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IF - Chapter 6
🕑 Added 2024-12-11 21:01:11 +0000 UTC------------------
Isla followed Evelyn up the winding metal steps to the upper levels of the base. The air smelled of brine and ozone, that sharp tang that clung to rainstorms and live wires. Every so often, a faint vibration hummed beneath her boots. It wasn’t a tremor—more like a pulse, like the throb of a subwoofer buried miles below.
Her boots echoed louder than they should. She glanced at Evelyn, who strode ahead of her without missing a step or slowing. Her eyes shifted upward, tracing the smooth ceiling where low-powered LED strips pulsed in a deliberate rhythm. Not a flicker. Not a fluctuation. Just a steady, metronome beat.
“How many people did you let go?” Isla’s voice was low, her hands slipping into her vest pockets as she strode beside Evelyn. Her eyes scanned every doorway they passed, each labeled in blocky, stenciled text. BIO-CONTAINMENT WING. LIVE SPECIMEN STORAGE. SUBLEVEL ACCESS POINT.
Evelyn’s even pace was unbothered, her gaze steady as she stepped onto a rising metal platform. The hum of hydraulics pulled it into motion, lifting them toward the upper levels. Her eyes didn’t drift to Isla, but that smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“I think we both know I never terminated anyone from this facility at this point.”
“You never give straight answers,” Isla grumbled, focusing on the woman’s bun as it bounced with her movements. “So, everyone here died before you took over? Seems like a rough gig.”
“I didn’t say anything of the kind,” Evelyn replied with a light chuckle. “However, deaths and complications can happen through…negligence, as I’m sure you’re aware, Dr. Reyes. You have traveled through rather dangerous territory and learned that certain…behaviors require correction to survive.”
“Yeah, sure. Sounds so much better when you spin it like that,” Isla muttered, her focus shifting to the path ahead as they passed another checkpoint. This one was tighter. Two metal bulkheads with rotating hazard symbols. The words BIO-RESTRICTED ZONE: X-2 CLEARANCE REQUIRED were etched in glowing red letters.
No guards? Isla noted, eyes narrowing as she glanced down each of the side corridors they passed. The silence was unnerving. No movement. No chatter. Not even the hum of equipment she expected from a place like this. I can guess that AEGIS loves its secrecy, but this is just overkill… Maybe she’s not just trying to get under my skin and I should start taking her subtle warnings and cryptic messages more seriously.
Her eyes flicked to the reinforced observation panels on her right. The view was sharp—clear as open air. Below them, the older sections of the pyramid expanded like an inverted ziggurat. The black pillar at its center was still visible, a monument to something she wasn’t sure she wanted to understand. It disappeared into the abyss below, vanishing into a darkness so absolute that even her sharp eyes couldn’t find a trace of movement within it.
Her fingers tapped the railing twice, her eyes narrowing while flicking toward the hallway stretching ahead. No signs of guards, no signs of workers. Just an endless corridor of muted lighting and quiet now that the other three were gone.
“You’re hiring a full team to man this place, huh?” Isla tilted her head toward Evelyn, hands still in her pockets. “Strange that none of them are on-site to support us.”
Evelyn’s pace didn’t slow as she stepped off the platform. She glanced her way with that familiar look that told her everything she needed to know.
“We’re…not getting support, are we,” Isla mumbled, stepping off after her. Her voice carried an edge of doubt, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the door labels. BIO-STORAGE 3. CONTAINMENT SECTOR 4. LIVE TEST OBSERVATION. “Where did your guards go?”
“Off on their own mission,” she evenly replied.
“So, you’re alone up here, huh? No team. No guards. Just…you when we go?”
“Does that make you nervous, Dr. Reyes?” Evelyn raised a brow, that faint grin flickering across her lips. Her hands remained at her side, her steps calm, her heels clicking at an even, deliberate pace, making Isla wonder how she walked in the foot killers all day while climbing so many stairs. “I’d think you’d prefer it this way. No one to slow you down.”
“No, I like having eyes on me when doing hazardous stuff,” Isla shot back, her gaze darting to one of the observation windows. Her gaze lingered on the edge of the glass, scanning for reflection shifts—anything that might hint at surveillance. She found nothing. No cameras. No lenses. Nothing but the foggy sheen of the Endless Sea behind it.
