The shuttle continued forward creeping through the city for what felt like days to the passengers, inside silent or filled with bickering, attempted comforts shouted over or ignored, it was tense, passing by burned out buildings and long destroyed safe houses left them all feeling discouraged, but still, they weren't going to stop the bus and die. They had to keep on.
The drive took longer than they expected, the nightfall already creeping over the skyline, they weren't expecting for so many road to be clogged by mangled car crashes and massive piles of debris, weather it be luggage strewn about or carts turned over, it made it impossible to drive through with the bus. Sani had a fsh of worry, the bike could easily traverse it. However he didn't say a word, just watched as Jake and Ember continued to circle them, never drifting too far away.
Closing in on the edge apartments, the st real chunk of residential housing before the evacuation center, they were more surprised to find deliberate blockage, reinforced lines of twisted cars with the ground littered with tire spikes, most likely stolen from the nearby police station, many of these were tied together by chain link fences and twisting barbed wire, much of which was painted yellow.
Compints were shared amongst the passengers but no one had the energy to py devil's advocate and the conversation died quickly. What pathways that weren't blocked were littered with left behind belongings, newspapers pstered the walls and road alike, but there were no people, no undead, it was eerily quiet. They hadn't even heard that stalking beast yowl in a while.
The closer they got to the evacuation center the quieter it seemed to get. No one had the will to bicker, most watched the empty streets despondently.
There were massive complexes, tall buildings filled with apartments. Balconies in rows, each building had the character of a potato chip, pin and ft, the rge sign welcoming them to the community was almost tropical despite them being in the northwest of the continent, the buildings and pnts were bright and vibrant when painted on the rge logos while the buildings behind them were brown reds and dull grey.
The tall lines towered over their shuttle. Massive cities bustling with people and brick towers that touched the sky, it had a way of making you feel small. Now in the silence the coldness of the streets was btant. Easing carefully towards the open gate of the community the shuttle passed it by with ease. Charlene watched as Jake's motorcycle slowed to a stop behind them, Ember jumped off and started to tug at the rge metal rods and managed to close it decently well, even if the lock was no longer workable.
They were trailing back behind them in no time.
Their eyes darted to every fading shadow in the dimming sunlight, fear so palpable they could almost swallow it like a lump in the throat.
“What if we slept in the bus?” Monet suggested shakily.
The ck of replies made her shut up, shrinking into herself beside Charlene.
As Sani moved forward to find a safe pce to park and hide their bus until morning Bernadina stood up, using the chairs to bance herself forward ad Sani turned and served around debris and bodies, she strolled past the others without as much as a gnce, she was focused forward, until she arrived at Monet's side.
She startled clearly, eyes roaming over Bernadina's face trying to gauge her intentions but instead Monet just nudged Charlene for help. Charlene struggled to pull her gaze away from Creed and met Bernadina's stern look. She didn't share Monet's reaction and gave her a casual once over, noticing briefly her hand csped closed.
“Yea-” “Um-” Charlene went to ask but Bernadina mistakenly spoke at the same time, cutting each other off, Charlene scoffed with humor but Bernadina flustered.
“For him.” Bernadina spoke through grit teeth, looking away unable to meet Charlene's eye as she help out a thin metal bracelet.
“What?” Charlene floundered “Wasn't this, a, magic, thing?” her voice came worriedly but still she moved to take it, Bernadina gently set it in her hand with extreme reluctance clear in her frown and shaking hand.
“It's an ancient magical artifact, not a thing,” she murmured under her breath before sucking in a deep one, exhaling into her words she added “It's not going to fix him overnight but it should help him feel a bit better.” she said, then spun around quickly, arms locked at her sides and uncomfortable straight “Bye.” she spat out before quickly retreating before Charlene even had the chance to thank her.
Charlene blinked at the empty space where Bernadina once occupied. Then she looked down at her hands, at the bracelet she held, spinning it slowly to look at the carved details. She looked back up, blinked a few more times as her thoughts ran wild in her head, then she turned and clipped the shining metal around Creed's muscled arm, thankfully fitting around his wrist.
