It was near one of the surveillance spires. The building looked no different from the rest of them even on the inside, at least for the most part. It had a giant vault marked in a yellow and black warning sign that clearly read, "Keep Out". Strangely enough, the vault was half-open and it revealed a reinforced concrete chamber with a well leading straight down. Metallic rods were melded into staircases to accommodate entry and exit.
"I think we really should keep out!", Lu said. Something about this just screamed danger.
"I don't feel like heading in either.", Bo added.
"This is really something!", Wei remarked.
The group stared blankly for a while bickering to decide what to do. Over the last couple of days, they had no haul, they'd soon be running low on rations and it was already night out. Heading into the tunnel wouldn't make much difference in night and day, in fact, they might stumble upon something really unexpected, or worse there could be a monster hiding down there.
"Come on guys, now don't be a bunch of wusses. We might really have a good haul today."
"We are scavengers. It might be a hard life but it's the only way to feed our mouths and those that rely on us. But we aren't suicidal maniacs. We have neither the time nor the info this time around. But we can always come back next time. can't we?", Tian spoke up, sagely.
Disgruntled voices kept on arguing,
"And what, let the other guys lick it clean before we even get a chance to taste our loot?"
"The military keeps many things secret from the general public. Let's just heed the warning this time, guys. I don't have a good felling about any of it.", Lu voiced his complaints again.
"So what? The entire base is supposed to be off-limits. We're snooping around here anyway!"
Fan just had about enough at this point. He took out his headlamp and climbed down before anybody had a chance of stopping him.
"This damned #!8*%!! Fine, we're all heading in. But if the place seems even remotely dangerous, we're heading right back out. Any objections?"
None voiced theirs. Taking that for a nod Wei began to prepare.
"Fan, you there? Is it deep? Fan?", Lu called out.
No response…
"Fan? You there?"
"It's okay in here guys, you can come down!"
As the warning signs lay ignored, the rest climbed down the ladder one after the other. They found themselves in a tunnel with a diameter of around 4 meters. There was a steel pavement built around it for easy passage of maintenance workers, otherwise, by all accounts, it seemed a sewer drain. There were even puddles filled with musty black sludge.
"Nice! So this was a sewer all along!", somebody complained, and rightfully so.
Fortunately, the tunnel had mostly run dry and after turning several corners they found themselves facing a rested hulking door.
As the scavengers pushed aside the rusted, corroded hatch, they found themselves in a realm frozen in time—a massive facility long forsaken and now shrouded in dark, eerie silence. The air was stifling, thick with dust and an unsettling musty, metallic odor that latched onto every breath, mingled with an unsettling hint of something faintly sweet, almost like decay masked by an artificial attempt at cleanliness. The group had split up in an attempt to cover more ground, each member taking a different corridor to investigate. Wei had given his reluctant agreement to this plan initially, but now, standing alone in the sterile yet suffocating darkness of a once-sterile storage room piling up his share of the loot, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
"Everyone, report in," Wei howled, pressing the button on his radio. Static crackled through the device, punctuated by a disjointed murmur that was barely audible.
"This is Tian. I'm in the main control room. Looks like they were working on something big here. I've got files everywhere. Some equipment too."
"Copy that, Tian. Keep me updated."
"Here's Bo. I'm checking out the generator room. There might still be some juice left in them, let me see if I can get them online."
"Copy that."
Soon, the entire facility came to its shimmering life in an instant. The facility was massive, he almost wondered how such a place was underground this entire time.
The corridors were barely visible earlier in the headlamp's illumination now stretched out before him, dimly lit by flickering emergency lights that cast long, jittery shadows on the cracked, stained walls. Its brilliance, long gone, was replaced by the unsettling creak of old ventilation systems and an eerie atmosphere. Every step echoed too loudly as if the silence itself was watching and waiting.
"Uh, Tian here. Thanks for the lights. It seems somebody or something might or might not have been here recently. I'd like you all to come see this. Come to the south wing."
"Bo, here. Generators are fully stacked up. Somebody's definitely been here before us."
"Stay on your toes everyone, all head for the south wing." Wei barked his orders.
On the outside, he appeared stern as usual, however deep inside an unsettling fear had long begun to grip his heart. Nothing has gone according to plan this entire trip. He'd planned for some quick haul from some dilapidated military base, not investigate some godforsaken military laboratory. If monsters came rushing, he could use the new guy as bait as they made their escape. And instead... no, no distractions, he needed to find something soon, otherwise he'd have those dastardly loan sharks coming for his lovely daughter this time.
The radio crackled again, and then a garbled voice interrupted Wei's thought. "Boss… it's… moving…"
"Fan, come in!" Wei's voice was urgent, but there was only silence. His behavior felt unusual throughout the day but Wei had just assumed it might've happened because of his wife's unrelenting fever since last week. He seemed more desperate as the journey went on. But this was unusual, Fan's far from the quiet type and he's hardly irresponsible.
He spoke again and yet he radio remained stubbornly silent, filled with static that seemed to pulse with an unsettling rhythm. Wei felt a chill creep up his spine.
He began to pace the room, his flashlight beam slicing through the darkness. The beam flickered over shelves lined with strange, unidentifiable containers and broken equipment. Wei's heart raced as he tried to contact the others again. "Fan, where are you? Bo, report!"
"Bo, Come in. Can you reach Fan?"
"Bo here," came a shaky voice over the radio. "I'm almost at the south wing. Ne-near the control room. There's—there's something in the shadows. Fan was just up ahead a while ago and now, he isn't."
"So where is he?"
"No clue, but I fear it might not just be us alone! There's probably someone or something down here! Other than us I mean!", he gasped.
Wei's breath quickened. "Bo, get out there. Head to the central hub immediately."
"No, I fear it's been chasing me ever since I left the generator room. I just wanna go merry way for fuck's sake!"
"Calm down, you said who or what it may be, has since been chasing you? Why did you not report in earlier?"
No response.
"Bo, you hear me?"
(static)..."Y...e..s"...(static).
"Okay, you hang tight, maybe get into the control room, I'm coming over.", Wei began running, his rifle at ready, as he kept on contacting Bo occasionally only for his voice to meet with static, every time.
Wei's hands trembled as he tried to maintain contact. "Bo, do you copy? Bo!"
Static yet again. Panicked, he barked louder.
"Bo? Answer me!!"
As he approached the control room, the radio crackled to life once last time. "Wei… help… I can't—"
The transmission was cut off abruptly. Wei's stomach lurched. He burst into the control room only to find it in disarray. Papers and equipment were strewn across the floor. there were countless monitors either off or on static, ones that were supposed to keep an eye over several sections of the military facility. Bo's radio piece lay atop the desk echoing his own desperate voice. Realization struck him like a Mack truck. Bo too had gone missing.
He was nowhere in sight, not even his gun or rucksack. The chair behind the desk was toppled over. The room was eerily silent except for the persistent hum of malfunctioning electronics.
"Fan!" Wei shouted, his voice echoing in hollow. He grabbed the radio again, desperation in his voice. "Lu, report!"
The response was a series of frantic, garbled noises. Then, the radio fell silent. Wei's heart raced. He sprinted toward the containment chamber, the air growing colder as he approached. His feeling of dread grew heavier with each step.
"Anything that matters, Boss?" A reply came from Tian. "Lu's with me already. Where are the rest of you?"
"Bo's got missing. Can't reach Fan either."
"Got it. Should we come over and look for them together?"
Wei almost shouted yes before restraining himself. He didn't want to repeat what happened in the control room.
"No, hold your positions. I'm coming over."
"Okay, boss. We're at the office. Just come over quick."