Free-fall

About ten steps away from the gate and the three of them, had varying expressions of worry on their faces.

Fred, not taking any chances, transformed into his sign allowing his entire body to be covered in fur, and even his fingers mutated to their claw-like form.

"We're not going to make it," Gary thought even as he saw Fred change into his bear sign form. A single glance back was enough for him to tell how much trouble they were all in.

Behind them were three mutated zombies, blazing forward toward them with frightening speed. Gary was convinced that even if they hadn't all merged with one of the signs, they were completely different from the usual zombies. 

There was something about them that screamed "Danger"

"Gary! you go up first, you climb, you jump down, and I'll toss this idiot behind me at you. Even if we get to the other side those three are bound to follow, Keep your weapon ready!" Fred told Gary in a single breath, as quickly as he could even as they ran.

"Now!" Fred yelled the signal for Gary to start climbing the wired gate.

"He's going to toss me… he's going to," was all that was going through Aran's mind, as he laid on Fred's back and watched him turn around, as he began to wipe out and smack the normal zombies back and forth.

Hard enough for them to crush bones and disable them in case they refused to stay down.

"Shit…" Aran cursed under his breath, taking a glance back at Gary, only to note that he had barely gone halfway up the gate,

"Oh shit…" he cursed again, louder this time around, unable to be anything but a spectator as he watched the three mutated zombies, bash others of their kind out of the way, as they continued to race forward.

"Fred can't take care of them by himself. HE'S GOING TO USE ME AS BAIT!" Aran wailed in his mind, as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"What the hell are you muttering? Get the gun from my backpack and aim at them…" Fred yelled, inching back step by step, while glancing at Gary prepared to run back the second Gary got to the top.

"I can't. I only have one hand remember? You might as well ask me to let go of your neck and drop down," Aran replied tightening his hold a little more on Fred, showing him how determined he was to hold on.

"Haa…My mistake. For a second there I actually forgot how completely useless you are," Fred whispered in a clear voice, in a way that Aran couldn't help but hear every word, as it burned through his very soul.

"The only… Urghh," Fred cursed wanting to say more but unable to, shocked to see how close one of the mutated zombies had gotten to him.

"Bang! Bang!" Fred shot twice in the direction of a young zombie wearing what seemed to be a formal outfit with a firm tie, racing at him at full speed. 

He didn't seem to pack any power behind his stringy muscles but Fred knew that out of the three, because of how slow he was and would be, the fastest among them would also be the most difficult, which was why he decided to take him out right before he turned around, and began racing for the gate.

"He's not dead," Aran felt the need to inform Fred, watching with slight dread as the zombie struggled back to its feet, the hole in its head apparent but unfortunately, Fred probably missed the core part of its brain.

"Aah… telling me things I'm already aware of…Useless," Fred murmured and for the first time, Aran felt a bit of the anger he had convinced himself he didn't have the right to feel, which he instantly squashed the second it rose.

"I'd be dumb to give him a reason to toss me," Aran thought, concentrating harder on holding on with all his might, regardless of how much his arm ached, the second Fred jumped on the gate and started climbing it.

Seconds had barely gone by with Fred almost halfway up the gate, when Aran noticed how much closer the growling sounds he heard were to him.

One look and he instantly panicked seeing the little crowd below them, instinctively holding Fred even tighter, who had a pissed-off expression on his face, struggling to reign in his anger when he felt Aran's arm around his neck tighten even more.

"Ehm…I don't mean to be a bearer of bad news but 7'0clock is a Mutty," Aran informed him.

"What?" Fred asked not understanding what Aran meant by what he said.

"A mutated Zombie!"Aran said in a slightly panicked voice, wanting Fred to do something about it as it climbed closer to them, but all Fred did was concentrate on climbing the gate even faster than before.

Meanwhile, Aran couldn't take his eyes off the Zombie woman with atrocious eyes that was already salivating with an open mouth, not taking her eyes off Aran for a second as she climbed as fast as she could.

The most noticeable factor about her was the fact that she seemed to have more than four stringy arms which made it obvious that climbing for her wasn't going to be a problem.

"Eeehmm… It's getting closer," Aran said whispering closer to Fred's ears to ensure that he heard him, but again Fred said nothing. 

A few seconds passed and by then Fred had just about reached the top with the Spidery Zombie woman hot on his tail and Aran couldn't keep quiet any longer.

The woman was barely a step away from them when Aran screamed this time around, intent on getting Fred's attention no matter what.

"She's here, SHE'S HERE!" Aran screamed directly behind Fred's ears, wondering if it was Fred's plan all along.

To allow the zombie swipe him off his back from behind while he jumps down.

Aran was about to speak again, as he watched the zombie woman lift herself up, balancing on her other hands, when he felt his heart pounding hard enough for him to be unable to breathe not to mention speak.

Aran couldn't help it. He shut his eyes out of fear, tightening his hand even more around Fred's neck but he had just done so when he suddenly help His arm around Fred's neck being yanked off.

The next thing he knew. He was free-falling.