Chapter Text
- Six Months Later -
Expendable.
That was what Riley Park and her three companions had been called when they had volunteered for this “expedition”. Time felt like a blur between her raising her hand to volunteer herself, to now - currently speeding through room after room.
She was drenched in sweat, wearing a jumpsuit that was too big for her, and constantly looking back at her last remaining companion, Sadie Holster.
There were four of them before. Riley exited the submarine with three other prisoners, two men from a different prison. She barely knew them; none of them made the effort to learn each other’s names. Not after the pre-recorded voice from the speaker had informed them what their mission was:
‘Survive through the Blacksite. Gather any loose assets and data you come across. Retrieve the crystal’.
But it didn’t end there. Their employers informed them of one more very crucial detail:
‘You are an Expendable. You are not expected to return’.
Those two sentences shattered any desires Riley and the other two men may have had from learning anything about each other. The only person she did know was Sadie, who was ten years Riley’s senior.
Riley had been constantly looking back over her shoulder to make sure the woman was still following closely behind her, and each time, Sadie nodded fastly at her.
“Keep going!” she called. “Fuck it all! Just keep going!”
She was talking about the ‘loose assets’ they were supposed to be gathering along the way. But that had been a mistake. The four had been scraping each room they entered before now. It helped that each room was numbered, which made the task of keeping track of each room effortless.
They had made it through a total of seven rooms when the first of them was taken.
Riley, Sadie and one of the male prisoners had been searching high and low for a keycard in a spare room to unlock the door to the eighth room ahead. One of the other men had remained outside to search the many drawers, desks and shelves.
It all happened in a single instance. The lights flickered, catching Riley’s attention. She looked up, only to glance towards Sadie not a second later. But neither she or the other man seemed to notice.
At this time, Riley hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling that their ‘deadly mission’ was going smoothly. If she and the others weren’t expected to return, then why had nothing unusual happened?
Well, her answer had arrived no sooner after those lights had flickered.
The room suddenly began to shake, the lights flickering more violently above their heads. The ground trembled like there was a tornado heading right for them. An ear-splitting noise had cut through the silence.
Riley, Sadie and the other man covered their ears, bracing themselves. All she saw before she’d ducked under the desk she had been searching was three glowing orbs and a mouth full of teeth.
Then, in mere moments, there was silence again.
Darkness and silence.
Riley had come out from her hiding spot trepidatiously, her hands shaking. She could still feel the intense vibrations lingering in the muscles of her legs, making it difficult for her to find her footing.
That was when a new chaos began.
The male inmate stood at the doorway of the spare room, hesitant to leave as he called his friend over and over again…and received no reply back.
Riley’s ears had been ringing, so she didn’t hear the exchange between Sadie and the man. It seemed she had tried to reason with him, but he didn’t listen. Refused to listen. He bolted out the room, vanishing into the unknown.
They knew he was gone when a new face emerged from the darkness. It was as faint and brief as a whisper. A face that was horrifying. Inhuman.
There was another ear piercing, monstrous screech - and a human one was right behind it. The sound of gnashing teeth was Riley and Sadie’s cue to run.
Now here they were, dashing through room after room after room.
Riley didn’t know when she’d gotten ahead of Sadie, who was the stronger and faster one between them. She was tall and muscled, where Riley was short and thin. Perhaps it was adrenaline making her faster.
She couldn’t stop looking back at Sadie. Each door they passed through, she was craning her head over her shoulder to make sure she was still back there. To make sure that whatever monsters had gotten their companions didn’t snatch her away, too.
If she lost Sadie, Riley knew she didn’t have a chance.
She was her rock here, just like she was back in their prison.
Sadie waved her on yet again, her face flushed from their never-ending sprint. The words were written in her hazel eyes - “Keep going!”
Riley turned her focus to the door ahead of her, catching a brief glimpse of the number next to it. Number sixteen.
A pit deepened inside of her stomach. Sixteen. They had only run through nine rooms. And they had no idea how far this ‘crystal’ was.
