The Hunt Chronicles (Book 2): Revelation by J.D. Demers Page A

what to do.  I was hoping I would come across something that would spark an idea for how we would get out of the situation.
    “It’s getting hot,” she complained as she shuffled around to get comfortable.
    “I know,” I sighed.  “Drink some water.” 
    She was right.  The attic was muggy, and as it got closer to midday, it would start to become unbearable.  I glanced up at the ceiling, staring at the pieces of plywood locked together.  Tiny nail heads that held the shingles in place were poking through everywhere.
    “We can’t stay up here forever,” she grumbled.
    “Can you just be quiet and let me think?” I snapped.
    “Sooorry,” she said under her breath.
    A loud boom echoed outside the house, followed by another.  Thunder.
    Boomer flinched with each eruption and I saw the light coming in through the vents in the roof.  Soon after, the pitter-patter of rain could be heard bouncing off of the shingles above us.
    “As if things were not bad enough,” Karina continued to complain.
    I examined the roof above for a moment.  “That’s actually a good thing.  And… I think I have an idea.” 
    There was no reason to try to be quiet anymore as I moved over to where my pack was lying.  I slid a small, flat crowbar out of its strap and scanned the ceiling again, looking for the place that would give me the best angle.
    “What are you doing?” Karina asked.
    “Making us an escape hatch,” I said, straining as I tried to pry a piece of plywood away from the beam it was nailed to.
    She sighed.  “What good is that going to do?  We can’t jump off the roof.”
    I ignored her and continued to work.  It was nailed tight to the beam, but after a few minutes of straining every muscle I had, I felt the plywood give a little.
    Karina got up and moved toward me, stumbling over the two by fours that made up the roof of the house.
    “Can’t we just open up the garage hatch and shoot all the zombies in the garage?”
    That actually wasn’t a bad idea, but I didn’t think it would work.
    “There could be a hundred of them crawling around down there,” I grunted.  I was moving the crowbar up and down the length of the beam, ever so slowly loosening the panel of plywood above.  “And even if we had enough bullets, we don’t know what we would be running into once we left the house.”
    “Ah,” Karina maneuvered around me, peering up at my work.
    “Ah, what?” I asked as I took a second to let my muscles rest.
    “From the roof, we can see where all the dead-heads are.  I guess you’re not that dumb.”
    “When did you think I was dumb?” I glared at her.
    “Well, not dumb, I guess.”  She said in her matter-of-fact tone that irritated me.  She had this air of ‘I’m smarter than you’ attitude without being conceited about it.  It was pretty frustrating.
    I went back to work on the first area I had loosened.  “You said dumb.”
    “I meant not that bright,” she said evenly.
    “How is that better?”
    “I didn’t say it was better,” she replied.
    I sighed in annoyance as I strained to separate the plywood further off the beam.
    Karina motioned over to the next beam the wood was nailed to.  “You should pry it off in sections.”
    “What?” I asked, not stopping.
    “I don’t think you’re strong enough to break the plywood in half.  If you pry sections off of each beam, then you can move the whole piece.  Not to mention that there would be less resistance from the other places that are nailed to the frame.”
    I stopped and glared at her.  Of course, she was right.  I hadn’t thought of that.  So, I sucked in my pride and went to work on the next beam, prying the plywood from the two by four.
    “I didn’t know they had architect classes in Junior High,” I commented.
    “They don’t.  But it is basic physics.  I was taught the principles of leverage in seventh grade science.”
    “Your mouth isn’t helping me, you know,” I said as I moved to the next