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I’m sorry mother.
I’m sorry father.
I’m sorry Gabriel.
I’m sorry Marissa.
I didn’t mean for it to happen. I had no control over the situation. Essentially, what had happened was that two months ago I was walking home from college, a day as an engineer was exhausting and the sun was setting as the time was 5:20 pm. I remember so well. Just minding my own business, then turning the corner as my heart dropped and my blood went cold.
Without thinking I ran to the massacre, nine people. Nine people drowning in their own blood. In frantic movements I remembered everything my older sister Marissa taught me during her time home, Christmas time. She’s always at nursing school so I used the techniques she taught me to apply CPR to the one person barely alive. Police sirens filled the deafening silence, the cops stepping out and pointing their guns at me, screaming at me to back away from the victims with my hands behind my back. I didn’t even resist as one tased me to the ground, beating my back with their sticks and cuffing my hands behind my back til my wrists bruised. They dragged me into the back of the cop car, driving off as firetrucks and ambulances came over, lights flaring and sirens wailing.
The interrogation was seventeen brutal hours, four cops screaming at me, no food or water, no sleep, and even slapping my face. I spoke the truth, I’m not a murderer, I swear. I swear I’m not.
“Your hands and clothes were covered in blood! If that isn’t enough evidence to throw your fucking ass on the electric fucking chair then I don’t fucking know what is!” The cop would scream.
They held me in the jail cell for two months. Refusing to even hold a bail price over my head or let any family see me. As a college student, I had no money, meaning I couldn’t afford a lawyer so instead, they offered me a divorce attorney who said this trial is heavily tilted not in my favor and there is no way I’ll ever win.
The day of the trial, I looked behind and made eye contact with my mother. Father couldn’t come, Marissa was still in nursing school, and Gabriel sat uncomfortable next to mom. She knew I wouldn’t ever do anything like this, making everything so much more painful when the judge slammed the hammer down, announcing my plea as guilty, all because the jury said I was guilty due to the fact one of the victims was pregnant.. I heard my mother’s cries as two cops took me to the State of California prison.
The next four years were dreadful. Family never visited, I got my ass beaten almost daily by the inmates. The day of my execution was the worst. Walking down the hall, the guards looked away for a second before one snuck up behind me, covered my mouth with a cloth and dragged me away, out of the prison and into a car. I didn’t scream, didn’t fight back, or even react, this is my fate. The car drive was long, awkward, silent for seven hours, the driver wearing a dark navy uniform rather than the camouflage or normal police uniforms, and an odd company symbol on his shoulder. A star inside a octagon with an open eye in the center of the star. Odd, what company would have an unusual symbol?
The car parked around midnight, and a submarine was on the shore. It’s not one of those that are hundreds of feet long, this one is short and small, could hold eight people at most and it seems to be driven by autopilot AI rather than a person steering. The guard forced me into the submarine, the inside having no windows or even any interior. Just grey illuminated by red lights. The guard hands me a uniform then steps back as the door closes and the submarine begins to move. Stripping out of my prison jumpsuit, I put on the uniform the guard gave me. It’s a full-body swimsuit the same dark blue the guard wore, but this was like a scuba outfit minus the goggles and mouth thing instead of an actual uniform.
The intercom above made some static sounds as a female AI voice speaks up. “Hello! My name is N.A.V.I.A.I., welcome to Urbanshade Hadal DiVision! I heard you have a criminal record so here is your new job! Go through one hundred doors, secure the crystal, and bring it back to Urbanshade Hadal DiVison headquarters on the coast of Brazil so your record can be removed! Collect as many assets as possible whether that is files, documents, USBs, anything that may be important or classified to Urbanshade or N.A.V.A.L.. Remember, you are expendable. You are not expected to return.” The intercom shuts off after a bit more static.
