Her hands were trembling.

She couldn't look away.

She just couldn't.

Not when... Not when this was in front of her...

Not like that...

The emergency door stood open, revealing the long climb ahead of them.

But it wasn't the darkness of the staircase or the journey ahead of them...

It was bodies...

Hundreds of bodies...

All helplessly climbing the staircase in their final moments.

"W-what? H-how could they just..." Laine mumbled in her ear, but she didn't answer.

Women.

Men.

Children.

All were climbing.

Some statues were huddling together, preparing for the impact.

Some were already laying down, trampled and broken by the crowd.

But perhaps the most heartbreaking was the tiny figure right by the door.

A little girl... Perhaps a boy... Reed couldn't tell by the frame alone.

It was standing right beside the door... A lone child amidst the crowd looking up at her.

What was left of its face was a mask of horror... A hysterical cry only a child was capable of.

Innocent.

Terrified.

Not understanding what was happening.

"Fuck..." Reed mumbled.

"Maybe there is another way..." Laine suggested shyly but Reed shook her head.

"There is no other way..." she whispered, eyes glued to the child-like figure.

Reed inhaled deeply.

Don't look at them...

Keep walking...

Just... Just please keep walking...

She took a hesitant step forward.

"Are you serious?" Laine muttered.

"You can't be serious..." He added.

"There is no other way..." Reed repeated, sounding as if it wasn't Laine she was trying to convince.

She carefully sidestepped one of the tendrils connecting the child with the closest statue.

The only sound echoing down the stairway was the quiet tapping of her footsteps, muffled by the murky water. She watched her feet, feeling her gut twist at every hand and leg that came into view.

Don't look at them.

But how could one ignore such a thing?

How could one simply look away?

Keep your eyes on your feet.

Don't step on the roots.

But it didn't take more than twenty steps before her eyes began to wander.

She looked up, narrowly avoiding looking one of the statues right in the face while she scanned the walls.

The big black arrow pointed upwards, a number one neatly positioned just above it.

Don't look... Just don't...

She continued walking, trying to keep her breathing steady while she passed by the carcasses.

But her luck seemed to run out the second she arrived on the first floor.

There, right by the last step, a frame of a young woman rested in the dead centre of her path.

The woman was supporting herself on her elbow, desperately trying to shield a bundle of blankets away from the crowd, pressing it against her chest.

The edges of the pink fuzzy blanket lazily floated with the current, half covered by the black roots climbing around the frame wrapped inside.

She sharply looked away, straining her neck with the suddenness of her movement.

Don't look...

She passed the floor one, squeezing between the panicked crowd frozen in place.

Passing children holding hands with their caregivers.

An elderly couple holding each other in the corner while the crowd ran ahead.

A frame of a young man with the back of his head caved in like the statue in the cafeteria.

Trampled and lifeless.

They used to be doctors and nurses.

Husbands and wives.

Sons and daughters.

All reduced to nothing but the ghosts of what that place used to be.

She passed the second floor.

"Did... Did I do this?"

Reed's heart stuttered in her chest.

"I... I don't know..."

"Why do I feel so bad when I look at them?"

"Sometimes you feel guilty even when you didn't do anything..." she mumbled.

"And you believe that?"

"I don't know what I believe anymore..."

Reed's eyes traced a group of children all huddled in the corner, all crying and screaming while a powerful frame of what used to be a man tried to shield them from the horror climbing the stairs.

They never had the chance to escape.

The very first victims.

She passed the third floor.

"All of those people... They are the ones you have talked about, right?" she whispered.

Laine took a moment to answer.

"I... I think so..."

"All of them... Why aren't they like you? Why do they listen to her?"

"I don't know... They are... They used to always feel... Volatile... Scared..."

Reed's eyes traced a couple, running up the stairs while holding hands.

"And you weren't?"

"No... When I woke up... I wasn't scared..."

He paused, letting them succumb to the pregnant silence.

"I know what you are thinking..." Reed muttered.

"And what is that?"

