Chapter Eleven: Into the Dark

A week following visitation, Hector had been staying up later and later in the facility. He typed furiously at his computer in his personal lab, going through the hordes of data he’s collected and examined on Subject 27. The psychologist was running a final scan after finding the missing link. Hector had his suspicions of what was really going on, remembering an idea Daniel played on but was never known to follow through with for he felt it was too inhumane when it came to reality. He should have seen it all along. Hector looked over his shoulder from time to time to make sure Abby wasn’t sneaking around. She couldn’t know. Not yet. Not now. Such a discovery couldn’t be mishandled this soon in observation. 

After the scan had completed, Hector was pleased and anxious to see he had gotten a result that wasn’t inconclusive. It was another form of inconclusive, however, and the final result had him feeling uneasy. Excited as a scientist, but nervous as a human being. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. The only conclusion he could come to was that Daniel had gone ahead with his experiment, and it had worked. Hector felt disgust towards the man’s audacity, but he couldn’t help but admire him at the same time. It was brilliant. 

“That son of a gun pulled it off.” Hector said to himself. “Daniel, what have you done?”

In the morning, I accompanied Demitry on the couch in watching him play his video games while Dorian kept himself occupied with his toys on the floor in front of me. Everything had been mellow since everyone saw their families. Well, maybe not in the same sense for Demitry to an extent. I think he was more relieved to see them leave. Dahlia had been in higher spirits than usual, nowadays finding her singing or humming some tune she heard on the radio around the building. I couldn’t recall if I saw Donald’s family or not. He never mentioned them in the days following, and as puzzling as it was to me, he appeared content with not seeing them. He was happy being without them. Regardless of being rejected by my mother, I don’t think I could ever do the same to her. 

As I both coached and teased Demitry’s terrible gaming skills, I caught a glance of Dame walking past the commons area towards the stairs. She saw me as I looked at her. I could feel contempt from her in a cold stare, but nothing was said. She didn’t even glare at me as she had been known to do now. In all honesty, I felt like she had been avoiding me. Usually, I was the one avoiding her. I did learn from Donald that he had been trying to create peace between us, but I didn’t think this was what he had meant. Dame called down to Takashi, who was at the bottom of the stairs, and asked if they had everything. I heard him confirm that everything was in order and that they were set to go. I peeped over the couch long enough to watch the two of them leave. I didn’t see Dame for the rest of the day after that. 

When night had fallen, and a decent number of the employees in the facility had turned in after a long day, I found myself visiting the abandoned lab frequently. I made sure no one followed me first. I didn’t want to explain my reason for being there when I could hardly explain it to myself. Ever since my talk with Hector about my father, his work, and Subject 27, I’ve been drawn to ground zero. When I snuck into the old lab, I quietly brushed past the overturned desks and debris to the power box. I remembered where it was at from the first time Hector showed me this painful reminder of things going wrong. I flipped the breaker, and the few lights that remained active in the lab lit with a dimness that aided my eyesight just enough to see where I was going and what I could possibly trip on. 

As what became my routine for the last week, I meandered around the different areas. I examined paperwork that had been left untouched under a desk or blown behind a shelf where it had been hidden for years. Old photographs of family and beloved pets were scattered. I didn’t recognize anyone in the pictures though. I wandered about the lab, and as my newfound senses developed more, I could feel the different energies that lingered from the fateful day where so many had died. The first time was overwhelming. It was enough to make my head spin and my stomach weak. By now, I knew what to expect. 

Most of the energies were different constructs of fear and panic. Others were clusters of sudden onsets of anger. Then there was regret in between. There wasn’t anything positive. From the blood stained walls to the overturned desks and busted overhead lights, it was wall-to-wall of high level emotions that attached to the very air I was breathing. I almost felt as if some of it had been digging its way inside of me, but it was only paranoia. All of this would lead me straight to the same place every time. The dead center of madness. The charred floor in the eye of where desks and work stations had been thrown from their posts. It was where some of the first victims had seemingly vaporized. I only knew this because I could feel the heat. It was like radioactivity. Years in the passing, and I could still feel the tingling. 

Subject 27’s energy had been just as strong. There was malice. There was cruelty. There was a disregard for life as a whole and a desire to bring everything to oblivion. I had never felt so much hate concentrated in a singular space. It remained just as ferocious, and it made the hairs on my body stand straight up. What bothered me most was the strange familiarity I felt with 27’s energy. I recognized it. Maybe I had met 27 before all of this when I was younger. There wasn’t a possible way I could pinpoint an answer. The worst part was standing precisely in the middle and seeing the view from 27’s perspective. I would imagine the entire staff still present in the lab, and from there I could feel where Hector had been standing along with his wife. They were across the room from each other. Too far to save the other. I could locate where everyone had been standing at the time. Even Dame. She was one of the few who left behind both fear and regret. I could feel my father, but I could never find him as strongly as I felt his energy lingering in the lab. 

“What are you doing down here?” Dahlia snuck in and found me, which caused me to spin around in surprise. “You’re down here quite often.”

My thoughts ran ajar for a second, which caused me not to answer her right away among looking like a deer caught in headlights. 

“It’s just you’ve been coming here for a while now, and I haven’t been able to entirely figure it out.” Dahlia smiled, seeing my vibrations were high strung. 

I composed myself. “I’m just, y’know, looking around.”

“There isn’t much to look at, if you ask me.” Dahlia’s smile turned into a smirk.

I opened my mouth to comment, but the look on her face made me give it a second thought. Dahlia was waiting for me to catch on, the light mischief on her face at having made a clever joke. She was blind, Desley. I was in the obvious habit of thinking too hard. I snorted when the joke hit me and nodded my head. 

“Clever. Very clever.” I laughed lightly. 

“But really, what are you doing down here?” Dahlia kept the smile on her face as she spoke. 

I looked around at the abandoned lab and scratched the back of my head, trying to find the right words to use to explain myself. “Well, see, I don’t know. It’s really complicated.”

“Everything’s complicated with you.” Dahlia said. “Just tell me what’s on your mind. You don’t have to make it complicated. What are you thinking about?”

I twitched. “You already know what I’m thinking, telepath.” 

Dahlia rolled her eyes. “I just want to hear your take on it, not my own understanding. I can read your thoughts, but people can still interpret things differently.”

She had a point. I didn’t know where to start at. I thought about going back to my conversation with Hector, but I didn’t want her to think it had anything to do with seeing everyone with their family since it was on visitation. I thought about my childhood being a good starting point, but there was too much to say. 

“Damn, Desley, just say it.” Dahlia chuckled.

I sighed and slumped my shoulders. The first thought that came to me was, “Do you know the story about what happened here?”

Dahlia nodded. “Yeah, Subject 27 went berserk and murdered most of Hector’s staff.”

“Did you know my dad was part of that staff?”

The expression on Dahlia’s face shifted. “What do you mean?”

“Daniel Morgan, my father. Hector said he was here when it all went down.”

The girl had looked a touch confused. She seemingly hesitated before answering, “I didn’t know Daniel Morgan was your dad. I mean, I heard about him, but I never made that connection.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Hector said he designed the experiment. Obviously, it didn’t go as planned, which is why he stopped coming home. I mean, he was hardly home to begin with. He’d disappear for days, weeks, and months at a time. When I was seven, I rarely saw him at all. Didn’t know anything about him. He was just another man who occasionally tucked me in at night but was never there to wake me up. When he stopped coming home, I didn’t notice. I remember nights where my mom was upset, but when he stopped coming home, after a while, she was better. I just never knew why until recently.”

“How do you feel about your dad?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really know him.”

“But you want to?”

“Of course I want to.” I started. “I can feel his energy in the lab, and I keep thinking that if I find where he was standing at, I might know something more about him. Just�"I can never figure out where he was standing. It’s all over the place.”

Dahlia frowned. “Yeah, it was one of this institute’s worst times. Probably worse for Hector and Dame.”

“Dame saved everyone, right? The others, I mean.”

“Yeah, but look at the cost.”

I was lost for a minute. 

Dahlia continued. “It’s no secret that Dame’s parents have nothing to do with her. I think that was evident during visitation.”

“Yeah? And?” I pressed Dahlia. 

