A soft hum carried through the air as the elevator continued descending. I kept my eyes closed, waiting for it to stop. I wasn’t sure where we were headed, expecting to be quickly taken to some underground facility that led to the land below.
But contrary to my expectations, the elevator continued to move down.
One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
The elevator continued to move down as everyone stared at the door in silence, the tension building up the more time that passed.
’Just how long is this going to carry on for?’
I was just about to start getting worried about the situation when finally, a chime echoed across the surroundings.
Ding—!
The elevator soon came to a stop.
’Twenty five minutes.’
That was how long it took for the elevator to finally stop.
Rattle! Rattle!
A metallic rattle followed subsequently as the doors of the elevator began to open.
"——!"
And almost immediately, we all started to feel a difference.
At first, it was the smell.
I didn’t quite know how to describe it. Stale? The smell wasn’t anything bad. But it felt ’closed’. Like the smell of a room that had been left closed for a very long time.
The next thing I noticed was the temperature.
It was cold, but not too cold. Not to the point where I started to shiver.
And lastly...
"It’s hard to see."
Mia looked around alongside the others, taking note of the thin layer of fog that had filtered into the elevator room as the doors opened.
I moved my hand in the air, trying to feel the fog, but it felt like just regular fog. Just that it was a tiny bit darker, matching the stale gray sky.
Looking past the elevator doors, we were greeted by the sight of foliage. Trees stood unevenly ahead of us, their branches fading into a thin layer of fog that covered the ground. Bushes pressed close together, forming a wall of green in some places and narrow openings in others.
There didn’t seem to be any buildings in sight, no sign that this space belonged inside a structure at all.
The tiled floor stopped at the threshold of the elevator. Grass began immediately after, creeping close but never crossing the metal frame. The fog shifted slowly between the trunks, and the more I looked at the surroundings, the more my stomach churned.
I... had seen a lot of things.
I thought I had gotten used to a lot of things.
But this...?
I had yet to take a single step into the mist, and yet, my heart had already started to beat faster as my palms started to feel itchy.
’I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.’
But still, I still chose to take a step forward. Looking around me, it was obvious that the others were just as tense.
"Let’s go. We don’t have much time."
Crunch—!
The branches cracked as I walked ahead. Taking me as a point of reference, the others followed along as I calmly observed my surroundings, keeping one hand in my pocket as I held onto the knife.
’In case anything comes close to us, I should be able to keep the nine of us safe.’
"Niel."
Maintaining my calm, and keeping my gaze forward, I called for Niel.
"Yes?"
"Give me an overview of the situation."
I had already studied the material in the elevator, but Niel was far better at this kind of thing. He had probably analyzed details I’d overlooked.
"Yes."
Adjusting his glasses, Niel took out his phone and began to speak as everyone followed along, cautiously observing the surroundings.
"In total, seven teams are stranded in Point Z. Based on the information gathered, the BUA lost direct contact with two teams eight days ago. They lost contact with three more teams five days ago, and finally, they lost contact with the remaining two teams two days ago."
I closed my eyes momentarily and proceeded forward. This much, I knew.
"...Doing a little bit more digging, I was able to retrieve the recording of the last message that each team sent before disappearing. I’ll play the recording now."
Niel fiddled with this phone for a few seconds before stopping.
Silence filled the space.
Then—
—Khhh! Kh! Khhhh!
A loud static filled the air.
My heart pressed lightly against my chest I navigated past the surroundings, keeping a close watch over everything as the fog started to thicken up.
—Khhhhhhh! Khhh! Khhhhhhh!
The static continued.
The more it echoed, the more eerie it became. But soon, the static was broken up by words.
—Request assistance. Khhhh! Team Kalios requesting for backup. Khhhhh! Khhhhh!
Almost whisper like voices echoed past the static. The creepiest part of it all was the lack of emotion from the voice. It was almost as if there was no sense of urgency behind the emergency request.
—Khhh! Help us. Help us. Help us. Khhh!
Despite this, the words suggested that the situation was desperate.
The parallels between the tone of the voice were enough to make me pause.
Everyone else paused too, turning their attention towards Niel who stopped the transmission.
"You all have noticed it too, right? The weirdness of the message."
"...No shit we noticed." Nora replied, looking at Niel’s phone with a frown. "What the hell was that?"
"I am not sure, to be honest. We were all given recordings for each teams. This was the one that I found to be the weirdest. It could be a trap of sorts. That’s why I think we should avoid trying to rescue Team Kalios."
"And where were they last seen?"
I suddenly asked, taking out my phone to look at the map of Point Z.
"No, in fact, where are we?"
The GPS didn’t work here so besides the fact that we were in Point Z, we didn’t quite know where we were.
"...Team Kalios was last located by the edge of Point Z. On the Eastern Side."
Niel answered, his expression turning weirder and weirder as he pinched the screen of his phone, his actions pausing as he then proceeded to look around. He continued to do this until eventually, he paused entirely.
"What?"
Taking note of his abnormal behavior, Mia bit her lips.
"What’s wrong?"
"Well, it’s..."
Niel pinched his phone again, looking around and then back at his phone. Seeing his actions, I understood immediately, my heart turning heavier.
"We’re on the Eastern Side. The Reclamation Forest to be exact."
"——!"
"—!"
Everyone’s expressions shifted subtly, their heads lifting to scan the surroundings. But the more they looked, the less they found. All that surrounded us were faint shadows of vegetation, barely visible through the thick fog.
"It’s not given."
Niel suddenly spoke up.
"This is merely an estimated guess based on the type of vegetation, and the fact that there aren’t buildings. There’s some notable greenery in the South, in the Agricultural Belt. But even if we are in the Easter Side, so long as we don’t engage we should be fine."
His words didn’t lighten the mood. Instead, it made the air feel even heavier as everyone continued to observe the surroundings cautiously.
I took a shallow breath, tightly holding onto the knife in my pocket.
’Still nothing. We should be fine. There’s nothing to worry about.’
Niel suddenly directed his attention towards me.
"Squad Leader. What do you think we should do?"
The moment Niel spoke, everyone turned their attention towards me. I didn’t answer immediately. To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure. In some sort of way, I was tempted to stay here and figure out what was going on with Team Kalios.
If it was true that they were close to us, then realistically speaking, they weren’t a bad option.
However, taking into consideration of the safety of my squad, I decided against it.
’Let’s not risk it. Let me at least familiarize with this place first.’
"If we’re in the Easter Side, what is the next closest rescue team?"
"The Central Area."
"Okay."
I nodded, looking ahead and taking out a certain compass.
"Let’s head there."