-Sebastian scrunches his face and snarls in disgust at the decayed arm of an expendable that still clung onto the flashlight he tried to scavenge from the rotten body.Tearing right off the soft tissue with a sickening snap.
-He still took the flashlight tho,albeit having to deal with this bullshit too had put him in an even more sour of a mood.Just another Tuesday for him really,still so gross.Today was not his day in general venturing way further than he would,finding close to nothing and now this.Sebastian couldn’t help grumbling to himself about how great everything was going as he slithered onto another room to check for supplies.
-“I swear to God if I don’t find anything else after coming so far I’m gonna-wow.”
-His annoyed rambling was cut short at the sight before him.The whole room devoured by a pulsing flesh like mass of coral.
-Sebastian stares at the writhing mass in disgust,awe and horror.But not because of the coral infection,no.He’s collected files on this organism,read them throughly like many other files and had already seen small signs,little sprouts of the fungi like coral.Growing more common the further he ventured.What surprised him was the dead body,held up right almost melted to the coral wall in a bizarre fashion.
-“…what happened to you poor bastard.”
-Murmuring under his breath Sebastian slowly approached the scene with caution,looking around his eyes landed on a couple of items near the body.However a single notebook stuck out,with all the carefulness his claws allowed he picked it up.Turning it in his hand examining it,running the tip of his fingers graze the spine before opening the pages.
-“God the writing is so small,hold on where did I put my,ah-“
-He pulls out a pair of crude hand made reading glasses from his pocket,quickly fixing them to his face and begins to read:
-It’s been 2 days since the total lock down of the black site,those who could escaped through the docks the others died and some,like us are possibly stuck.In different parts of the site.
-My name is █████,I’m the medical care professional assigned to the New Frontier Team.A team of 5 engineers working in construction of the expanding Hadal Blacksite.We are currently stuck in the “Under Construction” part of the site,the area is rather unsafe so we’ve made this room as a makeshift base.It’s basically a hole in the wall,hidden behind a vent in the very corner of a densely packed room.
-I’ve taken inventory,counting our supplies,seems like the only thing I can really do right now.There are three medkits,two SPRINTs,one health cocktail and about a whole vending machine worth of food our team raided just yesterday.Not a lot of filling or nutritious stuff,mostly chips and other junk including a lot of soda.The brain doesn’t register calories that come from liquids that have a high percentage of water so it still produces leptin,the hunger hormone.And in a situation like this throw in hunger and unrest and I’m afraid the group will tear itself apart before we work out any hope of escape.
-But as of right now my peers seem level headed and remain calm or at least don’t show their nerves.I’m glad,admittedly I’ve not really been holding up well.And I think they can tell,my colleagues seem to chat with me the most,they give me monotonous tasks.This isn’t to say I’m ungrateful,however I am embarrassed my fear showed so.Being the youngest doesn’t help either,I know it’s silly but I don’t wanna be the first to break to show weakness.I only became part of this team recently and I-still want to prove myself.
-Pfft,what am I even writing about?This isn’t a diary,it’s a record keeper to keep count of stock and other important things.Regardless,so far things have been quiet.We don’t fully know the reason for the site’s lockdown but we suspect a breach in containment of…something,or multiple somethings.I don’t know,hell I didn’t even know the site was containing something I thought this was a research facility for the unique gravitational and pressure phenomenon in the Let-Vand zone.Seems my colleagues weren’t aware either or at least pretend not to.But I haven’t vocalised my suspicion I fear what will happen rather than what is being hidden.
-At least we haven’t come in contact with whatever has breached its cell,just have been stuck in lock down.
-Coral rot,another body infected.
-The coral I noted before seems to be spreading,at least I think its coral.It sure looks like it tho it behaves strangely.It’s almost,fungus like.How it spreads so fast and takes root it resembles a fusion between algae and fungus,I think that’s called a lichen.
-Not a single organism but rather a symbiotic being that has a mutually beneficial relationship between algae and fungi,which makes it a powerhouse.
-Today I wondered a bit further than our camp in search of supplies,of course with the knowledge of my colleagues and someone to go with me.We’ve made a rule not to go out alone.
-Tho something strange happened this expedition,my partner went into an office looking for something that he wouldn’t disclose.So I went a bit ahead,just a room away,and that’s where I saw it.I couldn’t make out what it was at first because of the moving flesh like coral but as I got closer it became clear.
