Taking down the door was annoying. We had it boarded up, and for good reason; occasionally, there was a banging, and sadly, none of that banging was from anyone (or really, anything) that we wanted to deal with. Which was why we boarded it up in the first place, because we knew that there would be things banging on our door, and we didn't care for that at all.

We still had the hammer near the door, thank God, in case anything happened and we had to make a break for it. Of course, the door was actually the worst place for an escape, since that's where we expected threats to come from.

I took the back of the hammer and started to pry the boards open. Of course, this would create noise and unwanted attention, but I didn't care much. We had guns.

After about half an hour, the nails were out and the boards were

off. The door was still locked, though.

I nodded to Na, who carefully handed me a shotgun of some kind with

a strap attached. She smirked at me a bit.

"You still know how to use it?"

I laughed a bit, not answering this question at all.

She handed me a machete and a hollister she made after we arrived,

which was meant for said machete. I strapped the hollister on and

slipped the knife away, and at this point Ro did the same thing for

her own. She also held a hand pistol.

I nodded to myself a bit. "Keys," I thought out loud.

Ro ran off for a second, returning with two keys.

"We'll check to see if they work?" she proposed. I nodded to her.

"Alright, then. Let's go..."

I scooted over to the door, pressing my ear against it, listening.

The sound I didn't want to hear was moaning, coughing, steps, or

anything at all, really. I wanted pure silence. Thankfully, that's

what I got.

Quietly, I unlocked the door, pulling it towards me. I quickly took

the key and stuck it in the padlock - a perfect fit, thankfully.

I backed up, allowing Ro to try the same. In the meantime, my head

shifted out of the apartment door's frame, looking at the hallway.

It was narrow, with only two or three more doors in either

direction; an open fire exit was at one end and a small landing with

an elevator and a door to stairs was at the other. The yellow walls

had slight accents of brownish-red, smeared downwards and becoming

more present near where I was.

"Clear."

I stepped out of the apartment for the first time in months.

Ro pulled out her key and followed suit, stretching. She smiled at

me.

"See? It's not so bad so far," she joked, hollistering her pistol

and pulling out her machete.