As he walked down the maintenance hallway, he looked intently interested in the piece of paper on the clipboard, which was actually just a menu he had grabbed from the coffee shop.
He made it to the end of the corridor and pushed open a heavy steel door, finding himself in a vast car park, countless exotic car models that probably cost more than his old family home were parked there, gathering dust.
It was a tiered car park that went halfway up the side of the building. Apparently, most pathfinders were rich enough to have one, if not multiple, cars; for the most part, they kept them here.
Checking that the coast was clear, he noticed a few people washing an already sparkling sports car and slipped back into the shadow of a thick pillar, making sure they hadn't seen him.
He crouched down and began to creep through the gathered cars, making sure to stay out of sight. He was heading towards the open end of the giant structure that faced out onto the New Arrivals building.
When he peered out, he saw another car park beside him. It was slightly smaller, but then, so was the New Arrivals building It belonged to.
Looking up, he guessed how far the distance between them was, maybe 10 meters, and decided he would need to go to the 15th floor if he was going to make the jump.
Behind the car parks, he noticed long roads stretching off towards the foot of the bridge, cars flying up and down the road constantly, some moving so quickly they were little more than a blur.
While the city had been built around the bridge, it couldn't be too close. It wasn't safe. No one was safe near the bridge. Or so the government said.
He rechecked his watch, and ten excruciatingly short minutes had passed. Usually, the induction ceremony took half an hour, giving him only twenty minutes to find his way over to the new arrivals building and find the busses.
Grinning wildly, he relished the challenge. It was hard but not impossible. He could see the path forward and knew the only thing standing between him and what he wanted was a ten-meter gap between two buildings.
Grunting, he picked up his speed, grabbing his clipboard and striding as purposefully as his nerves would allow towards the nearest stairwell the workers used.
Flinging open the door, he began climbing the stairs. His heart was racing now, jackhammering in his chest like a rabbit on crack. He was worried he might collapse from a heart attack before reaching the 15th floor.
'AH! Why don't the service staff have an elevator?' he roared internally, panting as he climbed the never-ending stairs.
Halfway up, he bumped into a group of men wearing hard hats coming the other way. Heart in his throat, he nodded cordially, stepping to the side to let them pass.
"Fuck these stairs, am I right?" One of the men laughed, wiping sweat from his brow.
"You said it," Lan laughed along nervously, his back drenched.
"Where you headed?" Another man in a hard hat asked him.
"15th Floor"
All the men whistled and shook their heads, "Sorry to hear that, buddy. There's some crazy D-Rank on that floor, giving all the workers a hard time. Prick scratched his own car and is trying to blame us for the damages."
"Ha! You'd think a fancy fucking pathfinder could park, eh?" another man chimed in.
Lan thanked them for the information and continued up the stairs, his back slick with sweat. If he had gone to the 15th floor, he would have been screwed.
Thanking his lucky stars, he stopped at the 14th floor and, checking that no one was there, made his way to the far end and out to the edge.
Looking down at the building opposite him, the steep drop made his stomach churn, but that only hardened his resolve.
He reached into his pack and brought out the final thing he had brought. A length of black rope with a simple hook at the end.
Despite looking normal, this rope was even more expensive than the venom for the simple fact that it was extremely tough and had a minor enchantment that allowed it to return to whoever threw it.
He had no idea why someone would sell such an incredible tool, but Lan didn't question his good fortune. At this point, he felt he was owed some good luck.
Squinting, he looked across to the other car park and listened intently. He could hear shouting from above him and winced, knowing that some asshole was making some poor worker's life difficult for no reason other than that he could.
But that was why he was doing this, risking his life to get into the bridge, and spending every penny, his parents left him on some rope and venom.
It had started years ago when his parents died. Every time he looked for something to blame, the colossal shadow of the bridge was there, looming over him.
Everywhere he went, even in his dreams, it was there. Everpresent and indestructible. It took people, and it twisted them into something unrecognisable. He had seen it happen before his own eyes.
Rechecking his watch, he noticed that he only had ten minutes and clenched his fist around the rope, his knuckles turning white.
The hook flew out over the chasm between buildings, and his heart stopped. Watching the single piece of metal that would decide his fate, the world stood still.
It sailed through the air and began to dip, falling forwards and towards the ground. To his dismay, the hook streaked down and clattered against the side of the car park wall, bouncing off ineffectually.
Cursing, he pulled the rope back, rewinding it with the enchantment. This time, he took a few steps back before he threw it, running forward to give the throw more momentum.
Flying through the air, the hook clattered inside the 10th floor of the car park, and he yanked on it feeling it catch on something sturdy.
He tied the rope on his end around a pillar and, seeing that he only had 7 minutes left, burst into a run. In his hand, he held the high-visibility jacket and right before he jumped off the edge of the car park, he looped it over the top of the rope and used it to zipline across.
Wind rushed through his dark hair, blowing it out of his face to reveal the glee in his gloomy eyes. He hadn't felt this excited, this free in a long, long time.
The cold wall of the car park rushed up to meet him, and he let go, tumbling into the tenth floor and rolling to a stop.
He held his breath and prayed no one was there, praying that no one had seen him enter. The shout he was expecting never came, and eventually, he clambered to his feet, wincing slightly at his grazed knee and banged wrist.
