Looking For A Safe Place

Leo and Ms Ves dragged themselves up the staircase, forcing their tired and unwilling bodies to climb the flight of stairs.

It was after much struggle and heart pounding did they finally arrive at the first floor.

Leo didn't waste any time standing around, as he dragged Ms Ves and started climbing the stairs to the second floor.

Ms Ves was surprised by Leo's actions. She didn't know why he didn't look for a safe place for them to hide and wait, allowing the zombies to pass.

"Leo, why are we going up to the second floor? Shouldn't we look for a place to hide and wait till the zombies pass?" She finally asked after being unable to think of the answer herself.

"We can't stay on the first floor. It's too dangerous. The zombies aren't like conventional zombies. They are attracted to sound, light and something called life force. It's something that normal people have and zombies can smell it from 30-50 metres away.

Which means that they would locate us quickly if we stay on the first floor," Leo replied as he continued to drag the two of them up the flight of stairs.

Ms Ves nodded in understanding when she heard what Leo said. She knew that his decision to go up to the second floor was the best, as with just a glance, she saw that the width of the first floor was less than 50 meters.

But if this is so, then it probably means that the upper floors are also the same width as the first floor. If so, then it means that they also can't stay on the second floor. They have make their way to the third or fourth floor. And from the fact that the building is an office building and has no elevator, then it means that the third or fourth floor would be the last floor.

"That should be it," she said to herself when she thought of this.

"Leo, do you know how many floors the building has?" She asked curiously.

"Three, excluding the ground floor."

"Good. We have to make our to the top floor and look for somewhere safe to wait." Ms Ves said, but she saw Leo shaking his head in response.

"I don't think that's possible Ms Ves. I don't even know if the second floor is safe from zombies. I didn't scout it," Leo said.

Ms Ves frowned when she heard this. She immediately thought of their next possible line of action.

She quickly spun her brain into action and it didn't take her long to think of something.

"The emergency stairwells!" She exclaimed.

"Emergency stairwells?" Leo asked in confusion.

"Yes, emergency stairwells. Every building always has an emergency stairwell located on each floor for in the advent of an emergency. This stairwell always hidden behind a designated door and leads to the secondary exit of the building," Ms Ves explained.

Leo's eyes brightened when he heard this. He was glad that he did leave Ms Ves behind.

His initial thought was to make it to the third floor of the building, look for a good hiding place, preferably a place with a door for added security, and they would hide there. But Ms Ves ides was miles better than his.

But all these—both his idea and Ms Ves'—was counting on the second floor being free from zombies.

Well, he didn't have to continue hoping as they finally arrived at the ground floor and just like the first floor, it was empty. Very surprising he would say.

As if to remind them of their current situation, reverberating growls came from the first floor, following with the sounds of scuffling footsteps, that echoed against the walls of the staircase, as the zombies made their way up the staircase.

Leo's breath almost seized in his lungs when he saw this. He quickly looked around the second floor for where the emergency exit Ms Ves talked about, and it didn't take him long to find it.

It was a very conspicuous red door located at the other end of the floor, with "emergency" boldly written on it in white.

It also seems like Ms Ves was doing the same thing as him as she started dragging him towards the location of the emergency stairwell, the same time he wanted to make his move.

"Come on, we have to move fast before they get up here," She said as she dragged him to the emergency stairwell.

They got to the door and she pushed it open, and pulled Leo inside before closing the door shut and locking it.

She didn't allow herself and Leo to rest as she held his hand, and they descended down the emergency stairwell to the ground floor.

It was only when they got close enough to the secondary exit attached to the emergency stairwell, did Ms Ves finally stop, allowing Leo and herself to rest.

"Fuu..." She let out a deep breath as she collapsed to the floor, with her back sliding down the wall.

"That was intense," she smiled, as she looked Leo who was collapsed on the floor and trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah, it was," Leo laughed lightly as he looked up the flight of emergency stairs twy just descended.

"So what's the plan now?" He asked curiously after catching his breath.

"We rest enough, recover our strength and energy, then we get out of here and look for someplace safe. A military base would be best as they have weapon and it's filled with trained soldiers. Even in all the chaos, there's no way that it would fall so easily," Ms Ves replied.

"It's a good plan but what about the zombies crawling around everywhere? Also how far is the nearest military base to here and how are we supposed to get there?" Leo asked curiously.

He welcomed Ms Ves' idea but he has to be sure that it's something that can work and they won't be dumbly putting themselves in danger.

"Sigh.... It seems like the idea won't work. The nearest military base from here is more than three days drive away. Just that alone makes it impossible," Ms Ves sighed, with a slumped shoulder.

Her young and beautiful face was drawn from exhaustion, her figure was slouching from the weight of their current situation.

Leo also sighed when he heard this. Their situation seemed very hopeless at the moment, with nothing making headway.

Just as he was thinking of what next to do, a random thought popped into his head.

"I wonder how they are doing? Ate they safe?" He thought out loud.

He couldn't help but glance at Ms Ves, curious to know her reaction.

"I hope they are. If only it's possible for us to go back and check but we are quite a distance away from there," she chuckled wryly.

The two of them spent the following moments in silence, resting and recovering their strength.

It was after an unknown amount of time had passed did one of them finally break the silence.

"We can't keep staying here. We have to get out of here as soon as possible. We need food, good, dry clothes and a safe place to stay," Leo said, as he stood up from the ground, having rested enough.

"Yeah. You're right. We need to move and the most important of those things you listed is shelter. We need to look for a safe place to stay before we can think of other things," Ms Ves said as she also stood up.

"What do you suggest?" Leo asked curiously.

"We need to look for a safe high rise residential building. It's our best bet option right now," Ms Ves replied.

"And where do you think the nearest high rise residential building would be?"

"Not far," She replied as she looked at the emergency exit.

"Let's go."

As they approached the secondary exit, a low growl echoed faintly from above.

Both of them and froze, their eyes darting to the dimly lit staircase leading back up. The sound grew louder, accompanied by the scrape of nails on metal.

Leo's grip tightened on the metal shard in his hand.

"Looks like we're not alone," Ms. Ves whispered.

"Fantastic," Leo muttered, his jaw tightening.

The two of them exchanged a glance, unspoken determination passing between them.

"Ready?" Ms. Ves asked.

"Not really," Leo replied. "But let's do it anyway."