SOME FUCKERS!"

There was an uproar of cheers, and Max vigorously kicked the door down, tromping up the stairs with the others right on his heels. He kicked open the next door and was greeted by an ensemble of monsters. There was a split second, where both sides stared at each other. Humans and monsters took a moment to glance, and then went to town. They charged and cocked their weapons. Blood splattered as the monster heads were blown apart with intense firepower. Thanks to Max's motivational words, the crew was as confident as ever.

"DON'T STICK AROUND TOO LONG! HEAD STRAIGHT FOR THE STAIRS!" Max shouted to the others, who nodded in acknowledgment and disappeared. He ducked and swerved around the creatures' arms as they desperately moved toward him in hunger.

"Meat isn't on the menu toni - FUCK!" He exclaimed, a monster coming from behind and pulling him to the ground.

He knew he only had a couple of seconds before the others reached him and received a dainty meal.

He rotated his gun to face the bastard clinging to him and pulled the trigger, a miniature explosion generating and obliterating his attackers head. The shot was too close to Max himself, splattering blood on him and chiming his ears. He slowly got to his feet and wobbly moved around as the ringing in his ears continued. Scott dove in and tackled him to the floor, pulling him to safety and standing in front to defend him.

"Max! Get up!" Scott shouted, fighting the creatures off like a bull in a tether.

Max nodded and rubbed his throbbing ear as he hobbled to his feet and adjusted his gun. Scott gripped him by the arm and lead him to the stairs.

"Go on, up you get..." He sighed and let him head up first.

"Thanks...I'm having way too many close calls..."

"Haven't we all?" Scott snickered and closed the door behind them, "Quick, the others'll think something happened. We don't have much time until those guys outside are gone."

"Right, let's get moving then."

Upon entering the next floor, they were greeted by a table soaring their way. It smashed against the wall instead of them as they quickly ducked, wood chips scattering in the air.

"HOLY SHIT!" Scott exclaimed and slowly stood upright.

Bron was lifting tables and chair and throwing them as if they were as light as feathers. Max and Scott watched in amazement as the creatures fell one by one on impact.

"So much for a gentle giant." Max shrugged and ran ahead, slamming his cleaver into the crown of a monster's head.

"SHIT!" Lorrie screeched as he was seized and slammed into a bookshelf, causing it to wobble slightly.

Swiftly, Max ran over and dived into Lorrie, pushing her out of the way as the bookshelf went off balance and toppled over, crushing the creature beneath it.

They ran through the pool of monster blood that began to form underneath the overturned shelf and grouped up with the others.

"Thanks for that!" Lorrie grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

"We gotta look out for each other no?"

"Nice work guys! Only a couple more floors!" Mike waved them over and opened the door to the stairs.

They ran inside, slammed the door behind them, and ascended up another flight of stairs.

"Thanks, we couldn't have been this successful without you guys.." Mike said to Max.

As much as he hated to thank them, he had to, for it was true this success would be unattainable without them.

"Don't thank us yet, we still have a couple more floors!"

~o~

After an exhausting series of shooting and swinging, the team arrived on the roof, wheezing and drenched in blood. The roof had undergone some changes, a little booth constructed around the entire thing by the previous inhabitants.

"It's like a little watchtower up here! Cool!" Scott exclaimed, feeling the wood beams supporting it all.

"Woah....we're just getting to see this now..." Lorrie gasped and looked around.

"Hey! There are sniper rifles over here!" Jess called from the corner.

Mike, Lorrie, Bron, and Scott ran over in excitement, while Max ran to the edge to get a view. There were no vehicles in sight, only the monsters filled the street as they did before. They were too late.

"Shit..." He cursed under his breath and looked over, an open box containing a flare gun sat in the corner.

He quickly grabbed it and leaned over the wooden railing, blasting a shot into the air. It screeched and ascended higher and higher until vanishing.

"What was that?!" Mike shouted and ran over.

"The people driving by are long gone now, so I thought this would get their attention, if they're still here of course." Max replied, leaning back into the booth.

"Oh, nice work! Let's hope it - "

BAM!!

Was the noise they heard...

...just seconds before the side of Mike's head imploded and produced a fountain of blood. He swayed, and collapsed limply to the floor in a puddle of his own vital fluids.

"MIKE!!!!" Lorrie wailed and covered her mouth in horror.

"NO!!!" came Bron, running his hand through his hair.

Max watched him collapse, paralyzed in fear.

"Looks like we found some boys!!" Came an antagonizing voice from the street below, followed by the rumbling of engines...