Reaching down, he grabbed the end of the rope hooked under the front bumper of an expensive-looking sportscar and pulled it out, thanking the heavens it didn't break.
Activating the enchantment again, the rope unwound itself from the pillar, snaking through the air and into his grip, where he coiled it into a loop. He placed it in his bag and started walking.
Without time to catch his breath, he noticed he only had five minutes left and took off in a run, putting on the high-visibility jacket once again as he did so.
He bounded down the stairwell two steps at a time, checking each floor for buses as he did so. And the closer he got to the bottom, the more nervous he became. What if they were parked on one of the top floors? There were almost 100 levels to this car park, and he would never be able to check all of them in time.
His heart was in his mouth again when he reached the bottom floor. If they weren't here, it was all over.
Reaching out with trembling hands, he pushed open the door and stepped into the car park, more nervous than he had ever been in his entire life.
A tidal wave of relief washed over him when he walked onto the ground floor and saw hundreds of buses packed like sardines into the car park.
They were futuristic, beautiful and sleek in their design, with leather seats and massive tyres for a comfortable ride. Rumour had it that these sorts of buses could take a hit from a missile, and the students still wouldn't be late for school, and now that he saw them, he believed it.
Each bus was painted in bright school colours, with its crest proudly displayed on the side. And each school had tens, some even over one hundred buses.
And, to his delight, the buses lay empty. A few people milled about each one. Presumably, drivers or caretakers, each smoking or chatting, not paying attention to him.
He hid his grin behind his clipboard and marched over to the nearest bus with purpose. Now, more than ever, he needed to look like he belonged here.
Thinking he might stand out near the edges, he strode past the first bus he came across. Heading to one somewhere in the middle of the parking lot where there would be so many people, no one would notice one extra person.
Finally, he arrived at a massive bus with high road clearance. The driver and teachers were chatting on the other side by the bus door, giving him the chance he needed.
Scanning his surroundings, when he was sure nobody was looking, he dropped to his belly and slid under the bus, another moment where he was grateful for his skinny frame.
Thankfully, the bus had offroad tyres and was almost half a metre off the ground. Meaning that what he was about to do next wouldn't get him killed.
Careful not to make too much noise, he removed the rope and began to loop it around his waist and legs, ensuring it was tight in place.
Then he reached up, tying the rope around the undercarriage of the bus, once again eternally grateful to whatever idiot decided to sell such a great tool.
Lan tied the knot loosely enough that he could use it like a pulley to winch himself up, and then he moved the bag from his back to his stomach before pulling himself up until he was strapped tightly to the bottom of the bus.
It wasn't long before he heard footsteps, thousands of them. And then he felt the engine rumble as the bus driver turned the key. He could only be glad for the bag between him and the rapidly heating metal.
Turning his head to the side, he saw countless feet walk past the bus and heard the chatter of excitement from happy teenagers. It felt so alien to him, covered in grease and sweat, clinging to the bottom of their bus like a drowned rat.
He was the same age as they were. But he was a parasite, stealing scraps from their table.
Time trickled by and the buses around them were fully loaded. A queue of people lined up beside his bus as names were read out, and they responded with a shout before stepping into the vehicle.
'Why is it taking them so long?!' He cursed, begging them to just hurry up. 'What if…' to his horror, he heard the clatter of a dropped phone.
His head snapped around to the source of the sound, where he noticed a more petite figure surrounded by three larger ones. It appeared they had hit the phone from the person's hands and were now stamping on it.
'Even the academy kids aren't free from it…' he thought, watching the ruined phone with bated breath.
If the kid bent down to pick it up, they would see him. 'Just leave it! It's only a phone!' he screamed internally, hoping his thoughts would somehow reach the other person.
But they didn't. Names were called, and the three bigger people left, leaving the smaller person standing quietly above their ruined phone.
He slowly watched his life crash around him as the figure bent down, crouching as they picked up the pieces of their broken phone.
They had short white hair and three circular scars on their cheek. All he could do was watch in horror as their dull eyes flickered up for a moment and made contact with his.
Time stood still, and he couldn't even think, let alone breathe. What would they do? Should he run? Should he say something? Beg? His mind spun wildly, trying to come up with a way out.
But the person did nothing. They looked into his terrified face, and he looked into theirs, confused and tired. Neither said anything, but the person nodded, finished picking up the pieces of their phone, and walked onto the bus. The last person to board before it took off.
Beneath the bus, Lan's face was sheet white, and his stomach was doing somersaults. He couldn't believe what had just happened. An insane grin began to spread across his face, and he had to force himself not to burst into laughter.
He had done it! He had actually done it!
Thanks to the high-tech bus, the journey to the bridge was short. Lasting a little more than 5 minutes, they travelled around 10 miles to where the towering bridge lay.
When the wheels screeched and the buses stopped, he waited until the crowd had moved on from his bus and then untied himself, dropping out from under the scorching hot engine.
He managed to wriggle his way out from under the bus and took a deep breath of air, it was the best air he had ever tasted, and even better, it didn't stink of petrol fumes.
And then he looked up, staring directly into the eyes of an all too familiar pale figure with white hair.
"Hi," they said with an awkward smile.
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