“Dame came here when she was seven. I don’t know all of the details because we’re not that close. Just the stories. Dame became really close with 27. He was like a second father to her, y’know? She was around him damn near every day…” Dahlia started to trail off.

“Then what happened?” I knew how the story ended, but not the depths of it. 

“27 got bad. The experiment was having negative affects on his mental health. Dame got hurt. Then we have the incident here, and Dame had to make a decision because she was the only one who could do anything.” Dahlia crossed her arms. “That’s a lot for a child to deal with.”

I nodded my head, unable to conjure a response to the new insight I was given on Dame. I didn’t know how to feel about it. Part of me felt sorry for her, but another part wanted to hold on to the bitterness I had towards her. It was like talking about a different Dame altogether. There were three versions. Dame, the instigating snob. Dame, the cherished sister. Dame, the tragic heroine. 

“I guess it explains some things about her.” I finally said. “It doesn’t explain everything. Like, why is she so bitter towards me?”

Dahlia shrugged. “I think it’s something you both need to work out. It sounds impossible, but you never know what you’ll find if you start seeing her differently.”

“You mean tolerate her?”

“It works for most of us. Why do you think her and Donald are so close?”

“I figured they were secretly dating.” 

Dahlia smiled and shook her head. “Well, don’t spread that rumor around. Demitry might be the next person to lose his cool if he hears that.” The girl held her hand out to me. “C’mon, I think dinner should be ready by now.” 

I didn’t hesitate in approaching Dahlia, figuring my need to be there had run its course by now. Taking her hand, we both left the lab together and silently walked down the hallway towards the rest of the facility. Since it was after hours, the rest of the labs were dark. Some had very few lights on, and those lights came from computers accidentally left on or some other piece of equipment doing its job throughout the night. The facility was like a bee hive during the day, but now it seemed lonely. There was a feeling of isolation below the ground. There were no other sounds besides the steps Dahlia and I took to find our way back to the elevator. 

Dahlia held my hand the entire time. On another day in a normal life, I wouldn’t think much of it. Honestly, I’d probably insist that she didn’t hold my hand. In this life, however, touch had become as important to me as it was to her. There was a connection between us, and I felt it since the first day I met Dahlia. There was never any stiff air between us. I thought about this as we walked, and I realized Dahlia may have been the only person who could come close to understanding me. I had a special appreciation for that. Dahlia wanted to work with other savants, children, whenever she was done apprenticing under Hector. It was a perfect fit for her. A nurturing touch is a cure-all for every sense of negativity. Even aggression. 

We were nearing the elevator when Dahlia suddenly came to a full stop. It caught my attention, and I waited for an explanation from her. Her grip tightened around my hand to where she was squeezing it. The calmness on her face hardened. Dahlia looked up towards the ceiling, and she appeared to be alarmed at something I wasn’t able to detect for myself. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Something’s not right,” was all she said. No detail. No elaboration. Dahlia stormed ahead with me still attached to her at the hand. We rushed to the elevator, Dahlia waving her free hand at the door so it would be open by the time we reached it. I pressed her for an answer while we entered through the elevator doors. I hadn’t seen her act this way before, not since the incident with Daryl, which was why I was starting to become anxious. Dahlia pressed the button to the top floor a multitude of times as if it was going to get us there faster. She’d curse under her breath with every aggressive push. All she managed to spit out to me was that Hector was looking for us, and it was an emergency. 

When we reached the building, Dahlia pushed through the doors before they could open entirely. I was dragged the whole way behind her, tripping up the steps to the lobby where I could see flashes of red and blue. The front doors had been left wide open, stray leaves blowing across the marble floor. Hector was standing with the security guard, his tone frantic and stern. The other savants had gathered in the lobby with him. However, Abby was taking Dorian back upstairs to the commons area. I knew something bad had happened just as Dahlia had mentioned. 

“What happened?” Dahlia asked as soon as she was in an ear shot of Hector.

“Everyone is to get in the van.” Hector commanded. “Now!”

Demitry, Donald, and Daisuke didn’t hesitate at the order, the boys immediately scurrying outside. Hector waved at Dahlia and I to hustle along as we approached him, pushing us outside with the others. I questioned Hector multiple times what had happened, but he ignored me. Outside, there was a van waiting for us surrounded by several police vehicles with their emergency lights blazing, lighting up the front of the institute. The boys had already piled in, one of the security guards getting behind the wheel. Dahlia and I climbed in and took a seat in the row in front of the boys. Hardly a single word was said. We were all alarmed to a point where we didn’t know what to think. I figured if we were under attack, Dorian would be in the van with us, but he wasn’t. The issue was external from the institute. Finally, Hector took his place in the passenger seat, and the security guard radioed to the patrol cars ahead of us that we were ready to move out. 

We left the circular drive in one, blaring unit. The savants and I all remained quiet. Judging by where the van was taking its sharp turns, it was obvious we were heading into the city. The unit of cars raced by the houses and through intersections as we made our way to downtown. By chance of glancing outside the window, the other boys following my lead, I could see a slew of other patrol cars and ambulances barreling ahead of us from another street. Dahlia’s grip on my hand never loosened, and it appeared as though something was plaguing her. Hector ranted to the driver, repeating over and over again that he wanted things to be okay. He asked for a number of fatalities and names of those missing, and the man cursed whenever he was given an unclear answer. When I looked back at the boys, I noticed that Demitry was uneasy. He was slowly breaking out in a sweat. Donald was analyzing everyone just as I was. Daisuke kept his eyes glued to the window. I wondered if it was a good idea to even bring him along. 

“There was an incident at the Eden archive building.” Hector informed us. 

This information didn’t mean much to me since I knew very little about the archive building. The others were just as lost as I was about the significance of this or why it needed our involvement. Except for Donald. Donald instantly left his place between Daisuke and Demitry and climbed to the front, separating Dahlia and I from each other. 

“What kind of incident!?” Donald was shocked. 

Hector turned enough to be able to look at Donald. “Something went wrong with the final testing process. I’m not positive on all of the details, but something came through and infected the staff.”

“Infected?” Donald repeated.

“That’s all I’m hearing right now. We’ll know more when we get there.” Hector turned back around. “I need all of you to remain calm at all times. There are survivors who won’t be able to get evaluated right away, so Eden has requested our help in keeping everything contained until more medical services arrive.”

Donald continued questioning Hector about what else he knew. I was still unable to grasp the kind of situation we were all involving ourselves in. As Hector explained to the rest of us what he and Donald already knew, the archive building was another front for Eden just as the institute had been. I had only visited the archive building once on a small field trip with Hector and Donald. It was a large building that looked like an old library. Pillars lined the front with black, marble steps leading from the street to the front doors. Only members of Eden were allowed access. Inside were several open floors containing sections of bookshelves and file cabinets on all of Eden’s records, experiments, future plans, staff history, and profiles on every savant they either mentored or monitored. 

The security was always tight, guards posted at every entrance with several others patrolling each floor. Surveillance cameras decorated the ceilings, the walls, and all the places you’d think you could have privacy. Not all of the cameras were the obvious black balls mounted strategically throughout the building. Most of them were little dots placed out of sight so that you wouldn’t be suspicious. Consequently, I refused using the restroom during my entire visit. Now, I imagined it would be a perfect opportunity for someone to infiltrate Eden’s archive building since that’s what I assumed all of the security was for to begin with. 

The archive served a double purpose, the second being another elaborate front. Unbeknownst to the public, who I could guess already had their suspicions about the building, Eden had a facility established deep beneath the archives. It was similar to that of the facility under the institute, but according to Hector, the archive facility dealt more with developing new technology than studying and analyzing savants all day. This was where Donald submitted most of his designs and inventions. Eden’s current project would have been a major leap forward for humanity and the object of discovery itself, but something had failed during the final trials of the testing phase regardless of its previous success. To make it worse, the project head was presenting it to some of Eden’s higher members for a demonstration. It’s unknown if they’re among the survivors. 

We sped into the corporate side of the downtown area where we were surrounded by enormous skyscrapers. I could see the vehicles reflections in the windows as we passed by, sirens screaming in the night at bystanders watching from the sidewalk. We were coming to a square amidst the concrete jungle, which was blocked off by military personnel. No doubt it was the division Demitry’s father led. In the center of the square was the archive building. We were approaching from the right. Hector gained clearance from the man controlling that side of the blockade, commanding that only emergency responders and Eden corresponders were allowed in. However, no one was allowed to leave until all subjects in contact with the survivors were cleared of infection. 