“Pleasant.” I curse under a sigh and sit around, this submarine trip is taking forever! After four hours, I let out a sigh as the submarine surfaced in the underwater base. The door opens as the docking room is all grey and vast. Walking out, the AI spoke up, “Please exit the submarine in an orderly fashion,” before beeping three times, shutting the hatch as it went back below the waters. Walking over to a screen, my eyes widen. 3,466 meters below the surface, how has this place not collapsed?! Next to the screen was a desk with a blue card having ‘001’ on the front and no other information other than that weird symbol once more. Picking it up, I walk over to the door that’s fully blue, a screen next to the door on the top right of the frame saying ‘001’, just like the card, and the door has no handle but two illuminated blue dots above a slit for the card. Inserting it, the door beeps and opens smoothly, the door sliding into the wall rather than swinging open, saving space I guess. Three full-body lockers are against the wall, the walls being half blue on the lower half then a black line separating the blue from the grayness of the rest of everything, and two grates on the ground with water flowing through. Two desks are on either side of the walls having three cabinets each, I open all and only find one USB. “Guess this is the asset I need.” Putting it in my pocket and opening the next door that does not require a keycard, I continue down the halls until I reach the fifth room.
Two doors. Great. If there’s anything horror movies taught me, one is a mimic, most likely with nothing friendly behind. Sneaking up, I lean my head against the door and quickly step back as heavy breathing is easily heard, going through the other door without even bothering to ransack the desks. The next few doors are a breeze, door ten already! A tenth of a way to my freedom, to my family, to home.
I stop in my tracks as the lights flicker. Panic fills my veins like poison, but nothing happens. After a few seconds the ground begins to crumble as I run to the nearest locker, and close the doors just in time as light bulbs shatter. Ear-piercing shrieks shake the whole locker as something that reeks of rotting roadkill passes by at insane speeds, ramming into the closed door and knocking it down like it’s made of paper. Whatever this monster is, it’s easily twenty feet long and violent to anything in its path. Lovely.
Looking around, the whole place is pitch black, searching in the filing cabinets, I find a handy-dandy flashlight. Turning it on and continuing. Door twenty already, this isn’t too bad at all! Twenty percent complete, two-tenths or one-fifth of the way to my family. Opening the twenty-first door, there’s windows on either side of the hallways, long windows like observation. I walk over and look out, it’s entirely dark, which would make sense considering how deep down the facility is, and the ominous groaning in the distance isn’t too lovely. The next three doors are all windows, and the fourth needs another keycard. Three desks on the left-side of the wall, and a door with a yellow frame and one desk next to it. Opening the drawers it’s only a dead battery, some filed assets, and a syringe of steroids with ‘S.P.R.I.N.T.’ on the label, I set it back in the drawer, like steroids would help here. I walk over to the yellow-framed door and open it. My eyes widen as the room is circular with windows on all sides of the walls, and something big on the other side. I don’t know what king of fucked up monster it is, like a shark but fifty feet long, black as oil and covered in hundreds of glowing green eyes all staring at me. Looking into the eyes for a second caused my head to throb in pain, quickly closing my eyes like staring into the sun itself. Blindly walking forwards, I grunt as my hip is stabbed by the corner of a desk, but the quick sting is nothing to the migraine this eye-shark is giving me. Digging in the drawers, most remain empty but one has a weapon like a pistol and a flashlight together. Turning on my heels, I hold up the odd contraption, keeping my eyes shut and point at the largest eye on the shark, and press the trigger. A bright beacon-like flash blinds the shark beast as it swims away, fading into the darkness along with my headache, finally able to look around the room without my head exploding. Opening another filing cabinet, I sigh as the keycard reaches my grasp, and the door opens. I look down at my watch, 12:25, odd, I feel like I’ve been here a lot longer than twenty-five minutes.
The next door doesn’t have the grey/blue interior like the rest of the place, but a long, narrow hallway illuminated by red lights and pipes along the walls and ceilings, like the hallway in horror movies where the killer chases. Ignoring the sudden rush of flight-or-fight and adrenaline, I walk down the halls, ignoring this dread in the pit of my stomach until I reach the door and sigh.