-It was a body,but for some reason tho I understood what laid before me its like I didn’t register it.It was a guard,their body rotten and covered all over in this…mass that looked like it was breathing.And I just…crept closer leaning to take a closer look when I heard a piercing shout and was pulled back roughly.My partner,he was mad,really mad yelling at me to not go near it.And between screams he said “don’t go near the Rotten Coral”,so it has a name.I was still working out what the substance was but apparently he just guessed something for an organism he had never seen,or so he claims.
-When we returned to camp he was acting odd,weirdly apologetic,wouldn’t defer why he acted so harshly and wouldn’t answer when I asked if he found what he was searching for in that office let alone tell me what the damn thing was.
-…I knew they were hiding something,I knew that something was up but I decided to not speak up.Simply apologised,keeping the peace and keeping sane are more important for now.
-So I’ll keep my head low for a bit.
-Calm seas,with no waves so still.
-There is a strange hum coming through the vents recently,I thought it the fans but it’s more akin to a quite rattling inside them.
-Today I stayed at the base,taking stock counting minutes anything to keep busy.Three of us went out to scavenge.So it was just me and two others,I learned their names were █████ and █████.
-Thankfully they seem calmer than my last partner,they were actually very friendly.Cracking jokes and talking freely,it really eased the previous tension.One was a computer engineer and was working to get into the Navigation A.I system.The other a security measures engineer apparently he constructed the emergency lock down doors and was trying to reverse engineer them,with very limited tools.
-Never realised I was holding my breath so long,feels nice to just…talk,like a normal person with normal people.Even tho we discussed the collapse of most systems and infrastructure that connects the black site and our hope to escape through the docks.If there even are any submarines left.
-Regardless in our conversation something interesting came up,we had a security officer with us but in the day of lock down we were separated.To be honest I had not much thought about him,from what I know he was called into the headquarters right before the site wide lock down.So I assumed him dead or escaped.But the security engineer noted that the officer couldn’t have made it right before lock down to HQ.Is he dead or is he too stuck like us?
-As if the engineer could read my thoughts he laughed and said not to think about it and just look after myself.
-But that still bothers me,if what he said is so then the officer only had 45 minutes from where he departed from us.And from the rear of the construction zone to the main site is about an hour and a quarter.So if he had no hiccups on his way and got the announcement of lock down at the same time as us he’d be in what I remember was called ‘Heavy Containment.’
-Is that where it started,the breach I mean.I thought that heavy containment was just where we kept supplies and heavy machinery but knowing what I do now perhaps that’s where the breach started.If so I fear we’re in deeper danger.
-Dark clouds decent on murky water.
-Only one returned,my previous expedition partner was the only one to return from all the others.He was tattered,bruised,with a fearful look in his eyes shaking,till he collapsed at the entrance of our base.-We rushed to help him,I checked his pulse and other vitals.He seemed to have passed out from exhaustion that’s caused after a high doze of adrenaline.The stresser must have been so great he ran with a broken ankle and had cracked his own teeth with how hard his jaw was clenched.I patched him up,being careful to reset his ankle and wrap up his jaw after removing the loose pieces of teeth matter so he didn’t swallow them.Before putting his to rest in a position that supported his head and ankle.
-After a silence fell over all of us.Starting at the entrance,unsure what to do.If the other two would also stumble in or if we should go look for them,but judging by the state of the one that did returned the chances of the others being alive let alone us getting to them are low.
-So we just.Stayed,quiet until he woke up again.When he did he was delirious and couldn’t really answer correctly before he passed out again.
-Finally the security engineer had enough and declared he’d go out so the other insisted to come as well bringing up the rule of not going out alone.Naturally,I would stay.Being a medic I would look after my patient,but before they left the security engineer left me a walkie-talkie.It was old and salvaged with scraps but worked.Now we could hopefully communicate even if it’s hard for radio waves to cut through this deep.
-And so I was left alone,for hours to mull over what has happened so far.How things got worse and worse,when my thoughts were interrupted by the groaning of the bruised man lying in a makeshift bed.
