The Ascent

Chapter 5

Whatever the world had become, it was far too unpredictable for Jasmine's poor heart. Halfway through the street that would have taken her to the building, the creepy bald men appeared again. This time, however, she spotted them before they could see her, which was lucky as there were far more of them than before.

The problem was that she was on a clearing with no trees, not even bushes to hide behind, just a concrete parking lot, luckily that was when it hit her. The last time she was in that neighborhood, they were starting work on a new building by digging up an enormous crater that looked as ugly as it was big.

Not thinking about what she would do if they had already gotten to pouring in the concrete, she quickly dashed across the parking lot and slid down the square hole. The luck or laziness of the workers was on her side, and the void was as deep as she remembered. Still, she didn't allow herself to slide down completely, digging her fingers into the damp ground and holding onto some strong roots. After all, Jasmine wasn't sure if she would be able to climb back up if she slid completely down, having in mind it was rather steep.

She also wanted to catch a glimpse of the bald man to see what they were all about. More importantly, Jasmine wanted to check if her instincts were right, if they were dangerous or if she was overreacting again.

As carefully as possible, she glanced over the edge of the hole only to quickly drop her head down as they were far too close for comfort. Still, she could register a few strange things that she failed to hear the last time, an unfamiliar clicking sound as they walked by. It was multiplied countless times, making her wonder if they were just random heel-wearing men and she was going crazy or if they were something completely different. Something that didn't only have two legs.

"That's impossible! It makes no sense!" Jasmine thought, trying to place the sounds she heard into something familiar and failing miserably. "Things like that don't exist, creatures that look like men and sound like a herd of horses going by."

It was the best comparison she could come up with, and it was still not right. The clicking sounds were far different than those produced by hooves or heels. It seemed like the surface was much smaller somehow.

Jasmine was sweating and shaking so profusely that she wondered if they could smell her presence. Or if she would slide down the hole by accident and cripple herself as she could see no way that led to her safety.

Fear boiled at the pit of her stomach, making her feel sick, yet her hands stayed true and held on more firmly than ever before. It was as if something had given her inhuman strength, and it probably did, her survival instinct.

After a few agonizing minutes of sweat running into her eyes and unable to do anything about it, the sounds faded away. Jasmine allowed herself one last peek, almost regretting it. What she saw had her reeling and almost letting go of the edge.

Later, she would convince herself she was hallucinating. That it was a fear-induced apparition. However, in the here and now, Jasmine was petrified. One of the bald men she saw retreating wasn't a man. The only name she could think of for it was a humanoid creature.

Its head was round and smooth with strange horn-like protrusions on the back. Its face was far longer than a human's. Its cheeks were all sharp edges and bones, while its chin was more like a triangular-shaped double chin than anything else. Furthermore, the skin color was light blue, glistening subtly.

Soon enough, the strange unearthly face disappeared and was substituted with a regular bald guy, causing Jasmine to doubt her sanity. Making her extremely worried about her mental health, which wasn't the greatest even before the whole mess started in the first place.

She wanted her family more than anything else, even though they hadn't left things on the best of terms. Even their presence alone would have made her feel safer as she clung to the edge of the void while her hands bled from the effort.

Only when the tears started running down her face did Jasmine realize that was just the wrong thing to think about. She needed to put the worries about her family aside, to compartmentalize, if she wanted to survive. After all, she was no good to anyone if she got herself killed or worse.

Luckily, her whole life seemed to have been a preparation for a moment such as that one. Because from an early age, she had learned to compartmentalize things, to lock up her emotions for a time when she would have better tools to deal with them. There would be time for crying, worrying, and going crazy but now was not it. Now was the time to move.

Thus, she lifted her head, checking her surroundings, and seeing no signs of the men, Jasmine slowly lifted herself up to the curb. It took much more effort than anticipated as her muscles were tired out by the unexpected exercise, but she did it nevertheless.

As soon as she crawled onto the curb, she lifted herself up and started running towards her friend's building as there weren't many things around to allow her a covert approach. Speed was the only option.

Upon reaching the building, she typed in the code they used for the front door. As expected, the doors opened with quite a loud buzzing sound that made Jasmine spin around quickly to see if anyone had heard it. As the coast seemed clear, she quickly entered the building, firmly shutting the door to ensure that the automatic locking system had taken effect.

Then she ran up the stairs to the fifth floor as she didn't want to risk being cornered in the elevator. Besides, she never did like that building's tiny elevator.

Once she reached the apartment she needed, Jasmine was unsure of what she was supposed to do. She couldn't just barge in on unfamiliar people if there were any there. But she was scared that ringing the bell might draw the unwanted attention.

Finally, how she was raised won over, and she rang the bell once. She hoped it was enough of a warning for the people inside. And that it was too short to get the attention of the strange men as Jasmine refused to accept what her eyes had told her about them potentially not being men at all.

All she was met with was silence. Thinking about the best thing to do, Jasmine wondered if the people inside were there but just too terrified to open up or if they were gone as most of the city seemed to be.

"Well, there is only one way to find out," Jasmine said, startling herself but quickly recovering.

She carefully tried the door and was shocked to find it unlocked. After all, most people she knew were very careful about locking their doors, especially when they weren't home.

The feeling of dread started forming in her heart, even greater than before. However, Jasmine marched defiantly into the apartment to prevent the fear from spreading.

In her haste to accomplish her self-imposed mission, she didn't notice the door at the other end of the hall opening just a tiny fraction. She also failed to notice the pair of eyes looking through the gap in the door.

Someone or something was there.

Watching.