Her heart was beating too loud, making the world around her pulsate. It was dark... Too dark... The emergency lights that usually illuminated the floor were gone, drowning the Vault in darkness. She jumped up, tearing the spare blanket away from her window naively hoping to see the familiar cerulean blue, but to no avail. The abyss stared back at her from behind the glass, the only indication of the window even being there was the subtle glimmer of the phone light.

Her heart was racing, her mind trying to comprehend what was wrong. Why hadn't the sun come up... Why was it so dark?

She almost choked on the scream that followed, prompting her to jump right out of bed.

The power! The power was out! Oxygen, storage, everything must have been cut off!

Her legs were too shaky to walk, causing her to fall on the floor. She could feel her nails scraping against the cold surface of the floor, her vision blurring with every breath she took.

Impossible! Impossible! This is not happening!

The walls around her felt claustrophobic as if moving towards her, her head spinning as she tried to steady her breath. They were stuck at the bottom of the ocean without power. They would starve or suffocate... Did the air suddenly feel thinner?

Reed curled up in a fetal position, clutching her shins with force in an attempt to steady herself. The tears were freely flowing down her cheeks, snot and saliva dripping down her face while she struggled to breathe.

We are going to die! We are going to all die!

No! No! You have to think rationally! Find others!

She tried standing up, legs giving out from under her once again. She felt like she was going to vomit, struggling to keep her bowels from releasing the food from yesterday. She wiped her face, supporting herself before making her way towards the door. Her phone buzzed in her hand, causing the woman to flinch from the tension. She glanced at the screen, blood freezing in her veins...

Battery 5%

Power must have gone out long ago... how on earth? Her eyes widened. The battery! The battery was still pumping the oxygen production... But it was a small relief compared to the overwhelming nature of the issue at hand. The battery could only go for so long...

Don't think about it! Just find others! Hurry!

She stumbled forward, pressing the keypad to unlock the door before remembering about the power outage. She grabbed the manual handle, twisting and unlocking the lock before she tried to pull. She didn't realise how heavy the door was, pulling it open only an inch even though she used her whole strength. Reed was forced to put her phone away, pulling with both hands until the door gave in with a cloud whine, sliding halfway open and leaving a gap seemingly wide enough for her to squeeze through. Thanks to her lanky build Reed managed to narrowly avoid getting stuck in the doorway. The corridor was pitch black, reminding her of the inside of a cave. No source of light other than her dying phone...

Her bare feet felt like being stung with hundreds of freezing needles as she made her way through the dark corridor. The air felt freezing, whatever inefficient heating she had before was now gone with the power, her limbs tingling from the cold.

Halfway down the corridor, her phone released a dying buzz before shutting off, drowning the woman in darkness.

No! No!

"C'mon! Not now!" Reed slammed her fist against the screen, the mixture of frustration and fear taking over her senses. She couldn't see anything, the shadows around her impenetrable with human eyes. It took a couple of minutes before she resumed her walk. She stumbled, right hand hitting against the cold metal of the wall. She couldn't help but follow the direction the tunnel stretched towards, her fingers searching for objects before her. Her foot bumped into something sticking out of the floor, causing her to faceplant with nothing to break her fall. The thud of her body connecting with the floor was followed by soaring pain, Reed could have sworn she saw stars at the end of the tunnel as warm liquid began to drip down her upper lip. Before she could even attempt to stand up, her body stilled, eyes wide in the dark as she listened...

Something was rubbing against the walls of the tunnel... Right above her... Reed's eyes travelled up seeing nothing in the darkness, but the distinctive groaning friction against the surface of the Vault was unmistakable. Something big was actively wrapping itself around the walls of the tunnel. Reed could feel her heart in her throat, eyes following the noise in complete darkness. It sounded as if the creature itself was surrounding her... there were either many of them or... one very big one... A sudden bang something in front of her made her jump to her feet, her bloody nose completely forgotten as her survival instincts kicked in. The bang repeated, the noise so loud it made her ears ring prompting her to try and run in the opposite direction. Her legs thumped against the metal, breath bated and heart pumping as if it was bout to jump out of her chest. Miraculously she didn't fall, only having lost her phone somewhere in the corridor as she threaded through the tunnel in hopes of finding a way back to her room. To her horror, no matter how much did she feel the walls around her, following the path she thought she came from, there was no sign of the door just cold metal. Another bang echoed through the hallway causing Reed to release a desperate sob. She fell to her knees, crawling and feeling the wall beside her yet the door was still missing.

It has to be somewhere here! It has to be!

Another bang.

No! No! NO!

