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Saff held in the scoff that immediately begged to come out of her mouth. "Are you joking?"
The look on the girl's face told her she definitely wasn't.
"It's worth a try," she said. "Maybe they can help, or maybe they've seen them."
This time, Saff did let out the scoff. "Help?" she repeated incredulously. "Do you have any idea what people are like in this city?"
Or the whole world.
The girl pursed her lips, her chin dropping the slightest bit. "You never know," she muttered.
Saff watched her for a moment, studying the changes in her face. She wondered what kind of life she must have lived since the outbreak to allow such a hopeful outlook.
"I do know," Saff replied. "But if you want to go back there alone, go for it."
The girl stood there quietly. Then, after a few moments, she released a tight breath, "Fine. Let's go."
Saff didn’t wait a beat before pulling them forward and around the corner. Then she stopped. A barricade left over from the last few days of humanity blocked the entire street, with old beaten-up army trucks on both sides.
She pulled them back until their bodies were behind the corner once again.
"What is it now?" the girl asked, sounding almost annoyed.
Saff carefully scanned every inch of the street and the buildings on the other side. Barricades like that created hot spots for raiders to attack, making it all too easy for them to corner and trap people who didn't know better.
She gritted her teeth, beginning to regret having chosen to do this whole thing in the first place. If she hadn’t have lost that damn bag of medication, or if that pharmacy had had what she needed, then she could have avoided this whole headache.
"Hello?" the girl repeated, her irritated tone rising.
Yeah, Saff was really beginning to regret it.
"It's too dangerous this way," she answered, turning her head back to scan the buildings along the alleyway they'd just walked by.
Her eyes stopped at a fire escape where the ladder hung down a few feet off the ground.
The building was small, so there probably wouldn't be much inside. They could climb up the ladder to the second floor and take the stairs out on the other side and go out the entrance. That way, they would bypass both the group of people and the barricade. Then, once they were out, they could go down a few blocks and re-enter the alleyway, where it was safer.
Saff turned them back, careful to take quiet steps as they moved.
They reached the base of the ladder, and Saff reached up, wrapping her hand around the bottom rung before tugging it down a few times to test its strength.
Then she turned to the girl beside her. "We have to climb the fire escape," she whispered. "Do you wanna go first or second?"
The girl gave no pause, hesitation, or any sign of fear before responding. "Second.”
Saff nodded. "I'll tell you once I'm up," she muttered, turning back to the ladder and grabbing one of the rungs higher from the bottom. Then, she hopped up and pulled herself up the rustymetal, one rung at a time, careful not to make too much noise. As she neared the top, she stretched her neck out, searching through the small window of the first apartment.
But it was too dark and dusty to see inside.
"Okay, go," she whispered, leaning over to glance down below.
The girl reached one hand out, feeling in front of her until she grasped the bottom rung of the ladder. Her other hand reached up and tightened the straps on her backpack slightly. Then she jumped, pulling herself up enough so that one foot caught on the bottom rung with a reverberating creak.
Saff's eyes shot to the right, checking the area with the buses. Luckily, they were far enough away that she didn't think any sound would travel that far.
The girl climbed quickly and reached the top, stepping up next to where Saff crouched.
"What now?" she whispered.