-He begged for water and I decided to get answers.I gave him a little water then dabbed off his wet lip before asking what happened,he didn’t answer.I gave him another sip,dabbed off his lips and asked if he knew anything about the possible dangers in Heavy Containment,but he just turned his head unwilling to answer.So I put the water down and asked him if he was hiding what he found in the office that day and he snapped.Turning to me in true anger saying it was none of my business and to do my job.So I took a deep breath,stayed calm,put my hand over his and-
-Broke his finger,his middle finger,his scream pierced my ears before he began to shout profanities at me.But I only asked what he knew and if he didn’t answer I’d break another finger.He told me to go to hell so I broke his pinkie he shouted trying to move but unable to.And for that I broke his ring finger.
-Finally he fessed up,he told me he knew about the coral,how it was an infection rapidly growing and closing in on us.How he was searching for codes to open up manual doors which led to gravitational chambers filled with supplies that led to an dock,dock 128,that was build secretly for the head of Hadal Blacksite and always had an extra submarine for transporting to the surface important documents and information and it only could carry one person.He was planning to ditch us.
-So I broke his pointer finger,and demanded he tell me what happened to the others,he laughed.He admitted to pushing one out of the only closet in a room right as an entity he called ‘pip squeak’ rushed through to save his own ass.And the other was locked in heavy containment,he locked him there after they discovered the pass codes.My stomach churned and a lump formed in my throat,I got up and grabbed the walkie-talkie wanting to warn the others when a sharp sting pierced through my shoulder as I was about to.
-My knees were kicked right under me and I collapsed forward.He pushed me further into the ground wrapping his hands around my neck chocking me,I couldn’t fight back.I tried getting up but he pushed his whole weight on me.My vision began to blur and I desperately reached out for anything.He was shouting at me calling me anything but a child of god and with my good shoulder I was finally able to roll him off me thankfully he couldn’t grasp my neck well from the broken fingers and so.
-I ran,ran outside through the vent he chased me,grabbing at my ankles as I kicked him off and ran,I tore off a loose piece of pipe stuck to a wall and when he caught up to him I swung.Hard.
-He collapsed limply on the floor in front of me.Unmoving.Still I threw away the pipe and leaned down to check his pulse,I held my pointer and middle finger on his neck for 2 minutes and 35 seconds.No pulse,he was dead for certain.In all those 2 minutest I felt nothing,not as I stared at the body,not as I thought of what just had happened,not as I saw the lights above me flickering.
-It’s not good practice to pull out foreign objects without having a way to stop blood loss and protect the wound but I just pulled out,not caring if I tore the muscle further.Thankfully tho the crooked piece of metal came out in one piece,I threw it down,next to his unblinking head.
-I just stared at the scene in front of me,feeling like everything is spinning and escalating so quickly.When I heard a weird scream,holding my injured shoulder I ran finding a closet and hiding inside.
-Whatever fucking,’pip squeak’ thing he had called.In the distance echoed a terrible rumble followed by,silence…and then a terrifying screech shook the room,that was my last warning.I snapped out of my frozen state and bolted to the nearest closet,slamming the doors tight and holding them from the inside with an iron grip.
-I dared not to look up,through the grooves in the metal as that horrid screech sounded closer and closer.Shaking,I was shaking violently looking down at my trembling hands tears welling up in the corner of my eyes as I close them shut awaiting the worst.
-The silence stretches and then-A horrifying scream inhumane as the thing slams into my locker making me hit my head against the back of the closet.I scream back in horror only to look up and see,nothing.As I stand there trembling,listening,there is no sound.
-My breathing is shaky,eyes shot wide,as I slowly peek outside.There is nothing.After a couple more seconds I cautiously open the metal door just an inch.There is nothing outside.Slowly I step outside,everything seemed normal except.
-The body was gone,there laid nothing where he was sprawled out on the floor.Did that thing take him?I don’t know and I don’t want to know.
-As the adrenaline wore off the sting of my bleeding wound returned,so I made my way back to the base,crawled through the vent,and sat down grabbing a medkit.I tried patching myself up best I could but the wound was on an awkward place and it stung,like hell.
-I was so tired,I couldn’t help but sigh and lean back against the wall eyes heavy.Couldn’t help but fall a sleep,tho I know I should have tried radioing the others.But the exhaustion washed over me ever so gently soon I was well into slumber.
-I hope they are alright…
-The next day I awoke with an aching shoulder and a headache,but alive.The events yesterday played in the back of my mind there was no time for that.I tried communicating with the rest of the crew through the walkie-talkie,no answer,so I began packing up whatever I could carry.Medkits,food,devices and a map of the site,It’s a long way from here to heavy containment.
