Date: [REDACTED]

Location: /

Red lights pulsed rhythmically, casting the room into total darkness with each flicker. When they flared back to life, their brilliance washed over every surface, drenching the space in a deep reflective crimson.

All automatic sliding doors were stuck wide open; windows and double mirrors shattered over the bloody floor.

The thick and suffocating stench of decay was so overpowering it numbed the senses. Yet, an eerie silence hung over the scene. The horror had already played out, but its presence lingered, leaving the unsettling question—was its cause still lurking in the shadows?

A little girl hesitantly stepped through one of the doors. The only thing she had on her was an oversized red-reflecting T-shirt and a pillow held tight in her embrace.

Her hair appeared almost dark red, but it was actually dark purple, with various pink and light purple hair strands. She glanced left and right, but nobody stood upright; many missed parts of their body and limbs.

Her pitch-black eyes with bloated dark circles showed no disgust or fear, instead telling her body it was safe to continue forward and delve into the underground labyrinth.

"The Self-destruction protocol is suspended", a female robotic voice echoed.

The little girl paid no attention. Guide marks were painted on the walls, indicating the floor number, but they meant nothing to her. Unable to understand them, she ignored them entirely, never questioning their purpose.

Her feet were drenched in the body fluids of decapitated humans with glass fragments penetrating her skin with each step, but she moved forward not feeling any pain or discomfort.

She had no idea where she was going or who she was searching for. Stopping on a crossroad, she helplessly glanced left and right, hoping to see someone.

"Hello?", she turned around, "is anyone there?", she asked, but nobody was alive to answer her.

At least not human. A deep scratching sound against the floor echoed from a corridor far away, gradually getting louder. What appeared to be a mere shadow turned out to be a creature so big it took the space of the whole corridor, crushing and mincing dead bodies as it approached.

Finally, it stopped in front of the girl. The snake-like creature whose length couldn't be told from the girl's perspective. Its eyes were bleeding, and skin was missing around its mouth, revealing the big teeth and meaty gums. Its face was flat and deformed with no nose or chin sticking out.

"Do not be afraid, my child," a deep voice came from within the creature. It never moved its mouth—its teeth still gritted together in restraint.

"Afraid? What's that?", the girl showed no signs of fear. She put her hands down making the pillow touch the floor and get dipped in haemolymph.

"What is your name little one?", the creature asked.

"I am SS49! What about you?", one could not see it on her face, but she grew a little excited.

The robotic female voice echoed once again, "System malfunction. Rebooting in T-30 seconds".

"My name is Dearhope. It's a pleasure to meet you," it said as it approached the girl, making her look even more tiny.

The girl's expression didn't change much from the beginning, only letting out a soft murmur. The creature could not show facial expressions, however, it sighed to itself thinking of something.

"Gamma team leader addressing the remaining survivors. The Gate B21 is now lifted. Due to the shortage of personnel, no evacuation attempts will be made. Over"

Unlike the girl, Dearhope despite his appearance showed more sentience, waiting for the broadcast to end before speaking further.

"Follow me little one. I will get you through this".

* * *

Somewhere completely else

Two fully armed men separated themselves from the rest to unload a truck.

"First those mutants. Now this", he complained, "what a start of the year, huh?"

The other soldier didn't comment but kept on listening.

"I don't understand why the higher-ups didn't simply execute her. There is no way I'm buying all of this as a coincidence", he continued.

"Nobody said it's a coincidence. We just do what we have to do", the other soldier cut him off.

They both put the gas masks on their faces, turned around, and walked towards the others. Among them, a single man stood out with a slightly different uniform than the rest.

"Alright Beta squad. Rescue the personnel, contaminate, or kill other entities. The boys from the army are going to keep a watch on the outside, while we get the shit together on the inside", his voice was deep but clear despite wearing a thick bulletproof helmet, "Any questions?"

The man who unloaded the truck raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Can we shoot that bitch when we see her?" A few of the others laughed, but the Beta squad leader maintained his serious tone.

"Negative. We are only to kill frenzy entities. Renai's contamination chamber is very distinct from the other ones. We won't see her until the time comes to drag her out", he explained with a serious tone.

"But I hope that you already emptied your bladder anyway. God knows what we'll see inside", he added at the end. The whole unit laughed.

After this, there were no more questions. The eleven of them were separated into 2 smaller units. One headed for the elevator, while the other passed through a huge sliding metal gate.

