The hallway stretched before them, dimly lit by flickering emergency lights.
Ethan led the way, keeping his knife drawn. The smell of burnt flesh and scorched metal still clung to the air.
Behind him, Valerie clutched the data drive—their only clue to whatever the hell "Project Ascension" really was.
Blaze padded forward cautiously, his ears twitching. Shadow slinked beside Olivia, her tail flicking, golden eyes scanning the darkness.
Noah let out a shaky breath. "So, uh… do we have a plan? Or are we just running until we find another nightmare?"
Valerie didn't look up. "First, we crack this drive."
Olivia frowned. "Can we even do that here? This place looks ancient."
Ethan gestured ahead. "There has to be a control room. Somewhere with working power."
Valerie nodded. "Then let's find it. And fast."
Because whatever they had escaped from…
Might not be the worst thing down here.
The Heart of the Facility
They moved carefully, navigating the decaying corridors.
Most rooms were either collapsed or completely looted. Broken consoles. Dust-covered monitors. Rusting equipment that hadn't been touched in decades.
Then—they found it.
A door marked "Central Processing."
The control room.
Valerie stepped forward, trying the keypad. It was dead.
Noah sighed. "Of course."
Ethan studied the door. "We don't need a code." He turned to Blaze. "We need force."
The wolfdog's ears perked. Then, with a growl, he lunged—slamming into the rusted panel.
The weakened metal buckled, screeching as it gave way.
The door shuddered open.
And inside—the past waited.
The Secrets in the Data
The control room was eerily intact.
Unlike the rest of the facility, this place had power.
Monitors flickered, their greenish glow casting ghostly reflections across the room. A massive mainframe hummed softly, still operational after all these years.
Olivia shuddered. "It's like… it was waiting for us."
Valerie wasted no time. She plugged in the data drive and started the decryption process.
Lines of code scrolled across the screen. Then—a file unlocked.
A single video file.
Valerie clicked it.
And the screen came to life.
A man appeared—dressed in a lab coat, his face hollow-eyed and exhausted.
"If you are watching this…" he began, voice trembling, "then Project Ascension has failed."
The Warning
The scientist looked around nervously, as if someone—or something—was watching.
"This facility was never meant to be found. We buried it for a reason."
Ethan exchanged a glance with Valerie. Buried?
"Ascension… it was supposed to save us." The man's voice broke. "But we were fools."
The screen glitched. For a second, the image distorted—flashes of test subjects writhing, screaming, changing.
Then—it stabilized.
"We tried to evolve. To become more than human."
He swallowed hard.
"But the ones who survived… they are not us anymore."
Noah muttered, "Yeah, we kinda figured that part out already."
The scientist continued, his voice barely above a whisper.
"They are waiting. Trapped. But if the system ever fails… if they wake up…"
The screen flickered—static cutting in.
"…run. There is no cure. No salvation. Only ascension."
Then—the screen went black.
And the room went silent.
Not Alone
A cold dread settled over them.
The creatures they had fought—the ones in the tanks—had been waking up.
And the system had failed.
Ethan turned to Valerie. "Is there a way to shut everything down? For good?"
Valerie's fingers flew over the keys. "There's a failsafe. A full-system purge. But…"
She hesitated.
"This facility is connected to something bigger. If I trigger the purge, it won't just destroy this lab."
Ethan frowned. "Then what else?"
Valerie met his gaze.
"The city," she said quietly. "The ruins we found. It's all part of the same system."
Noah paled. "You mean… this whole place is one giant machine?"
Valerie nodded. "And if we wipe the system, whatever's down there—goes with it."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then—
A sound echoed from the hallway outside.
A low, distorted whisper.
Blaze growled. Shadow's fur stood on end.
Ethan drew his knife. "They found us."
Valerie's fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Noah inhaled sharply. "So… do we purge?"
The voices grew louder.
The walls trembled.
Ethan made his choice.
"Do it."
Valerie slammed the enter key.
The facility roared to life.
And then—all hell broke loose.