Day 3: To Serve and Protect

Nikolai was the first to leave the warehouse area. Hearing patrols so close was something that surprised him a lot as he did not expect police movement, besides the absence of it for a long time made him believe that the Force had fallen. From the rooftop Nikolai could see a total of three patrol cars.

At most in each patrol car there were a total of four officers. There was a moment when one of the patrols narrowed in on some cars that were poorly parked and the car was pinned between two vehicles and became completely stuck. It didn't take long for the officers to shoot at the dead with their guns from inside the vehicle but this was useless as they were surrounded. The zombies climbed on top of the car, smashed the windshield and despite the officers shooting at them they still managed to penetrate and, kill the policemen inside. Nikolai counted a total of four members killed, three males and one female.

Another of the vehicles lost control. Kalinic observed how one of the policemen had transformed into a zombie and began attacking his unit, causing the driver to lose control and overturn the vehicle, killing them all.

Finally the third patrol car crashed into one of the walls of the mall, specifically the one under the roof of Grand Mont Plaza. Nikolai watched as the officers got out of the car and began shooting at the dead approaching them, a total of three men.

—We must help them! —Harry exclaimed.

—We can't do anything for them! —Kalinic replied angrily.

—They are policemen! They can be of great help... maybe they can give us information about what happened to the city! We don't lose anything by trying!

—Are you crazy, Harry? We don't know what their intentions are!

—You don't know our intentions either! C'mon Nikolai!

—They won't be able to go up... unless we make them... —Bryan, who was on the scene, thought of something risky. —A rope... A rope! Get a fucking rope!

Some civilians from the shelter went back into the warehouse to find a rope long enough, a long and thick rope that could be useful for the officers to climb. Meanwhile Bryan pulled out his rifle and, with the help of Harry and Markus who were nearby began shooting at the zombies.

The officers for a moment looked up into the sky after seeing the dead men's heads explode, this not being the product of their own gunfire. When they looked up they realized that there were snipers helping them.

—Bring that fucking rope for fuck's sake! —Markus yelled at the civilians as he reloaded his rifle and then pulled the trigger.

—We can't go on like this all the time! We should be spending our ammunition on the dead people in the mall, not those outside! Get the fucking rope, goddammit! —Nikolai couldn't believe he was pretending to be a hero... again.

Meanwhile in the shelter they were trying to find the rope. Megan ordered the civilians to search the different areas of the warehouse for the products that were waiting to be sold. Lexie Washington found a rope, however it was nowhere near long enough considering the height of the fourth floor and the mall, on the other hand Asha had found just the same rope that could make up for the missing length of the other rope.

Megan had received some information of what was going on upstairs and, she also set out to find a megaphone with which she had to put the batteries from a TV control in the camera room to make it work.

Asha and Lori tied the ropes together and joined them to make it one and, with the help of the other civilians they took a part of the rope to bring it up to the roof and, on Jason's orders, throw it to a specific position.

—Use this, Nikolai! —Megan passed the megaphone to Kalinic who was surprised that Megan was talking to him. —Don't just stand there watching me, use it!

Nikolai nodded and went to the edge of the ledge to speak to the policemen using the megaphone.

—Officers! Climb up the rope! We'll keep the dead at bay! Climb up one at a time! —Nikolai ordered using the megaphone. He noticed how one of the policemen took the rope and started to pull it.

Nikolai told everyone that they should take one end of the rope and pull backwards to make the rope exert force so that the policeman could pull himself up. The people in charge of pulling the rope were the civilians who were in good shape and, upon hearing of what had happened, climbed up to the roof to help. Both men and women gave their support to join in to allow the officer to reach the roof.

Those who were in the sniper position helped the policemen below to kill the zombies, especially those who were at a dangerous distance.

A second policeman climbed up and watched his colleague on the rooftop aim at the dead with a rifle he had with him and was not shy to shoot. The officer was scared because a bad maneuver could cost him his life. The officer felt dizzy when he looked down and realized that the noise of the patrol sirens and gunfire was attracting more dead. The man felt the glory as he touched the ledge and was helped up by the other civilians nearby, with Jason and Bryan helping him.

—Connor can't climb! With the crash he can barely walk on his feet, he fucked up his knee on impact. Connor can't climb, damn it!

The policeman looked back and the horizon was not at all promising.

—The dead are coming! The gunfire and the patrols are drawing them in. Connor will die! He's scared and he won't go up here! He can't!

—He's going to make it! Damn it!

Nikolai took the megaphone again and this time he spoke specifically to the policeman who was being surrounded by the dead.

—Damn it, Connor! Grab the fucking rope! Hold on to the fucking rope! We're gonna pull you up!

Nikolai waited for the cop to look towards his position and grab the rope. So Kalinic turned to the civilians who were taking the rope and ordered them to start pulling back as the guy was injured and had to be pulled up, unlike the two policemen who were able to climb up on their own, the third officer had to be pulled up by everyone.

—You heard him, people! Use your muscles! Come on, damn it! Pull! Pull! Pull! —Nikolai asked the civilians to focus on pulling and tugging on the rope. They all worked in sync knowing at what point to pull the rope to bring the man up.

The guy known as Connor watched as the dead men had surrounded the patrol car he was in seconds ago and they seemed to scream. He didn't know why but he had an intuition that it was out of frustration. Connor was on the ledge of the rooftop and was pulled up by his two colleagues, causing them to fall to the ground, to the safe ground of the rooftop.

—Where are the others? Where are they? We had more people with us! It can't be happening... it can't... —The man named Connor collapsed to the ground, slapping the ground angrily.

—They all died, boy. We couldn't do anything to help them. We all knew what we were up against, it was either die in the police station or die trying to find something better. —The older police officer gave young Connor's back a light slap.

—Better?! Our friends are dead! The zombies did shit to them, I got my fucking foot fucked up enough to not walk again for a long time, I'm hungry, I'm sleepy... I haven't take a bath in days! And today I found out how pathetic I am because some civilians saved my life and did my fucking job as a member of the force. And this is better, asshole? —Connor responded angrily at the gentleman's insensitivity.

—I'm sorry to interrupt! But we need to check you for bites or scars from the Fallen. It seems that one of your friends is injured, so he will need help immediately. Can we leave the discussions for later and focus on the fact that there is an injured man who needs attention? —Lilly interrupted what could have been a very loud discussion.

—With pleasure, lady. A brown, big-smiling policeman answered. He adjusted his belt and looked at the large group of civilians around him. -Officer Matthew Pockett. At your service.

Matthew Pockett—Are we at introductions? Sounds fair. Thanks a lot for saving our asses, people! I'm Sergeant Greg Phillips. I'm sure you've met Detective Connor Harrison. This is my good friend Police Officer Matthew Pocket. I don't think I'll need to ask you how you're doing... and you must already guess from what you've seen that we're not the help you need. —Greg felt cornered by having so many people around him. He was not used to crowds.

Greg PhillipsConnor Harrison—Then help won't come... —Chris grimaced in disappointment. —We're on our own.

The civilians looked disappointingly at the policemen and they sensed the energy in those looks.