It was like a scene from a disaster movie. 

Ambulances and police vehicles cluttered the square. There were bodies of the Eden staff everywhere. Some were sitting in the back of ambulances to get treatment for their wounds. Others were either sitting on the sidewalk or curled up on a cot in the grass a little ways from the archive building awaiting assistance. There were staff members who had only scrapes and bruises, then there were staff members whose clothes were soaked in blood. The ones that bothered me the most were those who were still screaming in terror whenever someone approached them to help. The driver got us as close to the archive building as possible, stopping curb side for us to get out. Hector didn’t waste a second throwing himself out of the passenger seat, his lab coat dragging behind him. Another guard opened the van door for us to follow suit. 

We past by those groaning on the cots as we made our way to the start of of the steps. It was center ground for Hector to start giving orders. Demitry stood close to me, and he was sweating more every time I glanced to look at him. Hector ordered Donald into the crowd. Daisuke volunteered to leave with him to locate and make sure his brother was safe. The mention of Takashi reminded me of Dame. They were together when they left, so it would only make sense for her to be here somewhere, too. Judging by Hector’s urgency to be involved, it wouldn’t surprise me if Dame’s safety wasn’t the reason.

For the first time since meeting the men involved with Eden, I saw Markus making his way down the steps from the archive building. Hector left us to speak with him, and there was a sense of mild relief that his colleague was in one piece. However, from the serious look on Markus’ face, there was another dark cloud looming over the people of Eden. I didn’t want to think about that yet. It wasn’t my concern. Dahlia was scanning the area, searching for vibrations she might recognize to get a full body count. I looked at Demitry again, his face turning pale as if he were about to get sick. 

“Hey, man, you okay?” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but everything will be okay.”

Demitry turned his eyes to me in slow, robotic motion. “Something really bad happened, Desley. I can feel it overloading my head.” He gulped. “I never felt so much fear in one place. I almost can’t breathe.” The boy lowered his head. “There’s something very messed up here.” 

I watched Demitry grab his head as he stumbled, trying to keep him from falling over completely. I turned my head to see if I could gain Hector’s attention. Markus noticed us during their conversation, which was sounding like an argument, and the two dropped what they were saying to come to our aid. Just as they were approaching, Dahlia covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. This stole my attention. 

“Oh, no…” Dahlia breathed. 

“What is it?” I asked her. 

Dahlia faced towards me as Donald was running back to us from the crowd. “She’s not here.”

“Hector! We have a problem!” Donald was yelling. 

“What do you mean? Who’s not here?” I was confused. 

Donald came to a stop before all of us, clammy and out of breath. “Hector, we have a problem!” 

“Where’s Daisuke?” Hector inquired. 

“He’s with Takashi. Takashi is passed out in a cot. That’s not the problem though.” Donald stopped for a moment to catch his breath. “Dame isn’t here. She never made it out of the facility.”

Hector was stunned as his worst fear came to reality. The rest of us didn’t know what to think either. 

“Are you sure? Are you absolutely positive she’s not out here somewhere!?” Hector grabbed Donald’s shoulders. The man’s knees appeared weak. 

“She isn’t. I can’t even find her vibrations anywhere out here. There isn’t even a trail of her aura. She never made it out with the others, Hector.” Dahlia spoke up. 

Hector looked between Donald and Dahlia. His eyes were frantic, his mind starting to race with no clear answers of what to do. In the grand scheme of our time with Hector, he served as a father figure to us all in one way or another. Now, he was a father missing one of his own. Dame was in danger. Dame could have been dying, and there was nothing he could do about it. I could see the helplessness in his eyes. All the same, it wasn’t going to stop Hector from trying. The man turned away from us and approached Markus. 

“Gather some of your men. We have a savant still trapped inside the facility.” Hector said sternly. 

Markus shook his head. “I can’t do that, Hector. I already lost enough people. They’re lucky they made it out at all.” 

“We’re talking about a child!” Hector shouted. 

“There isn’t anything I can do!” Markus shouted back. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to risk more people for one child. Even if I could, the men are too frightened to want to take another chance down there. They won’t even get near the front doors! You have no idea what’s down there.”

We listened to Markus yell at Hector about what he and his men had been through. There was a gas. The staff began to harm themselves, and those who survived long enough mutated into something else before turning on those clear of infection. Markus described it as a slaughter. Most of the security team didn’t make it out. He wasn’t clear on what caused the gas though. He only figured it had something to do with the test they were running. The situation was beginning to sink in for me. I absorbed all of the information I was hearing. I wanted to help. I wanted to do more than just stand around. What could I do though? I wasn’t qualified to handle any of what was going on. I was as Hector called us. A child. 

Demitry took another stumble, but Dahlia caught him this time. Donald was quick to assist her, both of them helping Demitry sit down on the concrete. Simply being here was taking a toll on him. I couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to be hypersensitive to the emotions of everyone around you. Fear, especially. That’s when my own senses caught wind of something. A familiar energy, but it was faint. I could hardly keep track of it. Then there was a heartbeat. As Hector and Markus continued arguing, I left towards the steps to see if the sense would become stronger. Dahlia must have picked up on it, too, following me shortly thereafter. 

“If you were so concerned about the wellbeing of your savants, you wouldn’t have let her partake in an experiment like this! You knew the risks exactly as I did!” Markus yelled. 

“There are risks in everything that we do at Eden!” Hector countered. “Everything is a damn experiment! These kids are not just lab rats you can toss away whenever something goes wrong!”

“I’m not going to lose several more lives for only one! I don’t have anyone I can send down there, and I sure as hell am not going to force them.” Markus was standing his ground. “To be honest, with how bad things were down there, Dame is more than likely dead. I’m sorry to say it, Hector, but would she not already be here if she was alive? She has that capability. I’m not risking my men to save someone who’s already gone.”

“She’s not dead.” I called to them from the bottom of the steps. I knew I recognized that energy. 

Markus and Hector ceased their arguing for a moment to look at Dahlia and I. We even had Demitry and Donald’s attention. 

“I can feel her heartbeat.” I continued. 

Markus started to approach us. “That’s impossible. The facility levels are several hundred feet into the ground.”

“No, I can feel her, too.” Dahlia defended me. “Her vibrations are faint, but she’s alive.”

“Why hasn’t she made a portal yet?” Hector joined us. “Something must be wrong if she hasn’t made one to escape.” 

I had wondered this myself. Out of all the people, I would have figured Dame would be the first one to escape using her wormhole abilities. More people probably would have gotten out because of her, too. It didn’t make much sense. With this new development, Hector turned to Markus again.

“Markus, I’m begging you. Please send a team down there to recover one of ours. She’s only sixteen. What if that was your kid down there?” Hector pleaded one last time. 

Markus appeared to hesitate, but his answer remained the same. “I’m sorry, Hector. I just can’t do it.”

“Is there no one? Is there not a single person who can help!?” Hector lashed out, grabbing Markus by the collar of his shirt. “There is a child in danger, and you’re going to stand there in your self righteous bullshit and tell me that not a single one of your men are capable of doing this!?”

The men began to argue again. Hector was becoming more distraught by the second at the realization that he couldn’t do anything for Dame, and he aimed to take the blunt of it out on Markus. As much as I wanted Markus to send people down there, I could also understand his point of view. It’s more than likely that more of his own men with families of their own would die trying to extract one person. It tore at me because that one person so happened to be Dame. I knew Takashi wouldn’t hesitate. As the two men fought and screamed at each other, I couldn’t help but think about the first time I met Dame and the sundress she wore. Her harsh words and even harsher tone passed through my memories. Every thought of her presence made me cringe. There wasn’t a possible way I could understand her. Then I thought of Dame with her siblings and the smile she had specifically for them. I knew I never gave understanding a chance. I didn’t want it to be too late either. 

“I’ll go.” I spoke over Hector and Markus.

Both of the men ceased arguing again to turn their eyes to me. 

“I’ll go. I’ll find Dame, and I’ll bring her here.” I clarified more. 