Monet gnced back and saw Bernadina burying her face in Dern's chest, but he held a warm smile.
Shortly after Sani pulled the bus to the far side of the building, towards the most secluded portion of the complex he could see, he managed to wedge the bus forward, driving over a bit of grass to hide it between the two buildings, were residents once walked, there was enough room to leave off to the side, pressing against the wall allowed them all to sneak out and towards the building's front.
The archway was concrete and trimmed with faux bricks, there were cracks and graffiti covering nearly every inch of the upper side of it, now the top yer of the mural were multiple raging suns.
Bill clung to Phil's colr like he'd float away if he let go, Steve tailed behind his mother closely, she kept her fingers tight around Steve's hand but his arm was mostly limp, out of apathy. In front of her was Ewell, she pced a hand right behind him so she would trample him during his frequent pauses.
Sani and Phil led, Creed and Charlene behind Steve, with Monet then finally the two bikers taking up the rear. Inching forward towards the small courtyard which housed the multiple staircases.
Sani peeked around the corner then recoiled back, he huffed in a deep breath and forced himself not to curse in excmation.
“What?” Phil whispered, leaning in towards him which Sani quickly pulled away from.
“Cress.” he grumbled. Sani took in a deep breath and moved forward once again, showing as little of himself as possible as he snuck another look at the courtyard. It was small, mostly brick with a circle of pnts in the middle, the rge basin looked like a well, or maybe it used to be a well, it was fill in now with soil and pnt life, the long bdes of grass grew near half a foot tall with even long stalks of pointed flowers, most of which have been strangled out by a new bustle of twisting vines and near glowing red petals.
There were a trio of undead standing about around the rge pot, one hand even fallen into it, face first it looked as if it was trying to bury its arms in the soil around it, they seemed to be fallen survivors by the look of them, duct taped clothing with knee pads and extra padding, however with just one gnce you could tell they were undead, lurching bodies were stiff and moved rigidly, many already had blooming growths blistering their sagging skin or protruding pt life forcing its way out of the body anywhere it could.
Sani grimaced as the Cress attempting to pnt itself opened its jaw and split roots from its mouth, all grasping towards the soil, to the base of the red flowered bush. He shuddered.
He wasn't paying attention to the grunts and excmations behind him as Ember managed to shift her way to the front, now cramped against him and Phil she narrowed her gaze on him with an expression clearly demanding answers. Phil cleared his throat in agitation but didn't speak, too fearful of the undead.
Sani held up three fingers, one for each of the undead he could see, then gestured out towards the cramped courtyard. Ember wasn't pleased but she had to dig her shoulder into Sani's colr bone to better see, he grunted in annoyance but didn't deter her, she looked and saw the same thing he did, two Cress mindlessly shuffling while a third attempted to bury itself.
Ember gnced behind her briefly, she met eyes with Bernadina and in that moment Bernadina knew to step forward, she moved to skim past the others as easily as she could, her face scrunched, unable to hide her discomfort. Ewell yelped when she mistakenly bumped into him, she hissed an apology but kept going.
It was clear Ember wanted Jake to remain in the rear, behind Monet and Charlene who were struggling to help Creed forward, she trusted him to keep them safe. Bernadina proved a decent hand in the garage and if anything else she wasn't putting someone she knew well in danger. Ember quickly felt a sting of guilt. Ember gave a polite and fast welcoming smile to Bernadina as she arrived beside them, elbowing Phil by mistake as she settled against them reluctantly. Ember held her hand, gesturing to herself and the courtyard before she whispered “Three, you get the one on the left I'll get the other two.” as quietly as she could while still allowing Bernadina to hear her.
Bernadina nodded. Face stoic and stern.
Sani tried to ignore the gre he received as the two moved by him, still he felt anger fre up, forcing it down he kept his mouth shut as they snuck out into the courtyard.
