Chapter 67- Diversionary Tactics

"I need a diversion." I turned and looked the kid in the eyes.  He looked back at me incredulously.  "Wait..." he paused, studying my face. "You're serious?  You're going down there?"  I nodded and gestured to the rooftop.  "You can't expect me to stay on this rooftop."  I pointed at his little barricade that obviously doubled as a lean-to.  "Starving under a shopping cart, trying to keep cool in the daytime and warm at night, wondering if help will ever come."  His face filled with indignation and he gripped his rifle protectively against his chest.  "Hey, I've lasted a lot longer than anyone else in this building." His lower lip puffed out and I could see tears welling in the corners of his eyes.  He had obviously lost someone important to him.  A girlfriend?  His parents?  I thought it better not to ask.

I walked over to the little shelter and examined it.  "It's not a bad little setup." I said, trying to lift his spirits with a compliment "How did you even get a shopping cart up here? Did you haul it up the ladder?"  He wiped the tear from his eye with a corner of a sleeve and gestured toward the back corner of the roof. Two large metal doors lat flat in the surface.  "Service elevator."  I hadn't seen a service elevator that went all the way to the roof and opened up to the sky like this.  "How do they..." I cocked my head to one side, trying to understand it.  He lifted a large control box on a wire and pressed a button.  A low mechanical hum vibrated the floor below us and we watched and waited.  Soon the doors opened vertically into the sky and a platform emerged from the opening.  "Oh, it's powered by a piston instead of cables." I said, peeking under the crack.  "How does it even have power?" He shrugged.  "Backup generator I guess."  That power could come in handy, but I didn't have the time or the means to locate it now.  Priority was food, water, and shelter.  I filed it away in the back of my mind for later.

"How far down does this go?" I asked, hoping it led to a subterranean tunnel system I didn't know about.  He pointed over the edge.  "Just to the alleyway there." I walked over and looked down the narrow space between the two buildings.  It led around the corner to the right and to the road that ran parallel to the one with the gas station.  It was my best bet.

"Okay, about that diversion." I walked back to the front of the building and pointed at the gas station.  "How good are you with that gun?" He looked down at it, unsure of my meaning.  "Could you hit one of those pumps?"  He shrugged.  "Yeah, but it wouldn't do any good.  They're empty.  I saw the last of those poor saps drain all the gas out of it, and even if I hit it there's no guarantee it would blow up."  I shook my head.  "You mis-understand me.  I don't need you to make it explode."  I smiled.  "I need you to hit that pole."  I pointed at the support post that held up one half of the roof over the pumps.  An SUV had run into the pole and broken it almost in half.  Now the pole sat precariously on the hood of that same vehicle.  "If you can hit that pole it might be enough to slide it off the edge of the car, sending the whole structure crashing down on top of those monsters."  I looked at the teeming horde, some wandering aimlessly in the street, others ferociously tearing at various objects in the cars, objects I couldn't see and didn't want to think about.  "Once it comes crashing down, we'll only have a limited amount of time to get down this shaft and get up that road, and we'd have to be very quiet."  I pointed up past the building.  "See those red rooftops over there?"  He nodded in reply.  "I have a few storage units up there full of supplies.  Once I can get up there I'm loading up and heading for the mountains to make a new start."  He looked at me skeptically.  "I'm not leaving this rooftop.  You'll never even make it there alive.  Those things will tear you to shreds before you even make it out of the alley."  I put my hand on his shoulder.  "You can't stay up here forever.  This is a chance to survive, and I could use the backup."  He shook his head, thumbing back toward his little shelter.  "This is the only chance I need.  I'll give you your diversion, but I'm not gonna commit suicide on the street with you."  I nodded with understanding.  "You have to do what you believe is right."

I stepped up onto the platform and turned to face him.  "Its got to be loud to attract them." I nodded a farewell and pressed the large black button on the control module.  The doors lifted off the roof and spun upwards as the piston lowered me slowly into the darkness.  The last thing I could see what his face watching me through the cracks as I lowered down into the darkness.

The shaft was humid and warm.  It stunk of mildew and old dirty laundry.  With the exception of a dim orange bulb on the wall every 12 feet there was no light, and I could barely make out the bricks and steel of my temporary prison.  I could hear the piston straining and knew I must be reaching the end of the line.  The platform stopped abruptly and I put my hands out to the side to steady myself.  A small shaft of light emanated from a crack in the wall and I walked toward it, feeling my way slowly with one foot sliding on the floor in front of me.  Placing my hands on the warm metal of the door I felt around for a handle a grasped a large bar about waist level.  I pushed slowly, trying to be as quiet as I could.  The door swung open easily and I breathed a sigh of relief to see an empty alleyway.

I looked up at the rooftop and saw my solitary friend leaning over the edge.  I nodded and waved and he disappeared.  I started to step quietly up the alley and realized that I never even knew his name.  "Good luck kid." I said under my breath.  "We're both gonna need it."