-So I ventured out through the under construction area,it was infinitely more expansive than I thought.I had walked without stop for 2 hours and only made it half way through.And for all those hours I jumped at every sound and hid wherever I,praying under my breath whenever I saw the lights flickered and the distant screech of that horrid thing.
-But somehow I made it through,I’d radio on the walkie-talkie every so often without reply.I was hoping for the best but my faith was running out to ever see my other teammates again.
-Heavy containment was huge,high ceilings,big heavy doors,spacious research lab.As cautious as I was,I was still curious.Peeking in rummaging through a couple files,some had information that seemed quite useful.So I stashed them in my bag.The things in there truly are beyond my imagination.A car that can travel to the future,a man like creature in a suit with a many eyed round head,even Pandora’s box!However I also found the coral infestation,it covered the whole size of its containment cell.
-Being that the infection was being studied here I decided to look around for any files containing information.Surprisingly I found nothing,all the other cells had files but these ones seemed to be taken.How important is this infection?
-Regardless I pushed on until I came to two crossing doors both had numbers glowing above them,47 and 46.The Navigation System!It was online and leading to somewhere,the dock?Head Quarters?I don’t know but it’s a glimmer of hope.In my joy I had failed to realise that door 47 opened until I hear someone shout at me.
-They didn’t seem friendly or thrilled.I tried explaining myself,said I was a medical professional stuck here as well.They were distrusting and I began to notice,they didn’t have any worker uniform I recognised and their neck was tattooed with a serial number,they also had diving gear unlike me.Were they a diver or…?
-Even after me explaining myself they seemed hesitant,so I just decided to ask some questions.I asked them where the N.A.V.I path lead,they told me the crystal,I asked if they had seen anyone else and If they came here with others they said no.I asked for their rank and the said…EXRP?I never heard it or wasn’t told,they seemed to get annoyed,but still answered.They said they were an ‘expendable’,prisoners with the death penalty or life sentence sent on mass to retrieve the crystal.
-They weren’t sending anyone else,they weren’t sending help.Just more bodies…
-My blood ran cold and I don’t know about trusting a stranger let alone a prisoner with a heavy sentence,but what choice do I have?So I volunteered to help them if they would have me.
-The expandable was quiet,distrusting but not outright refusing me so that was something.
-I stood there tensely as they mulled it over,right as they opened their mouth to give me an answer the lights flickered twice.
-Before I could even understand what was happening the expandable pushed me violently back,I landed at the feet of the door I walked in from.I was just about getting sick of being shoved,just as I tried to get up the prisoner hopped in a closet fast.Left for dead,they left me for dead so they could save their own ass.Fuck.
-I quickly got up just a step outside the numbered room when a huge screaming dark mass rushed past with a terrible screeching.It’s breathtaking scaly body was just a hair away,knocking me back further in utter fear.
-I was so fast that when I blinked it was gone,just like that.The only thoughts that passed through me were “What the fuck,what the fuck,what the fuck what the-“
-But my scattered,fearful thoughts were silenced when I heard what sounded like a struggle coming from the closet that the expandable disappeared into.Slowly I make my way to the closet,my previous anger dissipating every step I took closer to that closet.
-Banging,loud banging from the inside,a struggle.Slowly I approached and hovered my hand over the closet handle,calling out with no response.So I swung the doors open,their body fell out.
-I screamed and took a step back,covering my hand over my mouth.They were half eaten,bleeding on the floor as they laid there limply.From the foot of the closet a black tentacle like appendage slide down slowly and wrap around the expandable’s ankle and slowly dragged their body back inside the closet.More and more tentacles slithered out grabbing whatever limbs were left and dragged their body in.
-I just stared as it happened.
-“Heyyyy,where is the rest of the journal?It’s torn off?!Ugh,it was just getting good!”
-Sebastian groans as he goes through the pages of the notebook.There is only one page at the very end of the journal,it’s empty except for a single sentence written in a shaky writing.
-“…And In Those Days, Humans Begged For Death, And They Didn’t Find It. And They Wished To Die, And For Immortality To Leave Them.”
-Sebastian stared at the sentence,the words echoing in his head.And he looked up.
-“…What the fuck happened to you?”
-He whispered,looking at the breathing mass of coral and the body within it.