Inside this facility, red lights were also pulsating.

The unit that went for the elevator headed straight for the intercom room. They were swift and knew the layout of the whole site by heart. The squad leader took the microphone off its charger, making a notification sound resound throughout the entire complex.

"Beta contamination squad has entered the facility. All staff members are advised to remain calm and within the evacuation shelters. The evacuation process will shortly begin. Please avoid reaching the exit gates by yourself as it poses a huge risk. Over".

His last words were accompanied by the rough rustle of the microphone getting placed back into its case. He withdrew from the intercom room into another one with smashed computers and fallen bookshelves where the others from his unit were waiting for him.

Each had his gun in their hands with a turned flashlight.

"So, what are they keeping here anyways?", one of them asked while examining a corpse.

"You work for The Source but don't know that?", a female soldier asked jokingly.

"I do, but as far as I'm concerned there should not be any mutants here".

"That's true, but the Source offered to store and examine them until a cure is found".

The unit continued to move through the labyrinth, reaching multiple shelters.

"What about other organizations? Aren't they also looking for a cure"

The female soldier pondered a little, "I don't know. Nobody can count on a right-wing organization with a terrorist history anyway".

The latter didn't comment but remained focused just like everyone else. This was the Beta Contamination Squad, after all, the most well-trained unit of them all.

The 11 of them had been working together for a very long time and had a record number of successful missions. A record not even the Alpha team was close to surpassing.

"There!", the female soldier illuminated a figure with her gun through a broken window.

It was a humanoid creature with no eyes and dozens of excrescences on its skin. The team leader didn't pay attention, however, rather remained focused on their surroundings for any possible abrupt event.

"Prepare the stun gun, cuff him, and open the portal", as he gave those orders, his squadmates were already executing them.

Unfortunately, the creature was faster.

It lifted one of its arms and used telekinesis powers to pull one of the male soldiers towards itself. He flew, unable to control his body or stop the trajectory.

The female soldier shot the mutant with some form of shock wave, which visibly didn't do any harm to it. However, the shockwave froze the mutant in space, and the flying soldier smashed against the floor and broken glass.

Another squad member swiftly jumped on the mutant, pushing it to its knees.

He rashly but meticulously pulled what looked like a napkin, tying it forcefully around the mutant's eyes.

A split second before he tightened the knot, the mutant's body recovered from the shockwave, flicking in a desperate try to knock the soldier off, but it was too late. The effect of the napkin artifact already engulfed the mutant, making it enter and contaminate it.

"Wo!", his heart skipped a beat, "a close one!"

Another squad member approached him slowly. Instead of a gun, he held a shiny weird-looking sword.

"Hadn't you used Velcro shoes until 8th grade, perhaps you would have tied the napkin faster", his comment made everyone laugh and ease up.

It would be an embarrassment if a low-grade Threat Level mutant caused them trouble. The sword guy swung his weapon through the empty air, cutting the fabric of space and opening a portal.

On the other side, it rained, with a couple of drops falling right through. The portal led to the outside of the entire facility where they first started, and it was flooded with a regular national army.

They stepped through the portal, taking the contaminated mutant from the Beta squad to a military truck. The mutant would be transported to another safe facility where it would be tested for a possible cure.

As the portal closed the team leader's walkie-talkie suddenly started buzzing, transmitting the affable voice of the other 6 men from their unit who didn't take the elevator, but split from them since the very beginning of the mission.

"Control to Beta Team. We ran into some security gate issues. Asking for permission to reboot the system. Over"

The team leader turned around looking at his colleagues.

"Control to Beta Squad. Permission granted. Over", he put the walkie-talkie away grabbing his gun with both hands, "let's keep moving forward".

A mere minute after that, the robotic voice echoed throughout the whole facility.

"System 1 malfunction. Rebooting now".

The red flickering lights went dark.

"That was fast", the team leader commented, "activate the night vision mode".

As they continued deeper into the well-known labyrinth, they met a couple of more such mutants.

Those started to appear randomly at some point during the very start of this year, so little to no training against them was undertaken.

Luckily, The Source was such a company whose resources were equal to those of the government controlling the entire planet. It first started as a research company, but soon gained its very own authority.

Aside from the army, The Source also had its own special units, like the Beta Squad. Those squads consisted of the best soldiers, trained specifically to handle supernatural threats.