Markus said. “Out of the question.”

“I’d have to agree. I can’t allow another savant to be put in danger.” Hector concurred. 

“Hector, you know I can do this!” I tried reasoning with him. 

“You’re a savant with limited abilities you haven’t begun to master yet. You’re not a task force, Desley.” Markus remarked. “You’ll only get yourself killed.”

“Well, then at least I would have actually tried, Markus.” I shot back at him. “Instead of being a p***y.”

“Desley.” Hector used his parental tone.

“I can do this, Hector. Please…” I turned my attention back to the psychologist. “What other options do we have? Dame’s gonna die down there if we don’t do something now.”

Hector opened his mouth to answer, but the man paused. We were locked in a stare. I could see that he was weighing the risks and possible outcomes, both good and bad. Worst case scenario, he would lose two savants. Two children would have died under his watch without excuse. Best case scenario, he could end the night with all of his children accounted for and out of danger. 

“Dahlia. Donald. I want you two to start aiding those injured.” Hector ordered. “Demitry, I know it’s hard on you, but try to calm some of the others down. As much as I know you hate it, I know you can do it.” 

All three of them stood up and started walking away to those in the grass, Dahlia stopping for a moment to watch the exchange between Hector, Markus, and I. 

“Desley, you’re right.” Hector said. “Come with me.” 

Without a word or question, I followed Hector as he made his way up the steps to the archive building entrance. Markus followed, too, puzzled by what Hector was up to. When Hector pulled his own keycard out of his lab coat, Markus immediately jumped in his way.

“Hector, you can’t seriously be considering this! She’s just a child!” Markus snapped at the man. 

“This child is my only chance to rescue another of my own. Plus, maybe she can fix whatever you people screwed up down there.” Hector snapped back. 

“You have no idea what you’re sending her into! I can’t allow this.”

“It’s not up to you. It’s not your department.”

The men were at it again, and I was becoming more anxious by the second. Their arguing was a waste of time, and I felt as if that was the whole point behind Markus’ intrusion. He had threaten to take Hector before the council if he had persisted with his plan, but Hector didn’t break. He didn’t back down. Instead, the man pushed Markus to the side, which caused him to stumble and fall back on the steps ahead of him. After a brief apology, Hector motioned for me to follow him once more. I felt bad because Hector and Markus were genuinely good friends to each other, and I hated seeing them fight like this. Both of them had their clear reasons.

Hector reached the top of the steps and proceeded to the entrance. Near the top, I felt Dahlia grab my hand to get my attention. I didn’t hear her sneak up on me like that. I half expected her to give me a cheerful smile in hopes it would encourage me for what I was about to do, but her face only pressed me to be more concerned for my own wellbeing. Dahlia was obviously worried. 

“Whatever you see down there, remember it isn’t human.” Dahlia spoke quietly. 

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What?”

“Just be careful. I’m sensing so many dark vibes.” She paused. “Find Dame and get your asses out of there. Do whatever you have to, Desley. Just make sure you both come out of there.” 

I nodded my head to her, unable to conjure up the words I wanted to say before Hector called for me. I held onto Dahlia’s hand for a moment longer in case it would be the last time, then she let me slip away as I left to join Hector at the entrance. Hector was holding the door open for me, allowing me to go inside the building first. Once inside, Hector made a bee line to the elevator tucked away off to the left of the lobby. The make-up was much like the institute. Save for the emergency power, the lights were knocked out, so I was relieved that Hector was leading the way through the dimly lit corridor. The elevator was waiting for us at the end, the green accents glowing around the call button giving us indication that it still had power to it. I waited for Hector to press the button, but the man hesitated before turning to me. 

“Are you sure you want to do this? I won’t blame you for backing out.” Hector asked.

I nodded my head to him and took a deep breath. “I really don’t want to do it, but we don’t have any other options. Dame needs help, and I might be the only one who can get her out safely.”

There was a shuffle behind us that made us spin around instantly. Markus was standing a few feet away with his hands in his pockets. Hector pushed the call button despite his presence, and the doors opened up. Markus took a step forward, and Hector came around and got between us. I imagine it was to stop Markus from doing anything irrational. 

“I’m not here to fight. I just wanted to apologize.” Markus started.

Hector didn’t seem convinced.

“If you’re going down there, Desley, you should probably be aware of where you’re going.” Markus continued.

We didn’t think of that part. I was partly inside the elevator at this point, holding the door open.

“Last place Dame was seen was on the test floor. The test floor is at the very bottom of the facility. You make sure this is what you want to do because once you leave these doors there will be no coming back. We can’t let any infected leave containment. From there, however, you’ll go down the main hallway. Take a left at hallway C. At the end there is a freight elevator leading to the test floor. Odds are the power is cut off to it, so you’ll have to go through the office area and access the test floor from the catwalk. That’s where Dame should be at. She should have a keycard, so you can both access the emergency stairwell to get out.” Markus finished.

“That’s going to be a lot of stairs, kiddo.” Hector informed me. 

“Well, it’ll be better than being stuck down there.” I tried to joke, but I found it hard to laugh. 

“I’m counting on you, Desley.” Hector said.

I nodded to him, and I let the elevator doors close. Inside, the elevator was much wider than the one at the institute. I pressed the lowest button on the panel, and the elevator began its descent into a world of madness I wasn’t prepared for. Each floor it passed by, coming closer to my destination, made me more anxious. This was such a stupid idea, I thought. It was a stupid idea, but I was in it now, and I had to carry through with it. I didn’t know what I was walking into, but I had force myself to have confidence that I’d be able to handle whatever it is that’ll be on the other side of the elevator. Plus, I had to find Dame. There isn’t a way I could walk away knowing she’s trapped down here. 

The elevator slowed and came to a stop. The doors slid back to reveal a dark hallway with nothing but a few working emergency lights. I inhaled deeply and let it out as soundly as I could, then I took my first step out of the elevator. A second step followed, and the doors closed behind me, the green accent around the call button turning red. This was it. I was on my own. No help would come for me if I needed it. This wasn’t a test. There were no safety precautions. This was the real danger Hector warned about in so many lectures, and I put myself smack dab in the middle. I was sweating through my raglan shirt already. 

You could hear a pin drop in the hallway as I began my journey to find Dame. It was a haunting sensation, but I tried to see the perks of it. At least I could hear something sneak up on me with how silent it was. I was taking it slow. The hallways were a mess of papers thrown everywhere and several carts turned over. There was obviously a stampede of panicked researchers an hour earlier. I thought about calling out Dame’s name, but I didn’t know what else I could possibly attract. Save for my abilities, I was virtually unarmed. I never had to apply my powers in such a scenario. 

The main hallway was long and narrow. I’d occasionally feel a rumbling that shook the floor beneath my shoes, and I had to guess what the possibilities were to keep myself calm. It was like thunder rolling through the bottom floor. The further into the facility I walked, the more the horror began to unveil itself in scenes of mayhem that had already passed. I was nearing hallway A when I came across an enormous wave of blood smeared across one of the walls. My body was starting to shake the longer I stared at it, nerves screaming at me to fallback and hide until someone else could come and help. I was only a kid. I wasn’t ready for any of it. 

Forcing myself past hallway A, I caught a glimpse of more blood that caked the walls and the floor. I tried not to think about it. Dame needed to remain my focus, not fear of being mutilated. There was a series of labs coming up on my right. The layout appeared similar to the facility underneath the institute. Unlike the institute’s labs, the windows were blood stained and decorated with red handprints. One window frame had every inch covered in the red fluid, and I didn’t want to imagine what was on the other side. 

It felt like a mile between branching hallways. At the same time, a minute passed as an hour down here. Some of the lab windows were broken, so I tried to step around whatever glass littered the floor. This made travel slightly harder if I wanted to keep myself unheard. As I continued on my way, I came across another cart pushed off to the side. In an emergency light that flickered off and on, I could see a foot sticking out from the other side. I knew that I would eventually come across this, but I still didn’t want to see it. I wanted to scurry by without taking a glance save myself from trauma, but I had to entertain the idea that the researcher could still be alive and needed help. 

