Post by Ashe Kandor on Apr 24, 2009 16:29:46 GMT -6
It was quite possibly the most foolish thing she had ever done.[/blockquote]
True, Ashe had yet to see any Infected make permanent dens in the Bayside Apartments, and early morning was hardly their most active time. But her motorcycle was just outside, the saddlebags full to bursting with provisions she'd just snagged. It would only take one early-rising Infected to sniff the food--and then trace the scent on her bike back to her.
Ashe tightened her grip on her semi-automatic and continued to slowly creep up the stairwell. There was enough debris and enough darkness for her to use Shadowcloak--but it wouldn't fool an Infected's primal senses for long. Her gun, powerful as it was, wouldn't be much use either, unless she could successfully shoot it in the eye or below the jaw before it tore her to shreds.
Oh yes, she concluded. This was very, very stupid.
But on the other hand, she couldn't let this chance go by. While she was loading up her motorcyle, she'd seen... something move away from a balcony on the fifth floor. It couldn't have been an Infected or she'd be dead already. That left only another Immune... or a Carrier.
Ashe's mind was hesitant to wrap around that thought. Getting her hopes up wouldn't do any good... but ever since the first contact with the Carriers, she had kept her eyes and ears open in hopes of catching another glimpse. They were the chance for a cure, a cure, a way to end all this misery and go back to normal. But the only way to get that cure was to develop a bond with the Carriers, and they weren't exactly inviting the Immunes to their dinner parties. No, if this was an opportunity to come in contact with them again, no matter how slim the odds were, she wasn't passing it up.
She had reached the fifth floor. Ashe slunk down the narrow hallway, passing countless abused doors until she reached the one she estimated was the one she'd seen from the ground. She nudged open the slightly ajar door with her foot, holding her gun at the ready, and stepped into the apartment.
As far as post-virus apartments went, it didn't seem much different from the rest: a few claw marks here, some bloodstains there. But as she looked closer, she saw little details that told a different story. The coffee table was conspicuously dust-free, and someone had sewn up the sundered couch cushsions. Even though the pane of the sliding glass door was shattered, there was no broken glass to be found.
Ashe stepped out onto the balcony and glanced over the railing--and immediately regretted it. Five stories hadn't seemed like a lot from the ground, but her head spun with vertigo at the distance. She reeled back, holding a hand to her head like she could will the sensation away, chiding herself. It wasn't enough that she had walked into an abandoned, possibly Infected-holding building--she'd also rendered herself incompetent.
And right on cue, there was the sound of someone moving about from within the apartment.
Ashe spun around, struggling with the dizziness that made the room whirl too fast for her to catch up. She blinked her dark eyes futilely, still brandishing her gun. "Who's there?" she called.