Chapter 02 The Death Corridor

The voice cut off abruptly, replaced by inhuman sound that sent a chill down Ichiban’s spine. The intercom crackled again, and then there was silence.

Kaiju stared at her, his eyes wide with terror.

 “What was that? What’s 'showing up’?!”

Ichiban didn’t answer. Her mind was spinning, piecing together the fragments of what she’d heard. The crystallization wasn’t just spreading—it was doing something else. Something worse. She pressed the intercom button again.

“This is Ichiban. All personnel, evacuate Helios-9 immediately. Seal the containment zones and prepare for Code Red. Do not engage whatever is down there. I repeat, do not engage!”

The intercom crackled again, and this time, the voice that came through was distorted, almost unrecognizable. It was low and gurgling. The words were garbled, but Ichiban could make out one phrase that made her blood run cold.

"...H—Help... please... they're... appearing..."

Then, in one final burst of clarity, the whisper hissed.

"...They're not human..."

And then—Silence.

Kaiju grabbed her arm, his grip tight. 

“Ichiban, what the hell is going on?! Talk to me! This is insane! This is madness! What did we create!?”

She shook him off.

 “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here. Now!”

The lab shook again, and this time, the sound of cracking concrete filled the air. Ichiban turned just in time to see the crystalline formation burst through the floor, its sharp edges spreading like a living thing. The red emergency lights flickered, casting grotesque shadows as the blood-red crystals grew, their surface glistening like wet bone.

Kaiju backed away.

 “It’s… it’s not just spreading. It’s… it’s alive.”

Ichiban didn’t wait to argue. She grabbed Kaiju by the arm and dragged him toward the door.

 “Move! We need to get to the control room and activate Code Red before this thing consumes the entire facility! And then the whole planet!”

Ichiban slammed her hand on the door control panel, and the heavy blast doors hissed shut behind her and Kaiju, sealing them in the corridor. The thick metal doors locked with a resounding clang, muffling the sounds of the destruction from the lab they had just fled. 

The corridor outside was a scene of pandemonium. Scientists in lab coats scrambled from their labs, their faces pale and their eyes wide with fear. The red emergency lights cast long, flickering shadows on the walls, and the blaring alarms made it nearly impossible to hear anything but the pounding of footsteps and the occasional shout.

When the other scientists saw Ichiban, they rushed toward her, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of panic.

"Dr. Ichiban! The power's failing—was it another earthquake?"

"The west wing is on lockdown! No one's responding inside!"

"S-Someone from security said there's something moving near Sector 3—"

"Doctor—please! We need to get out!"

“Dr. Ichiban! What’s happening?!” one scientist shouted over others, "The alarms! I heard the gun shots—are we under attack?!” 

“The power’s out in Sector 7 as well! We can’t get through to anyone!” Next one added, his face slick with sweat.

Kaiju stepped forward, trying to ease them.

 “Everyone, calm down! We need to—”

But Ichiban cut him off, her voice sharp and commanding as she stepped into the center of the group. 

“Listen to me! We have a containment breach. The crystallization experiment has gone critical. It’s spreading, and it’s… it’s doing something we didn’t anticipate. It’s not just spreading, it’s reacting with the environment in ways we can’t predict. And there’s… something else. Something down in the lower levels.”

The scientists exchanged uneasy glances, their fear returning tenfold.

 “What do you mean, ‘something’?” 

Before Ichiban could answer, the corridor shook violently, the force of it nearly knocking everyone off their feet. The lights flickered, and a distant explosion echoed through the facility, sending a chill down Ichiban’s spine. The scientists froze, their faces pale as the sound faded into an ominous silence.

“We don’t have time for this,” Ichiban shouted, “Everyone, get to the control room. Now. We need to activate Code Red before this thing spreads any further.”

“Code Red?!” one of the scientists shouted, his voice rising in panic. 

“That’ll seal the entire facility! We’ll be trapped in here!”

“We’re already trapped!” Ichiban shot back, “If we don’t contain this, it won’t just be the facility at risk—it’ll be the entire planet. Now move!”

The scientists hesitated for a moment, their fear warring with their trust in Ichiban. Then, one by one, they began to move, their footsteps echoing down the corridor as they hurried toward the control room.

Kaiju grabbed Ichiban’s arm, his voice low and urgent.

 “Ichiban, are you sure we can make it? Code Red is irreversible and with crystallization spreading so fast we might not make it. What if we run out of time, there’s no going back.”

Ichiban turned to him, “We don’t have a choice, Kaiju. Whatever that thing is, it’s spreading too fast. If we don’t stop it now, it’ll break containment, and then… then it’s over. We need to stop it with or without us making.”

As they sprinted down the corridor, the facility shook again, the sound of cracking concrete and twisting metal echoing through the walls. A deafening CRACK split through the corridor as one of the overhead pipes ruptured, spewing scalding steam into the air. Emergency lights lit up, casting long, flickering red shadows across the terrified faces around her.

And then—

Something thumped.

A low, heavy sound.

It came from beyond the sealed lab doors.

A second thump.

Then, a slow, grinding scrape.

Like something pressing against the metal.

Ichiban felt it in her bones—whatever was happening inside that lab was no longer just a chemical reaction. Her breath hitched as she stared at the mangled blast doors. The reinforced steel was warped inward, bent like it had been crushed by an unseen force. Deep gouges, jagged and uneven, marred the surface—as if something with claws had been trying to tear its way through.

Her mind drifted, every other sound around her faded as her eyes focused on the blast doors.

"No. That’s impossible. Crystallization shouldn’t do this. This isn’t done by chemical expansion. This isn’t just contamination—this is something else entirely. Compound 86 had nothing in it to cause crystallization to freak out like this, we made sure of it after 74. But how—"

She took a step forward, eyes locked on the doors, heart pounding in her ears. Then—

"Dr. Ichiban!"

Kaiju's hand grabbed her wrist, yanking her back to reality. His face was pale, his glasses slightly askew, sweat glistening on his brow. His grip was tight—tighter than she’d ever felt before.

"Are you listening?! We need to go! NOW!"

She blinked, then finally wrenched her head away from the ruined doors, forcing herself to focus.

"Control room. We need to reach the control room."

The others followed suit, boots hammering against the quaking floor, their breath ragged with panic. The emergency lights flickered wildly overhead, throwing erratic shadows against the walls as they sprinted down the main corridor.

Then they turned the corner—and froze.

For a moment, it was like they had stepped into another world. The sterile white walls of Helios-9 were gone. The corridor ahead was unrecognizable.

Crystals.

Not just the sharp, sharp formations she had seen in the lab. These were different—they had grown, warped, and twisted like vines along the walls, pulsing faintly under the red emergency glow.

Some had pierced through the ceiling, spiky spires jutting downward like frozen spears. Others coiled across the floor, weaving a treacherous path of glass-like roots.