She curled up, clutching her ears to block the assaulting noise. Blood dripped down her face, leaking into her mouth and down her neck.

No! No!

Her breath was erratic, tears streaming freely down her cheeks.

She was going to die here! She was going to die...

She didn't know how long had she been sitting in the dark, alone and shaking like a leaf while she listened to the oceanic ambience around them. The sun didn't rise... The power didn't come back... She didn't hear the voices of the rest of the crew, just ominous silence and her own bated breath. Her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, but the shadows around her were too thick to look through even after hours spent in the dark. The creature which had been assaulting the tunnels of the Vault had long abandoned its post, or at least it looked like it, leaving Reed fearful of when it would come back.

She felt weak and jittery, limbs trembling from cold and stress while she stared into the darkness. Her nose ached, and the blood already dried up on her lips and chin while she waited. She'd tried to come back to her room, to find something warm to cover herself with, but no matter how much crawling she'd done the door still managed to elude her. There was no telling if she was even on the right side of the corridor... The darkness around her seemed alive, whispering to her like the snake of Eden.

You are going to die here...

You will never see the surface again...

You will never see your family again...

Nobody will cry after you...

Except the snake sometimes sounded like Diane... or Ruth... Or Milo... Ryan... David...

"Rowan?" A whisper echoed through the corridor. Her head snapped up, glancing in both directions as if she could see in the dark. She heard something... She knew she heard something.

"Rowan? Hello?" a male hushed voice called out to her from the darkness. Reed had to squint at the small white light illuminating the back of the corridor.

"Hello?" she rasped out, trying to move more up.

"Rowan? It's Alex, where are you?" Alex called out to her, clearly not having heard her voice. Reed's throat was burning from sobbing, any vibrations from her voice feeling like sandpaper.

"I am here! Hello!" She raised her voice, wincing at the feeling of flesh ripping in her throat. Alex's flashlight shone directly at her, making her raise her hand to block the light from her face.

"Shhhhhh, you need to be quiet..." he hissed, lowering his flashlight.

Both of them froze as the ominous sound of a big mass rubbed against the walls of the tunnel. The light trembled, Alex's golden eyes following the sound along the ceiling and the left wall Reed was tucked into. She wanted to jump up, to run away from the terror from behind the wall but instead, she sat frozen in place, staring at Alex with her eyes wide. They waited for a very tense few minutes, listening intently to the creature move around the Vault before the noise disappeared. Alex breathed a sigh of relief, looking down at Reed cowering in the corner.

"We have to be quiet. This thing is-... You are bleeding..."

Reed touched her nose, wincing at the flash of pain.

"I fell..."

Alex released a humourless chuckle.

"I see..."

"What is happening?" Reed lowered her voice at the mortified expression on Alex's face. The man bit the inside of his cheek, seemingly looking for the right words before he finally spoke.

"The power is out... That's all we know... But don't worry, Ryan is already working on it. Everything will be alright..." He added, trying to prevent Reed's face from falling any further. Although Reed could see through the façade of optimism he was putting up for her, noticing his knuckles tighten on the flashlight or the sheen of cold sweat glistening on his forehead, she appreciated him trying to lift her spirits.

"Everything is going to be alright, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Let's get you some actual clothes and then we can go back to where the rest is, alright?" Alex's sincere concern was grounding Reed more in the present, making her feel almost as if everything was actually going to be alright. She nodded, allowing the other man to help her stand up, her limbs tingling with the return of the blood flow.

"I have a window in my room..." She muttered, the obvious question hanging between them. Alex cursed under his breath.

"We'll make it quick... But no light..."

As it turned out, Reed hadn't been that far away from the room, but due to the disorientation from the fall, she wound up searching on the wrong side of the corridor. There was a sense of embarrassment following her as she glanced at the sliding door, hoping that Alex wouldn't comment on how she couldn't find her room. Alex, however, seemed impressed, looking at the half-opened door.

"Damn... You are one strong thing, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"These doors are a pain in the ass to open manually, I have been wrestling with mine for a good hour, hell, I had to help Isa out of hers, and Aksel is still stuck in his..." Alex looked at the door.

"Okay, you go and grab something warm as quick as possible... And remember to be quiet..."

Reed nodded, squeezing herself back into the room. She walked on her tippy-toes, slowly but surely making her way towards the open dresser. Her fingers felt around the shelves, grabbing the first pair of thicker pants, a hoodie and a pair of socks.

"Take socks, maybe even two pairs, but no shoes..." Alex hissed from the doorway. Reed quickly slid on the garments, her skin feeling instant relief at the softness of the fabric.

"Take your sheets also, a blanket and a pillow to sleep... I doubt you will be returning to this room any time soon..."

