Given the deafening silence dominating the hallways, footsteps were quite easy to hear, even from a far distance. Though light, they were overly fast, and Elsie couldn’t afford even a second to pass in vain. Swift feet carried her throughout as she made her way through the corridors like she had done a thousand times before, only this time with a stranger on her arm.

How the young woman got there to begin was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was getting to safety before anyone could get a chance to catch up to them.