Time had passed much faster than Leo had realized as he looked up at the sky. The sun was rapidly descending, and Leo needed to make up his mind or he would be locked out of his shelter for the night. Spending the night on the streets was not a pleasant experience, and one he would prefer to avoid.
Leo looked around his current location, and while he knew roughly where he was and how to return to where he was, he didn't recognize any of the buildings around him. While he could hide the mask somewhere around here, the problem was threefold. First, he would have to hide the mask; two, remember where it was and hope no one else found it; and three, get back to the shelter before it was barricaded for the night. Leo's unfamiliarity with this area could be disastrous if he stuck around much longer.
He sighed and turned around. Returning to his section of the slum would be the best for now. He looked up once more and saw the sun had begun to fall below the horizon. Hurrying his pace, he resigned himself to continuing his search tomorrow. Even though Leo felt great, he knew that a good rest would make the journey to finding a place to hide the pure mask would be for the best.
Passing by the Folk's territory, Leo kept alert, not wanting a repeat of his encounter with the Hollows. A single slumfolk running at this time wasn't exactly an uncommon sight, so he didn't particularly draw any attention to himself. In fact, Leo could see a couple of dozen others running, some in the same direction, other in the opposite.
It would be nice if Leo could just use any shelter, otherwise he would have just stopped at any of the four that he had passed by already. Sadly, it didn't work that way. Rather most shelters had a registry of people that had paid for that month.
If you weren't on that shelter's list, you weren't getting in. Some had more extensive measures, such as hiring a member of the guard from the puritans like Haily's shelter. In contrast, the shelter Leo is currently staying at was mostly made up of laborers who barricaded the doors at night. In return for a much lower price point, the slumfolk that ran the shelter even expected you to assist with the shelter's defense.
There were also few shelters that were more akin to abandoned buildings that people huddled into rather than having any means of security. They usually didn't last very long though and were more akin to a desperate measure of those who could not afford an actual shelter or were banned from all of the surrounding shelters.
The shelters would often expel troublemakers, especially if it was during their first month there. Of course, the shelter would keep their money for the hassle of kicking them out. Some shelters even shared lists of known troublemakers, though usually these shelters were directly next to each other. For example, Leo's shelter has a very different blacklist than Haily's or Cal's shelters for example.
These troublemakers, if they weren't one already, often became members of a gang. The gangs themselves provided shelter for the members for 'free', but the cost of joining was often high. Joining a gang wasn't exactly easy either, someone looking to join had three options.
Commit a series of 'assignments' for the gang, pay a prohibitively expensive amount of money to buy your way in, or have an existing member vouch for you. Leo himself wasn't too familiar with the inner workings of the gangs though, as he was never a member.
Leo turned onto Copper Hollow where his shelter was located and started to sprint as the sun began to fall below the horizon. The road was almost completely empty with only himself and two others running for a shelter. One of them running towards and turned at an intersection towards the dump, while the other turned into a shelter next to Leo's.
As Leo reached his shelter, his faced was drained of all color. They had already boarded up for the night as the sun set. Leo cursed himself for losing track of time. He wasn't like this usually, normally he was inside with plenty of time.
Great, and now I have to spend thenight outside.
Turning around Leo looked for the closest abandoned building. Leo knew this area well, and began walking towards the closest one, which was directly across the street from the dump. He knew that there were people that huddled into it for safety every so often, but it wasn't exactly common.
If he was feeling brave, he could have ducked into one of the gang occupied buildings nearby. Unfortunately, Leo knew the minor gang in control of these buildings, and they would charge him an absolute premium to stay the night. One that he couldn't afford, especially with the pure mask hiding under his clothing.
Leo just hoped he didn't run into a streetwalker. To that end, Leo stayed on the main roads, avoiding the alley ways like the plague. He wanted to have as large a sight line as possible, not that he could see much as darkness began to cloak the slums.
As he could see the dump's large walls coming into sight behind a destroyed building, Leo breathed a sigh of relief, but knew he was not out of danger yet. Leo almost thought about putting on the pure mask, even if to give himself some ability to fight back should he need to. But not yet, he was still afraid of what would happen if he wore that wretched thing for an extended period of time.
Approaching the abandoned building, there was not a single soul in sight. The dump was eerily quiet during the night, and all of the honest slumfolk had long gone to bed. Only the unlucky or depraved would be out this late.
