Together they both slowly lowered the ladder, up until now the small group of walkers had not noticed them, their milky-white eyes blankly staring away from their general direction. Unfortunately, as soon as the metal ladder was halfway down, it began rattling, not clamorously loud, but loud enough for two or three of the roamers to notice. "Shit, shit! They've seen us." he panicked, his voice a hissing whisper. 

By the time the ladder reached the bottom, the walkers were a few feet from the fire escape. Michael rushed down from the first floor and quickly made his way down the ladder. At the bottom he jumped off, so he wouldn't step on the broken remains of the split-faced walker. 
Pulling his hatchet out as he approached the nearest roamer, he intended to aim for the center of the walker's forehead only to miss and scrape against its bared teeth, the hatchet slicing through the bottom lip all the way down to the lower front of the mandible, his botched attack a result of his aching shoulders. Black blood dripped from its mutilated jaw as it attempted to bite Michael. Reacting quickly, he shoved the hatchet handle against its mouth, the walker chomping down on it with putrid teeth. Hopefully he would have given Florence enough time to make her way down.