"You are thinking if you are one of them..." she answered.

There was a few seconds pause.

"I... I don't think any of them is me... I... I think I could feel it... If it was..." he whispered quietly.

Reed hummed, trying to avoid looking at any more of the hollow shells.

Finally, the stairs turned into a flat glistening floor.

Floor four...

They were here...

Reed felt her pulse quicken.

She inhaled sharply, like a boxer before their final spar.

"Corridor two, door DX46... Right?"

"Yes..."

She took a few steps forward, trying to walk around the ghostly statues pouring through the emergency door. Thankfully, one of the figures was holding the door open, their head turned away as if it was shouting down the corridor.

Calling somebody.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes..."

The second she stepped into the hallway, her stomach sank.

They were in the right place.

Corridor two... Just by the emergency stairs.

Except...

Except the walls were colourful, painted flowers and rainbows glaring at her from all around.

There was a group of kids frozen mid-run with what looked like a doctor leading them to the exit. The statue of a man was hollow... Cracked around his hands.

He was pushing a wheelchair, with a tiny, frail-looking statue. Its legs and arms were impossibly thin, laying limply across the seat while the doctor above them shouted in desperation.

"Fuck... I can't watch this..." Laine mumbled, the crackling of the radio disappearing.

With her eyes downcast, Reed sidestepped the group, keeping her head straight down to avoid contact with any of the shells.

There was a room she needed to find...

It didn't matter.

She couldn't help them.

Nothing else mattered.

And so she walked, passing door after door, each in a different colour.

DX02

DX03

DX04

The further into the ward she went, the thicker the web of tendrils would become. They all snaked across each other, connecting in thick braids of slimy goo.

Pulsating.

Squelching.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

DX26

DX27

DX28

"Shit... I don't think I can avoid them much longer..." Reed muttered, almost stepping on one of the roots.

"It's fine... Just keep going..."

DX35

DX36

DX40

Suddenly, Reed came to a halt.

The rows of rooms have ended, leaving nothing but a massive steel door blocking off the rest of the corridor. There was a single small dirty window obscuring the view inside, but the big "Access Restricted" told Reed everything she wanted to know. There was a busted card reader right next to the entry, the lights of the lock long dead.

The opening was narrow, a huge, thick tentacle squeezing out from the inside of the chamber.

"It's there, isn't it?"

"Yeah... It must be..." Laine agreed.

The road to the door was difficult, the narrow spaces for Reed to put her feet made her wobble while she walked.

Don't touch them...

Just don't...

Soon, she entered a circular chamber.

In the very centre, there was a giant hole carefully separated from the walking area by a mangled fence. The thick tentacles wrapped around it, descending down into the darkness of the facility. In total, there were three doors, two regular-sized sliding doors and one large bulkhead.

The two doors, the large one and the one very opposite the entrance were decorated with card readers, both glowing with a ghostly-blue hue.

Reed's eyes scanned the thick letters on the big door.

Emergency Capsule.

"They still have power?" She muttered, her brows creased in confusion.

"Must be a backup generator..."

Of course, there must be.... He was a fucking engineer...

"Fuck... Looks like we need a card..." She said, feeling irritation mixed with disappointment.

Yet another puzzle to be solved.

"Maybe one of the... Maybe to doctor outside has one of them?"

"I don't think he would be running to the stairs if he could access this place..." Reed mumbled.

She took a step forward, avoiding the dark growth, while she walked towards the door closest to her. Despite the tendrils covering the room walls, even the ceiling, Reed could still make out the room number almost hidden beneath one of the roots.

DX46

"Who on earth puts a lock on the emergency capsules? All of those people could have..." Laine didn't have it in him to finish.

Reed's eyes scrutinised the mechanism of the card reader, secretly hoping the plan would form in her head.

"Apparently GOI... Do you know how many there are left?"

"Well, from what I have seen outside, there used to be four... Now it's just one..."

"Guess that's how the bastard got out..."

She grimaced at the memory of Ryan.

