Alice in Borderland: The Cycle Continues

26) Eight of Clubs [2] ✮

===Chihaya Korinsu===

We stormed the stairs, ascending up the floors in a strong haste. Judumai broke off from me at floor three, where I bid farewell with a firm nod. I continued the run up onto floor six, my chest huffing, and emerged onto the hallway, making my way into the intersection of the halls.

I squinted, my vision unable to penetrate the darkness. Giving in, I put my binoculars to my eyes, and focused on the roof of the farthest apartment. Zakū was there; the zoom couldn't combat the darkness, so I couldn't make out his exact features except his eyes, though the glow from his lights gave him away. Not enough to be seen with the bare eye, though. I gave him a wave, though his eyes were fixed on our apartment's roof.

I contemplated making a grander gesture to attract his attention, but didn't want to risk attracting the attention of anyone else. I stole a glance at my sides to make sure no one was seeing me through the sky bridges, and there weren't. So, I kept waving my hand, stretching it out further. With a sigh of relief, Zakū's gaze began traveling down, eventually meeting my own. He gave a curt salute to acknowledge his spotting of me, fortunately visible in the night, before turning his attention towards scouting the floors.

'Well, guess I should just patrol in the meantime.' I concluded. I inspected the hall for any tools I could use as an improvised weapon, but the only thing I found was a pile of cinder blocks, a pile of wooden beams, and some spools of rope.

My gaze traveled down each of the doors, processing each number that the doors showed. I traveled to the seventh floor, my eyes on the apartment Judumai was in, when suddenly one of their doors flashed from a white square to a red square within my interface. I gasped—was this Judumai's doing?

I took my binoculars, stealing a glance at Zakū, who was still perched on the roof, before making my way down the stairs. When I got to the fifth floor, Judumai was making his way down the flight of stairs furthest from us, near apartment B, as two patrollers ascended the stairs adjacent to us. He crossed the first floor hallway, evading the gaze of the base guard, but drew back as the patrollers looked out from behind the railing of the fourth floor.

I held my breath, as Judumai shrunk against the wall beam, a guard on one side and the potential gazes of patrollers on the other. He turned and caught my eye.

"Bushes!" I mouthed, pointing to the foliage. He could sneak back to our apartment through the bushes.

He shook his head, pointing to his ears then the guard. The rustling would make too much noise. I craned my head; the patrollers were still on the fourth floor where Judumai had robbed a room, examining the door, which had been barred.

But I was higher than them. I turned back around, an idea spinning itself into my head. Taking hold of a cinder block, I charged forward, aiming the slab of concrete, and tossed it onto the hallway across from me, into the other building.

I huffed, but the two patrollers didn't notice. If I were to aim directly onto the fourth floor, they'd see that it's a cinder block and know it's a distraction. I ran back once more, grabbing one of the wooden poles. If I could throw this into the stairwell of the fourth floor like a javelin, they would hear it but not see it.

But what was taking them so long anyways? It seemed the two were discussing strategy, both their eyes focused on their glove screen, standing next to one door.

I pulled back, honing in on the stairwell, and threw it. The pole didn't hit the target; it bounced off the outer wall, and fell to the ground five stories below, breaking a wooden planter in the process.

That attracted the attention of not only the two patrollers, but the guard as well. The attention had been diverted, but not to the correct place. I cursed, as the two made their way to the end of the hall, looking over the edge. Their figures became more distinguishable; they were both middle aged women, one wearing glasses, and the other carrying a shovel.