Evelyn raised a hand toward a nearby panel, the label on the door showing: THE FOG TANK. Her fingers moved with precision, tapping in a twelve-digit passcode that flashed X-2 CLEARANCE ACCEPTED. The bulkhead split with a sharp hiss, gears grinding as it slid open, revealing a corridor lined with sleek, metallic walls—the door opened at a comically slow rate.
Beyond it, dim light pulsed from within. Amber and violet flashes flickered like distant lightning, casting jagged shadows on the floor.
“After you,” Evelyn gestured with a sweep of her hand, that knowing smile never leaving her face. Her eyes stayed locked on her.
A circular chamber opened before her, illuminated by the faint, pulsing glow of glyphs and the cool, aquatic light of an oversized containment tank in the center of the room. She slowed her steps, eyes locked on it. The tank was massive, roughly 10 feet tall, with what she could only assume was reinforced AEGIS-grade glass that shimmered faintly with lilac-hued reflections.
“Yeah, yeah,” Isla muttered, moving past her, eyes sharp as she crossed the threshold. Her breath hitched the moment she stepped in. Out of everything she expected the devilish woman to do or take her, it was not here. “The Immortal Fish?”
“Indeed.”
The fish floated at the center of the tank. Small. Too small for all the spectacle. No more than 16 inches long, its translucent, silvery-blue body shimmered as it twirled lazily in the water, its eel-like fins rippling with the subtle motion. No eyes, but faint indentations where eyes should be. It moved with deliberate ease, turning in smooth arcs, not darting or flinching like most fish. Its body shimmered like polished glass, reflecting every pulse of light from the glyphs below.
Her breath slowed. Her eyes narrowed.
“That’s it?” she muttered, stepping closer to the tank, her face inches from the glass. Her breath fogged it for a moment before vanishing. “With all the security and the potential advancements… This is where you stick it. Locked in your little room.”
Her gaze stayed fixated on the creature’s movements. No gills. No sudden shifts in motion. No fear. No hesitation as it spun in complicated loops that she soon realized were a figure-8.
“Don’t be so dismissive, Dr. Reyes,” Evelyn’s voice echoed softly as she circled behind her. Her hands slid from her coat pockets, one gesturing to the tank as she stepped beside Isla. “Specimen-04-Ω, though I prefer ‘Flop.’ Now that I’m in control, I think I’ll name him that. The research team didn’t agree, but I believe you’ll appreciate the humor…or perhaps not.”
“Flop?” Isla’s lips curled. “That’s the best you could do?”
Evelyn’s grin widened, eyes glinting like knives. “Well, it certainly takes a certain blend of humor to stomach. You see, it tends to flop around when removed from water. I thought it was fitting.”
Isla’s gaze didn’t leave the fish. Her eyes narrowed further, brow furrowing in slow realization. She leaned forward, just a little, her breath fogging the glass once more. “There’s no damage on it.” Her finger hovered over the spot where she saw it brush the side of the tank. “Not a scratch. Not a single mark on its scales.”
“No, there isn’t,” Evelyn whispered, stepping closer, her gray eyes fixed on Isla’s reflection in the glass. “Want to see why?”
Her fingers tapped a button on the console beside her. The overhead lights dimmed, and a new series of glyphs flickered on the floor. The tank’s water churned, sudden ripples shivering through the liquid as something metallic unfolded from the top—a blade.
The metal arm shifted slowly into position over the tank. Isla stiffened, her eyes locked on the fish as it continued its lazy spin, unbothered. The blade dropped with a sickening thud and whirr.
The fish was cut clean in half. Blood swirled like ink in water. For two seconds, Isla’s breath caught in her throat. And then the halves…stitched themselves back together. Her breath escaped in a short, sharp exhale, her fingers curling against her palms.
“As I said, this is only the tip of the iceberg,” Evelyn said, her grin sharp as ever. Her eyes flicked toward Isla, her voice soft, dangerous, and proud. “However, there are other dangers I need you to understand because I know you won’t run… Not like the others would.”
Evelyn’s eyes stayed locked on the swirling blood now dissipating into the tank’s water as if it never existed at all, her voice calm but sharp with intent. Isla jumped as the woman promptly moved closer and put a hand against the glass, cutting off her escape and locking eyes with her.
“Woah—hey!”
“I’m not the physical type,” the woman stated, devilish eyes practically glowing with an inner light of danger as the scarab brooch illuminated a dull blue. “But all playful banter aside, Dr. Reyes, I must be cautious with you due to what is at stake. Are you listening?” she asked.
