Over the top of the tunnel.

Worried that taking the tunnel behind her would get her lost, Jen resolved to get herself over the gap in front of her. She gripped the edge of the vent and pulled herself out over the abyss. Initially she was using her feet to help push her forward but when she felt her balance start to fail she quickly pushed them against the top of the vent to try to counter gravity. The sudden bulging of the sheet metal caused a loud thunk, echoing off the walls. She paused for a moment but realized this was too precarious a position to be waiting- if the noise gave away that there was something going on in the vents, she would have to deal with that if it caused her any problems.

Reaching as far ahead as she could manage, she was able to get her finger tips on the far side of the shaft. Moving forward bit by bit, she eventually managed to get her palms on the sheet metal, then an inch of her forearms. This gave her enough balance that she was able to take her feet off the vent ceiling and back on the bottom. Her breasts dangled below her as she kept moving forward.

Jen’s head cleared the gap before she started feeling her muscles wearing out. Even though she knew this choice wasn’t going to be easy, holding herself above the gap with her hands and legs was more exerting than she had expected. A slow muscle burn started to set into her arms and chest, followed by her legs. She started trying to shuffle forward faster, bit by bit, before her muscles would give way.

She pushed herself up onto her elbows so her breasts could make it into the vent without scraping the metallic corner too severely. Another few inches and she felt her feet reach the edge of the other side of the gap. She braced them against the border, gripped the sidewalls with her hands and pushed herself as far forward as she could manage before her legs succumbed to gravity and dropped into the tunnel.

Immediately she was pulled backwards, the sudden change in weight shifting her position. Forcing her hands and forearms against the sheet metal as hard as she could, she only lost a few inches before she managed to stop losing ground.

Groping around blindly with her feet, she was able to brace them against the sides of the vent and used this to push herself upwards while her arms pulled her further into the tunnel. Her stomach scraped roughly against the corner of the intersection with every inch she moved, but Jen was unable to lift herself off the metal to avoid it happening. She felt her muscles tiring again, quicker this time.

The hell with not making noise, I can’t fall down this tunnel, she thought, furiously starting to scrabble against the vent and pull herself forward. Loud clunks filled the enclosed chamber with each placement of her hands and feet, echoing off the walls around her. She knew there was no way someone wasn’t going to hear all of this noise, but she **** herself forward, eventually getting her hips up and into the tunnel, then able to slide ahead until her feet were no longer dangling over the edge.

Jen allowed herself to collapse for a moment, breathing deeply and trying to recover from the physical labor. With the noise she made she felt it was a guarantee that someone would be checking out the vents- maybe a special technician would have to be called in, but any maintenance staff on hand might be called to see if they could see anything. After a few minutes break, Jen set about moving forward again.

Reverting back to trying to create less noise, Jen set to pushing herself along once more. As she slid and wiggled through the vent ahead, she passed two additional tunnels heading rightwards. Each time she looked carefully ahead to make sure she wouldn’t have to go over another gap, but the vent appeared to run flat ahead of her without any such obstacles.

Soon she began to realize that the tunnel was slightly lighter, illumination coming from somewhere ahead. She kept working her way along, the tunnel getting faintly brighter as she progressed. With time she was able to make out the source, a vent set into the wall ahead on her left.

I pray that leads back to the hallway, she thought when she realized that the tunnel ended a few feet beyond that. There were no other tracks off to the right, if the vent came out to somewhere she might be seen, Jen could be stuck trying to **** herself backwards until she could take one of the branches she had passed up earlier.

What felt like an hour later, Jen reached the vent. The first thing she saw was a service door, out and up ahead. Praying this was the door she was supposed to leave, she edged herself around and tried to get a view of what laid behind her. She saw nothing, only some boxes and trash bags. As quietly as she could manage, she began pushing on the vent cover in front of her.

It was the same clip-on style of cover, and Jen pushed at one of the corners first. She was able to gradually increase pressure and soon the first corner popped out without much noise. The second corner sent a slight ting as it came loose, the echo quickly dwindling in the vents. Jen peered out once more to make sure no one was coming and worked out the last two corners. After one corner came free, she gripped the vent with one hand and pushed at the last corner with the other. Soon it came free, and Jen carefully pulled it inside and set it down ahead of her so it wouldn’t fall to the floor in the hallway.

Easing forward, Jen poked her head out. Now outside of the vents she was able to hear voices, all of which sounded distant. She glanced at the service door, and realized she had no way to really confirm if this was the door she was supposed to exit or not. Taking the vent should have kept her on course, she reasoned, but it wasn’t easy to keep track of that when she couldn’t see the hallway she was supposed to be following.

Keeping an ear out for any sign the voices were getting closer, Jen began to struggle her way out of the ventilation duct. It had been easier to get in than to get out, and she couldn’t think of a way to get to the floor without simply falling at some point. Regardless, she kept pulling herself out, eventually exposing herself from the waist up before she put her hands out and let gravity do its work.

Her arms barely dampening the impact, she fell into a heap on the ground, but immediately getting herself up and moving to a box on her left, her heart starting to race with fear and embarrassment almost immediately. She took a spare second to check her scraped stomach- it was reddened but not bleeding. Listening carefully one last time to make sure no one was coming upon her position, Jen stood up and hurried over to the door.

Pushing it open just a crack, she couldn’t hear the sound of any cars nearby. She opened it further and saw the bushes immediately left of the doorway. Checking around and seeing no one, she quickly stepped out the door and moved behind the plants. She felt pretty well concealed from the front, but anyone coming out the door she’d just left would have a chance of seeing her.

The sun had fully set and street lights were now on across the parking lot, as well as lights mounted high up on the walls of the mall itself. The temperature had dropped a few degrees, making it cool but not uncomfortable. Watching the lot, Jen saw a car start to creep out, then it sped up as it turned towards her. She recognized it was Eve’s car quickly enough.

In moments Eve pulled up against the curb. Jen took a look around, felt safe that there was no one around to see her and she darted from the bushes, taking several long, quick steps before pulling the door open and dropping into the car. Eve was giggling before Jen closed the door behind her.

“Oh my god, you’re filthy!” Eve said. “What happened?”

Jen shook her head, reaching for her clothes on the back seat. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” Eve said, stepping on the gas and pulling away from the curb.

Jen sorted through her clothes until she found her bra, and started slipping her arms into it. “I ended up going through a vent.”

Eve laughed, like someone had just told the funniest joke she’d ever heard. “A vent? Way to go, Die Hard! I can’t believe that was even an option!”

Jen did her best to ignore the laughter, and focused on getting dressed.