"Where in the world am I?"
Slowly lowering the manhole, not letting it fall back in place, I began to wonder where I was... was there really a place I didn't recognise in this city? I had lived here for about a year, yet I didn't recognise anything.
I slowly pushed myself up and peeked outside once more, taking a longer time to look around. Eventually, my hands began to tire. I switched my hands and leveraged my bag where my left hand had previously been.
I closed my eyes and envisioned where I was. I thought back as far as possible, I had been almost everywhere in this city, yet I didn't have even the slightest clue of where I was now?
A few moments, later, I looked out and finally noticed something useful - it was an old hardware store I used to go often. I hadn't been to it in a long time because I had fallen out of love with it, almost immediately, I began to recognise the general area. I still wasn't particularly familiar with this area, but now I could most likely somewhat navigate the area .
The sound of zombies walking closer to where I had been peeking from could be heard. I quickly ducked and narrowed the gap. I reached into the bag's side pocket and pulled out the pipe and began using it as leverage so the manhole wouldn't close. This made it significantly easier to hold on to the stairs as well as look out from the small opening it was creating.
Peeking out the small gap, I saw a few zombies slowly pass by, thankfully, I had gone unnoticed.
"What time is it anyways? It wasn't this docile at the mall mid-day" I shook my head and listened for any sign of movement outside - it seemed that those were the only zombies nearby... how strange.
A moment's hesitation later, I used the leverage with the pipe to widen the gap and climb out.
I froze as a loud thud sound from the manhole went back into place could be heard for what seemed kilometres. I quickly turned side-to-side, checking if there were any zombies incoming.
"GET YOURSELF TOGETHER" I screamed to myself before slapping my face and facing forward, readying myself to run as fast as I could.
I began running, not running quite as fast as I could, rather decently fast, a speed I could keep up for a long time.
I ran into the first alleyway, constantly checking all around me, if I was being chased, all it would take would be just a moment to be caught off guard and... well... who knows what?
BOOM
A huge explosion was heard just a couple blocks away; I almost froze right then and there. Soon, another explosion could be heard, this time, it was in a completely different place... was this why it had been so quiet?
I tried not to overthink it for now and kept running, I still had ways to go before I finally arrived to where I had been running to.
For a while after it became awfully quiet, eerily so. I became torn, if I kept running, then one of those explosions might hit me, but if I tried to find shelter, then maybe some zombies that hadn't run off would find me.
I continued to run, constantly scanning my surroundings. The longer I ran, the more anxious I grew, there hadn't been any explosions for a long time, yet I didn't see a single one.
"YES! FINALLY!" I exclaimed when I had finally reached the seashore.
I carefully turned the corner, looking if I could spot any zombies in the multiple kilometre long stretch of the seashore.
I started to feel very anxious, I didn't spot or even hear any zombies... what was happening? Did those explosions I heard earlier have something to do with it?
I went to the metal barriers separating the seashore and street. I looked over the ledge, the sand below was a few meters lower than the street. Checking side-to-side, I saw there again were no zombies. Climbing over the barriers, I lowered myself to the sand, holding the ledge - eventually letting go and landing on the sand.
I began walking and noticed the sun was beginning to set, I had to find somewhere to spend the night before it got too cold and dark.
The warmth of the sun momentarily made me forget everything that had happened, I began to reminisce of better times and a small smile slowly appeared on my face. I sighed, thinking it might just be fine for the time being.
After about 20 minutes had passed with no incident, the reason why I came here slowly revealed itself.
As the sand of the seashore began to end and street expand closer to the water, on the corner of the street, a tourism centre was visible.
It was a relatively small, one-story house with a very dark roof and only a few windows. I began to pull myself up, holding the edge of the street with one hand and the metal railing with the other.
After just a moment, I had pulled myself out of what was left of the seashore and carefully searched around, looking for any danger. It had become much harder to see as it had gotten a lot darker very quickly.
Knowing this, I immediately set my sights to the tourism centre.
As I approached the building, I looked for any other potential entrances as escape routes. I tried to open the front door doorhandle, only for it to barely move - it was locked, and seemingly blocked too.
I quickly began circling the building, looking for other ways to get in. Eventually, I noticed a slightly tilted open window. I wasn't entirely sure if I could fit through it, but I would be damned if I wouldn't even try.
I jumped up and grabbed the window head with my right hand. The sound of my right hand gripping could be heard in the near vicinity.
I began pulling each of my limbs on the window frame. Eventually, I extended my left arm to inside the building and began to drag and squeeze my body inside. I scraped almost every part of my body; it was a much tighter squeeze than I had hoped.
After I got my hips inside, my feet slipped, and my body made a loud thud sound after I crashed inside the building.
"A-argh that hurt" I said, holding my lower back.
"Don't move."
A girl with long brown hair sternly told me, pointing a gun at me, covering herself behind a nearby table.