Monet ran as quickly and as quietly as she could. The ground around the Block was uneven and completely wooded with thick, tall trees that only let her see a few yards ahead of herself. The dense forestation muffled a lot of her sound and everything sounded close, hidden. She paused at regular intervals around the perimeter both to catch her breath and to reorient herself to her surroundings, always keeping the walled property on her right within eyesight. It would be super easy to get lost out here if she lost her way and she briefly doubted her skills and her decision to go at this alone.
Don't be stupid, she admonished herself sharply.
It wasn't long before she noticed the cameras pointed outward into the forest. She dodged them the best she could, staying just out of range. Why would someone monitor the outside of such a large property? She kept moving, ducking into the shadows of the trees when she found more cameras, thankful that she was smart enough to wear clothing that at least somewhat blended into her surroundings; Fler would have given them away immediately in that stupid red flannel, he she decided to take the fire demon with her.
Much of the wall and fence were the same, cameras posted atop fence posts at regular-ish intervals. As she rounded the back, however, she noticed the frequency of cameras pick up - and flood lights. Ahead, a clearing with what looked like a dirt road. She paused, knowing enough to not go running directly up to the road, her blood pumping hard and fast in her ears. The feeling in the air was different here, and she began to feel... watched. She whipped her head around to ensure that she was still alone, but the sensation lingered. Slowly, with her eyes on the fence on her right and her steps chosen as carefully as she could manage in the foliage, Monet Pak approached the clearing.
It was a road after all, a narrow dirt path that had weeds threatening to recover the edges and a center path where no tires cut. She suspected that this road would be found on no published maps, and didn't bother wandering what this random path in the woods would lead to, fenced off as it was with a thick chain and padlock over the ten-foot sliding steel gate. With caution and weary eyes, Monet approached the gate, climbing out of the foliage and out onto the dirt road.
Upon the hill, inside the fence she could see the Block in the far distance, a small cube sticking out of the ground now. The road veered off to the left and Monet lost the path with her eyes. There wasn't much to see after the dirt road took a hard left and disappeared beyond the fence, but she could see the top of what seemed like a narrow check-in booth. She watched it for a few seconds before determining that it was most likely empty. Quickly, she took to her feet and ran the length of the fence, the Block remaining on her right.
So there was a second way out of this place if shit hit the fan. That was good news. Long minutes passed and doubt crept into her thoughts again. Had she somehow managed to mess up where she was? Shouldn't she be nearing the front gate by now? Or was the property impossibly large and Monet had simply not noticed? Her internal compass told her this was wrong. She simply needed to keep going.
Within a few minutes, she smelled cigarette smoke and assumed she was getting closer to the front gate. Sure enough, she almost burst out of the trees and onto the path as she felt eyes on her again. This time, Fler's red flannel was a welcoming sight.
"Okay," she panted, her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, pulling the bandana off of her face in her grapple for air in her lungs. Damn, she was out of shape. "There's a road..." she continued, words coming out of her in gasps, "around back... a dirt road... leads West... There's cameras... all over the damn place..."
"Did you see that?"
Monet whipped around to look at what Fler had found - nothing. But she had felt something there, just like in the woods. The skin on the back of her neck and arms prickled, despite the sweat. She was liking this whole thing less and less. She stood tall, swaying briefly with a lack of oxygen and jumped at the sudden appearance of the tall man. Freakishly tall. Inhumanly tall. Monet had nothing prepared, and looked to Noelle for her words instead.