Reed made her way towards the bed, grabbing at the pillow and the blanket before something thumped against the glass of her window. Reed froze... It sounded like...

Knock Knock...

"We are leaving..." Alex's voice broke only a little bit. Reed leapt towards the door, pushing the bedding through before she squeezed herself out of the room, her hands clammy. Alex hurriedly grabbed at the sheets, burrowing his phone in the pile of blankets to ensure there was no light visible from the corridor. They stood still, waiting for more knocks to come but there was none...

"Do you think it's... That thing?" Reed asked, the image from yesterday flashing through her mind. She could feel Alex's stare on her.

"I pray to God it's not..."

Alex inched away from the doorway, dragging Reed deeper into the corridor before he finally allowed some light to brighten the space. Both squinted at the sudden brightness of the flashlight, Reed taking some of the sheets from him so that they both could walk faster.

At first, there was silence, neither willing to speak out of fear of the outside, but questions pushed themselves onto her tongue before spilling out of her mouth.

"I... I know you or anybody doesn't know what happened, but..."

"I get it... I also want to know, but without power, we can't even check anything... But Ryan will fix it. I know he will."

"Do we have a plan?" Reed asked.

"Getting everybody together and fixing the power... for now." His voice carried a warning edge to it, the man trying his hardest not to crack open right there and then. Despite wanting... No, needing to ask about more details like how he got out, and what Isabella was doing, Reed knew when to keep her mouth shut. Alex was trying his hardest not to fall apart in front of her and asking questions could break the man. He seemed to be coping in the most ridiculous yet effective way by just... not thinking about it. Reed couldn't do the same, unfortunately, mind spiralling and making horrifying conclusions regarding this whole situation. Still, she appreciated Alex trying his hardest not to lose himself in the chaos.

They soon made it to the common room, Alex stopping in his tracks just a few meters from the opening.

"What's wrong?" Reed whispered, earning a worried glance from Alex. He put the torch back between the folds of the blanket.

"The dome... It's all glass, remember? Wait here..." He took a few steps forward clicking the light off.

"Isa..." He hissed into the darkness, waiting for the response.

"Isa! I found Rowan!"

Reed listened in, trying to pick up on any noise in the common room, before a tiny light flashed from the opposite side of the room, directly in front of them.

"Was that..."

"Yeah, Isa and Ryan are there... We just follow the light, c'mon..." She felt his hand bump into hers. She let their fingers intertwine, Alex leading her in the direction the flash came from. She was careful not to trip or bump into any furniture, knowing the fall could alert the... whatever was outside. She felt utterly useless in the situation at hand, seeing how Isabella, Alex and Ryan were already somewhat dealing with the situation and all Reed did was hurt herself and cry in the abandoned corridor. How was it possible the others kept their cool, fixing and moving about the Vault without succumbing to the overwhelming sense of dread Reed was feeling? They were stuck at the bottom of the ocean with limited food and oxygen, and no guarantee of power returning to normal, not to mention the hostile creature outside.

"Careful, we are stepping over the threshold..." Alex warned, but Reed tripped anyway, bumping into his back but fortunately not maintaining her balance before they could both fall.

"Sorry..." she muttered, flinching at the sound of the door being pulled shut behind them. Isabella turned her phone on, the gentle white light illuminating her perfect features.

"Jesus, what happened to you?" She muttered, pointing at Reed's face.

"I... I fell... I think it's broken..."

"Alright, I will take a look at it... Alex, take the stuff to the Observatory."

Alex wordlessly took the bedding from Reed, turning his flashlight on before walking away, the bedsheets making his frame look abnormally large in the shadows. She didn't have time to think too much about it, Isabela immediately pulled her aside and made her sit against the wall. Reed could feel the cold sipping through the layers of her clothing.

"Hmmm... I am no doctor, but it doesn't look that bad... Does it hurt?"

"Yeah..." Reed squinted at the flashlight shining in her face...

"Doesn't look swollen to me... Hmmm... Can you breathe?"

Reed tried inhaling through it, but there was no airflow.

"No, I can't..."

"So there might be some dislocation there. Let me feel it... This might hurt a bit..."

Reed sucked her breath in, the tender flesh of her nose meeting with Isabella's fingers.

"Yup, mild dislocation... I am going to set it back now..." Isabella unzipped her sweater, pushing it into Reed's hands.

"Bite on that... We cannot afford any noise..."