The Beta Squad visited several shelters, evacuating many scared staff members through the portal method. Even though the Beta unit was usually working outside, this facility was their terrain, and they knew it better than any outsider.

"Control to Beta Squad. We checked the Scream Room for you. I know Michael is going to be grateful. Over", all 5 of them started laughing yet again. The absence of a real challenge made their mission easy, as the only threat they had to take care of were nonsentient and weak mutants.

With 5 of them working together at their best performance, even a slightly stronger mutant would succumb to their might. If there was a mission they couldn't take care of, then nobody in the world could.

As the end of the mission approached they reached the lowest floor of the facility with only 3 rooms, each with a great value. This area was so well secured that no mutants could just wander here, meaning they all got contaminated already.

"System operational", the robotic voice, and all the roles of System 1 had come back to life.

The red light got turned on once again. Even some of the regular white light bulbs started working! This completely blinded the whole unit that was using the night vision mode on their combat helmets, forcing them to groan in discomfort.

"Alright deactivate the night vision mode", the team leader gave orders.

To their surprise, the robotic voice echoed once again.

"A Demigod-level threat has been detected".

As their vision adjusted, a new doubt crept in—had the blinding light somehow affected their hearing too? They all froze, glancing at one another in disbelief. The announcement they heard couldn't be real.

A Demigod-level Threat? Something like that never existed, yet it was still programmed on System 1 detection. Their hearts pounded, pulses quickened, and a few shivered, as if a chilling mourning breeze had swept through them.

"Cap?"

The team leader frowned, "I don't know", his gaze swept across his soldiers.

He knew it. They all were sure that System 1 wasn't in control of the contamination chambers. The various Systems and their functions were one of the first things one had to learn in order to get a job at The Source.

"Stay on alert", he ordered nervously.

Sadly, what would appear around the corner in just a few seconds wasn't something they could prepare themselves for in such a short time. They all froze once again, staring at the figure that entered the corridor with their guns pointed forward.

It was an average tall woman with white hair swinging to her waist. She had red glowing eyes with slightly vertical pupils.

She had a scientist coat over her petite body, and it was very different from any other. They couldn't see it from their point of view, but the back side of it was labeled "Alpha Team Leader".

"Cap!", a team member quickly exclaimed, but he didn't dare say more, nor did others dare to remove their eyes from the woman.

Nevertheless, due to the time spent working together, they knew what the soldier wanted to point out. It was her hands.

In one she was holding a black keycard, while in the other, a thick book with a black cover decorated with golden stripes labelled "Tefter".

Her familiar relaxed poker face expression made them feel as if they were looked down at yet again. It was simply something inevitable, no matter how strong or self-confident one was. Before her everyone was equal. Everything went silent, but the pressure was just unbearable.

"Who freed you?", the leader asked.

The woman had no hostile reaction, waiting several moments before answering.

"The door just opened. I went to get me stuff back", she waved with the book and keycard.

The leader wasn't having it, "cut the crap! Are you working with the Impedance?", he disappointingly frowned but then realized.

"Cap, if that is true, we can just eliminate her", one team member aimed his gun at her.

"No...", he replied, "I know who did it".

The woman was staring back at him with no change in expression at all.

"You can't get away. Not after this. Just be a human being and surrender yourself to justice".

The woman's glance swept away and then right back, piercing their souls.

"I never possessed any hatred towards you", she meant not only the whole squad but also everyone working for The Source.

After she said that, in the blink of an eye, a wall appeared in the middle of the corridor, separating them completely.

It had the same texture as the walls that were coating the entire facility from inside. She just shifted one of the walls in space! Only then did they notice a silent rustle coming from their belt, "Unit 1? Hello?", the communication device beeped, "do you copy?".

"She shifted...", the team leader muttered.

Everyone remained quiet, yet was very nervous, staring at their commander, hoping to get further instructions, however, he was deeply lost in thoughts.

The whole time, even outside work, he tried to keep his attitude professional in front of his colleagues, even though he considered them as close as his own family. But this was the time he had to break the 4th wall.

"I think it's really over this time", he turned around to look at them, "No. It always was".

His team members were still quiet, filled with shock, as this was the last thing, they expected him to say right now. It was the last thing they wanted to hear from someone who was always their protector.

