Free Chrysalis Young by John Zanetti Page B

Chrysalis reached the loading dock.
    Up on the loading dock, Amanda’s father and Joanna had found crowbars and were smashing at the wall of zombies crowding in around them. Hiding behind them was Beatrice. Behind her were the steel roller doors closing off the loading dock to the outside. They were already beginning to buckle under the sheer weight of zombies trying to get into the loading dock from the parking lot.
    Amanda and Chrysalis cleared the zombies from the loading dock. Her family were still shocked and speechless, their faces white and frightened. Her father tried to say something. Amanda cut him short. It wasn’t the time for reunions. “We’ve still got to get to the roof,” she said to Chrysalis. “It’s our only chance.”
    The minder pointed the way. The small party set off for a maintenance stairwell going to the roof with Amanda's family between her and Chrysalis. Her father and Joanna had brought along their crowbars and they helped keep the zombies at bay.
    They got to the roof. Zombies were already spilling out of other roof access doors. Amanda and Chrysalis went to work again, now able to use the full suite of resources again on the wide expanse of roof. Amanda released the clones.
    It wasn’t long before Amanda realised that hardly any of the zombies were becoming the ‘bewildered.’
    “Better lift your game, dragon girl,” Amanda said as she hacked and slashed, narrowly preventing the front wave of zombies from reaching Chrysalis and her family.
    “As fast as I’m killing the aliens, they’re being replaced,” Chrysalis said.
    “But they can’t turn them until the person becomes normal again,” Amanda said.
    “I guess they’ve got new resources too.”
    From the roof they could see quite a way further out into the city. None of the vehicles they could see were moving. Instead, a tidal wave of zombies flowed towards them from every direction. Up until a short time ago there had been sirens constantly sounding in the surrounding streets. Now these too had fallen silent. Instead, they could hear helicopters. Moments later, out of the night, came two police helicopters and five military helicopters. Amanda started waving madly. “The cavalry has arrived,” she screamed excitedly at Chrysalis.
    The military helicopters disgorged soldiers on ropes, dropping down to the roof and to other lower roofs in the convention complex. The soldiers never made it to the roofs. On the way down they turned to zombies and fell off the ropes, smashing to the ground. Bits of them got up and joined the other zombies. All of the helicopters began to swing wildly out of control and dropped out of the sky, crashing into parts of the Horsey Centre and the car park.
    “Oh, crap,” Amanda said.
    But then things got worse. Amanda Two had got herself trapped up against the outer parapet wall of the roof. The only place left for her to go was up a short ladder onto a small metal deck that reached out over the car park below. She climbed up onto the deck and hacked desperately at the zombies, until she was forced back to the far metal railing of the little deck. She looked across to Amanda. Their eyes met. With a shock Amanda realised that she was looking at a real person. A real version of her. She had only ever deployed them in battle and hadn’t had the time to give much thought to what they really were.
    “Goodbye,” Amanda Two said, holding Amanda’s eyes. “Good luck.”
    Amanda hadn’t even known they could talk. “I’m so sorry,” she cried. Before she could say anything more, Amanda Two released a mini bomb and the metal deck, and the zombies on it, disintegrated. That was the thing about the bombs. It paid to have something really solid underneath you. The ground was best. Next best was lots of concrete. After that it became increasingly problematic.
    Amanda Two knew that. She dropped silently into the void.  In a frenzy Amanda slashed her way over to the parapet and looked over. Amanda Two