The lowering sun gave them little light to see but the two women managed to make out the browns of hunting jackets and the red stains of gore the adorned the undead, Bernadina winced, one thing she never thought of when it came to the end of the world was the smell, rot and decay, the tinge of copper in the air, she felt her chest convulse but she swallowed down the gag she felt cwing at the back of her throat.The two advanced, Ember listened to ensure Bernadina kept pace and she seemed to easily, Bernadina knew it was going to take a bit more to take down her target, Ember having an axe, Bernadina twisted the night stick in her grasp and braced herself.
Ember leapt forward first, heavy boots smming against cracked tile she lunged to the back of the unsuspecting infected, she swung, a fast attempt to cut the head clean off fail as the bde of her axe embedded itself into the bark covered skeleton, she couldn't help it, she shrieked when she saw bdes of leaves and curling ferns split from the now gaping wound, she gagged, nearly puking as the smell of congealed blood and festering skin hit her, yanking her head back just in time for the undead to shuffle, attempting to turn to fight back.
Ember grunted as the dead weight of the arms spped against her side, nearly toppling her over in her unstable stance, the scuffle seemed to alert the two just as Bernadina brought her weapon down.
She shut her eyes when the undead fell, smming the stick down over and over until she could hear nothing but Ember and the squishing noise under her.
Ember grabbed the broken limb of the undead, a patch of a cartoon sun on its jacket wrinkling under her harsh grip. She threw it back, letting it fall into the other and knocking them both over. Ember dug her heel down into the Cress' wrist to keep it pinned as she yanked the axe out of it, a spurt of bckened ooze coated the front of her axe but she didn't even notice, instead she brought it down as quickly as she picked it up, hacking away at the two infected below her.
Heaving in a breath as she staggered backwards Ember waggled the axe attempting to remove the goo.
Bernadina swallowed, she didn't open her eyes until she turned away. She saw Ember ready herself, calming her breathing as she steeled herself for the next fight. Exhaustion was hitting them, she was sure of it, the ache in their bones was harsh for only a few days of survival, but they weren't elite athletes, hikers, outdoors men, they were professionals working in the second rgest city in Edgeridge, where the buildings outnumbered the trees.
Ember felt her nose burn, the smell was horrid, but underneath the scent of death there was the faint, sweet smell of flowers. Ember swore she'd never set foot in another botanical garden if they survived all this.
“Don't touch the flowers.” Creed warned hollowly.
Sani took that as enough and walked forward, his sudden move startled the two fighters and they both nearly jumped at him, he paid them no mind as he walked by, keeping towards the wall as he maneuvered towards the back door, which was warped, broken in on the sides but hastily reinforced by what looks like a desk wedged against it. As he approached the short staircase that led to it Sani gnced back and gestured for Phil to move it, he floundered briefly, opening his mouth as if he was going to speak but when Debra nudged his shoulder he closed it and stormed forward.
Phil tugged at the legs, scraping the wood against the brick wall and training the knob on the metal railing wasn't working so he started to pull, yanking it back. The wood whined, creaking against the strain he forced upon it.
Ember and Jake kept close eye on their surroundings as everyone converged towards the base of the short staircase, Bernadina remained further back, Dern quickly approaching her after everyone else moved left them all finally in their pces.
Phil pulled again, then finally drove an arm down and snapped the leg, he tossed it carelessly to the tiles and finally dislodged it from the backdoor.
Monet stepped forward to help carry it down but before she could make it past Sani, Phil just flipped it over the banister and let it break apart from the short fall. The noise it made might as well have been the loudest thing on the pnet, the sudden sound of wood cracking against broken tiles echoed through the silence and caused the entire group to jump on edge.
“Idiot!” Sani snapped as everyone else readied their weapons, frantically watching their surroundings for any sort of movement.
“I don't see anyone else getting us in!” Phil shouted back, in that sort of low, angry whisper, but still loud enough for Sani and most of the others to hear.