Reed bunched up the fabric, feeling the stringy cotton plaster to her tongue. She tried to focus on her fingers counting them while she waited for Isabella to do the deed. The wait was excruciating, her body bracing for the pain. Suddenly, Isabella pressed on the side of her nose, pain burning Reed's face with white bright fire. She groaned into the cloth, squeezing her eyes shut. The pain came in waves, sweeping up her body with the current, causing new tears to fall. It took a few minutes before Reed could open them again, still a bit dizzy from pain.

"Breath in," Isabella commanded. Her airways burned, but the airflow returned to her broken nose, the bone set back in its place. She sighed, hanging her head down and tried to calm her breathing. She could feel Isabella slide down the wall and sit beside her, both sitting in silence. It was only Alex's quiet footsteps that caused Reed to look up, the familiar white light of the flashlight casting shining in the distance.

"All set..." he announced.

"Did you check on Ryan?"

"Still poking around the generator..."

Isabella exhaled, raising her knees to her chest.

"I don't want to be the one to say this but... What do we do about Aksel?" Alex asked, exchanging looks with Isabella.

Aksel... The stress of the situation at hand made Reed completely forget about the man. According to what Alex told her, Aksel was still locked in his room... Isabella glanced at Reed from the corner of her eye.

"We let him be for now..."

"Isa, we can't just leave him alone in the dark..."

"He is safe where he is."

"Are you suggesting we let him come here after he..." she cut off, glancing at Reed once again. The feeling of self-disgust rose its ugly head deep within her... They knew.... They all knew because Ryan had told them something about what happened between Reed and him. But the thing was that nothing actually happened... She felt gross, suddenly feeling like she was at fault for the entire situation. Conflicting feelings battled across her mind. She hated him, she hated how he bullied and used her, but the implication behind Isabella's words made him sound like a rapist... He didn't rape her. He didn't throw hands at her or anything of this sort...He scared her, yes, but bullying wasn't exactly a new experience to Reed, who had to survive at Oxford, after her not-so-graceful downfall... Aksel was alone in the dark just like she was not so long ago, the only difference being that she could at least escape her room...

Be the bigger person... You know how bad it is, why would you wish it on somebody else...

"We should let him out..." She muttered, earning surprised looks from the other two.

"No, he is safe where he-"

"No, he is not...I... I don't know what you guys think happened, but we can't just leave him there... Alex is right..."

Isabella stared at Reed, shock written all over her face.

"Hey..." Alex's gentle tone brought Reed's attention away from the other woman.

"We'll keep him in check, okay?"

Reed gave him a pale smile.

"I can't believe this..." Isabella grumbled, getting to her feet before glaring at the two. She seemed upset at Reed's comment, staring daggers at the woman.

"Get him out if you like, but he is not allowed in the Observatory. That's final..." she hissed, turning on her heel before disappearing into the corridor, leaving the two alone. Alex scratched the back of his head, throwing Reed an apologetic look.

"Thanks for backing me up... She'll come around..."

Reed watched him, cogs turning in her head before it finally clicked. There was something that couldn't let her mind rest ever since Alex brought up the locked scientist, but now her overstimulated mind finally managed to put the pieces together.

"Why aren't we evacuating?"

"What?"

"The emergency chamber? Why aren't we there?"

Alex froze for a second, his breath visibly quickening.

"We can't... I... I will go get Aksel..." He rushed past her towards the common room, his flashlight soon turning off, leaving her partially in the darkness. She could see the dim light coming from the crack between the Observatory door.

No longer feeling Alex's or Isabella's presence, the anxiety of being alone kicked in once again, her heart speeding up. Something was wrong with the Emergency room, the second most important room in the entire Vault ... And Alex seemed too shaken to even say anything when she mentioned it. What was wrong? What did he try keeping from her? Reed pushed herself up, letting her shaky limbs catch balance before she made her way towards the opposite side of the corridor.

She'd been to the Observatory only once, during the tour with engineers, but the room looked almost unrecognisable. The cabinets were pushed towards the walls, once bright computer screens looking like gaping holes in the light of Isabella's phone. The metal operating table was turned on its side covering the small rectangular window on the right side of the room. The centre of the room was just a mass of blankets and pillows, a few bottles of water from the filter and a bunch of snacks from the vending machine. Isabella sat in the far corner, knees pressed to her chest while she stared into the ether, only looking at Reed when she sat down a few feet away from her on the blankets.

"Don't say anything..." Isabella warned her.

"Just be quiet..."

Reed watched the other woman glare at the empty space, knuckles going white momentarily before she released her grip, going for the small radio instead.

"Ryan? Do you copy?"

There was silence, before Ryan curtly answered through the walkie, telling Isabella to stop interrupting. She threw the radio to the side, muttering curses before going completely silent. Reed could feel that irrational fear from her childhood prod at her heart. She was again a little girl, watching her mother grimace at her from the kitchen table, waiting to have an excuse to lash out at her.