‘Shit, shit, SHIT!’ Riley silently cursed to herself, tears of fear and frustration burning behind her eyes. Her heart was drumming in her chest. Both it and her lungs begged her to stop. The muscles in her legs were just as loud. But Riley refused.
Refused to slow down for even a single moment.
…Until the lights flickered.
It was so brief, she nearly missed it.
Riley skidded to a harsh stop across the metal floor, her round glasses nearly falling from her face. Her eyes widened more in panic.
Hide. Hide. Hide!
They needed to hide!
She was about to scan around for another safe room, but a harsh grab on the back of her jumpsuit made her freeze. Riley was pulled - no, it was too gentle to be a pull. Riley was yanked backwards; too startled to scream. She turned to see what had grabbed her.
She thought it had been some kind of monster, but to her relief it was Sadie, holding her by her shoulder and the back of her jumpsuit like she was a sack of potatoes.
In one fell yet swift motion, Sadie hauled the both of them into another hallway that Riley hadn’t seen. The older woman had moved too fast for even herself, and she and Riley tumbled to the hard floor - just as the room trembled and that haunting shriek filled the air.
Riley tucked her head under her arms, her legs curling into herself in a pathetic attempt to look as small as possible. She held back another scream as the ground beneath her rumbled violently, like she was trapped inside the eye of a storm.
Her ears rang from that shriek.
And, just like before, it left as quick as it came. Even when everything settled, Riley didn’t get up. She laid there, her heart trying to beat itself out of her chest. Her eyes opened, taking notice that there was a weight on top of her.
Looking up, Riley’s eyes widened to find Sadie on top of her. She was crouched over the smaller woman, her arms and legs tucked around her frame.
Riley’s beating heart stopped in an instant. Sadie had shielded her with her own body.
As if sensing her gaze on her, Sadie slowly lifted her head. Her winced expression met Riley’s stunned one, and then she gave Riley a half smile.
“Talk about a close call, am I right?” she quipped, despite knowing Riley wouldn’t say anything back in response.
She was in pain, Riley could see it plain as day on her face. And that she was exhausted. A pool of guilt started to widen inside her stomach. She knew she wouldn’t have made it this far without Sadie. The same could be said for her back when they were both in prison.
Sadie had practically taken Riley under her wing in that godforsaken place.
Tears burned behind her eyes, but she swallowed them back. Without a word, she sat up quickly, placing her hands on Sadie’s firm shoulders and checked her for any serious injuries. But she was frantic, her eyes scanning over her again and again, her breathing becoming faster. Deeper.
On the point of hyperventilating -
“Hey,” came Sadie’s voice, placing a hand on her forearm.
Riley’s eyes snapped to her, every muscle in her body was tense. It was a massive contrast to Sadie, who - though in pain - wasn’t showing even the slightest hint of hysteria. She met the younger prisoner’s widened gaze.
The tone of her voice wasn’t cold or sharp. It had been soft and loud enough to get Riley’s focus. She felt Sadie’s hand tighten around her arm.
“I’m okay, Riles.” She reassured her. “I’m okay.” Then her hand gripped Riley’s right shoulder, giving that a squeeze as well. “I look worse than I feel, trust me. Just take some breaths.”
Riley swallowed hard, her hands dropping from Sadie and placing them onto the ground to stabilize herself. She did as instructed - closing her eyes and breathing in for sex seconds, holding for three, and then exhaling for another six seconds.
“That’s it, sug.” Sadie praised. “One more time.”
‘Sug’. Back in prison, Riley remembered Sadie calling her that a couple times. When the rough days there had been doubly rough for her. Sadie was over two decades older than Riley, who was just two years away from thirty.
Riley breathed again, her exhale less shaky this time.
Sadie asked, “Better?”
She opened her eyes and nodded.