I slowly made my way around the cart, finding the foot had been attached to a man on the other side. He was older, possibly Hector’s age. The man sat slumped over against the wall under a lab window, marinating in a puddle of blood. I couldn’t begin to determine where his fatal injuries were because he looked as if he had been mauled to death, one of his arms looking like shredded meat put through a grinder. Either he had died this way or something came along and feasted on him in his death. I saw his badge identification hooked and tucked away in the breast pocket of his lab coat. Maybe he had a keycard to get out in case Dame didn’t have hers. I debated the idea for a moment.

Taking a deep breath, I came closer to the body, staining the bottoms of my shoes in the puddle. I crouched down over his legs and reached for the badge inside his lab coat. It came off easily, which was great because I didn’t want to risk losing my balance. I held the badge up in the light to see a picture of what the man looked like before his demise. Donovan. Donovan Estes. He was a researcher, clearly, with a type S, class three identification on his badge. This meant he was a savant, too, but a lower level. I had seen this kind of classification on Dahlia’s badge for her internship. 

A loud gasp came from the man I presumed to be dead, and I didn’t have time to fully react when Donovan lunged forward and grabbed me by my shirt. He yanked me towards him, my knees sliding into the blood puddle as I tried to muffle a frightened yelp. His widened eyes met with my own, and I could see the gouge in his neck where arterial spray leaked onto my hand and arm with every growl and grunt he made in an attempt to speak. At the same time, images flooded my mind of Donovan, his wife, and his two daughters on vacation. His gargled growling became louder as the images changed to a scene of him running down the main hallway in a crowd of other researchers. Some were being ripped apart by other coworkers, and he became one of the victims as he stopped to help a frightened woman leave the lab. Donovan was screaming in my face by the time the images stopped. Reality struck, and I pushed back against his grip on my shirt, grabbing his hands to force him to release me. His screaming sent chills up my spine, every alarm sounding off in my brain that I was in danger. 

The screaming stopped, and his grip on my shirt loosened as his head dipped forward. I broke out of his hands and threw myself backwards. I slipped in the blood and slammed on my back, but that didn’t stop me from scurrying backwards towards the opposite wall. I pulled myself up and remained on the floor as I started to hyperventilate. Staring at the man, I waited for him to throw himself at me again. I was too shocked to move, his badge rattling in my hand as I trembled. 

“S**t!” I yelled.

I heard a loud bang from down the hallway where I passed hallway A that immediately caught my attention. More chills ran up my spine as all of the nerves were pleading for me to move. Something heard us, and I wasn’t about to wait and find out what. I pulled myself together and jumped to my feet. I hugged the wall at first as I tried to get my legs to cooperate with me, turning into a full sprint when I regained control over my body. I didn’t care now that my shoes were making so much noise, the broken glass crunching beneath every step. I just needed to get away. I could hear strange gargles behind me along with clicking noises. Several of them. The dim lighting provided some cover for me, but it wouldn’t last long. I had to hide. 

Miraculously, I came across a maintenance closet. It was unlocked when I slammed my hand down on the handle and hurled myself into the door. I swung myself around once I was inside and slammed the door shut. I backed away and waited, my heart thumping violently in my chest. I didn’t take my eyes off the door. The gargling, clicking sounds came closer. I could only pray that they didn’t see me, and I raised my hands towards the door to ready myself for a deadly encounter, building up the energy in my body for a blunt attack. Being so scared, it was hard for me to focus. Coming down here was such a bad idea. 

The gargling and rush of footsteps barreled past the door, slowly becoming more faint as they continued their run down the main hallway. I could breathe easier now, but I wasn’t entirely convinced it was safe to leave the closet. I wanted to stay in there and wait for help, but I knew I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t allow myself to be a coward. I stayed still for several more minutes, waiting to hear if they were coming back or if there were more on their way. Silence. I wasn’t certain how long the main hallway went on for, but I had high hopes that whatever they were had run far enough for me to disappear down hallway C and out of their way. In the event I was wrong, I began feeling around in the closet for something solid. A weapon. Something I could swing if my power failed me. In the darkness, I found where the brooms and mops were being kept. My fingers ran across something cold to the touch. Round. A pipe, maybe. I didn’t care what it was. It was metal, and it was light enough for me to be able to swing. That’s all that mattered to me. 

I came back to the closet door and gripped the handle. I had to build myself up in order to only push my hand down on it. Still shaking, I cracked the door open enough to peek through a slit. I didn’t see anything. I opened it more to get a better view. There was no sound to be heard minus the occasional rumbling. I squeezed myself out of the closet and stayed close to the wall. Hopefully, those things were gone for the time being. It was hard leaving the safety of the closet, each step away making me want to turn back. I was forcing every movement, becoming so paranoid that I was hearing noises that weren’t there. At least I was moving now. 

I eventually ventured out into the middle of the hallway again by the time I reached hallway B. I wasn’t hearing anything threatening, and my confidence was starting to rise again. However, the further I traveled, the more I was starting to come cross other bodies that had been left behind. The section of labs that followed hallway B was littered with deceased scientists. Some of the bodies were completely intact. Other bodies had limbs missing. There wasn’t a single area on the floor that wasn’t stained in blood. Even after my encounter with Estes, the sight made my stomach churn. The question of where it all went wrong was prevailing in my mind. It didn’t seem to be real it was only a few hours ago that the halls were crammed with busy researchers going about their day as normal. It somehow turned into this. 

I stepped around the bodies carefully, trying not to accidentally kick anyone out of respect. I noticed a clear path next to one of the labs that could carry me around most of the slaughtered. I picked my foot over an arm, placed it between two legs, swung my other foot over a torso, and found an empty tile to set it on. I had hoped there was more than one emergency stairwell because I didn’t want Dame to see any of this. It wasn’t for not wanting her to be scarred but rather she would probably handle it better than I am. It was mildly twisted to have such a thought. 

I reached the set of windows that aligned the outside of the lab. I moved along the space between it and the bodies to cover more ground. I moved the pipe from my right hand to my left so that it wouldn’t accidentally scrape against the wall below the windows. There was no way I would be able to outrun anything in this mess. The floor rattled again with a deeper rumbling coming from down the main hallway. Surely, I was getting close. This mission was halfway over. Dame better still be alive through all of this. 

My eyes stayed focused on the floor, not wanting to gaze over the sea of bodies anymore. I had been lost in my thoughts when I was passing another section of window and a disfigured face screeched out at me and smashed itself into the glass on the other side. I yelped and jumped away, hurling myself into a space between the bodies on the floor. I had fallen on the floor once again. However, it didn’t take long for me to spring back to my feet and turn into attack position, holding the pipe as if preparing to swing it. After a few seconds though, I realized there was no need to. The creature was trapped behind the glass, and I eyeballed the lab door to make sure it was closed, a red accent around the handle meaning it was locked. 

I came closer to the window to get a better look at what else was down here after I had calmed down. The creature screeched and attacked the window again, but the glass was thick. I knew this. It had the appearance of a man from the neck down. Judging by the clothing, I knew it had been one of the researchers. Some of the victims somehow morphed into a cannibalistic monster, and I knew now what Dahlia meant in reminding me they weren’t human. The head was disfigured completely, the face having mutated into a slit down the middle, Whenever the slit would open, it would stretch and gape to show five rows of jagged teeth. What had been left of the man’s eyes were shrunken and pushed off to the side. The nails had grown into claws. There was slight muscular development. All of these were things I was taking note of. The skin appeared to be oily. There were minor growths around the forehead. As evident of its actions, they were also extremely aggressive. I began to doubt being able to take on one let alone several a once. 

I strayed away from the window to hurry along my mission. I wasn’t worried about the creature breaking out of the lab, but I was worried about others coming along. Judging by the amount of bodies that were scattered throughout the main hallway, it was hard to believe it had been the work of only a handful of these monsters. It was another thing to add to my list of stuff I never thought I would be doing before getting hit by that car. Thanks, driver. Now, I was scouring an abandoned, underground lab while facing possible mutilation at the hands of Eden employees turned into mutated, cannibalistic monsters all to save the life of a girl who doesn’t like my existence. No, really, thank you, driver. 