Tell her that she was useless...

Tell her that everybody always had to help her...

Tell her how much of a dependent parasite she is...

But there was a question at the tip of her tongue that wouldn't go away, a pressing inquiry that overcame any warnings Isabella threw her way.

"What happened to the Emergency Room?"

For a second, Isabella looked like she was about to blow up, her lips opening but promptly closing. She held her breath for a second, before finally answering in a colourless tone.

"The wiring of this whole place intertwines, one wire sustains damage and everything starts malfunctioning... The wiring in Emergency got raptured and Ryan is trying to reroute the power distribution... He told us the corridor to the emergency got mangled and is extremely unstable..."

Reed could feel her heart stop. Unstable Corridor? Rupture wiring? Aksel and Ryan lived by the emergency...

"But Alex-"

"Yeah, I know... Ryan had closed the floodgate by the Emergency manually, in case it raptures."

"What happened-"

"I don't know! Can't you just shut up?!" Isabella's temper got the best of her, snapping at Reed before her eyes went wide, hand pressed to her lips. She glared silently at the other woman, removing her hand before adding.

"If you are not going to make yourself useful then at least stop fucking bothering me..." she hissed. Just as Reed was about to apologise, suddenly a flash of light filled the room making them both close their eyes. The white light of the reflectors was pulsating, switching on and off like Christmas tree lights. Isabella blindly reached for the radio.

"Ryan?! Ryan! What the fuck's happening?"

But there was silence on the other side, Ryan not responding as the lights continued to flash every few seconds, making Reed feel dizzy. Alex's scream followed by a bang and a bunch of cursing echoed through the hallways, alerting the two women. Isabella's black eyes met Reed's green ones in alarm.

Alex!

The two jumped to their feet, rushing towards the exit in a flurry of panic. Reed's heart pumped in her chest, adrenaline rushing through her veins. The white light flashed in their eyes time and time again, sparks coming from the lights above them. Isabella was running in front, leaping over the threshold and into the corridor leading to the common room with Reed running right behind her. However, before they could run into the common room Isabella stopped frozen in her tracks, Reed almost running into her. She was about to ask what was wrong, wanting to get to Alex as soon as possible, but Isabella's terrified expression made Reed look up.

The world stopped. Her heart stopped. She couldn't look away.

There, plastered to the glass of the dome was a creature unlike any other. The light continued going on and off, causing the creature to disappear every two seconds and each time it reappeared, it seemed to grow more horrifying. Just above the glass, loomed a ginormous humanoid head, its slimy puffed-up flesh glistening in the white light. Its features seemed that of a child and adult at once, the texture reminding Reed of a malformed fetus. Its lips and nose were not fully developed, pieces of teeth peeking from under the see-through flesh. But the worst of them were the eyes. Two large orbs were bulging out of the creature's skull, the iris and pupil both black and indistinguishable from each other, with only a sliver of white surrounding the oversized iris. Its lips were stretched in a tentative sort of smile, eyes opened abnormally wide. The black irises moved slowly about, changing position every time the light illuminated the room. Reed couldn't see the rest of the creature, but given that the head itself could be compared to some of the bigger furniture in the room, whatever was outside must have been enormous.

She couldn't take her eyes off the creature, looking right at the terrifying eyes. She had no strength to resist, to look away, just frozen in the moment with her heart threatening to jump out of her chest. Her body knew, that if their eyes met she would die... and strangely, the feeling of impending doom against the creature forsaken even by god itself felt... cathartic.

A sudden movement across from the room caught her attention, breaking the trance, her eyes jumped to the opposite side of the room. Footsteps echoed through the tunnel before Aksel sprinted from behind the corner, Alex chasing right behind him, scarlet liquid smeared across his face. Reed wanted to scream, to shout for them to stop and to be quiet, but no noise came from between her lips. She could only thank good fortune, that Alex managed to grab Aksel by his collar, yanking him backwards before the Dane could run into the common room. The other man stumbled backwards, pushing Alex and causing both men to pummel to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Reed blinked and the face moved, now staring intently at where the noise came from, positioning itself directly above the entrance. Alex stared at the women petrified while clutching Aksel's shoulders, one of his hands covering his mouth. Reed's eyes met with the wild black ones, the Dane looking directly at her. She didn't even feel her hand moving, trembling as it rose to her face and put her index finger against her lips.

Be quiet...