Then Phil surged inside. Ignoring the gre he received from Sani.
Monet could hear Debra's scoff behind her, clearly agitated but she kept it off her face, holding Bill with one arm and gently tugging Steve closer by his shoulder, Sani was the next to follow Phil inside. He didn't hear Phil shout, didn't hear a struggle, so he just strolled in. Monet watched his back as he disappeared into the building, Debra stepped to follow but Ember quickly stopped her.
She had a stern look and Debra didn't protest, she pulled Steve closer and he grumbled as Ember walked by them, then Monet, and moved up the stairs. Axe in hand. She stood in the doorway and peeked inside, letting out a sign of relief when she saw the two men skulking about the short hallway. Ember turned and waved at the others, Charlene, Debra, Dern, and Phil, were carrying rucksacks filled with supplies for the night leaving the bulk of their goods in the shuttle, leaving the others lighter, and importantly the injured less likely to get weighed down in an emergency.
Charlene gently rubbed up and down Creed's back as she encouraged him forward, he winced, semi able to walk but the pain was staggering. Slowly the group walked inside, the first hall was crowded, the inside was very builders basic, pster walls were chipped and the trim seemed flimsy, as if glued rather than secured properly.
Jake went to immediately attempt to block the door again, a smaller table under the letter boxes was dragged in front of it, sure it wasn't as secure as the desk lodged into the frame but it was enough for a night Jake supposed.
“Is it safe in here?” Debra asked, pulling herself and her children towards the back corner.
“Nothing is safe.” Sani replied harshly.
Debra looked to Phil, worry clear on her strained face, Phil huffed and shrugged before he shook his head and moved towards the main staircase of the building, there were multiple flights of stairs leading up the tall building, the elevator in the center had a rge out of order sign that was nearly ineligible from all the spray painted suns that covered every inch of the closed metal doors.
“Do you think this was one of their bases?” Monet asked, awkwardly gesturing to the doors before crossing her arms again.
“Does it matter?” Phil asked rhetorically before looking towards Ember, expecting her to lead the way.
“Let's go,” Sani barked “We're almost out of light.” however neither him nor Phil moved, despite being closest to the staircases.
Jake was the first to move but Ember blocked him, patting his chest to allow herself to move forward before him. As she passed by the two men she murmured “Assholes.” but didn't look their way, just held her axe in two hands and began to move up the staircase, Jake was quick to follow her before the other two managed to take a step. He didn't trust the two of them to watch her back, let alone keep her safe. Jake huffed.
The group began to ascend the building, they weren't sure which floor they were going to stop at, hopefully one with less trash and damage. They tried to remain as quiet as they could but couldn't help the sound of wrinkling newspapers and rattling of emptied cans their boots disturbed. Dern was in the back this time, holding the rear and watching the lower staircases as they moved up floor after floor, Ember wanted to be higher up, deter anything that might search the first few floors. Undead or not.
From the looks of the dingy stairwell the pce hasn't been touched in a while, Bernadina noted dust on many of the doorways of blockaded halls, many of the walls were tagged by Sun Guards by their best guess but the paint had long dried, and even chipped at some pces.
Almost every floor looked the same, doors locked and boarded up, somewhere even closed off, nailed shut from the inside. Furniture was stacked high, most of it had small pockets where a person could easily climb through but they didn't know if that was intentional or not, Debra took one look at the jagged openings and refused to put her kids through them, so up they went, as they arrived at the sixth of eight floors Ember noticed this was a bit better looking than the st few, she had a feeling, so she moved towards the open hallways door, this time it wasn't impassable, the doorway was mostly clear, there were some abandoned bags of what they assumed was trash seeing as they were in thin bck pstic. No one was in the mood to dig through them.
The staircases were on the far end of the building allowing for the rest of the square footage to be dedicated to the apartments, there was a decently sized hall, probably three average Veriyn shoulder to shoulder, the walls were dark, greyish green, the wooden doors were lighter brown in color and it made the building seem closer, cozy but tight, leaving them in a slight unease.
