Chapter 12

When they climbed out onto the fire escape there was a moment of dread as they looked at the blood red sky. The sun was setting.

"How long will it take us to get to the Tower?" Steve looked at Meagan.

"30 minute drive?" Meagan estimated.

"We won't be able to drive downtown," Holden shook his head.

"Why not?" Elise asked in annoyance, but she already knew the answer. They all knew that the main population of Toronto was downtown when the outbreak happened, which meant the cars were all downtown.

"The road's going to be clogged with abandoned cars," Holden still answered.

"Careful Meagan, Mr. Caulfield here might take your job as walking guidebook on how to survive the apocalypse."

Holden muttered something angry under his breath about his last name not being Caulfield, but the others had already started heading down the metal stairs to freedom.

The streets were silent, and they couldn't see any movement. The giraffes were all on the main street, either because they had already been through this area, or because there was something delicious over there left to eat.

"It will take too long to walk," Meagan was shaking her head.

"So we find a place to sleep tonight," Elise said, reaching the bottom first. Steve was next, and he helped Meagan down, the two exchanging awkward smiles and thanks as they moved away.

"Thanks for helping me down," Holden said sarcastically as he jumped down after Meagan.

"Listen you," Elise pointed at Holden, having a hard time keeping her voice down. "Stop complaining and be helpful for the next five minutes or I-will-feed-you-to-my-cat."

Suddenly they heard a high pitched wail and all turned to see a giraffe standing across the street, staring right at them. It made no move to attack, but kept making that noise until three more giraffes appeared, and then three after that.

They all pulled out their guns, ready to defend themselves, when Holden ran to a nearby car. He tried the first door, it was locked, but the second car's door opened and he jumped in.

"Get in!" He called over to them.

They stood for a moment, firing into the giraffes, but soon realized there was no way they could hold back the flood of furry vengeance, so they followed Holden into the car, slamming the doors shut and looking around frantically as the giraffes started jumping onto the hood and roof.

"Great fucking idea! Now what?" Elise punched the back of a seat to keep from punching Holden.

"Look for keys!" Holden suggested, but the fear in his eyes showed he hadn't thought this one through.

"That never works in real life!"

"Fighting doesn't help," Steve sighed, feeling like a man trapped in a car with children.

"Hang on," Meagan pulled out a screwdriver from the glove compartment and crawled into the driver's seat.

"Oh right," Elise rolled her eyes, "you know how to hot-wire a car."

"I do," she said blankly and the three watched on in silence, Milo meanwhile batted at the window in an attempt to fight the giraffes.

Then the car roared to life and everyone was still too stunned to speak as Meagan put it into gear and kicked the gas pedal, living behind a trail of giraffe jelly.

"How the hell did you learn how to do that!?!" Elise finally managed to ask.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I've been preparing for this all my life. I've known how to hot-wire cars since Grade 7."

***

It didn't take long before the cars became so dense they were constantly swerving around them or mounting the curb to keep moving forward. Before long it became too much trouble and they knew they had better find a place to hide soon - a place with food preferably.

Holden started directing them, telling them he knew just the place, and after five minutes of Meagan's road rage they crashed into a parking lot of a Scarborough plaza.

"What is this dump?" Elise looked weary of the place.

"My parents own a restaurant," Holden explained, pulling out a key chain, "and I have the keys.

With a final glance for giraffes, they grabbed all their gear and ran for the door. Once inside Meagan immediately started searching the small dining room for giraffes. As Steve barred the front entrance Meagan started looking around for emergency exits.

The restaurant was small, which made it easy to defend, and the windows had shutters over them to keep any kamikaze giraffes from coming through the window. Best of all - there was food.

Meagan couldn't keep the smile off her face as Steve and Holden started cooking something up for them. The gas was still working, though she imagined this would probably be the last night any of those amenities ever worked again. The thought didn't lessen her spirits.

This was a moment she had not only been preparing herself for, but a small part of her massively enjoyed the fact that she had been right all along. Plus she had her best friend, the man she had been secretly fantasizing about for as long as she had known him, and Holden in case she needed something to distract the giraffes with while she got away. She even liked having Milo around, who purred loudly as he ate two entire salmons in the corner of the restaurant.

If you were going to live through an apocalypse, this was the way to do it.

The night was peaceful, but all of them knew that tomorrow would be hard as they started their hike into the infested city, a city no longer owned by them, but maybe the greatest predator that ever lived - the lap giraffe.