Admittedly, I was relieved when I came to hallway C. It was mostly due to leaving the massacre that was the main hallway, and it meant that my mission was halfway over. As hard as it was to confess, I was looking forward to finding Dame. As irritating as she was, I knew she would be the one thing down here that didn’t want to kill me. That might be stretching it a bit though. Nevertheless, the thought of being closer to finding her caused me to move swiftly down hallway C. There wasn’t much to it, after all. At the very start, I could already see the freight elevator Markus spoke of earlier. I knew it was used to move parts and equipment, but I was shocked at how massive the elevator was. It appeared to grow as I got closer, too. The hallway had better lighting, so I didn’t have to strain my eyes to see anymore. 

I came to the freight elevator and its massive doors, which were sealed shut due to the lockdown in place. Just as Markus had directed, there was an office section to the left of it. Thankfully, the office door was ajar from someone’s shoe left behind. I didn’t want to have to break the door down and draw attention to myself again. The floor quaked violently as the rumbling sounded more like a monstrous roar now that I was closer to the test floor. I could only imagine what might have been going on in there. I didn’t want to think about it. It wasn’t important. 

Pipe at the ready, I pushed through the door and entered a mess of destruction that use to be an office. The lights had been knocked out completely except  for a few flashes I didn’t know the origins of yet. With every brief glimpse, I could see the horror that had taken place. The ceiling had been missing panels, overhead lights were busted, desks were turned over or snapped in half, papers littered the floor, and there were bodies here as well. Some were even pinned to the walls with their legs missing and intestines dangling just above the floor. I was feeling the leftover energy from the scene that had taken place, and it made my stomach drop and my hair stand up. Some of the victims didn’t stand a chance. 

I followed the flashes around a corner to find another door that led outside to the test floor. That’s where the light had been coming from. Dame’s energy was close, and I was becoming anxious to get to her now. I started making my way to the door by pushing past knocked over file cabinets and climbing over desks and other debris. Nothing was going to stop me. I could hardly believe it myself that I even made it this far. That is until I heard a screech come from my left.

My head jerked in the direction of the screech, light catching the body of a creature hurling itself at me at full speed. I hardly had time to react, taking my pipe and swinging it as hard as I could. The room went black, but I knew I struck the creature when I heard a thud and the palms of my hands stung. A flash from the door allowed me to see it wallowing on the floor. Another flash revealed a second monster barreling towards me in silence. It was already on me before I could raise my pipe again, slamming into me and knocking me to the floor with a wet screech. I couldn’t see what was going on, the light from the door only showing the jagged teeth inches from my face as I tried to hold the creature back with my pipe across my chest. Its nails were digging into my arms. I kicked and I strained to keep it off me, moving my head to the side whenever it took a snap at my face. The creature flailed in its attempts to take a chunk out of my skin, and my arms were growing tired. My heart was ready to burst. A flash from the door showed me that the other creature was getting to its feet. I knew I was done for if I didn’t act soon. 

But I was pinned. 

I couldn’t move. 

The tension was building inside my body as I felt my death was approaching rapidly. The light flashed again, and I saw the other creature racing towards me. I didn’t want it to end this way. If I couldn’t save Dame, who could? I didn’t want to die like this. I didn’t want Hector explaining it to the others. I didn’t want Dorian to be confused. I didn’t want to leave without apologizing to Thomas. I didn’t want any of it. 

Adrenaline was pumping through my body at the thought of dying. The charging monster had started moving in slow motion as did the saliva dripping from the jaws of the creature that had me pinned down. Strength returned to my arms, and with a swift jerk to the side, I managed to throw it off of me long enough to scurry backwards. The creature grabbed for my ankle, but another swing from my pipe thwarted any further attempts of it pinning me down again, hearing its skull crack open on impact. The other creature was almost on me in an instant. I didn’t think about it, raising my hand immediately to exert force that had built up in my body. The creature was taken off its feet and hurled across the office to where I heard a splat against the back wall. Finally, I felt like I was winning. 

The feeling of victory ended when I felt something grab the back of my shirt as I got to my feet, immediately ripping me off the floor and throwing me over a nearby desk. I skidded over the surface and crashed to the floor once again, pipe knocked out of my hands from the ferocity. There was a third hiding in the shadows. I was obviously born unlucky. I struggled to get to my feet again, using the flashes to locate my pipe, but I was grabbed again and hurled into the side of another desk on the other side. I was losing again. 

The third creature yanked me off the floored before I could get away and slammed me down on top of the desk. It started wailing on me, fists and nails trying to take my face off. I held my arms up in order to protect myself, occasionally getting struck because the creature moved too fast for me to keep all angles covered. As it pounded away on my arms, I worked one of my legs between us. I moved my foot firmly against its body and shoved with everything I had. I just needed an opening to get out of that position. With the creature off balance, I rolled off the desk and onto the floor before it lunged at me. I saw my pipe among a mess of papers in the flash of light. In a panic, I scrambled to reach it. The third creature screeched and leaped for me again just as my fingers touched the end of the pipe. Pinning me down, face into the floor, the creature bit into my shoulder. I screamed in pain, which only made the monster more excited. 

Now, it was taking my head and bashing it into the floor. Once. Twice. Three times. The seconds I got between every blow I focused on getting my fingers around the pipe. I would stretch and strain, but it was no use. I was too far. Four times. Five times. Such profound abilities, and I was still useless. I couldn’t focus enough to move my pipe a fraction of an inch. Six times. I was on the verge of giving up. The creature violently rolled me over, my hand still stretched towards my pipe. In the flashes, for what I thought would be my final moment, I watched in slow motion as the slit on the creature’s face began to separate, revealing the rows of teeth ready to rip the skin from my skull. I was begging for any kind of miracle. Anything. 

I had expected to feel some form of regret or remorse for my life having such a short duration. Instead, I felt something else swelling inside my chest. It felt like anger. Possibly hatred. Oddly, excitement as well. It was like a murderous thirst awakened inside me, and some part of me was only angry because I couldn’t inflict the same amount of fear on the creature as it had done to me. 

Then I felt the pipe in my hand.

It only took one swing of the pipe to knock the creature off of me, but I wasn’t going to be done there. I turned the tables. I rolled over to where I had the creature mounted, and I raised the pipe above my head. I brought it down on its head with a sickening crack. Then again. Again. Again. Again. Blood sprayed onto my shirt as brain matter was starting to cling to the steel. I kept bashing in the creature’s skull until the cracking turned to a squishy sound, and I kept going. The feeling in my chest had spread into my arms, and I felt as if I wasn’t going to stop. As scary as it was, I found myself enjoying it. It was payback for making me feel helpless. 

The thought of Dame crossed my mind, and I stopped myself mid-swing. That part of me wanted so badly to keep swinging, but I forced myself to get a grip. I was losing control over my senses, caught up in the fight for my life to not realize there was no longer a threat present. I dropped my pipe to my side and stayed on my knees as I gasped for air. I thought my heart would burst from how hard it was pounding, making me think I was having an anxiety attack when it was really the adrenaline pumping through my body. 

The floor shook once again, reminding me of my mission and bringing me back to reality. I looked up to the door as light flashed across my face through a circular window. Slowly getting to my feet, my legs felt like I had gotten through running several miles at a full sprint. My body ached, and I staggered towards the door to the test floor, not minding that I was shuffling my shoes through the bloody pile of brain tissue left on the floor. As I came closer, I noticed that the door was bulky and possibly made from iron with a heavy latch across the center. I stood on the tips of my toes to see what I was going to be walking into, and I couldn’t see much of anything aside from the walkway suspended above the test floor. With several more flashes, I could see an observation deck on the other side. There were papers blowing around, so I could only imagine it was from the failed project they were working on that was causing it and the rumbling. When the test floor returned to darkness, I saw that the observation deck had a red glow coming from one of the windows. A light. I could see a figure move around inside. I strained my eyes in an attempt to see clearly. A flash at the right time gave me a more detailed look at the figure. It was a female. A girl. By the body language, I knew without a doubt that it was Dame, and I couldn’t have been happier to see her alive. However, more flashes showed that she wasn’t the only one on our level. There were three more monsters trying to ram their way into her hiding spot. 

Only three stood between me and Dame. 

I got this. I got this. 

