The Hollow Core

The corridor breathed with flickering light, the kind that didn’t chase away the dark so much as teach you to live with it. Jessica kept her breathing steady, the whisper from before still lingering in her thoughts. Every step felt slower down here. Not because of the cold. Because the walls felt like they remembered things she didn’t.

"We're close to the facility entrance," Olivia whispered, her fingers skimming the rough stone walls. "The ventilation system should be just up ahead. If Vanguard hasn’t changed much, we can use it to bypass security."

Leanna’s eyes darted over the schematics displayed on her tablet, the glow casting eerie shadows on her face. "There’s a maintenance hatch near the next junction. If the schematics are right, it drops us near the control room. If not, we end up in the incinerator.”

Jessica let out a slow breath. "Luck hasn’t exactly been on our side."

Olivia shot her a smirk. "Then we make our own."

They reached the junction, the air around them thick with damp and metal. Olivia crouched by the hatch, prying at the rusted bolts. A hollow clang echoed through the tunnel as the panel loosened, revealing a narrow shaft descending into darkness.

Jessica peered inside. "I'll go first."

Leanna frowned. "Are you sure?"

Jessica nodded. "If something happens, you two need to get out of here."

Without waiting for a response, she slipped into the shaft, her boots scraping against the corroded metal. The descent was slow, each movement deliberate. The shaft smelled of oil and rot.

Her fingers found grooves worn smooth, not by time, but by repetition. A hundred panicked grips. Maybe hers. Halfway down, something flickered in the recesses of her mind, a sterile room, white coats, whispers of numbers.

Her foot hit the bottom. She exhaled and scanned the area. A long corridor stretched ahead, lined with observation windows. The air smelled of antiseptic and something else—something metallic and old.

"I'm in," she murmured into her comm. "It’s… deserted. But it doesn’t feel empty."

Leanna and Olivia joined her moments later, their expressions wary.

Olivia adjusted her earpiece. "Let’s move fast. The server room should be down this hall."

Jessica hesitated, her gaze lingering on one of the observation windows. Inside, flickering monitors displayed unreadable data. And on the far side of the room, metal restraints lined the walls.

Her pulse quickened. "They were experimenting here. Recently."

Leanna swallowed hard. "Then we need to find out what they were working on."

They pushed forward, unaware that the light blinked red in silence. No alarms. No guards. Just quiet acknowledgment that the system had seen them.