Meanwhile, in another part of the facility, the second unit gave up on reaching them, getting a really bad feeling yet not giving up on hope. They continued to move through the underground labyrinth straight towards where their colleagues were pinged on the navigation device

Nonetheless, they also would experience an encounter with the Demigod. She stood at the end of a long corridor in front of an elevator, waiting for it's doors to open.

One of them gasped and quickly pointed their stun gun towards her, but another member pushed it towards the floor barely in time.

"No!", he screamed, "catch her!", he pulled the soldier and also started running himself.

The girl noticed their presence but didn't even glance at them, continuing to stare at the elevator doors which opened, letting her slowly walk through.

"Fuck!", the soldier screamed as doors closed on him, however, he wasn't giving up yet.

He quickly redirected everyone towards the fire exit staircase that was located right behind the corner.

They were rushing, accidentally bouncing against each other's shoulders and the wall, easily overtaking the elevator. Unfortunately, things would not go as they planned, because the fire exit door on a floor above opened, allowing for several heavily armed men to rush inside.

Their uniforms were different from the ones Beta Squad was wearing and surely didn't look like something the national army would wear. Even their helmets were designed for a completely different type of combat.

They went straight down the staircase, meeting the Beta squad unit. Both sides were unprepared and caught off guard, screaming a few short sentences and aiming their weapons at each other.

During this exact moment, the white-haired girl was still located in the elevator—a faint smile stretching across her face. Everything that had played out was just perfect. Like it always was.

The doors of the elevator slowly opened, leading her into a big room with one of its walls being a huge metal gate. That was the only exit leading to the roof of the entire facility. Her final destination.

She swiped her black keycard against the small detector beside the gate and stood still at its center, waiting patiently for it to open. A loud beep resounded, followed by a sound of friction. The thick metal gate was slowly opening, its left wing sliding to the woman's left, and its right wing towards her right.

A cold midnight breeze rushed inside the room, replacing the stuffy air in an instant with a fresh scent of freedom. The world was hers.

Instead of the soft glow of moonlight, her eyes were met with the blinding glare of dozens of flashlights. Nearly forty fully armed men stood ready, their guns locked onto her the moment the gate began to open.

Some hiding behind trucks and some kneeling or standing. Nonetheless, even though they were all already pointing at the gate prepared to shoot, not a single one of them expected this woman to appear, but were as confused as her.

They of course knew who she was and were all stunned for a second before a scream gave orders.

"Fire you fools!"

These were actual guns, with anti-bulletproof vest bullets, each as big as a thumb, all pointed at the same petite target through a crack of a still-opening metal gate

Lights were flashing and racket reigned. It became so bright and dusty that the girl could not even be seen anymore! Unfortunately, the bullets never reached her, but just vanished as soon as they exited the gun pipe.

The mags went empty, and the racket came to an end with everyone staring at her with completely terrified facial expressions behind the helmets.

"None of you was forced to join the Impedance", she said with despise, "it was your own choice".

Nobody was moving. Some waited for her to continue, but that was everything she had to say. This was it. They knew it.

One of the soldiers let his gun fall on the concrete, slowly loosened his belt, turned around, and went for a leave.

"Mike, what the fu-", the words were cut off with an indescribable pain in the chest. Everyone else experiencing the same.

The girl's stare followed Mike. Everyone else had their helmets hit the concrete at nearly the same time.

Mike's entire body flicked, unwillingly turning around to see.

"Oh!", his voice cracked, and his eyes became wet.

He glanced at the girl knowing he should express anger and frustration but only felt gratitude. He felt as if his sins were forgiven, and judgment was avoided, just because he chose to surrender.

* * *

"The complete lockdown will initiate in T-2 minutes".

The dragon-like creature and the purple-haired girl stood under the moonlight on a paved heliport. All around them was a complete wilderness, as far as their gaze could reach, and even beyond.

In the meantime, another person joined them.

He wasn't muscular but seemed strong due to his bulky stature and was as joyful as the little girl was. On the floor next to him was a heavy mace. It had a white half-transparent color and was lying on the ground with its handle upwards.

"Are you sure that you don't want to check if there is any food or water inside?", Dearhope asked.

The bulky man straightened up, pausing his conversation with the girl, "Why? That won't pose a problem".

Dearhope straightened his front part of the body, reaching over 6 meters in height, "I don't require food, but think of the girl. Children aren't as tough as adult men are".

