>>6339183You get the feeling that whatever's wrapping itself around this building will gobble you up if you return to the lobby. The only way seems to be up. Hassan quickly agrees.
Neglecting to search the other apartments, you run back out the front door and into the outer hall, where vines and flowers are now so densely-concentrated that you might trip if you don't watch your step. The powerful scent of pollen fills your nostrils and you violently sneeze. You pull up your shirt over your mouth and nose in an attempt to filter it out.
You run to the ascending stairwell as the flora pulsates like a living texture upon the concrete walls and metallic railings. At the stairs, a vine as thick as an arm detaches itself from the wall and opens its bud, this time revealing a cerulean-colored flower facing you. You don't give it time for threat assessment: with a decisive swing, you use your saber to successfully slice it off mid-stem.
"Go!" Hassan commands from behind. You quickly climb up the stairs, making sure not to trip over any vines. You can hear the unsettling hiss of the other flowers floating about the complex. Either way, it's clear that you're being tracked.
You come up to the roof of the apartment building, where the skyline of the Zone is visible once again. An abandoned skyscraper towers over the rest of the cityscape. You dare not come too close to the edges, but you can see that the building is surrounded by dancing, serpentine vines, turning and ascending, buds to the sun, slowly flowering in turn, seeking their prey. You can't see where they're all coming from, through presumably they are connected.
Hassan darts towards the fire escape, the red metallic scaffolding barely visible from the roof, but after peeking over the edge he turns back while yelling out in frustration. "It's crawling with vines!"
Maybe there are other hunters nearby? Should you wave for help? But even if someone saw you, what could they possibly do? You remember that you have three shells left in your rifle, not that they've done you much good so far. You frantically assess the situation, looking around in search of solutions. You find...
The fire escape leads down to the ground floor, but it is, indeed, covered in vines. You might get ensnared on the way down, unless you have an effective way to clear a path.
There are two gas tanks up on the roof with you. Presumably they provided the apartments with gas. There's no way of knowing if they're full, but if they are, they could explode at any moment, given all the structural damage caused by the vines.
There is a telephone pole reachable from the roof... the cables are intact, and lead into a courtyard. Perhaps you could use them as a zipline?
>Write-in[ Here I will wait a few hours before I continue. As I mentioned previously, I'll keep posting whenever I can until this in-game day is done, then I'll come up with a regular schedule for updates. ]
