Everything passed in slow motion for Valerie as she lept over the gap. Her heart was pounding against her chest, and nausea filled her stomach when she looked and realised how high she was.
For those few seconds she had airtime, she heard nothing. Everything went quiet. A sort of serenity washed over her and she knew that if she didn't make it, she'd be gone. Gone for good. And she accepted that.
However, she knew it'd be nothing like that when she saw the platform approach her feet. And slowly, as she reached over the rubble, time began to speed up as the serenity in her head began to fade away. Her body prepared for impact as she began falling.
Her feet made the initial contact with the ground before she began tumbling. Slowing herself, she used her feet to stop in place.
The serenity hadn't fully disappeared as it took her a moment to realise where she was. Her ears began ringing as the sounds around her slowly began making their comeback by sounding louder and louder.
She hadn't realised it, but Devon called out for her. And upon noticing no response from her, he too jumped, making it.
Not the same could be said for the wood as, just as Devin jumped, the floor crackled before breaking down that bit more.
Making his way to Valerie when he stumbled back onto his feet, he called out her name again. "Valerie! Valerie... Are you okay?". He caught her, gently lifting her onto her feet.
At first, she nodded. "Holy fuck... We... We made it, Devon...".
He laughed at her remark. "Of course we did... We're Valerie and Devon...".
And in that moment, they heard a shout. "Devon?".
Valerie saw the way Devon's head shot toward the direction of the voice. "Who's that?" She proceeded to ask.
"James..." Devon released under his breath before taking a few steps forward. Noticing Valerie wasn't following him, he glanced back her way. "Come on... he's close...".
And with that, they both headed down the heap of rubble and reached one of the many destroyed streets of the big city.
It took a mere second for Devon to see James, standing with his phone in his hands. Looking up, his eyes instantly were met by Devon and Valerie. "There yous are!". He ran over to them both.
To Valerie, James was taller than she expected, he was of a bulkier build than Griffin, or so it seemed. And just like Griffin, James also had a dark gaze, his deep brown eyes were nearly a match to his hair, which was a few shades lighter.
However, one of the differences between the two men was that, unlike Griffin, James had a mere stubble stretched across his face.
He stopped before them both, looking Devon's way and later averting his eyes to Valerie. "You must be the detective..." he started, putting out a hand for a greeting. "I am James Clarke. Pleasure to meet you.".
"Valerie Simmons..." she introduced herself, placing her hand into his. And with that, they shook hands. "I don't mean to be hurrying you, James..." Valerie began, retrieving her hand. Slight sarcasm was obvious in her voice, she couldn't help it. "But we're in a little bit of a hurry to get to the airport...".
"Well... I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but as we speak, we're still trying to figure out a way to get there..." James responded, returning the sarcasm. "Most of the roads are closed and if we try to find a way, it'll probably take us a good, few hours to get through the city.".
"But I thought there was a metro throughout the city..." Devon spoke out, furrowing his brows ever so slightly.
"There is... but I don't think it's in operation... I mean, look around us... Who, in their right mind, would be using the metro right now?" James responded, looking around himself.
"I would..." Valerie answered back. "It could be our only way out...".
"Besides, have you even checked if the metro is still in operation?" Devon inquired next.
"I... well..." James began. "There's only one of me... I wouldn't want to risk it, going down there all alone... who knows what kinds of things are lurking down there...".
"But now there's three of us..." Valerie responded. "I mean... By all means, three is not much, but it's better than one if you ask me.".
Valerie saw signs of hesitance appear across James's face. His jaw tensed. "I... I suppose so...".
"What have we to lose anyway..." Devon added with a mere smile, in the hope of lightening up the situation, even if it was by a little bit.
To his words, James narrowed his eyes as a smile grew on his lips when he looked Devon's way. Turning around, he shook his head as he walked off. "Follow me... I know where the metro's located.".
With that, Valerie and Devon followed the mean before them. They walked through more of the ruined city, thankful that their encounters with zombies had been reduced to a fraction, compared to what they'd experienced before they manoeuvred around the barricade.
They used stealth to further delve down the destroyed roads and at one point, a hoard of zombies walked out onto the street. Behind them was another barricade.