“Good,” Sadie stood slowly, still aching from the tumble they had both taken, and offered a hand to Riley. “Come on. Before that fucking thing comes back. Again. ”
Riley accepted the offer and got back to her feet, wincing when she felt a sting from the hip she landed on. But she paid it no mind, following Sadie’s gaze behind her.
There before them was another door, labeled number sixteen.
Riley blinked in confusion, glancing backwards towards the now darkened hall. ‘Wasn’t there another door with that same number the other way…?’ Had the fear and adrenaline made her see things before? She didn’t dare go and check for herself; anything could have been waiting for them in that darkness.
A call from Sadie broke the younger woman’s attention. She immediately moved to her side and followed closely behind, putting the thought in the back of her mind. Maybe she had just been seeing things.
Just before they took another step, Sadie suddenly stopped, looking at Riley once more. She was curious to find her reaching into the deep pocket of her pants.
“Hey, now that I think about it,” she said, “why don’t you hold onto this?” Sadie pulled out a green and white colored medical kit. It was rectangular shaped, just a little bigger than her hand.
She had only seen just two of those when she, Sadie and the other two first arrived. The two men were quick to snag them for themselves before either Riley or Sadie could so much as look at them.
Riley blinked and looked at her questioningly, but the older woman gave her a half smirk.
“I snatched this back when we were looking for the keycard,” she told her, “didn’t want the guys we were with grabbing it for themselves. Here.” Sadie offered it to her again.
But Riley shook her head. She felt awful holding onto something as dire as a first aid kit. What if she lost it? Or worse…got taken by a monster with it still on her person?
Sadie half-rolled her eyes, but her smirk remained. “It’ll be fine, Riles. I’d rather you have it -”
The door behind Sadie unlocked, but the older woman didn’t pay it any mind.
A glance. That was all Riley had spared to the door when she heard the sound of it opening. In that glimpse, she caught the sight of something horrible. Horrible enough to make her look right back at it and gape.
It was difficult for her to make out clearly what she was looking at. The room was dark, but there was something red inside. It covered the floors, all four walls and the ceiling. Blood? Meat? She didn’t know…but what she could make out was the face that stared back at her.
It was a masked face, with a wide open grin of sheer delight. The body that was attached to the mask was grotesque. A single ceiling light shined just enough light on its bloated form, hunched over since it was nearly the size of the room. Sharp spikes trailed down its back.
Riley didn’t know if it was covered in skin that looked red and leathery, or coarse fur.
She paled, and Sadie was quick to notice and spin around.
Riley and Sadie looked at the monster.
The monster looked at Riley and Sadie.
Then it moved. An angry, hungry-sound snarl rumbled as it lunged like that of a wild, mindless animal at them. It was only now that Riley saw a set of three massive claws attached to two thin yet large hands.
Claws that were coming for them.
She was frozen, gaping at the oncoming monster like a deer in the headlights. Riley didn’t even breathe. In that moment, her life flashed before her very eyes -
She saw her mother and father again.
Her mother’s stern but caring expression. Her father’s endlessly loving smile.
Her family’s antique shop, where they lived right above. Remembered her father holding her as a toddler as he rang up customers that would eventually become close family friends. Remembered her mother laughing as a little Riley - now seven - also tried ringing up customers on a little toy register her grandmother had gifted her one Christmas.
She remembered being thirteen and meeting her best friend for the first time in that antique shop. Jasmine, but she preferred to be called ‘Jaz’. Both girls were in the same grade, but Jaz was much more popular than she was. But they had bonded over a love of collecting things.
Riley saw the memory of being fourteen and going to the beach with her family for a vacation. That was the start of her seashell collection, after she and her father had spent hours digging for them on the beach together. Then, afterwards, she and her mother swam through the water together.
That was the day Riley learned she loved to swim.
Another memory - of her parents absolutely thrilled at an art project she’d done for school and passed with flying colors from her teacher. A painting she’d done of the beach they loved so much.
‘Our little artist.’ They had called her. ‘Let this be your calling, dear.’