I gripped my pipe tightly in my hand, the other hand twisting the latch to unlock the iron door. Here I go. I hardly pushed on the door when latch launched away from me, yanking me out onto the walkway. It was like I had walked into a windstorm, my clothes blowing tightly against my skin and hair ready to leave my scalp. Now that I was out in the open, I could see the test floor below, and directly in the middle was a monolith of bright light that looked similar to one of Dame’s portals, only it was twisting and sucking in loose objects. Bolts of electricity spilled from the center of it, striking the walls and ceilings with an enormous explosion that shook the walkway. I couldn’t help but marvel at it. This was what Dame was helping to create. I didn’t even know what it was yet. 

Focus, Desley!

I heard the screeching from the three creatures ahead of me trying their best to break down the door, Dame trying to push back as much as she could from inside. I started marching down the walkway, taking my pipe and banging the railings to draw their attention. I shouted and hollered at them until one of the creatures took notice of the commotion. 

“Come on!” I taunted from a distance.

The creature broke from its group and began to charge at me. I moved to an attack position, raising my pipe as I rushed to the creature. I wasn’t feeling fear this time but determination. I was going to see this through. The creature came up on me, and I swung my pipe with everything I had, bashing it directly in the head and taking it off its feet as I careened by it. A second one discarded the door and followed instantly after the first one. I wasn’t going to slow down. The third monster tailed behind it. Encountering the second monster, with its nails out and slit opened wide to latch onto my face, I rammed the tip of my pipe into its stomach with enough force that it penetrated through its back. For the third monster, which was nearly on top of me, I raised a hand to it and threw it over the edge with my power. To finish off the second, I ripped the pipe back out and slammed my foot into its chest to knock it down. I didn’t hesitate to slam the pipe through its head as soon as it met the floor, and I left it there like that. 

I wasn’t going to observe anything of what I had done. I jogged the rest of the way down the walkway until I rounded the corner at the end to the door. I peeked through the small window to see Dame still pushing back against the door. I started thumping on it and jiggling the handle.

“Dame!” I yelled. “Let me in!”

She kept her back to the door.

“Dame, look at me!” I demanded. “They’re gone! There’s nothing out here!”

I watched Dame turn around, and she had a confused look on her face when she saw me.

“It’s me, Desley!” I tried to assure her.

Dame narrowed her eyes at me and rolled them. Not the reaction I expected, but it was entirely Dame’s fashion. 

“Open the damn door already, or I’m gonna leave your stuck-up a*s here.” I threatened. 

Dame unlocked the door and opened it, allowing me to come inside. She immediately slammed it shut though as soon as I crossed the threshold. I glanced around the observation deck and walked to the middle of it, taking in the scene that was unfolding outside. That’s when I noticed a body that was slumped against the opposite wall next to the control panels. One of the creatures that spawned from this mess. Dame grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

“Just what the hell are you doing down here!?” She barked at me.

“Well, hey, Desley, glad to see you’re okay even though you just about died saving my stupid a*s, which could have transported out of here an hour ago!” I shouted back. “I could ask you the same damn thing!”

Dame took a step back from me and glared, which gave me a chance to see the trickle of blood that had run down her forehead and into her eyebrow. She pushed her way past me and headed to the controls, punching random buttons and flipping multiple switches.

“I tried to, believe me. Then that little b*****d over there got a shot in.” She motioned her head to the body. “I think I have a concussion. I’m practically useless right now.” 

“How do you mean?”

“I can’t create any portals when the frequencies in my brain are disrupted. Concussions have a tendency to do that.” Dame shook her head. “It doesn’t matter though. We have much bigger issues right now, if you can’t tell already. You look like hell, by the way.”

I joined Dame at her side to get a better look at what she was doing. “What happened down here? How the hell did this happen?”

Dame continued triggering switches in a sequence. “It’s not important right now. If I can’t shut this thing down, nothing is going to matter.”

“How do you expect me to help you if you won’t tell me anything?” I reached for Dame’s arm to get her attention.

“I don’t need your help!” Dame yanked herself away from me.

I withdrew my hand to myself as Dame shut me out of her plan. That is until I watched her sway a little as she had her fingers at the controls. The girl paused for a second and leaned forward against the panel, slowly lowering herself to the floor as one of her legs began to buckle. I kneeled down on the floor with her to see what was wrong. Dame had her eyes closed for a moment, her face turning pale as she sat there. I lifted my hand to move her hair back to see how bad her injury was, but I could only catch a glimpse since she instantly smacked my hand away. It looked as though she had a deep gash at the hairline. 

“That looks really bad.” I said. 

“I’m fine, dumbass.” Dame replied.

“No, you really aren’t. You need to get out of here.”

“Don’t be a child, Morgan. I can’t leave. Not until I fix this.” Dame shifted around to where she was resting against the panel. “I just need a minute.”

I stood up for a moment to look at the giant vortex that was slowly ripping apart the test floor. There was so much equipment and machines I had never seen before, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to grasp what their purpose was. I even saw several turbine engines hooked together and strategically placed throughout the test floor. Among them were two curved, large structures that had seemingly collapsed on the floor on each side of the vortex. I glanced back at the dead creature in the observation room with us, then to the bloody wrench on the floor near the body. Finally, I looked at Dame again, crouching down to her level.

“Dame, I know we haven’t gotten along at all for reasons that are still unbeknownst to me, but can we put that aside for now? I need to know what happened. What is all of this?” I pleaded with her. “Please, tell me everything.”

Dame opened one eye with her signature look of annoyance on her face. All she did was stare at me, trying to decide to fill me in on the details or not. She shut her eye again and breathed in deeply. 

“What you’re looking at is a grade A disaster. Eden wanted the ability to explore other parts of space without actually leaving Earth. They couldn’t begin to understand the science of it, so they picked someone who naturally knew a thing or two about creating wormholes.” Dame started. 

“I take it that’s your involvement.” I guessed.

Dame nodded. “I was involved in this project since my first year at Eden. That’s not important. I helped Eden build their manmade wormhole so that they could see new worlds and possibly extract new materials from other planets. I just liked the thought of seeing other planets. All of the tests went perfectly. Some of Eden’s big dogs were coming in to see a full demonstration of it earlier.”

“So, when did it all stop being so perfect?” I asked. 

“That’s the thing. I don’t know. Dawson, that jackass over there,” Dame nodded to the dead creature, “came up here to start the sequence and set a location to open with. He must have put in the wrong coordinates or something because the world the portal opened up to wasn’t the world we tested with. Something came through, like a fog or a smog. It began infecting some of the floor crew, and it spread into the ventilation. I think you know what happened, judging from how you walked in here.” Dame started to climb to her feet again. “There’s suppose to be an emergency shut down in case of an incident, but it wasn’t triggered. I came up here to see what the hell was going on. Dawson was turning, and he was convulsing against the panel. I tried to remove him, and he hit me pretty good. The portal was overloaded. Energy levels breached containment. The stabilizers failed, as you can see them tipped over below. Now, we have a bigger problem.”

“Oh, gah.” 

“The portal is a vortex right now. If something isn’t figured out soon, we could be looking at a blackhole. That’ll be all she wrote for humanity.” Dame finished. 

I stood by her, and I couldn’t help but stare in utter disbelief. I didn’t have a single sentence to say other than, “Don’t you people ever stop to think that maybe you shouldn’t mess with stuff like this? Like, really.”

“You blew up your best friend.”

“And you’re about to blow up billions of best friends!” I yelled. 

Dame turned from me to observe the vortex in silence.

“So, what’s your plan then?” I asked her, hoping she would give me good news.

Dame shrugged. “I don’t know. I really don’t have a clue, Morgan. It’s impossible to shut it down at this point.”

I didn’t like that answer. “Are you kidding me!?”

“Look, I don’t have all of the damn answers!”

I grabbed Dame’s shoulder and spun her around to face me. “You mean to tell me that you, one of the geniuses behind this project and the only person on the planet who understands how wormholes and s**t work, can’t come up with a single idea on how to stop it?”

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Just think! There has to be something, Dame, and you’re the only person who can figure that out.”

Dame only looked at me as I held her shoulders. She looked defeated. I recognized that look more than anyone. The girl pulled away from me and walked to the window closest to the vortex, steadying herself with a hand on the control panel. I waited for her to give in and apologize to me or make some kind of speech about life as an introduction to the end of the world. I waited as Dame stayed silent. The floor rattled again, and there was banging below from some of the heavier equipment shifting around due to the pull of the vortex.