The chill of night ran through Leo, his layers of clothing doing little to protect him. Leo cursed himself for not making it back to the shelter in time. Even if the shelters weren't much warmer, at the very least he could have bundled up into his makeshift bed. Tonight, he only had his current clothing to keep him warm.
Leo somewhat remembered how the building was structured, since he passed by it every day. But tonight, his passing glances did nothing to help him understand where he could find safety. For all Leo knew, there was a streetwalker hiding inside, making this building a deadly trap rather than his salvation.
With a deep breath, Leo understood that until he could confirm his safety, the pure mask was his only lifeline. Letting it just sit under his clothing it would be risking too much. Even so, Leo knew that part of this decision was made under the masks twisted manipulation.
Maybe the pure mask orchestrated this entire situation by messing with his sense of time, to where Leo was practically forced to wear it again.
Leo took off his light-yellow mask and begrudgingly brought the pure mask up to his face. His concern of being able to take it off weighed heavily on his mind.
"Well here goes nothing I guess." He whispered to himself.
The mask attached itself to his face, and Leo felt the rush of strength extend to every inch of his body. He looked around, but unfortunately, while the mask gave him strength, it did not give him the ability to see in the dark. Paying more attention to his own body and the changes that it brought to his body, Leo took note of something strange.
He could almost feel every drop of blood that coursed through his veins. Each heartbeat felt like a compression and release, and his sense of time appeared to slow if he focused on it. The sensation felt oddly satisfying, but at the same time, it made his skin crawl.
Leo inspected the rest of his body after this 'discovery' to see if anything else had been enhanced. His hearing didn't feel more intense, and his nose smelled the same putrid air that it always did. Seemingly the mask only provided this strange awareness of how his body was doing.
He was as ready as he would ever be and walked into the building. The insides were silent, and there were no signs that anyone had used it recently. Not that Leo could really see anything anyways.
Stumbling around in the dark wasn't the best option, but it was probably his only real option. Accidentally kicking a piece of rubble, Leo could hear the sound echo throughout the empty hallways.
Well, if something is here, it knows I am too.
After that, Leo figured that he would have an easier time if he used the walls to find a safe room, rather than wander aimlessly in the open. Placing his hand on the wall he continued to walk forward. The first doorframe led to an empty room.
Looking inside, Leo could make out that there was broken glass on the ground reflecting the moon that hung in the sky, but not much else. The room itself didn't seem very secure, on top of being the very first room in the building that was accessible, the glass on the floor was a sign not to stay here.
He ruled the room out and continued on his way. Navigating the building was fairly simple, especially by following the walls, he was able to make a mental note of the floorplan. Aided by his familiarity with the outside of the building, he made swift work of the first floor, not finding any room that was suitable.
There were many rooms in the strange old building, ones enclosed completely, ones with doors, ones without doors, ones with collapsed ceilings, and after a half hour Leo finally found a room that someone else was staying in on the third and final floor.
Leo could hear faint breathing as he approached the room, and as he stood close to the doorframe he knocked in a peculiar way. The person knocked in response, acknowledging his presence and that it was safe to approach. The knock was very specifically taught to every child who lived in the slums, that if they ever found themselves outside at night, to knock whenever they encountered another slumfolk.
It's a good thing that neither of us can see, they might freak out if they see the pure mask.
Leo took a tentative step into the room before locating the other slumfolk was sitting in the corner huddled up. Walking to the opposite corner Leo was about to try to take off the mask, but the other person began to talk in a hushed voice.
"I'm surprised you didn't die. There is a streetwalker in here."
The gruff and deep voice broke the silence and Leo immediately understanding the severity of the situation. Weighing this new information as well as the risks the pure mask posed, he decided to keep on the mask for at least a little longer. In the corner of his mind Leo realized that the mask might be influencing his decisions once more, but Leo wasn't willing to gamble his life on that kernel of doubt.
"I guess I got lucky." Leo finally responded.
The pair sat in silence for an hour, with Leo mostly listening and feeling his blood flow throughout his body. It was an odd sensation now that he had time to focus on it. Were all pure masks like this or was it just his?
During the second hour, Leo began to doubt if a streetwalker was actually here. Normally they were loud and clumsy creatures. Almost every slumfolk had heard a streetwalker pass by their shelter at least once in their life. It wasn't exactly a sound that one could forget, but Leo heard nothing similar to those horrific beings walking around.
Then a harsh screech echoed throughout the building and Leo could feel the blood drain from his face. It appears that the streetwalker was here after all.