[Chapter Three]

They seemed coordinated for some reason, and started to move towards her building. She didn't stay long enough to watch them move in on her location, she had luckily scoured the entire building. She knew there was more than one exit, the stairs she had used, a backdoor exit, and the fire exit. She moved quickly, based on the speed that those strange mobs out there moved, it won't be long before they reach her if they could walk up the stairs. She didn't want to know whether they were capable of such feats. She had painstakingly moved everything she could so she can clear away for herself to venture, there was almost nothing that she can stumble upon accidentally so she didn't tread carefully. She had one goal in mind and that is to leave the building as early as she can.

The glass that was not broken before, crashed loudly accompanied by the moaning voices of the mobs. She had to pass by the staircase she used so she had a glimpse of how the mob started to break through the glass and the door. She moved not minding that her feet began to bleed again, she passed through the cracks in the rooms and the place with weird square things that has broken glass and strings connected to them. She had turned three corners before finally reaching the red door. She almost jumped in surprise when she heard the mobs from around the corner, she had hastily turned the knob on the door creating a loud noise. She didn't care anymore if she pulls the door harshly making another loud creak, she walked on after closing the red metal door as she walked passed it once it opened.

There were more stairs, these stairs were slightly rusted, being open to all weather conditions had resulted in it being unstable. It was all-metal, to begin with, she made her way down. Seeing as the alley she would be, once she had arrived at the bottom was clear from any of the mobs, she moved down swiftly as she could. She knew she could make her way back to the forest, hopefully where she had stayed in the beginning, if she moves in the direction of the east.

Creak~

She slipped as she took another step, the rusty old stair creaked under her weight. She was a few meters from the ground, if she fell there was no telling whether she could still live through it. Her hand hurts from the surprise as she used it to grab ahold of one of the bars by reflex. She saw blood trickling from her hand, she used her injured hand to pull her back up. After the tiring ordeal with the stairs, she had finally reached the bottom. Her hand and feet were oozing blood, she walked, following the paths she saw from the top before she descended. The alley was not a dead end, it opens to multiple paths which in turn were quite hard to navigate.

She had walked a bit farther away from the building when she heard a loud thud from where she had been. She turned around discreetly not stopping for once. She saw that the mobs were falling from the fire exit, she had no time to lose, despite falling from that height they were still somewhat moving so she hastened. She turned a couple of corners hoping that she'll lose them somewhere but it seems that her blood was drawing them towards her despite her confusing turns. When the sun sets, she's a sitting duck waiting to be butchered. A few more turns and finally she saw that a few buildings were in between her and the trees. The mob behind her grew louder, she entered another building despite knowing how reckless it was. The same abandoned and wrecked scene greeted her but she went ahead and climbed through the window since the building was tilted sideways against another smaller building. She climbed shakily on all fours so she wouldn’t fall off, there was nothing to break her fall if ever she slipped as she did a few hours ago. The sides of the buildings don’t have much of a rough surface to aid her movement, some metals had been slightly out of the cement from the place where the building had bent. One building towards another, the mobs entered the building she had gone to. They were now fighting upon themselves as multiple mangled hands shot through the small window trying to get out of it.

The final building luckily had a dumpster filled with rotten garbage, she stood from the edge and jumped. She aimed to land on the dumpster, her feet landing on the plastic cover first. Next was the vast expense of land area she needed to cover before she’ll be able to reach the few trees before the forest. It seemed so close when she was up where she was before, her limbs felt quite strained and rock hard. It seemed like she wouldn’t be able to move long enough to get herself past the few trees. The broken pavements were of no help to her either, she stumbled a few times and nearly fell over. Darkness had fallen over the land but she had yet to reach halfway through. Loud moans echoed through the place, she knew they would be able to get to her if she rests or stop where she is now. Her feet felt numb, she didn’t know if she was still moving forwards, there were no moon or stars present to light up the night. The wind was picking up and blew her hair towards her face, the air felt damped and her naturally cold body temperature fell even further down.

A few more seconds passed, it started to drizzle a bit. The cold-water droplets hit her skin, it wasn’t long before the rain came to pour angrily against the earth. The night became ominous, the scent of wet earth and warm air rising from the ground had clouded every sense she could make use of. She felt something hard bump her cheek slightly, she raised her wet hand to feel what it was. It was hard but breakable and felt like a stick, rough and uneven. A stick? She thought. Must be near the trees now, how long had I been walking? She had been slightly dazed causing her to stand where she is, her bloody palms holding the twig that had grazed her face. A groan sounded again, this time it was nearer and a lot smaller. She snapped out of her daze and walked again, she knew how fast her feet could take her but those mobs were a lot bigger than she is despite the obvious limping and clawing.

Awooo~

Thud…

It sounded like something fell over, it was then followed by a struggling, many groans, and a few ripping sounds. She didn’t stop to see what it was or to look back, she wouldn’t be able to make much with the limited vision due to the rain and the darkness. She had one goal and that is to move forward. The weather was never kind, she was soaked from head to her foot yet it kept raining with no signs of it stopping. There was a faint light from the horizon and the darkness was gradually lifting but the mood remained gloomy. She had bumped herself against a lot of trees, she had struggled with walking as it seemed like the earth had inclined. It felt like she was climbing another building and this one was quite slippery, she had no choice but to grope about blindly for anything that could help her go up. Hours, trickled by and the surroundings have turned slightly brighter although the rain didn’t let up. She realized that she was climbing a slightly inclined, muddy hill. She was muddy, covered in earth almost all over because of the rain.

She sat on the ground waiting for the sun’s heat, her feet had stiffened over. She turned her face towards the sky, feeling the rage of the clouds against her face. Her body was tired, it was pushed to the limit and was pierced so much. She had the inkling feeling of being watched, the watcher was not moving towards her. The bushes were quite lesser too, fallen rotting trees were becoming common. She thought she reached another clearing when there were almost no trees up ahead of her, but she stumbled upon a cliff. When she turned, hoping to take a different path, she saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes within the fog. She took a step back, the white cool cloud-like fog slightly shifted. It revealed a canine, baring its teeth against her, it was growling lowly. Its black fur stuck to its body, wet from the rain. Thunders had been a common occurrence yet she never expected it to strike between her and the wolf. A loud yelp rang and it was not from one wolf, multiple wolves were yelping. She was already in a precarious situation with the wolf and a long jump into the water beneath her, the thunder resulted in the crumbling of the cliff. She heard the loud rumble after a flash of yellow and suddenly she was falling.