"Sofya… What happened?...", I mutter softly as the rummaged containment unit cluttered with all kinds of metallic canisters lie before me, empty of its once held content.
This one's empty, as so were those units before this. Damn it! Why is this godforsaken ship so huge? If it weren't for them!...
I sighed softly as I loosened the clenched fist hanging by my sides and calmed my mind to not cause any more major turmoil while I slowly approached the keypad on the side of the automatic steel doors.
"!!"
My eyes inadvertently widen as a hideously, blood-curdling scream echoes along the hallways outside. Immediately, I dashed my way through the corridor as my right hand fell towards the silver gun in the holster hidden inside my coat while my left hand reached out near the keypad, ready to touch it as soon as possible.
The shrieks continued as my back closely stuck to the wall beside the door while placing a system command of promptly shutting the unit's doors on the screen's surface.
A hiss of steam roars as the steel door slowly slides itself shut as my thoughts turn into chaos and nervousness creeps onto my skin.
Every ticking second of the watch affixed on my wrist pricked to my racing heart as the damned door seemed to mischievously grin towards me. Why is it so fucking slow? And as if fate was laughing at me, the sound of something eerie heavily pounded on the steel floor just outside.
My subconscious keeps shouting for me to look. That a short peek won't hurt and I should ascertain what it is by looking. Should I look? Do I look?
Look now? To THAT? No! But what if it's her?
Just a little bit…
I should…
Lo-
Thump!
The door finally shut and boomed through my ears. The boiling, irksome thoughts I had cleared itself and my back slid down as my legs turned weak.
"Ha…", I bitterly smirked at the scene of myself just now, shaking from cowardice and lacking any composure. That wasn't me at all…
What happened, me?
Slowly, I withdrew from my awkward stupor and unhurriedly took in the sight before me. It was a standard containment unit filled with lines of shelves once filled to the brim with canisters of supplies. Now, it was all empty however, and the room itself looks like it was roughly handled.
The metal tubes in the corners of the room hissed from now and then, and the light was dim as if it was soon to lose any power left.
Still, visible pieces of some kind of reflective material lay broken on the floor. There it was… my haggard appearance sat with my back on the wall. A very miserable man.
The golden, blonde hair that I normally took time to comb and style is now messy from all the sneaking and hiding I had to perform. Blemishes of dust adorned my face and I was showered in so much sweat from both tiredness and the tense situation earlier. Though it may seem arrogant, my gentle-tempered look was quite well-known in my hometown but now, I only look miserable.
It was the same for my black formal suit I used to wear for casual events. The cuffs had some red blood stains and my white shirt was dirtied from the cramp areas I had to sneak into.
The fiber used to make this suit was sturdy though and had survived from getting torn this past few days.
That's right… several days had passed.
The chaos that had fallen this place has now subsided but instead, darkness swallowed every nook and cranny I could find and mysteries of some kind lurked inside.
"How the hell did that even appear here?", I shook myself off the daze and once again remembered the 'monster' that almost found me. It wasn't without a doubt that it was one of the unknowns that suddenly appeared here.
They say to never look death in the eye but, in the end, I didn't even have the guts to catch a glimpse of its shadow. Still, I am alive and well.
Moving on, I had to find another way out of here. An alternate step towards the core.
Fortunately, when I locked myself here, I found out beforehand that containment units like this are connected by a ventilation system that passes through several rooms outwards. Though I had hoped it gave access towards the central quarters or even outside. Unsurprisingly, the central quarters had its own ventilation system separate from this one, for security purposes, obviously and with the whole place in lockdown, there's no way to leave.
"It set me back a little but I guess I could still move forward again." I whisper to myself with some optimism.
The unit was fairly small due to the kinds of supplies listed upon it and I was grateful for that. One simple rotation around it with some taps from here and there was all that elapsed until the small vent appeared before me.
Clang! Clank!
I removed the vent cover and threw it aside as I peered inside. It was dark and cramped, as expected. All my training at Facility A-Gent is now paying off… i guess.
Crawling my way through, I pass through several splits in the vent's pathways. I picked my way at random due to the fact that the nearest exit I would find is similarly far anyway.
Boom!
A resounding thump echoes from one of the paths I was currently looking at. Surprise filled my face as nothing of the sort had happened in my journey these several days. The things spawned all over this place were horrifyingly quiet and never busted through the metal walls and doors.
