Free 3.2 As the World Dies Untold Tales Vol. 2 by Rhiannon Frater

doing.”
    “ Thanks for the history lesson, but show me what the hell is going on,” Lenore snapped.
    Ken pointed to a corner that was flush to Mr. Cloy’s building. There was yellowed caulk bubbling out of the crevice. “There is a crack in the wall that goes through to the storage room. My bastard ex put caulk here as a temporary fix.” The crack was almost two inches wide.
    Mr. Cloy was still screaming their names.
    “ I think I gotcha,” Lenore said.
    Together, they began to pull at the hard and dirty caulk with their fingers, then resorted to chipping it out with knives Ken retrieved from the kitchen. It took some hard work, but they finally got a section cleared out.
    Pressing firmly against the wall, Ken could peer through the crack to the other side. Mr. Cloy’s eye was staring right back at him.
    “ Took you long enough,” Mr. Cloy’s lips said under his big bushy black mustache.
    “ We thought you were getting eaten,” Ken explained.
    “ They’re in the store, but I got two doors between them and me right now,” Mr. Cloy answered.
    Lenore shoved Ken out of the way and said, “You got stuff to make this wider?”
    “ I don’t keep anything up here. You got something on your side?”
    Lenore snorted. “Ken’s idea of tools is a knife for a screwdriver and a heel of his boots for a hammer.”
    “ Hey,” Ken protested, though it was true.
    “ It would take forever anyway. Got at least two feet of quarry rock and mortar between us. I’m gonna try and pry the bars off the window. The tornado did a lot of damage and they’re kinda loose already. If I can get onto the roof of the storage room, maybe you guys can haul me up onto the roof of your building. There ain’t no windows facing my way on your second floor.”
    “ Okay, let us know when you’re ready. That sounds like a decent enough plan. They ain’t in our building yet.” Lenore stepped away from the wall and gave Ken an annoyed look. “You do have rope, right?”
    Ken hesitated then said meekly, “No. But we can tie sheets together.”
    Lenore rolled her eyes and Ken ignored her to flatten himself against the wall to see Mr. Cloy one more time. “We’ll get you over here then make plans. We can do this!”
    Mr. Cloy’s laughter was a welcome sound. “With you and Lenore on my side, I feel safe as a baby at his mama’s teat.”
    “ Ew,” Ken answered. “Baby slobber.”
    This made Mr. Cloy laugh again as Ken saw him pull away from the crack to start work on the window. It sucked that they didn’t have a way to bash through the wall, but then again, if they made a hole in the wall and the dead guys got into the storage room...yep, it was better to haul him up onto the roof.
    Ken left the room and found Lenore standing in his kitchen, calling her grandmother again. From the look on her face, he knew she had a busy signal again. It wasn’t uncommon for her grandmother to be on the phone chatting, but on a day like today, it was more than annoying.
    Lenore clutched the phone tightly in her hand, then forced herself to set it down lightly. “She’s not answering.”
    “ Let’s get the rope ready,” Ken said in a voice he hoped sounded both soothing and strong.
    With a curt nod, Lenore followed him to the linen closet. His silk and satin sheets were dismissed quickly. They would be far too slippery, but the new cotton sheets he had bought would suffice. It hurt to cut the 800 thread count sheets into long, wide strips, but at least they would be velvety soft against Mr. Cloy’s hands when he climbed onto their roof.
    “ You better not tear up over these sheets,” Lenore muttered at him.
    “ But they’re Egyptian cotton,” Ken sniffled.
    “ I’m so gonna punch you.”
    They knotted the ends together and tested them by pulling as hard they could. Lenore solidly won the tug of war. Ken ended up in her arms and gave her his most demure smile. She rolled her eyes and tugged the makeshift rope out of his hands.
    “ I’ll