Peering down I saw a massive garden that had swallowed the whole of the first floor and scarcely grew off the railings of the first floor as if it was reaching upwards

They weren't just any kinds of plants though

most of the plants were venous fly traps that had grown enough to consume an entire mutant with a single bite of their maw

'Fuck'

It made me instantly regret my decision of eating everything

What scared me even more was that almost half of their maws were already closed holding captives inside

Standing there I noticed one of the maws begin to open

As its mouth widened boiling blood and smoking bones came out pooling at its base before it was greedily absorbed by the other plants that were growing near it

It seemed like its own cut off ecosystem revolving around the plants that could break down and devour monsters and those that could hunt and drag the mutants back for the fly traps to enjoy

It was a gruesome and revolting realization as I cast a gaze towards the large pool of blood that had vanished in a matter of seconds

"Gulp"

'Can I even make it out of here in tact?'

As I thought about the gruesome death of anything that found itself trapped in those maws I looked around searching for a way out that would keep me away from those plants

I looked to the stairs and saw that it only led up two floors before completely collapsing, the fallen concrete was probably underneath those plants

'That's more than enough'

I resolutely decided to make it up two floors before I went back through a similar apartment onto the fire escape I had used before getting trapped in this building

I carefully made my way around the large pit sticking close to the railing when I passed by the overgrown doors in fear of being pounced upon

As I got closer to the stairs I leant on a railing causing it to crumble under my slight touch

'Shit! Everything's so fragile here'

I slowed down significantly making sure that every step I took was filled with precision and care to make sure the floor wouldn't suddenly collapse under me

After finally reaching the stairs I took similar care with each and every step I took

I put a foot on the step before me and slowly added weight, after making sure it was strong enough to carry me I would stamp my foot down on it making sure it would remain stable

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After my thorough tests I finally stood upon the step and did the same test to the next step

While this seemed time consuming and tiring it bore fruit as almost half of the steps collapsed saving me from falling down and potentially hurting myself

As I reached the the next floor I took a moment to take everything around me in

Unlike the previous floor the plants had thinned significantly leaving only a handful of small roots, this left a bleaker grey and dusty atmosphere around the floor

While it was slightly off putting it gave off a sense of safety compared to the other floors that had roots taking them over like an invasive species

"phew"

Relaxing I looked towards the apartment doors

'Should I loot the apartments?'

I was momentarily overtaken by a greed to take everything I could find from those apartments even though the plants below still scared me

Before I instinctively went over to the doors I snapped out of it remembering the danger I was still in

'Fucking idiot'

I couldn't believe the crazy thought of stealing when I still hadn't escaped the dire situation I was in

Shaking my head I quickly went back to testing the stairs up to the next level

After a few minutes I heard a low crumbling sound from beneath my feet

"Creeaaar"

Rocks and cracks seemed to differentiate themselves under my feet as I froze in place hoping that it wouldn't progress anymore

After a few seconds everything returned to how it had been before

Once the stairs had become calm and stable I breathed a sigh of relief and went to take another step

"Cruuuvahh!"

The concrete gave out and the entire staircase fell downwards with me quickly following after

The entire staircase leading up to the next floor broke apart and fell down onto the staircase bellow it causing a loud crash that sent fishers all through the concrete

"Kraa"

I bit the inside of my cheek to calm down as I laid a top ruble that was inclined causing me to slide downwards when I tried to move

"Arhh!"

I felt a burning pain shoot through my body and muddle my brain as I slid down only a few centimeters

I tried to look down towards the painful area but I couldn't as I was chest down on the spiky concrete with rebar warped and twisted in different forms

I knew I wouldn't be able to discover the reason for the pain if I stayed in this position so I mustered up my courage and planted my hands just beneath my shoulders

I gently placed my teeth onto my bottom lip and composed myself before I pushed myself upwards and away from the concrete

"AARHH"

I pushed myself up just enough to pear under my body to find two pieces of rebar and a sharpened rock piercing my body

The long rebar pierced all the way through my thigh while the short piece of rebar had stabbed my chest

Unlike the rebars the rock had drawn the least blood and stabbed into my stomach in a shallow fashion

The long piece of rebar stopped me from moving without lifting my body up more and enduring a longer amount of pain

It would hurt more and cause me to bleed faster so it wasn't ideal

As I kept my body lifted with my left arm I felt around for my dagger on the side of my body

I wasn't trying to grab my ordinary dagger but the new one I had bought recently, it would easily cut through this rebar considering the materials it had been made out of

It took longer because I was reaching around my whole body but I finally grasped it and pulled it out of its sheath before carefully bringing it down and under my stomach

The dagger gently slid through the rebar with little force as if cutting food

Its efficiency and sharpness would truly be breath taking if I wasn't occupied by the pain that was barely being fended off due to the excessive adrenaline that had accumulated in my body

After freeing my body I pushed myself to the side and took laborious breathes as I continuously felt my stomach expand and rub against the rebar with each breathe I took

'F-fuck me'

After a few seconds of rest I looked over my shoulder to stare at the needlessly long piece of rebar that might have nicked an organ if I was unlucky

'Fuck, I hope I'm lucky'

Grasping my dagger I reached around my body and cut off the long end leaving only a small stub extending from my back

I inspected the cut off piece that was about half the size of my forearm

'I was thinking of pushing my body up off of this? I would have been standing up by then, Hahaha'