"Shit!" James seethed through his teeth, moving aside. Valerie and Devon did the same. James moved his head past a ruined wall, trying to get a visual of the walking dead. They were still around and it seemed like they weren't going to be leaving for a while. "We have to take them out... otherwise, who knows how long we'd have to stay hidden for...".
"How many of them are there?" Valerie asked next.
"15-20, for sure..." James responded, his eyes still on the already half-mutilated, bleeding corpses. "But there could be more..."
"Where do we go after we kill them?..." Devon inquired next.
"There's a small alleyway right there..." James began, referring to the small passageway right beside the hoard. "We'll run through it. There should be a ladder, which we'll use to climb... the metro shouldn't be too far away from there then..." he further added.
"Sounds like a solid plan... let's do it..." Devon replied.
And with that, Valerie followed Devon as she walked out of hiding, both of their guns pointed up at the hoard. James joined them seconds later.
They began shooting. Shot after shot, they downed more and more of the hoard, as those still alive looked in the direction of the three humans who approached them.
In response, the zombies began their pursuit of them. However, they were all downed before they had a chance to cause any more damage.
Seeing that all of their predators were downed for good, James proceeded to direct his group, "Come on, let's go!". With that, he jogged into the small alleyway, Valerie and Devon following him seconds later.
They reached the ladder that James was talking about, but before they could climb up it, a scream was heard, it rang familiar within Valerie. Turning to her right, she saw another hoard of zombies approaching them, meters from entering the small alleyway. "Shit... more are coming..." she voiced as she was let go up the ladder first.
James then let Devon climb, keeping an eye on the oncoming undead. He climbed up just in time, right before the zombies managed to get to the ladder. All they were left doing was trying to reach for the three survivors who climbed further up the ladder before reaching a broken window.
"There... go there. Inside it, we can leave the apartment and head down the stairs..." James began, and once they all entered what once used to be a bedroom, he further briefed Valerie and Devon on what they were all to do. "We'll go into the basement where it'll give us access to another building. From there we'll get to the main street where we'll find the metro.".
James was about to begin leading the way when Valerie stopped him. "H-how... how do you know so much?".
"A lot of memorizing... this plan had been thoroughly discussed with me..." James responded. "So don't worry... I know where I'm going. All you have to do is follow me.".
"If you know so much... you could have left so long ago..." Valerie spoke back up.
"I wouldn't have dared go out there, to that street alone..." James answered Valerie's question. "They now call it the 'Runner Street'.".
"Runner Street?... Wait, why?" she further asked.
"You'll see in a bit...". With that, James continued leading the way as they got out of the room and exited the apartment.
Managing to find the stairway, they descended it. James powered up one of his torches as they ventured into the basement.
There they were met by three pathways. One ahead of them, the other to their left and the final pathway to their right.
"We're nearly there..." James voiced as he walked right ahead. A bend awaited them before a wall of metal fenced aligned on either side of them. They were the storage units for the building.
Not long passed before they were met by another staircase. So, they ascended the flight of steps and reached the darkened ground hallway of the sister building.
Screams of fear were heard, and they caused both Devon and Valerie to look at each other. "Where are we?..." Devon proceeded to ask.
"The barricade blocked our reach to this street, so this was sort of like a shortcut to get around the barricade," James replied.
Valerie's attention shifted to the reason why the hallway was so dimly lit. A bookshelf. "Why is there a big shelf blocking the entrance?".
James dismissed her question and instead asked Devon to assist him. "Can you help me with this...".
Such a response caused Valerie's stomach to, once again, drop to the ground. "James?...".
He turned to her. "Valerie... Listen to me very carefully... once we move this shit out of the way... you run. And you run for as fast as your legs can carry you. We'll be right behind you.".
Valerie's face went pale.
"The Runners..." James began again. "They're fast...". And only then did it click within Valerie, Runner Street. It was named after the zombies that occupied it. The Runners.
So she nodded her head. "A-alright...".
"You can try and shoot them, but don't let them get too close...". James paused for a moment. "That's why I've never ventured this far by myself...".