Valerie pulled out her phone before ringing her mother to tell her she went through security. "They took my pistol..." Valerie told her mother. "If I don't have a good reason to board a plane with a weapon, it'll be confiscated.".
"But you're a detective, goddammit..." Valerie heard her mother reply.
"Seems like that isn't enough for them..." Valerie replied, chucking.
They spoke for a few more minutes before Valerie hung up the call, her final words being that she would send her mother a message when she was onboard the plane.
With that, all alone, Valerie walked through the airport. Around her, she was surrounded by shops upon shops, the duty-free section, all of which were closed.
Ensuring she was going the right way, she glanced at her ticket, which she extracted from her pocket. D11. She was close.
Reaching her gate, she saw people all swarmed in a group. Outside the jetway was a big plane. It had one deck but was prolonged, stretching back for metres upon metres. Its wings were lengthy and broad, with a big engine on each wing. The fan blades gently rotated in the mere breeze.
Looking around, she tried to see if she saw any familiar faces in the fast crowd of people ahead. However, she recognised no one.
It wasn't long until an announcement was made that their flight to Veursau would begin boarding very soon.
A long line was already made and Valerie took her place in the queue before it got any longer. Soon enough, the people were allowed to board the plane, one by one.
When Valerie reached the front, she handed her boarding pass to the gate attendant. Writing some sort of a signature on the page, she handed it back to Valerie. "Have a safe trip.". And with that, Valerie walked off.
She headed into the jetway and soon she reached the open door of the plane. Entering the cabin, she was greeted by a flight attendant who showed Valerie her seat. A window seat, just behind the wing.
Just as promised, she sent her mother a message before turning off her phone.
Slowly, the plane got more and more filled as more of the survivors entered the cabin and took their seats.
It wasn't long before the doors of the plane were closed and the flight attendant wished everyone a warm welcome. "Our flight, from Liß to Verusau will be approximately 6 hours and 14 minutes.".
The warm voice of the flight attendant made her mind wander away from reality as she was talking. It made her feel as though it was just another, early morning flight out of Liß. It made her feel as though the world hadn't gone to shit...
Not long after, the plane was pushed back from the gate as its first engine was powered up to life. With a low rumble, Valerie felt the soles of her feet vibrate at the sheer power of the engines. Soon after, the 2nd engine was also powered to life.
Another slight sound caught Valerie's attention. The flaps on the wings began to lower ever so slightly. The airliner was being configured for departure.
Not long passed before the plane began rolling, slowly taxiing toward the active runway of the big airport.
In the back, Valerie saw the Liß skyline once more. A hue of orange. Thanks to the reflection of the snow-filled clouds, it served as an illumination for Valerie to further see the state of the city. Towers of smoke rose from the burning buildings.
Not long passed before the big plane reached the runway. The lights in the cabin dimmed as the voice of the flight attendant was heard again. "Passengers, please be seated for departure.".
The plane halted on the runway for a minute before the engines began to slowly spool up. With the plane moving again, only then were the engines allowed to spool up all the way.
Still keeping her eyes out the window, Valerie was pinned back into her seat and the rapid acceleration of the airliner.
The ground below them moved faster and faster until the plane began to tilt upward. Seconds later, when the back wheels of the plane lost contact with the ground, they were airborne.
The plane rose that bit more into the sky, allowing Valerie to see more of the orange of the fires that burned the big city. Behind it, hills that evolved into mountains rose into the sky, most of them managing to reach the dense clouds and beyond.
Soon, they were to reach them too.
Flying into the dense gases that made up the clouds, they sailed through them and within minutes, they managed to reach the top, flying further into the clear atmosphere.
The airliner only proceeded to climb further out of the doomed city of Liß, and there came a moment when a ray of light reached past the clouds by Earth's horizon. It was the rising sun.
Such a sight, though Valerie glanced its way, made her remember what Monica said. About their escape route being just after the rising of the sun. It made Valerie think what would have happened had they done as such... if they hadn't managed to get the radio to work and they were left in the police station, waiting for the arrival of the morning.
'I've managed to escape, just as the sun rose over the horizon...' Valerie thought to herself, another lump taking its place back within her throat. 'I managed to get out, Monica...'.
She allowed her head to rest against her seat before she lowered the window shade. Next, she closed her eyes shut as the sound of the engines running slowly grew more and more faint... until it was no more. Until she fell asleep.
What felt like a second later, Valerie found herself waking up. She took in a deep breath, wondering where she was. She made sense of her situation. She was on a plane, but when she pushed open the window shade, she saw the brightness of the blue sky outside. They were high, higher than she anticipated.
The roads and rivers below them were like wavey scribbles as if they were written out on a page. The warm colours of the outside made her realise, seconds later, that they were far away from home. Far from the cold grip of Lailin.
On the cabin ceiling, in the aisle row, small monitors were lowered, offering some entertainment to the passengers. Often, there was a shift in what was shown. A weather forecast was shown before the map of where the plane was going popped up on the screen. A small icon of a plane resembled the airliner they were on. The time to one corner of the map showed to be 10:58.
A little ahead of the shown icon was a yellow dot. It resembled their destination. They were to begin their descent soon.
Soon enough, the monitor showed a TV show and with that, Valerie turned her gaze back toward her window.
Minutes later, Valerie felt the plane's nose go down slightly. The sensation caused a whirling in her stomach that spread through her body, causing her to take a tight grasp of the handrests on her seat. They began their descent into Veursau.
Soon, the ground seemed to approach the plane the more they descended through the clear, Veursian sky.