Many of the doors were open or broken off completely, the homes inside were clearly altered, most of the furniture had been removed to pushed to the edges of the rooms, couches were set up with some dingy pillows and trash discarded food packaging was piled up in the corner, almost anyone could put two and two together and realize this was most likely one of the floors the Sun Guards had camped out in, the first apartment on the left was open so Ember led them towards it first, she'd secure a room or two and leave the injured and kids to hide while she and some other's cleared the rest of the floor.
Ember took a deep breath, she scratched her scaled cheek and moved forward, wanting no distractions. When she entered the first of many rooms she was greet by the living room, the small square room was open to the kitchen on the left, the first this that drew her attention was the massive hole in the kitchen wall opening it into the next apartment, into their living room, and even further into that it seemed like the entire row of apartments were linked by bashed open walls until the final apartment, where she could see a window. Jake followed and saw the same, he looked nervously at her but she kept forward, moving past the short entrance way and into the living room she saw two more open doors, one into a rather filthy bathroom and the other into a messy bedroom. Based on her sight line through the open walls each home had the same yout, living room, kitchen, one bedroom and one bathroom. The homes were simple, basic white appliances and faux trimmings, it wasn't an expensive looking interior but now it looked like a tornado swept through the whole complex with how much clothes and wrappers littered the floor.
Ember ignored the mess, she doubted there was a single clean room left in the city, not that that mattered. She noticed amongst the litter there was absolutely no sign of pnt life, no vines, roots, no living matter of any kind. She took that as a good sign, with a short sigh of uneasy relief she moved towards the bedroom, ensuring nothing was inside.There was a folding closet that she searched inside, emptied of its contents there were a few cardboard boxes of household items, probably from the previous owners, Ember didn't care as long as it wasn't trying to kill them.
“In here.” Ember called, waving everyone inside the bedroom, the queen sized bed was shoved into the corner and the nightstands were nowhere to be seen, there was a wardrobe that was knocked on its side and covered in bnkets as a sort of makeshift bed but even with a pillow or two it looked far from comforting.
Debra set Bill down onto the bed and turned to face everyone else as they poured inside, it was a bit tight, thirteen people in one room didn't leave a lot of wiggle room.
Keeping her voice low she spoke to the group, gesturing as she named the few she wanted to accompany her “Monet, Jake, Dern and Bernadina, come with me to check the rest of the rooms, then we'll block up that hall door.” she waved dismissively at the rest of them but she wasn't trying to be rude, sounding curt “Stay here and stay quiet.” with that she and the named back up began to follow her, leaving Phil and Debra by the bedroom door as reluctant guards.
Charlene gently id Creed down after she shook off the over sheet, seeing how the comforter was bundled on the wardrobe she would have to search for another bnket ter. Creed winced a smile at her, slowly leaning into a semi comfortable position all while Bill sat at the opposite end, staring at Creed with his head cocked.
When she finally looked away from Creed and looked over the people in the room with her she noticed Ewell had pressed himself into the door side corner, leaning his back against the walls. His arms were limp, head down and expression bnk.Charlene gave a nervous smile as she tried to gain his attention, pale eyes met hers and she gestured to the wardrobe “Why don't you sit?” she suggested softly, he raised his head but didn't move.
Not until Debra spoke anyway, she had that authoritative tone but still she kept a warmth in it, “Do as she says Ewell.” she didn't even look back at him, Ewell let out a faint whine but obeyed, he sat on the edge of it, away from the rest and quickly curled into himself, holding his knees.
Out in the main unit Ember led them forward, through the hole in the wall. It had been haphazardly smoothed, still Ember closed her leather jacket over her crop top, she wasn't going to let a splinter be her end. The five snuck through and entered the next room, it was much like the st, the walls were spttered with paint and writing, mostly jokes or even in the back corner she saw what looked like a half finished game of hangman.
