This Broken City Sky

Frank tossed the hunk of decaying meat over the balcony as hard as his arm would allow. The stinking flesh landed on the pavement eleven floors below with a sickening splat

"This is wrong." Dylan muttered, as she maneuvered a broken piece of bed frame. Tied to it was a makeshift rope of shoe strings, dangling a piece of meat just a few feet above street level.

"Hey if it works it works." Lily shrugged, and held her arms out over the balcony's edge then let go of the rack of ribs she held. Dylan scrunched her face when she felt the bait on the end of her line bump into something. Frank hurled another piece of rotten chicken down at the undead below to see if it would attract them.

For a few days, the company had been testing various methods of distraction on the walkers, with few results. Their first try, with molotov cocktails, was the most successful. The undead seemed to be drawn to the light, sound and heat of the fires that sprouted up where the bottles landed and blew up. The second attempt, noise, was pretty worthless, and didn't work what so ever. So here they were now, chucking meat that had gone very bad. They had reasoned that maybe the meat would entice the flesh-eating walkers below, and they would go for the bait. But Frank, Dylan, and Lily had been tossing the meat over the balcony for about a half an hour now, and nothing was happening.

"Let's just go back. I'm cold, and I smell like meat and this isn't working, so." Dylan whined, and let her elbows rest on the balcony railing.

"How do you know it's not working. Look." Frank said, and nodded down at the street, placing his gloved hands on the railing to lean over it. Dylan did the same, and looked down at the street. A few walkers were stalking toward the meat.

"Those are coming this way. See?" Lily said, pointing her hand to the walkers that had turned in the direction of the hotel from the adjacent streets. Dylan and Frank looked on silently.

"Hows it coming?" Mikey's voice startled the three, and they all turned around to see him standing in the door way of the balcony.

"It's kind of working." Lily narrowed her eyes a little as Mike stepped out onto the balcony with the others, and looked over the railing. More walkers were gravitating toward the activity. Something gave a tug on Dylan's line, at which she grimaced, and pulled the strip of wood up a little.

"Looks like they want it." Mikey mumbled as they looked at the walker who was grasping mindlessly in the air for the dangling meat. Dylan shook her head, the ear flaps of her furry hat waving with it.

"I hate this." She mumbled, and rested the strip of wood over their side of the balcony. It held it's own weight.

"Well, if you think you guys are done up here, let's go downstairs and talk to everyone about this. Kat's anxious," Mikey said, pushing himself away from the railing, "Nice hat by the way." He smiled, and nudged Dylan with his elbow. She gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Kat couldn't come up here herself?" Frank asked bitterly, and turned away from the railing as well. Mikey shrugged, and passed into the suite as the others followed.

"It's kinda not worth coming up into the cold, you know?" Mikey said, looking over his shoulder at his friend as they walked over the broken glass that still littered the floor of the living area. It crunched and crackled under their feet.

"Yeah, just send up to bust our ass in the cold AND get rotted meat smell all over ourselves..." Dylan mumbled, sniffing the sleeve of her jacket, then jerking her head back, "Please..." She mumbled, and Lily frowned, swatting Dylan's arm with her mittened hand.

"She was up here yesterday?" She frowned at Dylan, who simply shot Lily a glare. The two were beginning to wear on one another's nerves. Frank and Mikey stayed silent as they left the suite, and made their way to the stairwell.

Back down in the rooms, Johnny, Kat, Ray, and Gerard were watching 'TV'. Anymore, they didn't care about the generator schedule. The sun was out so rarely, it didn't cost them much to turn in on while the sun was out, and leave it running. They needed the heat as well.

"Good god, I need a shower." The door opened, and closed after Mikey, Frank, Dylan and Lily walked in. Dylan went straight for the door that led to her room.

"Woa woa woa woa woa! Hold on a minute! How'd it go?!" Ray said, jumping up for the bed.

"They sorta like it, and I smell." Dylan said quickly, turning to face him. Kat sat up, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, so she could look at the four who had just arrived. Dylan looked around quickly, nodded, and tore open the door, disappearing into the opposite room.

"How'd it go?" Kat asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly at Frank and Lily. Lily shrugged.

"They sort of liked it," She twisted her lips, "Dylan dangled it, like a fishing pole and one kinda tugged at it or tried to. Some of em started to come?" She said the last part with a little lightness in her voice, but not with much conviction. Gerard sighed, and looked at his brother. He had agreed to "help", but hadn't done much to the point.

"Fire work better?" Ray asked, looking at Frank, who shrugged as well.

"Only by a little. I think the fire's a good combination of light and sound and heat for them." Frank replied with a slight nod. Kat looked at the ground thoughtfully as he said this.

"And we won't run out of it as quick," She sighed, and rested her elbows on her knees as she looked around at the others, "We've only got a little bit of meat left, and it probably wouldn't last as long. At least the fires would stay lit even after we're gone and back. Meat won't." She said decisively. No one replied for a little while, and when they did, it was Lily who spoke.

"We can use both," She raised her eyebrows, suggestively, "Start the fires...toss down the meat. The more the better, y'know? Then we wouldn't be taking any chances?" She shrugged her shuolders subtly again, and looked around at everyone. The others switched their eyes at one another, waiting for an agreement, or disagreement.

"I like that idea," Johnny piped up, causing a few people to chuckle. Kat looked back at him, stretched out on the bed, "What?" He smiled faintly, and Kat just shook her head when she turned back to the rest of the group.

"It couldn't hurt," She pursed her lips, "Once Dylan gets back, we should talk about who's going to go out. The sooner we get this going, and done, the better." She added firmly, and stood up. Lily nodded in agreement, and poked her head in the door to the other room. The shower was still running.

"Well, I nominate Dylan," Lily said, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms over her chest, "Truth be told, she's a quick runner, and she knows how to use that gun. Plus, its one of the best weapons we have at the moment, and takes those suckers out like nobodies business." She finished quickly, and Frank snorted.

"Alright, but you get to tell her." He smiled a little, and shook his head.