Soon enough, the plane was configured for landing, as its landing gear, as well as its flaps, were lowered.
Valerie kept her gaze on the broad scenery of Veursau. Ruined buildings patterned the terrain, as clouds of smoke blocked her view in some instances from the city. Wreaked cars, either burnt down or turned over, or both, filled both the roads and sidewalks of what used to be the capital city of their kingdom.
It also used to be the most beautiful city, however, the outbreak ruined its reputation. Not only Veursau but other cities too.
Soon enough, an unprecedented change took place. They flew over a wall that stretched for what seemed like kilometres. And all of a sudden, there was life on the other side.
Lucious greens of the trees and parks. Cars driving around. People were out and about. Life continued despite the horrid happenings. Valerie felt some sort of weight come off her chest.
It seemed like Veursau was still keeping strong after all.
The plane continued its approach into the airport and very soon, the main landing gear touched down onto the asphalt runway.
The plane slowed down, hopping merely over the uneven runway, causing everything inside the cabin to jingle. Once the big airliner was slow enough, it taxied off the piste.
Very soon, the plane slowly rolled into place at its gate. Seconds later, the plane's monstrous engines were shut down as everyone stood up.
As soon as Valerie stepped out of the plane, she felt like she entered a whole new world. She was never in Veursau, another reason as to why she felt as such. But what truly baffled her was how life proceeded as if nothing was happening. All the workers wore masks over their faces— aside from that, she would have assumed that what happened back in Liß, back in Artull, was all just a nightmare she had as she was flown to Veursau. Except she knew it wasn't.
The police awaited the group further through the airport terminal. They directed them toward the exit of the terminal building, where buses awaited them all.
Valerie managed to get a seat on one of them before the capacity reached its maximum, resulting in some of her fellow passengers having to wait for the buses to come back.
The drive was a total of 25 minutes. And when the vehicle halted, Valerie and everyone else onboard were let out. Ahead of them was a big building. The reception at the front reminded her of something she had seen in a hotel a few times.
One by one, the survivors were each given a room and a key. Once Valerie received such, "Thank you very much," she uttered before making her way to the elevator. Reaching the floor where her apartment was on, she walked to the door with her room number.
Unlocking and opening the door, she stepped inside the small hallway.
From there, she could see most of her apartment from the entrance. Small living space. However, she didn't complain. For the situation they were in and for the pure act of modesty in the way that she got such a space for free, she was glad for it.
Further exploring the apartment, she found there to be, naturally, a kitchen and a dining room, a bathroom, a living room and a balcony, which was reached through the living room. She also found there to be two bedrooms.
'Two bedrooms?' Valerie thought to herself. 'Will... will I be having roommates?'.
The thought of having roommates sat well with Valerie, once she thought more of it. She knew that with it being her first time somewhere so far away from home, living alongside someone was due to make her feel better. At the least, she thought, she might have someone who could relate to her.
Each room had a wardrobe. Both were empty, except for two pairs of navy clothes— for both men and women.
The bathroom had mere, cheap necessities for both men and women along with toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Stipping her dirty, blood-stained clothes off her body, she hopped into the shower before washing herself. There wasn't a lot of warm water, causing her to hurry.
Grabbing a towel, she dried herself before dressing herself up.
Powering her phone up, she sent messages to all her loved ones that she had arrived and how she was safe.
With that, she looked back toward the rooms, wondering when her roommate was to come.
And as if her thoughts were answered, a beep on the door was heard before it opened. A man walked into the hallway of the apartment.
Valerie immediately noticed the bruises on his face before his dark cause caught her looking. A slight stubble was present on his face as his dark hair alone told her he had been through hell and back— A lot like her.
At first, no words were exchanged. "I'll take it you're my roommate then...". His voice was more baritone than she'd anticipated.
She nodded to his words. "I'm Valerie..." she introduced herself seconds later.
"Frank..." he responded. With that, he looked around the place. The door of the bathroom was ajar, filling the hallway with the scent of a body wash and shampoo, giving Frank insight that she had already showered. "I see you've already made yourself feel at home...".
"I better get more acquainted... because I've no other place to call home," Valerie responded, not intending for the darkness her words carried. In the way Frank turned his head, his gaze pointed at the ground, her words struck a chord within him also. However, he proceeded to say nothing. Instead, he continued looking around the apartment.
A sudden knock caused them both to look toward the door. Valerie was the first to reach it, with her turning the knob and pulling it toward herself, and the door revealed two people, a man and a woman, in suites, looking at Valerie.
"Are you Valerie Simmons?" the man spoke up.
"Y-yes, yes I am..." she began. "How can I help you?...".
"I am Detective Malcolm Kelly..." the man began, introducing himself before turning toward the woman. "And this is my partner, Detective Haileigh Wright.".
"Detectives..." Valerie voiced under her breath, her stomach tying knots upon knots.
"We ask you to come with us, Ms Simmons," Detective Wright said. "We have a few questions we'd like to ask you.".
Valerie's mouth was open in surprise. She looked back at Frank, who was equally as surprised. "I-is everything okay, Detective?".
Detective Kelly cleared his throat before speaking up. "We will answer all of your questions once we're down at the station, Ms Simmons.".
Feeling as if she had no choice, Valerie took a step forward. "Will... will I be returned here?...".
"Yes. We don't plan to keep you for long," Detective Wright responded.
And with that, Valerie closed the apartment door before following the detectives out of the building.
The sun headed for the horizon as the police car set off. Valerie Simmons sat in the back of the car, her stomach still spinning in wonder as to why two detectives came to her door.
However, she was to find out soon...
Once the interview commenced.