We're Only Animals: Book 2 - Part 1: Building the Tower

Chapter 56 - Waiting

"Sure. Let's go."

The two of them left, being waved off by Kyuu who was on door duty. The trip to the surface was silent, just the sounds of their footsteps.

Louis was a bit nervous but also...excited? They were doing a good thing, after all.

Roku slipped on his mask before opening the hatch to the surface, and Louis followed suit. They climbed up into the small yard and the horse set off quickly.

Louis quickly followed after him. "Slow down! My legs are shorter than yours."

Roku brought his finger to his mask in a 'shh' motion and continued, albeit a bit slower. Louis recalled the red line on the map and tried to visualize how it applied to them at the moment. He knew at one point they'd find a building that they would get to the roof of.

He continued to stay silent as they went along. Of course, he would much rather be home in bed naked with his beloved wolf than lay under a blanket with some stranger for ten hours.

Just like the way to the tower, the two kept to shadows and alleys, avoiding the carnivores that were out and about. In one particular alley, Roku pushed open a heavy metal door and stepped inside.

Louis followed, looking around.

The building was seemingly abandoned, with a thick layer of dust over the strewn around furniture. Their footsteps were loud on the old floorboards. Roku headed into a hallway, out of sight.

The buck moved behind him. "What is this place?"

"Abandoned," his voice sounded gruffer from behind the mask. "May be squatters in here, though. They probably won't bother us if there are."

This made Louis move faster. "Is this the building we're ascending from?"

"Yes. There's a roof access door a few floors up." Lo and behold, the first flight of stairs showed itself.

They began ascending and thanks to the aching from the previous training, Louis made small grunts. "I really need to get into shape..."

"You will. Ugh, I guess I really will have to jump across the gaps with you on my back, huh."

"I apologize...I can try to do it on my own..."

"Well, you'll take a look at the gaps yourself and determine that."

They reached the top floor and saw a pair of eyes poking out from a doorway in the hallway. It soon retreated back into the room once Roku and Louis stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Alright, just walk past the room and don't look in. Just keep looking forward."

Louis swallowed, keeping his hand on his satchel as he continued moving forward.

They moved forward briskly, a feeling of eyes on them as they passed the doorway, but then it was gone. They came to a door that opened out onto the cracked, concrete roof. A pleasant breeze blew across it as Roku stepped out.

Louis came out after him, looking around. "Jumping across roofs...This really is vigilante work..."

"Yep. It's what I was doing before all of this. So don't feel too bad when you see how good I am at it." Roku sauntered over to the edge of the building, peering down.

"As if," Louis chuckled, going to the edge and peering down. Then, his heart dropped. "Oh."

"Yeah, I probably should have told you not to look." Roku indicated the gap between the buildings, which was around 3 meters wide. "So how do you feel about this one?"