As he gestured for her to sprint into the skeleton of nearby building - that, amazingly, was still at least partially standing - she scrambled forward and darted into the entrance, feeling the temperature plunge as soon as she was out of the warmth of the sun's intense rays. The giant spider hadn't appeared to have spotted them but Christy was thankful for Jeffrey's caution. Panting, she slide down against a neighbouring wall, in a bid to catch her breath. As she sat, a cloud of dust puffed up around her and she coughed as the particles tickled her throat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something scuttle into the depths of a shadowed doorway but since she hadn't had time to identify it as a threat, she pushed it out of her mind. It appeared they had bigger things to worry about. Quite literally. 

[i]"Are you alright?" [/i]

She barely had chance to open her mouth before the relative quiet was pierced by a horrific, piercing wail - it sounded as though a cat was being tortured. The sound lasted for several seconds and she grimaced, as it rattled her eardrums and filled her imagination with exaggerated images of monsters and mutated animals. When it finally stopped, the words she'd been about to reply with had dissipated into the abyss of sanity. 

[i]"oh my..." [/i], she heard Jeffrey utter, glancing to her and she simply nodded mutely. Her jeans were covered in brick dust and she was pretty sure her neat bun hairstyle had deteriorated into a mess of curls. She braced herself against the floor, as she tried to gather her mental bearings.

"...well, that was unexpected..." she murmured, "But yes...I'm still alive"

She glanced at the gun still in his hand and nodded, slowly and soberly.

"I feel a little unprepared," she said with a watery grin, as she drew her knees up and rested her arms on them, "I didn't really bring anything with me, weapons-wise."

She traced circles in the dust, to give her trembling hands something to do. The dust felt thicker than usual dust and she pinched some between her finger and thumb, bringing it up to her eyes to study. On it were...words. As she stared, she realised that she was handling the remnants of books. She shivered, wondering who they had once belonged to.

As she looked closer - intriguied to see whether or not a book was still intact, to provide knowledge of the future - she noticed something long pointing out of the wall behind her. It had the dull gleam of aged metal and when she touched it, it was ice cold. It was balanced so that the action of touching it caused it to jerk down - it was a lever! She gasped as clicks echoed around her.

And then before their very eyes, a square of stones in between both Jeffrey and Christy collapsed downwards, causing her to stumble backwards to avoid being swallowed up by the widening gap. When it had settled, it became apparent that it had formed a stone staircase, leading down below floor level and into shadows. She wondered whether it was a sort of secret underground bunker that may have survived (it was rather sturdy, if it had) and she looked up excitedly at Jeffrey. 

"You can have the honours," she said, smiling, "See - you didn't bring me along for nothing!"