Reaching down and picking up his hoodie, Brian grabbed the arms and spun it the right way round. Pushing his arms in and finding the holes he stuck his head in after them, moving this way and that until his crown popped up where his head should be, with a small jerk his head broke through. While he adjusted the hood and brushed away some of the flecks of paint and grime, Brian probed his backpack for food. Gripping a plastic wrapper he retracted his arm, only to be met with an empty chocolate wrapper - he threw it away annoyed. 

Reaching in for a second time his hands came to another plastic wrapper and he brought it out to see what it was, this time mercifully it wasn’t empty. Biting at the wrapper and peeling it away from the energy bar, Brian took two large bites and chewed steadily. [i]This wasn’t too awful [/i]. As he chewed his eyes wondered over his surroundings and he stood up, walking over to the centre of...well whatever it was, he called it home. Looking across the city Brian saw the Georgia Dome to the west, still weeping a murky smoke, and the metallic SunTrust towards the north.

The damned 'care package' was still hanging perilously on the edge of the tower, mocking everyone who saw it. It wasn’t worth it - Brian had decided the day it came down. For one thing, everyone in a miles radius would have seen the drop, never mind the entire city hearing the plane go over. No. He wouldn’t risk falling into a trap or tussling with another desperate survivor for something some tool in the army sent down thinking they were doing the cities remaining a favour. Chances were it would fall the entire way and smash on the sidewalk; luck was a bitch these days.

Finally swallowing Brian washed the bar down with three long gulps of a water bottle, leaving it half empty ([i]or half full [/i]) he pushed the bottle back into his bag and threw the wrapper off and into the wind.

Pushing his trainers on and tying them up nice and tight, he grabbed his bag, stuffing his knife into his back pocket and putting the pistol into its holster on his hip. Leaving his makeshift spear where it was, Brian walked over to the door that grew up from the floor. Picking a small broken brick up off the floor, Brian struck at the lock a few times until it gave. The door opened with an echoing dull note, and Brian peered down the ladder that lead all the way down to the top floor. Dropping the brick to the bottom, he waited.

Rustling of feet and groans carried on the air and Brian pulled his head back just in time as an infected stumbled into the small hollowed tube. He heard its almost quizzical groaning as he walked back over to his spear, picking it up and checking its blade; he slowly made his way back over. Risking a quick look down, the thing was walking away again, content with its search.

"Oh no you don’t, get back here." Brian said to himself.

Taking another brick from the floor, he dropped it down. Smacking off the metal ladders and ricocheting off the walls, it landed at the bottom with a loud thud. The infected came back again, like a dog. Finding as many bricks as he could Brian piled them up by the door. The place was covered in them, they had been tearing some of the stuff up and replacing it with new bricks, crumpled plastic sheets covered the floor and pale paint stained the walls - the occasional tool left lying around. 

"Up here!" He shouted down to it.

Its head snapped back suddenly and it clenched its bloody teeth at Brian, reaching out and clawing at the ladders with its black and crimson stained hands as it couldn't grip. It had fixed its cold glare on him and was growling and biting ferociously, hungry for flesh. 

The first brick sailed down and crunched into its shoulder, leaving its right arm limp and flapping, its left still smacking uselessly at the ladder. The second impacted on its knee and it toppled over, all the while still growling at Brian. The next two smacked into its torso and its growling stopped, the last graciously crushed its skull.

With an underwhelming silence, Brian swung his leg carefully over the edge and began to slowly climb down the ladder - into the building.