“Must have had a lot of paint.” Dern remarked but he was quickly shushed by everyone else. He squeaked an apology and lowered his head, but still Bernadina caught a fsh of his embarrassed smile.
There were four more apartments to search on this side alone, Ember didn't have the time to scold him and kept on without acknowledgment. Thankfully for them they continued without incident, the pce was dirty, messy and not well guarded but it was at least empty.Most of the walls were colored lightly, however even more of them had peeling wallpaper, some had desaturated floral patterns and others had dulled stripes, the trim was simirly pale in color, some had basic unpainted wood while others were cream or off white in shade. Couches were lining the walls and there were piles of bnkets and pillows acting as additional seating, they found nothing in terms of supplies, it seemed whoever used to be here packed up before they left, “good for them, not for us,” Monet thought.On the opposite of the hall they found nearly the same, five units each with their walls busted open but the six remained closed off and once they opened the door they could tell why, the smell was rancid, the was clear the group had shoved all their trash and wood scraps into that room, Ember nearly threw up, it was clearly a toilet too, as they seemed to piss on the walls leaving putrid stains, she stumbled back and smmed it shut.
“No going in there, I guess.” Jake whispered. Looking around at the confusion and disgust on his companions' faces.
Ember just nodded.
The scouting group quickly went to return to the others, pausing briefly to again check the staircase down, the door being broken open made them all uneasy, they'd have to barricade it sooner than ter, returning to the bedroom everyone was silent, Ember made sure Debra saw her before she even approached the doorway to ensure there were no accidental injuries, instead of Ember and the group entering the bedroom Sani, Phil, and Debra all exited. They could hear Charlene shout out in question but she didn't follow. Ewell however did, he followed slowly. Waiting until everyone else found their pce out in the living room.
Everyone seemed to look at Ember, who startled and sneered at the attention. Eyes darting side to side trying to find some sort of out Ember gave up, she sucked in a deep breath and spoke. Addressing the group as evenly as she can “Nothing on this floor, no supplies no undead, uh,” she began to trail, gncing to Jake who was staring at her for help he gave her an encouraging smile, and Ember floundered briefly “Um, well...” she cleared her throat “The back apartment is full of shit, don't open it.” she warned quickly, shaking her hand as she spoke.
The conversation lulled. Trailing into an uneasy quiet. It sted only a few seconds. Then.
“I can start blocking the main door?” Monet offered, stepping forward and towards Ember. Then she shrunk back “Um, if, if that's okay.” she swiftly added.
Ember nodded pleased with her initiative, then she gnced at Dern and jerked her head, gesturing for him to go with her. Dern flustered. “Sure,” Ember said to Monet “Me and Jake will search for any other possible entrances, the rest of you, uh, I don't know. Make yourselves useful.” Ember finished with a dismissive wave before taking Jake and walking out of the room.
The group looked briefly at each other, like they were at a loss, frowning Sani just moved to take the bag from Dern's back, Dern jumped back in surprise before he realized Sani wanted the bag and quickly handed it over, all while trying to ignore the gre on the suited man's face, then Dern faced Bernadina.
“Uh,” he briefly pointed towards Monet “Can-” “Go help, Dern.” Bernadina interrupted, her voice and face neutral as she too began to help unpack, now assisting Debra so she could go gather Phil's and eventually Charlene's bag.
Dern nodded and spun quickly on his heel, Monet noted that Dern moved in a very energetic way, all extra unneeded movements. Dern strolled to her side and gave an awkward smile, he bent his arms behind his back and shifted in pce, as if waiting for her command.
She blinked wordlessly at him.
“Hey!” he said, forcing a cheer to his voice.
“Hi.” she replied, nearly talking over him by mistake.
“So....?” Dern trailed off, pointing off towards the doorway.
“Oh!” Monet excimed. “Sorry.” she added, gncing around but before she managed to scurry away Dern gave her a halfhearted smile.
“Been a rough day.” he excused.
Monet nodded, finding a slight ease in his casualness even if it was just a momentary escape she appreciated the effort and smiled back “Yeah.” she agreed, then finally moved to leave.
