A narrow escape

Venus skirted over the cobblestones as quickly as she could, fear and desperation lending speed to her feet. Her first few moments were spent in triumph. She did it! She had thought. Her plan had worked, and those reptiles were lured away from the city dwellers and they were after her now! After that came trepidation and then full-blown terror once it dawned on her just what she had gotten herself into.

"OhGodohGodohGodohGodohGod!" Venus screamed as she leapt over a small pile of debris that spilled across the alley.

Howls and hisses of lizardman raiders reached out towards the young woman and a stampede of scaly feet from just behind were a clear sign that she had not lost her pursuers and they had actually gotten even closer. Some of the lizards snarled as they were tripped up by the garbage, but the rest charged forward recklessly, trampling the unfortunate ones that fell. She had thus far kept ahead of them, but she had sorely underestimated how fast they were on land. They would be on top of her in seconds.

Venus anxiously scanned the alleys for a way out, glancing into each branching path that whipped past her. And that's when she saw her way out:

A wall was being built up in one of the streets but it was only partially completed, with a semicircular opening at the top of the wall. There was a pile of wooden crates stacked up against it, and it was just high enough the Venus could vault over the incomplete section. If she could just get over that wall, she could escape.

Suddenly skidding around the corner, Venus sprinted towards the half-finished barrier, pouring what little energy she had left into crossing that distance. The reptillian cries behind her grew to a higher pitch when they caught on to what she was going to do. Ignoring the noise, she focused in on the tower of crates. It had to be done perfectly.

When she reached the foot of the mountain of crates, Venus leapt up towards the closest crate in her ascent. Expertly climbing atop each box, Venus made her way to the top of the tower as quickly as she could. She could already hear some of the raiders snarling at each other, trying to get up the boxes first and a few fights had broken out at street-level. Then she was there, at the top of the stack, and without a second thought she vaulted over the gap in the wall, simultaneously kicking the boxes out from underneath her and sending them scattering everywhere. As the pile of crates crumbled with a great sound, Venus heard the lizardmen hissing in frustration and could barely suppress a exhilarated grin. She was soaring. She was flying over the stone barrier up and over and beyond to freedom.

Then ground completely disappeared beneath her. It dropped suddenly into a dangerously steep decline that tapered off into pitch darkness. Too late did Venus realize that they had built that wall for a very good reason.

"Oh sh-" Venus could only briefly cry out before she plummeted into the shadows.