Jack catches up with Lyia at the rooftop entrance to Slim’s building.

She turns to him. “Where to from here?”

“Slim’s place is on the top floor, so we just need to go one level down.” He slips the second strap of his pack on so it more comfortably fits at the center of his back.

“Not Slim’s! I know where that is. I want to know about the place that you’re planning on hiding out. This ‘Cliff City’ you keep talking about. Where’s that?”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he looks at his hands. The blood he wasn’t able to wipe off has already started drying and staining his skin with brown spots. “We gotta get to Slim.”

“Forget Slim! We’ve gotta get out of here! Wait.” Lyia stops and her brows knit together in a scowl at Jack. “Slim’s there?”

“I’m sure he is. You know he’s never left his shop for a raid. ‘Sides, if he weren’t there, we’d never be able to get in. Dude’s place is locked down good n’ tight.” Jack swings open the rooftop entrance door. “Now c’mon. Let’s go.”

He turns back to Lyia, catching a moment of hesitation in her step before finally stepping through the entrance. Before closing the door behind them, Jack takes a quick moment to search the sky. It’s tough to tell where Corva and that old bearded bag of skin have gone off to. However, there’s an unmistakable sound of Umbrati foot soldiers and their distinctive throat-clearing coughs. A lot of them. And they’re close.