The two pairs left the room as Debra set Phil's bag down and the two of them moved to the bedroom, back inside Charlene was sat beside Creed, his sunken eyes shut as she stroked his head. Bill instantly reached towards Phil and he moved to approach him.
“Is everything okay?” Charlene asked, gncing between the two of them before focusing instead on Debra.
“The pce is empty, we're unpacking some food while the others block the doorways.” Debra replied as she stood beside Steve.
Phil sat with his back against the wall and immediately Bill scooted to his side, his quiet voice asking a variety of questions ranging from “Is this our new house?” to “When am I going back to school?” with Phil giving mostly one word answers, eyes shut and head against the chipped trim.
Charlene nodded, then her gaze trailed back to Creed's face.
“I'll unpack for you.” Debra offered, reaching out towards her but keeping her other hand holding Steve's who leaned into her.
“Oh, right,” Charlene pulled away from Creed just long enough for her to take off the bag and hand it over to Debra “Thanks, Debra.” she finished with a weary grin.
Debra nodded as her response, she gave a light tug to Steve in an attempt to encourage him to follow but instead he just hopped off the bed and stumbled over to sit beside his father. Debra couldn't hide the hurt from her expression but she turned away quickly to prevent her boys from seeing it. She took the supplies out to the living room, ready to add them to the pile.
When she entered she saw Monet and Dern drag out a short bookshelf, they tried to carry it quietly but with the muttering and yelps from stubbing toes they weren't the most stealthy of movers. They pressed the back of it against the doorway blocking a little less than half of it, but they'd start at the bottom, to make sure it's extra secure. Monet had gathered some discarded nails from the destruction around the apartments and began to beat them through the units thin wood, she used the edge of her nightstick and missed the first few times, then she paused, pulling the weapon back she took in a few deep breaths as Dern left in search of more things to pile up in the door frame.
Sitting in silence trying to calm herself Monet suddenly heard a fall, something hitting the floor on the floor above her. Her head snapped to look up, eyes wide but the ceiling above her was undisturbed. Then she heard another, smaller, crash. She shot up and looked back, taking in a deep breath when Dern was nowhere to be seen.She peeked out, to the flights of stairs out into the stairwell and saw no movement, she looked up and saw no shadows, nothing, she looked behind her again, back towards the room with her fellow survivors.
Her mind was racing but all she could think of was their safety. “You can do this.” she whispered to herself, confidently she leapt over the short bookcase and lowered herself to a crouch, slowly she began to move up. Further into the building and towards the seventh floor. She kept her breath low and even, easing her way up as slowly as she needed to, she heard what sounded like rummaging, she assumed there was a snared undead up there, she twisted the nightstick in her hand and kept on.
She arrived at the next floor and followed the soft shuffling sounds, moving towards the half blocked doorway she snuck under the boards nailed to the top 70% of the frame and slipped inside, the area in front of her was a lot like the floor they've commandeered, two long lines of apartments all identical in yout to those below it but the row to the right of the floor has nearly ever wall broken out, even those facing the hallway, it left a strange open feel that made her uneasy, staring towards her right as she entered the busted up rooms she didn't notice the tapping to her left, not until the source of the noise was nearly beside her. A loud sm to her right startled her into action, a cardboard box fell to the ground as she spun to her side, nightstick high she shut her eyes and brought her weapon down.
She wasn't expecting to hear a yelp of pain, nor the stumbling of footsteps as the stranger colpsed. And Monet unched herself back, away.
Her eyes finally found her target and she saw a nky man, hollowed face held in his rge hand as he felt the slight warmth of blood drip down his head. Staining the somehow well washed blonde hair that fluffed out around his face in an unruly fashion. Bright green eyes of the stranger met hers, Monet was frozen in pce seeing the shock and hurt on his face, stammering, then suddenly his deep voice shouted “Why'd you do that!?” with a crack in his throat.
