11-16-2015, 04:37 PM
"Escape"
"I can't believe they just started opening fire like that..."
"Don't worry, we're safe in here."
"Has anyone seen a boy about yay-high?"
"Who are they? Haven't seen them before."
"Maybe the troops will leave soon..."
The apartment's lobby was rife with talk as people searched for each other in panic and fear. Others huddled up in the corners while large swaths of strangers would storm in, the sound of stormtroopers marching would bounce through the lobby as down the hall, the white plating could be seen, helmets and weapons in rotation, constantly aware and in search of those who started the short lived firefight. So many long trenchcoats and ruggedly clothed individuals, coated in dirt and dust while barely equipped for the roughness of those outside, all of them in one giant crowd as if the lobby was a cage. Like a wave they shifted back and forth, people moving in and out, others asking questions, some wiping blood off of themselves and others. Kalli kept pushing through them with little thought, focused on escaping this entire situation just so survival was in her grasp again. And not getting arrested.
"What next?" The two words brought an important point, she hadn't planned anything beyond travelling and finding this gang, but exposing herself so blatantly? It was impossible to even get the jump on them. She needed a plan first, or else a lot more situations with a laser sight on her head would occur, and less fortunate than this one...
"Everyone, freeze and prepare for identification!"
A squad of stormtroopers walked through the hall that was the entrance to the lobby. A few gasps, a scream, some younger people rushing toward the windows before being knocked down by the butts of rifles. Kalli shifted through the crowd, nearly crouching until she reached the end, moving upstairs with swift steps until reaching the next floor. People- though less than the lobby -were still huddled in large groups, its as if the population of this place had no end. Carefully moving through as people stared with a glare or two, she kept moving upward in hope of finding an exit to this place, that or a nice place to hide. But it never came, instead, as the population lessened, more and more doors were shown to be blocked, cut off or otherwise locked.
While old wooden floorboards creaked and the sound of panic filled the floors below- clearly a sign of the stormtroopers continuing their search -it came for an escape to be through a place rather exposed. The windows. It was either hanging outside a window, or a cell and interrogation,. the former seemed much better to Kalli as the stairs kept creaking, the padding of stormtroopers clattering as they approached. Opening the window, Kalli looked downward, the grey of the alleyway exposing nothing but the emptiness of a concrete floor, while across from the window was a brick apartment. To the right, up and down the wall was a pipe, leftward? Nothing but more apartment windows and the street. There was little choice in the matter, hopefully that pipe hadn't gotten rusty over the years.
Gripping the edge of the window, Kalli slowly slid out, dangling from the window ridiculously, she planted her claws on the brick surface before leaping toward the pipe, gripping it tightly while it bended and groaned, the metal surface peeling as her claws penetrated the old shell that it was, hot, green water spilling out filled to the brim with content Kalli dared not guess while she climbed upward. The engines of dropships and the the outlines of flying cars would get closer, the humming of the dropships nearly making everything else seem silent in comparison. "This is a police state filled to the brim with...Things I can't even comprehend." Kalli thought to herself while climbing. "So much violence and fear. I can't even see this building's roof, even if it has one- how long as this place existed? How long did it take to construct such massive structures?... She hanged off the side of the pipe, looking over to here right, staring at a flashing neon sign that went down the side of the apartment. "Can't deny the beauty of this place though..."
And just after that thought? The pipe broke.