All four were frozen, silent as a mouse, Reed even trying not to breathe too loud. She could feel the droplets of sweat collect on her forehead and back, muscles trembling from lack of movement. She didn't know for how long they had been standing there, all praying the creature didn't see them before the lights finally went completely out, drowning them in darkness. Colourful spots danced across Reed's vision, eyes hurting from the sudden change in the brightness, but the shield of the dark didn't spare her nerves from the presence of the creature, which now laid invisible to her eyes. The only reaction she could muster was to flinch at the sound of something horrifically big sliding across the glass above them, then rubbing against the wall to the right before the sound disappeared completely.

And so they stood there in complete silence, maybe for minutes, maybe for hours, too unsure of the creature's departure to move. It was long after the lights had gone out that Alex finally managed to drag himself and Aksel across, breathing a sigh of relief when he stepped over the threshold.

"Do you guys have any light?" he whispered. There was a moment of stillness, the two women still too afraid to move before Isabella's phone illuminated the gathered.

Alex looked wrecked, dried-up blood from his cut eyebrow mixing with his sweat.

"Let's go..." he heaved out, making a move to enter the Observatory but Isabella stepped in his way, pointing at the man at the man by the entrance.

"Not you." She hissed coldly, even Reed felt a chill run up her spine.

"You are staying here." She shone the light directly on Aksel's face, making him squint. Aksel was red and sweaty, breathing heavily with his arms trembling.

"Isa, c'mon..."

"No, I am not sleeping in the same room with that creep."

Aksel lowered his eyes, not meeting anybody's eyes. Despite his impressive size, he looked small, like a scared little boy lost in a big mall.

Creep...

"Isa, it's dangerous to be here. We should have an eye on him..." Alex threw her a hard look, their wills battling, but before they could reach a verdict Isabella turned to Reed.

"Are you okay with this?"

All heads turned towards her.

Reed looked at Aksel. He was trembling, his black eyes glass in the light. He couldn't meet her eyes looking to the side and hunching as if he was trying to make himself smaller. He didn't speak. He didn't move. He just shook like a scared dog. He looked pathetic, Reed could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes.

"I... Let's just go..." she whispered, Aksel's head snapping up with disbelief written across his face. Isabella's face looked as if she swallowed a gallon of spoiled milk. She turned wordlessly, walking towards the Observatory.

"You sleep by the window."

All four returned to the Observatory, reaching their destination in mere seconds. Isabella went to settle in the far corner of the room away from everybody, laying down on the blankets while facing the wall. Reed settled not far from her, simply propping herself against the wall two meters away. Her limbs were aching. She didn't know what time it was or how long it's been since she'd woken up. The room fell silent, nobody daring to raise their voice as they all sat in complete darkness. There were times when Reed didn't even know whether her eyes were opened or closed, drifting between sleep and consciousness, due to her heart skipping a beat every time she'd heard even the tiniest of noises.

She'd begun nodding off, unsure whether her eyes were open or closed when Ryan finally arrived at the Observatory. The flashlight he carried illuminated the entire room like a small sun, making Reed turn her face away from the source of the brightness. She could hear the others moving about, Isabella's voice following Ryan's arrival.

"Did you fix it?"

"You could say that..."

"What do you mean?" Isabella roused from where she was laying. Ryan set his flashlight down, toying with his fingers awkwardly, his eyes set on the flashlight.

"I managed to rewire the generator and the transmitters, securing the oxygen production, water and power in communicators, but it didn't come without sacrifice... Due to multiple transmitter failures on the Emergency wireline, I had to shut the power off completely in that complex, including my and Aksel's rooms and the common room... I... I had to make some difficult decisions back there. To keep the generator functional I had to sacrifice the light, warm water and all storage... including our food ..."

Reed stared at him mortified. Almost all of their food was frozen inside the cold storage...

"You... You sacrificed our food?" Alex was positively stunned.

"I... It should take some time for it to completely unfreeze... about a few days with the cooling liquid that was installed there..."

There was a lengthy pause, all eyes set on Ryan.

"I... What's still working?"

"Most of the Lab equipment, Radio Room, UUV charging station, Exo charging station, cameras and lights outside-"

"And you are telling me..." Isabella's voice cut through the air like a knife, making everybody freeze.

"You saved some useless cameras and the equipment over our food?!"

"Isa be quiet-"

"No! Are you fucking brain-dead? He just sentenced us to starvation-"

They all went quiet at the sound of movement outside. All eyes stared at the ceiling as the large creature moved what sounded like centimetres above their heads. They waited in silence, Ryan only speaking up minutes later.

"The generator was overheating, power had nowhere to go because of the transmitters, frying everything in its path. I tried to save them... I really tried-"

"You didn't try hard enough then!"