Once again, my palms break out in sweat, but…
An extremely frightened scream now instead reverberates and pulls me back towards reality. I've been zoning out today more than I had ever my entire life… What the hell is happening?
"That wasn't any monster!"
That was right. It wasn't like the hideous shriek I heard earlier.
Who was that? There weren't any other humans alive when I snuck through the area. It was quite baffling, even more so knowing the chaos of that event.
It was undoubtedly a woman's voice. However, it was also undoubtedly not the voice I was yearning to hear…
Immediately, my body moved with increased agility yet still with prepared caution. The voice and thumping boomed from the left so I rushed towards that general direction. The room it originated from wasn't particularly hard to find and I would arrive within several minutes of crawling my way through.
On my way there, I could hear the rushing and pounding of footsteps. I am quite sure, they were also attracted by the loud sound just now.
My heart began beating in sync with my hands scrambling to pull forward closer and faster. Hoping to arrive even within a hair's breadth faster.
"Finally…"
I whisper under the heavy breath of my panting. I didn't know dragging myself on all fours like this could be as tiring as performing a marathon…
Clang!
Without any hesitation, I maneuvered my body in a kicking position once I came upon the vent cover. I forcefully pushed my legs as both of my hands held on the side walls and crawled myself out of the vent once the exit was within my sight.
Several broken monitor screens immediately came into sight as I got out. Wirings protruded out as they crackled with electricity and the steel walls were dented and scratched.
"Why is the rear control room so damaged? Was this area ravaged already?" I mutter in shock.
That was right, after crawling around the vent, I ended up in the rear side. Out of all the places, this was the place I expected to be quite… untouched. Yet, this sight immediately overturned that expectation.
Bang! Bang!
The loud noise immediately reminded me of why I went here.
"That's right, damn it. Is there anyone here?!" But my query was of no result as the booming from the steel doors reverberates louder with my shout.
It was slowly being pried open by bloody claw-like hands. Alarms immediately sounded in my mind and I surveyed the room with haste.
"Sob…"
It didn't take me long to find a lone girl in a corner.
Her face was buried in her knees and murmurs of her sobbing entered my ears. She sat there bare naked, her burnt-like black legs still bleeding from sharp glass pieces that loitered the floor.
Caution filled my mind. Reaching for my gun, I readied myself to take any immediate action as soon as I found anything wrong.
"Hey? Are you okay?" I call out softly.
Startled, she trembled slightly and as if realizing that my voice was a different one from the screeching noise from outside, she slowly lifted her face and looked at me.
Earlier, the shadows hid certain features and I couldn't completely ruminate her appearance. Now they were in full view and…
"You are… just a girl…"
It really was just a teen girl, maybe 16 even…
I exhaled in relief and disbelief. I couldn't help but chuckle and blow my caution away as I approached her completely.
I can see now that her face was pale and though her skin was white, it gave off an unhealthy glow that suggested her weak constitution. That, however, didn't hide the doll-like beauty she had under the veil of tears from her purple bright eyes.
The unusual pinkish white hair that adorned her head was very long and seemed uncut for quite some time.
Unfortunately, her body was covered with bruises and wounds. And I first thought that she was human.
Like me.
But I can see now that I was mistaken. She was a different being. A pitiful one at that.
Her headful of hair had a pair of small black horns barely 2 inches long. From her forehead, they extended backwards.
Slightly pointed ears and a pitch black tail that coiled around her slim waist.
She is definitely an 'Imperfect'…
While such thoughts ran through my mind, her eyes closed as if in relief to seeing me and she suddenly fell unconscious.
Immediately, I rushed to catch her and lay her steady. I hastily took off my coat and wrapped it around her while I guarded the monster outside moments away from getting in.
Peeking at the door was an arm that seemed inflated and was littered with scars and flesh wounds from the skin being torn apart from such a sudden stretch of muscle mass. Blood and pus dripped everywhere as it tried to flail around trying to get in.
It was a horrifying sight.
While watching such a scene, a realization dawned upon me. The vent was now an unusable exit and I had to find another way…
It was too small to begin with and now that the girl lay unconscious on the side, I had to carry her and ran down the main halls.
The very exit that remains in this room is the one I was trying to escape from…