The man pondered for a few moments after which he lowered himself to the girl's height and spoke in a gentle tone, "Hey, do you want to go hunt with me? We will find something delicious to eat! Unlike those groats!"

The little girl nodded with a faint smile on her face.

At that moment, a scream echoed from deep within the facility, carried through the wide-open metal gate—only to be cut short by the cold, mechanical chime of an automated system announcement.

"The complete lockdown initiated".

The exit gate started closing, and the sound coming from within only grew louder. Something was approaching.

The bulky man stepped right in front of the girl, and Dearhope straightened himself towards the gate so that the other two found themselves underneath his neck.

The noise swelled to a deafening roar, forcing the bulky man to scream if he wanted the girl and Dearhope to hear him. Yet, none of them spoke. They simply stood in silence, watching as the endless darkness beyond the doors slowly vanished behind the closing gates.

Little girl was yet again the only one showing no sign of fear on her face, but only a mild curiosity. The noise was just behind the gate, and a fully armed man flew out, landing on his back, staring back at the now-closed gate.

The gate suddenly sunk in the middle and whatever was behind it, couldn't come out anymore.

The Gamma team leader sighed. He lay on his back and rested for a brief moment. Nevertheless, he sensed something behind him, quickly standing up and turning around.

The first thing that occupied his whole field of view was a giant snake-dragon-like creature with no lips or cheeks, staring right at him with its leaked-out eyes. It actually looked worse than the thing that just chased him.

"Do not be afraid my child", a deep voice came from the snake, but its mouth wasn't moving at all.

The team leader was bathing in a cold sweat, barely managing to respond.

"Sir, this is the scariest moment of my life".

The bulky man approached the man, lifting the team leader from the ground as if it were a joke. He was stunned, sharing a glance with him, and then sizing up the remaining two survivors. The little girl seemed healthy, and the dragon-like creature wasn't acting hostile.

He then glanced at the bulky man again and noticed an octopus-shaped badge on his clothes.

"You are the...", he paused, not knowing how to address him at this moment. He knew very well who they all were from their files, but it was his first time to be allowed to talk to them.

After a short introduction, they figured it was only them who survived from this site.

"So, what are you doing... now? What are you all going to do?"

"Well, the facility doesn't seem to be the safest place to stay at right now, so we are going to search for a new shelter and wait until The Source comes back to rescue us and clean this mess up".

The team leader was surprised, "really? So, you guys don't hate The Source?"

The bulky man lifted the mace off the ground "There is no reason to hate them. They took us in and helped us when no one else would", he threw a quick glance at Dearhope, "Well, I'm speaking for myself at least..."

The team leader stepped forward, "If you think finding a shelter out there is going to be an easy task, you are very wrong".

"You want us to stay here?", the bulky man pointed at the sunk-in gate with his mace.

The team leader shivered, "No. There is habitable land in the basin behind Pashtrik mountains", he pointed with his index finger and then continued.

"Reaching it will be difficult, but we will be much safer once we get there. There should be other normal humans as well from other facilities, who are also probably headed there".

The bulky man frowned, "what do you mean normal humans?"

The team leader was caught off guard, not noticing that he said that, so he just put an awkward smile on his face. Despite their looks, the team leader was the only normal human present here at the moment.

"Whatever", the bulky man rolled his eyes, "How long do you think it will take for The Source to reach us?"

The team leader pondered for a second, "At least one year".

"A year?!", the bulky man was shocked, but the team leader just nodded.

"The same thing happened there as well, except there is an actual infrastructure to be rebuilt unlike here".

Everyone went silent.

What he told them was far too shocking, but they had no reason to not believe him. He was working for the company after all and was obviously the most educated.

"Maybe even longer. It all depends," he continued, his voice steady but carrying a weight of uncertainty. "Things are just beginning to escalate. People here will have no choice but to make the forests and caves their new home, rebuilding whatever fragments of civilization they can if we're going to survive. But eventually... eventually, we'll return to our normal lives."

The words hung in the air, hollow and disbelieving. In truth, they would soon learn the harsh reality: no one would come to rescue them from this wilderness for decades. The peaceful world they once knew was slipping further away, and the fight to survive had only just begun.

With no government, and no laws, they would have no choice but to build a community from the ground up. A community that, for all its flaws, would operate by the only means left to them—the means of the Adjustable World, and live their lives the way they were meant to be lived.