“It’s out of control.” Dame finally spoke.

Not what I wanted to hear.

Then Dame continued. “That could mean it’s easy to destabilize. Blackholes lose form when their structure loses stability.”

“Okay, so how do we do that?”

“We feed it more energy. Overload it.”

“Does it even work like that?” I asked, puzzled.

Dame shrugged. “It’s worth a shot. Honestly, we don’t have other options, and you wanted an idea. So, there you have it.”

I nodded to her. “Okay, so here’s the plan then. I cleared the way for you to get out of here, so you get to the surface and tell Hector what’s going on. I’ll deal with the mess down here.”

“What!? That’s absurd, Morgan! How are you even going to generate the power needed for this?” Dame was baffled. 

“I’ll figure something out, but I can’t do anything if you’re still down here.”

“I’m not thanking you for being a dumbass.” 

“Well, if we die, you can spend the rest of eternity kicking my a*s for punishment.” I joked with her. 

Dame huffed and started making her way to the door. “The only real punishment is anyone having to spend an eternity with you.”

“Yeah, you’re pleasant.” I said as she walked by me. 

Dame staggered to the door and gently opened it. Before leaving, she looked back to me and said, “Try to avoid the dying part, okay?”

I nodded to her again. “We’ll be alright.”

Dame disappeared out of the door, and I turned my attention to the emergency hatch in the middle of the floor. It had been unlocked from earlier when Dame entered the observation deck to stop Dawson. I pulled up on the hatch to find a ladder leading down to the test floor, which was about a hundred feet below. I began my steady climb down, watching as the vortex was picking up strength and pulling more equipment into its eye. I didn’t need Dame to tell me I didn’t have much time left before it would turn into a blackhole. Add that to the list of things I never thought I’d be doing, too. 

When I reached the bottom floor, I had to navigate through a maze of computers, control panels, and a couple of the turbine engines that were left standing. I looked up to the walkway behind me and saw Dame reaching the door, stopping for a moment to watch me. I assumed she was having some grim thoughts about the outcome. I couldn’t blame her though. I wasn’t feeling too confident either. My confidence plummeted when I reached the center of the floor and came face-to-face with the enormous vortex. The suction was pulling my clothes towards it, and I had a hard time keeping my balance. I was in awe of such a power existing in front of me. A brilliant mesh of light and colors twisted together in a beautiful pattern with a darkened hole at the center. That was my target. 

I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this, but I had an idea. I had done it before by chance, and I could only hope it would work the same way for me again. With chaos raising hell all around me, I tried to stay focused on myself. I gathered all the energy I could muster within my body, pushing it from my chest, to my hands, and down to my feet. Then I started bringing my hands together slowly, the palms getting warmer the closer they were. At least that part was working, only I was going to be dangerous with it this time. A spark caught between my palms, and the space between them began to distort. Every hair on my body was standing up, and I felt like I was inside an oven. Despite the weird sensations, I wasn’t turning back. I felt a spike in energy within myself.

It was attractive. 

A bolt of electricity fired from the vortex and struck me dead in the chest, launching me off my feet and into a larger machine several feet behind me. I collapsed to the floor, and I thought I died for a second. However, feeling returned to me quickly, and I found myself pushing off the floor and back onto my feet again. I stumbled and tripped my way to my place at the head of the chaos again. I wasn’t going down without a fight. 

I returned to my position and started bringing my hands together again. I could feel myself trembling, every muscle screaming for rest. Not yet though. Sparks were flying between my palms, and space began to distort once again. I forced more power into it, hoping for a bigger impact than my first try in the arena. I felt like I was on fire now, my hands turning red from the heat captured between them. Then I saw it. A tiny ball of light. I was expecting for this orb to kick me on my a*s again like it had the last time. I didn’t care as long as it went into the vortex. Instead, something else had happened. 

The orb vanished in the blink of an eye.

My stomach dropped for having thought I lost control of it or that I didn’t have as much energy as I thought I did. I kept my palms close together though, willing for something to happen. Anything to put this nightmare to rest. After all, the fate of the world depended on this moment. I was starting to get angry at myself for being weak. Every bad thing I had done came with no effort, and the one time I tried to do something good, I failed. It left me infuriated in front of my death. Vanquished. I didn’t want to give up though. So, I slowly raised both of my hands towards the vortex, the suction starting to make my feet slide. I was more scared now than I ever was before. 

I started praying, hands stretches out with open palms. I thought about everyone I had met up to this point. I was letting them all down. Thomas. Hector. Donald. Demitry. Dahlia. Dame.

Dorian.

Dorian.

Dorian.

That sweet smile I’d never see again.

The kindest boy who would never grow up because of this. 

I couldn’t let it happen. 

There was another spike of energy within me. A powerful one. It was similar to what I felt on the bridge. A serge event. I yelled out as a visible and continuous wave of energy exploded from my hands and poured into the eye of the vortex. I didn’t care if I drained every cell, I was putting everything into it. It was so powerful that it was actually beginning to push me away from the vortex, overpowering the suction. Every time I felt like I was starting to run dry, a new spike of energy would occur. I couldn’t tell what was going on around me at this point, my vision tunneling only on what I was doing. I could see that the twisting pattern was being disrupted, the eye of the vortex shifting between shrinking and dilating. No mercy. No backing down. I dug deep and forced more energy from the core of my being out of my hands until I had nothing left to give.

I cut off the stream when my body had the sensation of needles pricking the skin and I fell to my knees. There was no more suction anyhow. The eye of the vortex was closing and opening instantaneously, the pattern now a distorted mess changing in every direction without coordination. Light flashed rapidly before my eyes, and I had a feeling I knew what was coming next. The vortex was producing a humming noise. It started low, at first, but the humming became higher as the vortex closed and reopened faster and faster like the shutter on a camera. The portal, the vortex, the premature blackhole had been destabilized. 

I watched in slow motion as the vortex opened again and exploded, the heat wave and force of the blast taking the floor up with it and vaporizing everything in its path. I was soon to meet this fate. I was too exhausted to even care. As long as everyone was safe now, I would be okay with this end. I stood up, ready to accept my fate as the wave came closer, already feeling the heat tingling my face. However, I felt something else, too. I looked down and saw a pair of arms wrapped tightly around my waist, pulling me backwards off my feet. I figured maybe it was another creature trying to get in a last kill, but that wasn’t the case when I found myself being yanked through the threshold of a portal, the blast barely catching us as it closed in the knick of time. 

Dame, you sneaky son of a gun.

I slid across the tiled floor of a lab, steam coming off my clothes. Dame had slid alongside me, rolling onto her back as soon as we came to a stop. She was inhaling deeply in an attempt to force herself to calm down. I rolled over to face the ceiling, still trying to register what just happened as I found myself some place that wasn’t a now demolished test floor. I turned my head to see Dame beside me, a hand on her chest while the other was still under my back. We were both breathing heavily. Dame noticed me looking at her,

She scoffed. “What? Did you honestly think I was going to just leave you down here?”

I was in disbelief, but I started to crack up in laughter. “I just never thought I’d be so happy to see you.”

“Dumbass.”

“I know.”

We stayed on the floor for several minutes, which was fine with me because I didn’t care if I didn’t have to move for ten years after this night. We didn’t say anything. We only reflected on everything that had happened, taking in the fact that we were still alive. Taking in the fact the whole planet was still alive. It truly was remarkable. We saved each other, and we saved the world while we were at it. The thought tickled my insides.

“Damsel.” Dame broke the silence. 

“What?” I turned my head to her again.

Dame closed her eyes and kept her face towards the ceiling. “That’s my real name. Damsel Elizabeth Blaire.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I only stared at her.

“But if you tell anyone that, I’ll rip your a*s out through you mouth.” She promised. 

I nodded my head to her. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t tell anyone about what happened.”

“You got yourself a deal, Desley.” Dame said as she got up. “They’re gonna have a hell of a mess to clean up.”

“Yeah, I hope they good insurance.” I tried to joke again as I sat up, mentally preparing myself for the journey out of the facility.

Dame stood in front of me and waited to have my attention. When I looked to her, she held her hand out to me, and I smiled at her as I took it.

“Let’s go home.”