The Tower In The Storm

“Not at all,” Katters says, standing. “Look what happened last time we split up.”

 

"Exactly my line of thinking." She stands shakily. "...at least it didn't break."

 

“Yet,” Katters says. She walks over to the window and looks down. “You got that ladder stashed away somewhere? Or are we going to jump and hope for the best?”

She scans the street for signs of life (or un-life), and for doors she may have missed while running from Ms. Knives-for-Hands.

 

"Absolutely. I learned to try and be prepared." She says quietly.

There are a few 'doors' in sight, but they appear barred and fused into the walls.

 

Katters steps back from the window, giving Red access to it. “Well, coast looks clear,” she says. “No time like the present.”

 

Red pulls out the rope ladder, carefully attaching a hook to the windowsill to hold it in place. "...I'll go down first."

She carefully swings out, wincing as she does, and makes a slow descent.

 

Katters waits for Red to near the end of the ladder — wary of jostling it too much for Red’s leg — before climbing out the window herself and making her way downwards.

 

Red is scanning the street as Katters descends. "....line of sight is clear. Which direction do you want to try?"

 

“When in doubt, go left,” Katters says, pointing a confident finger toward the general direction of “left”, before she starts walking the same way.

 

Left, in this case... is back to where you came in.

Red stays behind a moment, shaking the ladder sharply until the hook dislodges and the ropes come tumbling down, then moves to catch up with you, walking as quickly as she can on her injured leg.

You can see the open window, if you walk long enough.

 

“Hold up,” Katters says as they approach the building Katters continues to stubbornly think of as her house. She drops the kit and grabs the bottom of the windowframe.
“This is where I came in,” she explains and hauls herself up to get a peek inside.

 

You see the interior of your bathroom, much as you left it.

 

"Came in? You came in through a window?" Red asks curiously.

 

“Holy shit.” Katters drops back down. “Yeah,” she says, “this is exactly where I came in — that’s my bathroom on the other side of the wall.”

She hoists herself back up and tries to climb in. “Give me another boost, hey?”

 

Red nods, slowly, then moves to stand under the window, bracing with her good leg and lacing her fingers into a hand-hold. "Go for it."

 

Katters tumbles through the window and crashes to the bathroom floor.

“Alright,” she calls through the window as she stands up. “Hold on, it’s a bit of a rough landing in here.”

She de-wedges half of Zebra’s bed from the doorway and re-wedges it between the shower and the wall. She climbs on top of it and sticks her head out the window.

“You wanted a door?” she says. “Well, I’ve found one. Pass me my bag and then I’ll help you through.”

 

"Good... good..." Red holds up the kit. "Is it safe in there?"

 

Katters pulls the kit in and glances over her shoulder. “Not usually,” she says when she looks back, reaching out for Red. “But is it safe out there?”

 

"Most likely not." Red stretches out her hands, scrabbles against the wall with her good leg, and tries to be as little of a dead weight as she can be.

 

“Christ, Red,” Katters grunts as she pulls Red inside, “what have you been eating? Marmaduke?”

Once they’re both in, Katters flops off the mattress and moves to the door — looking through it to confirm that her bedroom still lies in ruins on the other side, and looking at it to confirm it’s still intact.

“Here it is.” She rests a hand on the frame, on a faint brown streak running down the edge — where Zebra’s blood soaked into the wood this one time she ran his face into the door. He deserved it.

“What do you think you can do with this?”