Evelyn pressed in closer, keeping her focus, and the uncomfortable vibes reverberated up Isla’s spine as her peppermint breath filled her lungs; she knew this woman had something lethal in her coat that could kill her, and didn’t want to test her fate with this glowing scarab thing after everything she’d seen.
“I’m listening…”
“Good. Because there are things in this new dimensional space that are far beyond our comprehension. Creatures, physics, even concepts that don’t adhere to the rules you know. I am not playing games with you. I was told to achieve results and the spineless cowards tend to be the ones in AEGIS who survive because they never push boundaries…like you. Do not test The Fog.”
Swallowing the lump that formed in her throat, back pressed against the glass as Evelyn’s far-too-close, all-consuming eyes burrowed into hers, she tried to regain her nerve in the extremely uncomfortable position.
“And here I thought you were the queen of comprehension and results… I get it. This place isn’t normal. You’re saying if I see fog roll in, I should brace for something worse and what…try to outrun it?”
“Not worse. Different,” Evelyn replied, giving her breathing room as the brunette pulled away, her tone weighty in a way that stilled the air between them. Her eyes didn’t blink, and there was genuine caution in them that Isla had never seen in the control-freak woman. “If The Fog comes, it means night is upon us… Strange things happen at night. If you’re smart, you’ll sleep. If you’re reckless, you’ll wander…both physically and with your mind.”
“Uh-huh,” Isla muttered, her brow furrowed as her ‘boss’ let her move again, moving a hand to her hip in an almost agitated manner. “And what’s in the fog that’s so terrifying it has you telling bedtime stories?”
Evelyn leaned in closer, making her shift away from the fish tank so as not to be trapped again, her voice barely a breath from Isla’s ear. “It’s not what’s in The Fog, Dr. Reyes. It’s what becomes possible in it. Or…that is what evidence I’ve gathered leads me to believe.”
The silence after that was too still. Isla didn’t turn her head, didn’t blink, didn’t shift her weight. She just stared at Evelyn’s reflection. Possible… Great. She’s becoming slightly unhinged, which isn’t a good sign when dealing with a mind like hers.
Evelyn’s fingers tapped the console again. The glyphs on the floor shifted from violet to orange. She reached for a digital panel next to the control screen, and with a sharp tap, she actuated it.
The tank hissed as thick rivulets of water poured from vents at the base, draining it with surprising speed. The immortal fish swirled with the current, twisting its body in smooth arcs to keep itself centered. The draining process was oddly quiet, save for the low, wet churn of liquid rushing through pipes beneath them.
Isla stepped back, mouth turning into a frown as she watched the water level drop. “I take it we’re not cleaning the tank.”
“Observation,” Evelyn replied, her eyes locked on the fish as it flopped to the bottom of the tank. Its smooth, eel-like body thrashed once, twice—then it stilled, heaving small movements like a heartbeat. The water finally hit zero.
The fish jerked violently, slamming its body against the glass with a thunk that echoed through the chamber. It flopped wildly on the smooth metal surface, twisting in agitated spasms. Isla grimaced.
Yeah, I wonder why things here might want to kill us… Humanity is typically more of the monster than the creatures in stories…
Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she tried not to let her emotions get the best of her. “You’re about to pull some mad scientist shit, aren’t you?”
Evelyn’s small smile didn’t fade as she reached for another control. This one wasn’t a button. It was a switch with a safety cover. She flipped the cover up. Isla squinted at the bold red label etched into the metal: INCINERATION PROTOCOL—SAFETY BYPASS REQUIRED.
“You’re kidding,” Isla muttered, leaning forward, her eyes sharp on Evelyn. “You’re roasting it?”
“Roasting, searing, reducing to cinders—call it what you like.” Evelyn’s fingers flicked over the screen, entering another passcode. “Some things are best understood through extremes.”
“Some things don’t deserve to be understood…or burned alive,” Isla muttered, stepping closer as her gaze shifted to the fish. It was still flopping on the ground, slower this time, as though it had accepted its fate. Its body jerked again in short, erratic bursts, tail flicking against the smooth metal floor.
Evelyn’s finger hovered over the final switch, pausing for just a moment. “Would you like to do the honors?”
Isla frowned. Her eyes darted to the fish, its tiny head twitching as it was trying to orient itself. No eyes. No gills. No mouth, even. Just movement and motion—like it only existed to persist. Her lips pressed into a firm line. “Go ahead, lady death. I’m not about to be complicit in your villain arc.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll get quite accustomed to it in the end,” Evelyn ominously replied. Her finger clicked the switch. “For science.”