That wasn’t too bad. Opening the door, the hallway of dread and despair only continues. Walking down to the next door, my nerves screaming to run, I reach the door as it only continues. Stopping to try and calm down, I look at my wrist, it’s trembling. I grab onto my wrist and squint, trying to read the time in this dim place, my heart drops. 12:25. Time doesn’t move down here, like this hellhole is limbo. I snap out of my thoughts as I hear the lights flicker, and bolt down the halls without a second thought. My calves burn, my throat going dry, breathing becoming heavy and ragged, I sprint and slam the door open. The interior is back to normal as I open the yellow-framed door just as that rotting monstrosity comes whooshing by faster than a car. The scream is different, it’s more of the cries of pain and despair rather than a woman being murdered. Peeking out of the door-frame, it isn’t black and rotting, but a deep green. There’s more than one. Incredible.
I want to go home.
I miss my mom, I miss my brother and sister.
I want to get out of here.
Mommy, pick me up.
I’m scared.
Tears stream down from my eyes as my chest becomes tight with emotion, my legs tremble and grow tired, my hip is bruised and grows more painful by the minute, head throbbing like the drums. Walking over to a corner with a heavy, cracked sigh, I sit down, hug my knees, and sob. Crying for mother.
A small radio strapped to my shoulder makes a static sound, a male’s voice speaks up. It’s a human, not the nosy.a.i. or whatever Siri called herself. “Expendable #3P-R-Z-13-77-4, please continue to move forwards to the crystal. Sit still longer than forty-five minutes and the radio on your suit will detonate, killing you instantly.”
I don’t know why I got up, but I did and my legs carried me through the thirtieth door, then the thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth, this is going on forever as my will to live depletes.
Door forty, in front of me, is one desk, all grey walls, one desk with a purple keycard without even a number. Two doors, but I don’t think one is a fake. Inserting the keycard, both doors open and the facility is huge! Brightly illuminated, a whole ass forklift in the center of the hallway. With a mischievous grin, I awkwardly climb into the seat and of course the ignition needs a key, looking around, I can’t seem to find it. Like an animal, I climb onto the roof of the forklift, falling off instantly onto my butt. “Ouch… no forklift fun for me, this place sucks!” With an over-dramatic groan, I get up, walk over to the giant doors by turning the two valves as they slowly creak open. And of course, the lights flicker. With an eye roll, I open the nearest locker and climb in. The screechy bitch of death comes tearing down the place but it stops, rams into the locker I’m in and continues to move on.
Odd, not sure why it is targeting my locker in specific, but I can’t be too ungrateful since it didn’t break the lights unlike the first monster. So I continue on to the fiftieth door.
Fifty percent, halfway there. Suicidal thoughts temporarily gone, feeling good, not too sure why, maybe it’s due to the fact I’m going insane. Stopping to look around, there’s two extra doors on each side. Going into them, it’s just filing cabinets with classified documents, and a weird red remote with one red button. Without even thinking I press it as a voice recording speaks up. “Hello and thank you for choosing the ‘Limited-Time Imaginary Friend’ remote! We hope you enjoy the next two days with your very own real, not so imaginary friend!” Looking up, I turn around and see a faint red woman about thirty feet from me. I walk out of the room to try and see her but she doesn’t move. Turning around, I keep my back to her as she giggles and whispers “Hello.” I feel a faint chill breeze on the shell of my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. I don’t dare to turn around and keep going, searching for the now purple keycards, ignoring the whispers no matter how disturbing her words are.
“I see the water filling your lungs.”
“I see through you, your organs aren’t where they should be. It’s all wrong.”
“Your family has long since forgotten you.”
Why did I press the button, I think to myself, regretting bringing this depressed schizophrenic addiction into my life, as if this journey through hell wasn’t bad enough. The next ten doors are all the same, nightmare fuel and keycards. Opening the double-vaulted doors with a bored sigh, my eyes widen. “Hello?” I called out.
“Hello? Hello, hello? Are-are you real?!”
“Yes, yes I’m real! How long have you been down here?”
“I don’t know, I, years, I think.” His voice was tired and raspy, so I rushed down the stairs and met with him. His navy suit is dyed red with his own blood, half the flesh on his right leg is gone, he’s taller than me, older too, late forties, early fifties, grey hair. We hear a groan behind the door like a whale.