Reed turned her head, looking over the other door before her eyes widened.

The door was marked with a silver plaque.

Dr. Nixion/ Dr. Woods

Unlike the other doors, there was a tiny gap made by one of the smaller growths crawling inside the office. With caution, she approached the sliding door in a few long steps.

"What are you doing?"

"Whoever had access to this place had their office here... The card could be still here somewhere..."

"Don't you think it's a bit far-fetched? I am sure whoever had access had already fled... Why would they leave the card?" Confusion coloured Laine's tone.

Reed grabbed the sliding door, putting all of her might into trying to open it wider.

"Maybe not all of them fled? See the tendril?" She grunted.

With a long metallic groan, the door gave in, allowing Reed to make the gap large enough for her to squeeze through. She carefully stepped over the tendril, stepping into what she could only describe as a lab every scientist dreamed of.

Spacious, with various desks and futuristic glass boards, that somehow still had power despite the ruin the facility was in.

Reed couldn't help but let out a hum of approval.

Seemingly forgetting the objective at hand, she approached one of the boards closest to her.

Turrithopis Dorhinii

Run additional tests/ Serum ready for animal trial.

A bunch of equations and drawings covered the rest of the board. The long-detailed drawings of DNA Sequences with arrows pointing towards a couple of parts. There were some additional notes, but Reed couldn't begin to understand the jargon used with genetics.

However, the Latin writing on the board, paired with the drawings told Reed enough to make a guess what happened.

"Un-fucking-believable..."

"What is it?"

Reed pointed at the writing.

"You know what that is?"

"Well, obviously modified human DNA and RNA, but I don't know about this one..."

Reed blinked, startled by his confession.

How on earth did he know that?

Her stomach churned...

Perhaps Laine should feel guilty...

"That is a type of Jellyfish... It's pretty stupid actually... It's called an Immortal Jellyfish..."

Laine let out a quiet "oh".

"So... the modifications are-" Before Reed could finish, Laine interrupted her.

"They tried to change the human biology... It's a cell replacement programme..."

"Yeah... Yeah, that..." she muttered.

"Do you see where the key card could be?" Laine asked.

Strange thoughts were tumbling around Reed's head.

She wasn't stupid...

Perhaps Laine didn't know who he was, but Reed had more than an inkling.

He was more than just a victim.

Laine was a scientist...

"I don't see any drawers or cabinets..." She mumbled, trying to gather her scattered thoughts.

It doesn't matter....

It doesn't matter who he was...

Find the key card...

Slowly, but surely, she began to look around. She was determined to forget the realisation she found herself grappling with, even if just for a second.

It made so much sense... Laine's knowledge about the Noctis... He must have been on the team that was behind the project... Along with Ryan...

But... If Laine was here... It meant that his buddies left him behind to die...

"Do you see it?" Laine's persistence played with Reed's nerves.

"No..."

She couldn't find it...

There was no card on any of the surfaces... Could it be it was digital?

She hoped not...

There were no compartments to hide it in and Reed had already checked under the various furniture. Could it be she was wrong?

What if it wasn't here?

Would that mean they failed?

But the card must have been there...

"What about the root?" Laine asked out of the blue.

"What about it?"

"They connect with a person, no? Maybe follow it?"

Reed's eyes trailed the tendril disappearing around the corner of the room.

"Sure... I am out of ideas..."

With hurry in her step, Reed followed the dark growth, snaking around the tables and chalkboards. To her surprise, right behind the corner, there was a plastic door, narrowly open as the thin root reached for something inside.

"I guess they were trying to hide..." Reed whispered, her hand gently closing around the door handle.

She pulled it open, making sure the corner wouldn't nip the tentacle before she looked inside.

Her stomach dropped.

No... The person who had tried to escape wasn't hiding...

There... In the dead centre of the small supply closet, a male figure hung from the ceiling, forever frozen in despair and anguish.

A thick, black belt wrapped around the shell's throat, holding the man up while the tendrils wrapped around his limply hanging legs.