Twin jets of fire roared from the ceiling of the tank, dousing it in superheated flames. Heat haze rippled through the containment glass, filling the chamber with a gas that didn’t get past the glass, causing the heat to intensify. The fish’s body whipped against the floor, flopping hard enough to leave faint marks where it hit.
The flames stayed on for nearly fifteen seconds before Evelyn turned them off with a subtle tap. The chamber was left dim and hazy, with faint smoke trails curling upward. Isla’s eyes stayed fixed on the fish’s body. Charred. Blackened. Absolutely wrecked.
Her lips parted to say something—
Then it twitched.
Her heart skipped. Her fingers curled into her palms.
The fish’s blackened skin cracked, and thin veins of shimmering blue light coursed beneath the surface, rising even as the fires were cutting off. A pop echoed through the tank as one of the charred plates of its skin burst away, revealing that translucent, perfect form beneath it.
Its tail flicked.
Her breath hitched. “…You don’t know if it feels pain, do you?”
“No,” Evelyn replied, watching with calm detachment. “We have no idea. Nerve impulses behave erratically, and its regenerative process is so rapid that any damage is resolved before pain can register. It’s an anomaly, a contradiction in the very concept of injury. It may look like it heals within two to three seconds. In reality, I believe it is much swifter and fundamental than we can observe.”
Evelyn shifted her weight, straightening her coat as she eyed the tank one last time. “The fog, the fish, the dimensional instability… These are not isolated phenomena. They are symptoms of a larger whole. The five-mile boundary is no arbitrary limit. Yes, what you see outside is not The Truth.”
“Five miles? What are you talking about?” Isla raised a brow, watching Evelyn from the corner of her eye. “Sounds awfully specific. No warnings?”
“Five miles,” Evelyn confirmed, her face still turned toward the tank. “Beyond five miles, light distorts. Signals degrade. No one’s gone beyond it and come back… Well, other than one boosted transmission about an island fifty miles to what we call The East. I’ve left instructions on what little we do know on the boat. Now…you will know what is beyond that limit.”
When it’s sort of too late to back out… Subtle.
Isla’s lips quirked in a half-smirk, her eyes cutting toward Evelyn. “Is this supposed to be a pep talk? Because your mad scientist ass is terrible at it.”
Evelyn chuckled softly while refilling the tank with water so the fish could do its infinite loops before finally turning to face her. “I do appreciate your optimistic, dry, and sarcastic humor, Dr. Reyes. Hold onto it. We’ll see how long it lasts with what I fear you will see…and experience firsthand. By the way, did I mention it is highly recommended to never use beyond 450 watts in any active device. Yes, I have seen you eyeing everything and judging silently. It’s why I chose you for this…because you know how to think and not what to think. I need that in some select people.”
Isla strained a smile, feeling like she’d broken somewhat new ground with the nightmare of her college life and unsure how to feel about it. “Well. I guess we’ll be treading new ground together… Ms. Devil.”
The woman’s eyes sparkled. “Devil am I? I have been described as such, but complementing me won’t earn you points for an end-of-year bonus.”
“Flipping that, huh? And I didn’t see bonuses in the contracts you had me sign…other than basically giving over my life for the syndicate. Wait, that’s just a bonus for you.”
“You’re a survivor, Isla,” Evelyn stated with a threatening gleam. “You know exactly how far to push and when to run, which is how you escaped my little web for this long… But now I’ve found something to snare you. Bring me results…and satiate that hungering curiosity.”
Yeah, she’s a devil. No doubt.
“If I’m going to be exploring,” she countered, holding her ground, “then you better give me the best damn equipment your shadow syndicate has to offer.”
“Wonderful!” Clapping her hands together, the devil’s shiny gray eyes creased, and she flashed her teeth for the first time into a dazzling smile that belied the intentions underneath. “Then read the manual I left on your personal tablet inside the ship… I’m sure you’re smart enough to find your way back after all that scrutiny earlier, mapping out the facility?”
Isla smirked, took one last look at the fish, and turned to leave, inputting the 12-digit code of Evelyn that she’d memorized with a single glance. “You better be here when I get back. If I’m taking this risk, you better put some skin in the game.”
“Oh… I have more in it than you might fathom, Dead-Eyes… Have fun.”
With that, Isla left with a smile on her face. Ahead of her: adventure.
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