"If it wasn't for me, the generator would have fucking imploded-"

"I would rather die in an explosion to what you have just sentenced us to-"

"Isabella shut your fucking mouth!" Alex raised his voice, successfully shutting the two up.

"Do not say such things, do you hear? If it wasn't for Ryan you wouldn't be here to complain. Sit. Your. Ass. Down..."

Isabella stared daggers at him, both sizing each other up before she backed down into her corner.

"He's killed as all..." she muttered, turning her back to the rest of the room. Her words, although barely audible, carried a horrifying sense of finality. It was true, Ryan had bought them more time... but Isabella wasn't wrong. What is more time if not just prolonged death? They didn't have enough food to last here more than a few days, maybe a week or two by a long shot.

It didn't feel real. Nothing felt real anymore. They were stuck here, together yet alone... In the dark... Maybe even forever... Was that a dream? Maybe she would wake up in a few hours, panting and thanking God it was just a nightmare. A bitter chuckle came out of her throat.

"What's so funny?"

Reed turned to Ryan, who unbeknownst to her took a place right beside Reed. The warmth of his body spreading through his shoulder touching her felt reassuring, somewhat disrupting the pessimistic thoughts.

"Nothing, just... I don't know..."

Ryan hummed, letting them ease into a comfortable silence. Reed was glad he was there, his presence soothing her frazzled nerves.

"What happened to your nose?" he asked quietly, his gentle tone making her heart flutter. Had they been in more peaceful circumstances Reed would be flustered, beet-red with her heart galloping a hundred miles per hour, but something about their current situation made her somewhat more tolerant of the feelings buried deep within her.

"It's nothing...Isabella already patched me up..."

"Okay... Just... Try to be careful..."

Her heart skipped a beat, but she was too tired to mind it. The adrenaline evaporated from her blood long ago, leaving her feeling drained and indifferent, with Ryan being the only source of comfort she could find. Her head slowly fell on his shoulder, resting against the hill of his shoulder. She could feel him still, his pulse quickening... For a second Reed thought he was going to move away, her heartbeat speeding before calming down as the man beside her leaned into her touch. Her head was heavy, drawing comfort from the warm fabric of his shirt rubbing against her cheek.

"Rowan?" his quiet words stirred her from her slumber. The Observatory was dark, all flashlights were turned off. She could hear faint snoring from the other side of the room. She readjusted her head.

"What time is it?" she mumbled, her voice rough from disuse. She could feel Ryan shrug gently, he was careful not to throw her head off of his shoulder.

"I don't know..."

Reed yawned, covering her mouth. Her head ached dully, back sore from sitting up while sleeping. She kept her eyes closed, but her mind was still present enough to hold a conversation.

"What's wrong?" she whispered, waiting for his answer. She could feel his heart skip a beat.

"I...I am sorry..."

Reed rose her head from his shoulders. She couldn't see him in the dark, but she could feel his presence, the way he trembled next to her.

"Sorry? What are you talking about?"

"I... I can't stop thinking about... what Isabella said..."

You have killed us all...

Something ugly twisted deep in her soul at the sound of his broken tone. Despite her dislike for Isabella, she'd never outright hated her, but hearing Ryan be so vulnerable made Reed boil with rage.

"You saved us..."

"No... I don't think I did..."

She didn't know what to say to him, because what one could even say in this situation? He truly did save them, and gave them more time, even if it was just a little bit. She was grateful to be alive and next to him.

"Ryan... Even If it might not be enough, please don't regret trying to save us..."

Suddenly she felt Ryan move, his hand moving just a few centimetres to rest next to hers, their pinkies bumping. She couldn't help but feel her insides jump at the gentle touch, warmth pooling in her stomach. It felt grounding to be so close to him.

"We have been trained for this, you know? Back at the GOI..." he started.

"They were preparing us how to handle an emergency like this...but now? I feel like everything I had been preparing for is just...inadequate..."

Reed snorted humourlessly.

"You handled it better than I did..."

He hummed, his pinkie poking hers.

"Trust me...If I didn't have the generator to poke in, I wouldn't know how to handle myself..."

"You don't have it now..."

She could hear the smile in his voice as their pinkies intertwined.

"I still have you..."

"We have to hole up in here for now... There is no other way..." Alex's eyes slid across the faces surrounding him.

"This place has thicker walls than the rest of the Vault... It's our safest bet..."

"The thing outside squished emergency like it was butter... I doubt it will make a difference..."Isabella muttered earning a glare from Alex.

"Yes, but in any other case, the walls would be raptured already. I say we bring stuff like food, and water here and close all of the floodgates, just in case."

"Sounds like a plan... what do we do about the flashlight situation though? We are going to run out of batteries soon..." Reed interjected, pointing at the beacon before them.