His face still bearded the agony of his final moments... Perhaps a realisation death wouldn't come quickly enough to save him.

"I... I don't like this... I don't like this..." Laine whispered in her ear over and over.

Reed took a step forward, taking note of the cracked glasses sticking from under the tendrils.

"Let's leave..." Laine's prompted, but instead, Reed got even closer.

She could see something sticking out from between the roots wrapping around his legs.

Something white... Something shiny...

She reached out, pulling the slim flat object out of the dark coil.

A stark-faced, bearded man with large thick glasses looked back at her from the key card.

Anthony Nixon

GOI

46826358903yt3

"Reed?"

She turned the card around.

There was a bunch of loopy writing, clearly added by somebody with a permanent marker.

We'll catch a movie when you are back

Love and miss you already

-Sharon

"Laine..." Reed couldn't help the words escaping her mouth.

"No... Don't say it..."

"It must be..."

"It's not... This is not me! This is just some guy-"

"It has to be... I am so sorry-"

"Just shut up! Shut the fuck you and do what you came here for! This is not me!" Laine roared, the painful ringing returning for a split second before the radio went quiet.

"Laine? Are you there? Laine?"

But the radio stayed silent.

"Laine... I know this is hard but I need you... Please, come back..."

Nothing... Just silence.

Reed's guts twisted unpleasantly.

Her sympathy was quickly turning into anger.

"You know what? Fine!" she hissed, her fingers tightening around the key card.

She turned around on her heel, marching through the lab with power in her step.

Her thoughts were buzzing with unnamed emotions.

Do you want to be like that?

Sure...

Fuck you too...

Almost tripping on her way out of the lab, Reed cursed loudly, muttering stuff under her nose while she walked towards the glowing keypad.

The moment should have been grand... The official finish line of her mission...

And yet it didn't feel like it...

There was no fanfares.

No complex feelings... At least not right away...

There was just... Childish anger...

Irritation...

Disappointment?

Reed slid the card across the card reader, the machine releasing a quiet beep almost instantly.

The door groaned, twitching while it tried to unlock.

"C'mon... Please... Fuck...."

It seemed to be stuck on something, struggling to move away...

Should she push it?

Just as Reed reached for the door, it suddenly slid open in the blink of an eye, releasing a monstrous amount of curling tendrils falling right at Reed.

Her eyes widened, a curse escaping her lips while she jumped away just in time to miss the tangled mass just by mere millimetres. Her heart was thumping fast in her chest, blood rushing through her body in a surge of adrenaline.

That was close... Awfully close...

There it was... The door stood open...

All it took was to come in and take care of whatever was in there...

Reed gulped.

"Laine... Now, would be a good time for you to come back..." She whispered.

She didn't want to be alone... Not there...

But Laine didn't seem to be listening anymore.

She didn't want to be alone... But in the end... She always was...

With a shaky step, Reed went through the doorway, her helmet illuminating with a strange blue light, blinding her.

She covered her eyes, barely registering the contents of the chamber aside from a blowing mass of light that sat in the very centre.

She waited with batted breath, letting her eyes adjust before she finally gazed inside.

No... The glowing light wasn't some mythical ball of energy...

It was a glass capsule...

Still powered.

Still alive.

The machines whirled and beeped steadily, reminding Reed distantly of the sounds of the hospital. Hypnotised by the glow, she stepped forward...

One...

Two steps...

The tendrils... They... they were coming from under the capsule... Wrapping around it...

"Shit..." Reed cursed, almost stepping on one.

A mere meter stood between her and the mysterious object.

Finally, with just a few shaky strides, Reed had arrived...

Her heart hammered in her chest at the sight.

She looked... She looked so much like Ryan...

The dark hair... Somewhat tanned skin... Freckles...

No... No, this wasn't right...

Reed had expected a monster... Some sort of abomination... Not... Not this...

Melanie was just a girl, seemingly sleeping behind the glass surface of the capsule.