“What is that?” I asked, he looked seasoned, so he would have a whole lot more experience than I do.
“I call them ‘searchlights’, our task is to fix the generators without their lights spotting us.”
“‘Fix generators’?”
“Not too fancy, hit it with a wrench and you’re good to go, how many there are, I don’t know.”
“Lovely.” I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm, which had him let out a faint chuckle as if it were a bad joke.
“I take it, you love it here?”
“Thrilled, what are you here for anyways?”
He took a few seconds to think of an answer, bit his lower lip then sighed. “Sorta threatened the president.”
“Huh, interesting, I was framed for murder.”
“No way, you’re Sebastian Solace?”
“How did you know?” I look up into his eyes as they grow sad and mournful.
“After your execution, a man named Alejandro DiCaprio turned himself in for the murders. Since then, no one has trusted the justice system, killing an innocent kid.”
“First off, I'm not a kid.”
“What are you, twenty?”
I look away and sigh, “yeah, you caught me. Did he really turn himself in?”
“Sure did, sorry kiddo. When we reach the hundredth door, you can take the crystal.”
“But, what about you? Don’t you have a family?”
“My wife cheats, so frankly I don't really know.”
“I’m sorry.” I hang my head low, feeling sheepish for even asking.
He pats my shoulder, and has my blue eyes meet his brown eyes. “Come on, can’t stand around.”
We turn the valves and open the doors. On the other side is a massive warehouse with shelves taller than houses and crates scattered around the place, a few forklifts, and those ‘searchlights’ up above. The monster itself is huge with three long wind-like appendages trailing behind it’s large main body that’s fully black, glowing yellowish orange like a squid on fire. Four large eyes on the underbelly with searchlights beaming down, hooks dangling and one big, long, sharp mouth. “I can see why they’re called searchlights.”
“If they see you, adios.”
“Wow, thanks.”
We split up, hide under crates or shelves when the lights pass by, and fix generators. On my fourth one, I look up and hear a loud grinding sound to see the door open. Dodging the lights I run through the warehouse, jumping over crates and climbing through shelves, I reach the vaulted doors, panting heavily. Turning, I look back to try and spot the kind man.
He’s hobbling slowly towards the door, my body freezes as I watch a light creeping up behind him and shine over his head like a spotlight. A hook comes down, skewers his chest and drags him up to the giant mouth above as the shredded suit and blood pour down like forbidden confetti. I can’t take my eyes off it. My stomach churns in knots, putting my hands on my knees and hurling. After a few coughs and gags, I regain what’s left of myself and open the doors.
Door eighty, generous of Urbanshade to skip ten doors in return for information and a friend.
The imaginary friend is easy to ignore, the monsters don’t phase me anymore, just loud and tedious.
After what felt like hours, I approached the hundredth door. My freedom is just behind this door. My home, family, my life.
After a few moments of hesitation, the door swings open, wondering what color the crystal will be.
It’s not here.
Door one-hundred-one.
Was it all a lie?
I’m never gonna see them again.
The lights flicker. I stand still. I don’t care. I accept it anyway.
The pandemonium comes right for me, shaking the halls and screaming.
In an instant the world goes dark, but there’s no pain, just the feeling of falling, falling forever.
My finger twitches, steel. Cold steel.
Sitting up, the space is small and claustrophobic, dimly illuminated by red lights. Oddly familiar..
The intercom above made some static sounds as a female AI voice speaks up. “Hello! My name is N.A.V.I.A.I., welcome to Urbanshade Hadal DiVision! I heard you have a criminal record so here is your new job! Go through one hundred doors, secure the crystal, and bring it back to Urbanshade Hadal DiVison headquarters on the coast of Brazil so your record can be removed! Collect as many assets as possible whether that is files, documents, USBs, anything that may be important or classified to Urbanshade or N.A.V.A.L.. Remember, you are expendable. You are not expected to return.” The intercom shuts off after a bit more static.
The hatch opens as the intercom speaks once more “Please step back from the hatch.”
I pick myself up, step off into the familiar docking room, and groan.
Door 001.