"The outlets here should still be operating. We could charge the phones and leave the flashlights for an emergency."

Alex nodded.

"We also have a bioreactor, but I would have to look into schematics to know if we can even use it with the rapture that happened..." Ryan added, toying with his fingers. Alex slapped his thighs, announcing his final decision.

"Alright, It's decided. We will go and gather the supplies and check the damage. I propose we split up to cover more ground. Four of us will go into the Vault and one stays behind to make sure everything is in order..." Alex set his radio on the floor.

"We have two radios, but there should be one more in the Radio Room. I say one team goes to empty the vending machines and storage and the other team goes to assess the damage and close the floodgates, possibly retrieving the radio."

"I'll stay..." Isabella announced. Alex looked at the rest of the gathering, assessing their attitudes before he continued.

"Alright, Isabella will stay and close the gates behind us. Ryan and Reed, you will go together to get the radio while I and Aksel will scout for supplies." He glanced at Aksel, who had been sitting away from everybody, seemingly too uncomfortable to even look in their direction.

The discussion was swift and brief, everybody agreeing that they should bring as much of the stuff back before agreeing on any long-term plan. Reed suspected that Alex might have decided to organise it simply to take their minds off of the hole they had found themselves in. They prepared in silence, making lists of things to bring before ultimately the scouting party set out.

Reed could feel her pulse quicken the second the door to Observatory closed shut behind her.

"Alright guys, we are going to split up here... Bring anything you deem useful and remember to close each of the floodgates behind you." Alex's shone his flashlight towards them. Ryan nodded, glancing at Reed before all lights went out once again.

They threaded through the common room as carefully and quietly as possible, separating as each team went its own way. Reed only felt some semblance of relief the second her foot bumped into the threshold of the corridor, the feeling of being observed through the glass dome finally gone. Soon Ryan's flashlight was turned back on, illuminating the corridor before them as they walked in silence, too on edge even to whisper.

It was only when they were nearing the Radio Room that Reed dared to speak, her whisper interrupting the eerie silence of the empty halls.

"I... Do you think... we have been..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

Ryan glanced at her.

"I am almost certain...But I want to confirm this before I make up my mind..."

They were back to the silence between them, both struggling to withstand the weight of the realisation that had been plaguing everybody's mind. The most logical and likely explanation of why the Vault had been plunged into darkness was that Noctis had expanded, swallowing the Vault and the surrounding area. Just how much did it grow? Maybe they would find themselves right behind the iridescent barrier... But Reed's mind wasn't used to optimism, betraying her attempts of self-reassurance with quiet whispers of fear... or perhaps truth.

You know your luck... Most likely you are way too deep to even attempt to breach the barrier...

You will stay here forever...

"Don't think about it..." Ryan's knowing whisper echoed through the tunnel. Reed nodded, trying to focus on the task at hand but her mind assumed another, way more hazardous tactic of self-sabotage. The rattle of pills echoed through her memories, a sudden craving rising deep within her. She'd already taken them twice, but the situation called for another dose. The logical part of her brain knew that she was balancing on a precipice of addiction, but what wouldn't she give to lift just a little bit of weight off of her shoulders?

Don't think about it... Just don't think about it...

"Do you need us to take anything from your room?"

Fuck....

"I...No... No, let's leave my room alone for now... Nothing I need from it..."

"Alright..." Ryan shrugged, but Reed didn't have to guess that he knew what she was going against. She had to stay strong, drugging herself wouldn't do anything but harm.

They approached the Radio Room door, the code pad shining dimly in the darkness. Ryan punched the code in, the door sliding open without any struggle.

"Thank god there are no windows here..." he muttered, shining his light right into the room.

The search had begun, both Reed and Ryan going through drawers and shelves, looking behind the furniture in search of a radio. It took some time, but eventually, Reed would find the radio neatly strapped to the underside of the control desk. He undid the casing, sliding out the radio before turning it one.

"This is Ryan, does anybody copy?"

"Ryan, this is Isabella. I can hear you."

"We can hear you too." Alex's voice followed mere seconds later. Ryan looked at Reed before pressing the button again.

"Alright, me and Rowan will look around a bit before we head back. So far we haven't seen any damage to the complex."

There was a second of static before Alex answered.

"Good, keep us updated."

Ryan secured the radio by his belt, nodding to Reed.

"Let's go."

They made their way back to the hallway, but just as Reed was about to step over the threshold and join her companion in the corridor, the controls lit up, red light filling the room as static began to pour out of the speakers around the monitor.

"H....He.....Hello?....Hell...Hello?"