There was nothing monstrous about her... Nothing, except the tiny web of tendrils coiling around her, thin and fragile like a spider's web.

Reed reached out, her palm resting against the glowing surface.

Melanie didn't look like a monster...

She was just a girl...

She looked as if she had been sleeping this whole time, waiting to be rescued by her uncle...

But it was Reed who arrived in his place.

"I don't understand... I thought-"

"That she would be a monster?" Laine had suddenly returned, speaking softly into Reed's ear.

"Aren't you surprised?" she exclaimed.

Laine paused.

"I... It breaks my heart..." he admitted before continuing.

"I... I was one of... We turned her into this... I... I don't understand... Why would I do something like that? She is a little girl... All those children down there... Were we doing that to them too?" Laine asked, his voice breaking.

Reed was at a loss of words.

How could she do it?

How was this fair?

She didn't even know if she wanted to come back and now, she had to choose between home and this?

"I... I don't know what to do... This feels wrong..." She confessed.

"I don't think... I don't think I am at liberty to tell you what to do anymore... I don't expect you to do it... Either way... I think I deserved what happened to me..."

"It doesn't matter... Laine-"

"You want my opinion? I... I think it has to stop..." he whispered.

"So what? D-do I just pull the plug on her?" Reed asked incredulously.

"She will keep growing... Keep eating... She will never die... She will never age..." Laine mumbled.

Reed's hands were shaking, tears welling in her eyes.

She had killed before.

She was ready to kill just a few minutes before.

Why was it so difficult now?

"Rowan?" Laine's voice was soft, almost pleading.

"Y-yeah?"

"I am sorry this had to be you... I am sorry you have to fix our mistakes..."

"You... You know what I think?" A startled laugh escaped her throat.

Her breath was coming out in short wheezing puffs.

"I... I think we both fucked up..." she stuttered out through tears.

"Why do you-"

"I another world... Maybe... Maybe we could go watch a movie together... Be friends, you know... I... I don't understand how you can be so calm about it..."

"I... I have always thought about it... It doesn't feel like punishment... It feels like... Freedom? I know it shouldn't... I should be scared... But... I just feel sad that this happened... This is what I deserve... This is what I deserved back then... And now..."

"B-but... But we don't just get what we deserve!" she yelled.

"Life is unfair! I... I shouldn't be here! It should be Isa! Alex! I... this should never happen-"

"Reed..."

Reed paused, her face burning with the hot tears.

"You are a good guy! This must have been a mistake-"

"Reed!"

She stopped.

"Only you can make this right... You are the only one left... Please... Don't make it any longer..."

Her chest felt tight as if somebody had driven a knife under her ribs and kept twisting it.

It was unfair.

All of this was unfair.

She had done so much already...

This wasn't just about killing an innocent kid anymore...

She was killing Laine... She was killing Laine too...

Another friend put to the grave with her hand.

"There should be a power cord in the back... You will have to unplug it..."

"I... I will miss you..." her broken whisper echoed through the room.

"Please Reed..."

Her knees felt like jelly, wobbling under her... Every step felt heavy and yet she persisted, walking around to the back of the capsule in a sorrowful daze.

"You will have to take off the security pins..." He instructed.

She knelt down.

Her fingers wrapped around the first pin shakily.

Clip.

"Yes... Now another one..."

Clip...

Finally... The last one...

Clip...

The power cord was free.

Ready to be pulled out.

"You will have to twist it and pull it..."

She sniffled, trying to keep her sobs at bay.

"W-which way?"

"Right..."

She wrapped her both hands around the cord, twisting it...

"After you pull the cord, run to the pods. It is most likely flooded inside, but it will drain as soon as you activate it. There should be a card reader inside... Just beside the door... It will take you to the surface..."

"O-okay..."

"Do you know what to do?"

"Y-yes..." she sobbed out.

"Reed?"

"Yes?"

"I want you to know... I am glad you are here with me..."

"G-goodbye Laine..."

"Goodbye Reed..."

She pulled the cord out.

The capsule went dark.