Then the tone of the memories changed. Gone was the warmth of childhood. Now came the colder years.
She remembered Jaz whispering into her ear inside the gas station they were inside, the both of them standing in front of an aisle with an array of snacks before them:
‘Just take it.’ She’d urged. ‘Nobody’s going to notice.’
Jaz had whispered into her ear many times after that, their locations changing from gas stations, to convenience stores, pastry shops - until they had made their way to stealing expensive make-up and clothes.
Riley watched her younger self being berated by her angry mother, after the police had caught her stealing. She pointed that angry finger at her, her eyes full of betrayal and contempt.
‘You swear to me right now, Riley, that you will NEVER do this again! Swear it!’
Her mother’s voice carried from yelling at her, to yelling at her father. The both of them arguing back and forth about money. About the lack of business. About each other. Their arguing carried on through the years. Riley could see herself changing with it echoing all around her.
Divorce. Bankruptcy. Those two words that had terrified Riley, making her prey to Jaz’s snake-like whispering to hiss into her ear again.
‘I’ve got an idea.’
Now she was haunted by her memory of six months ago. Helpless to stop the chaos that unfolded inside a very wealthy pawn shop just a few blocks away from Riley’s antique shop. It had all happened so fast - Jaz, the owner, Riley hesitating in front of an opened cash register full of money, the gasp of pain the man made as his hands clutched the knife in his stomach, how Riley had stood over him as he bled out -
Staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.
In that one solid second, all the memories vanished. Bringing her back to now, with a monster lunging for her.
Her mouth opened to scream, but a grunt had come out instead - as Riley was suddenly knocked backwards after two hands had pushed her.
Time seemed to slow. Riley looked up from the hands to look at…Sadie. She was still standing there in front of the door, her arms out after having pushed Riley away. Their eyes met.
Riley’s mouth opened - to scream or cry out, she didn’t know - and she reached back for Sadie. The one person who was always braver than Riley. Stronger than Riley. Smarter than her. More capable than her.
Sadie, the one person who had volunteered with Riley to enter this awful place. To win the chance for freedom together.
Riley hit the ground. If her landing had been painful, she paid it no mind. She turned back to Sadie with tears welling up in her eyes. She didn’t know when they had started. Her urge to scream heightened when she saw the monster closing in on Sadie. It was only a few feet behind her. Its bloated form filling in the doorway.
But Sadie never turned around. She only held Riley’s gaze, and then she smiled. A sad yet peaceful smile. As if she was not only aware of what she had just done, but was content with it.
Tears had brimmed in Sadie’s own eyes, and she spoke to Riley. Her words carried over the beating silence as clear as day:
“See you around, sug.”
One moment Sadie was there, and then the next she was grabbed by those massive claws and yanked back into the dark room.
The door slammed shut unceremoniously.
Riley was frozen to the spot yet again, gaping at the closed door. Her hand was still reached out, as if by some miracle Sadie would open the door, run out and grab it. But that never happened.
She heard the faint sound of snarling, growling and chewing.
Her hand trembled in the air. Riley didn’t blink. Didn’t move. Didn’t even breathe. Not until she gagged, clutching her stomach as the urge to vomit struck her.
Riley doubled-over, gasping for air as she started dry-heaving. Saliva pebbled the floor beneath her, as she coughed after heave of air her body pushed out. Then the sobbing began.
She buried her face into the cold metal floor, gritting her teeth as she screamed behind them. Riley was screaming so hard that her body trembled.
In a moment she took to breathe, Riley heard a noise. She froze instantly, bracing on the ground as she waited to hear it again.
It was a distant sound, reminding Riley of leather scraping against metal. But it was approaching.
Shit!
Riley turned to her left, her eyes falling on a locker that had been knocked over on its side and half crushed. The opening was just big enough for her to slip through.
She was fast, scurrying under it like a frightened mouse. Once Riley was inside, she made sure to stay low and quiet, clamping a hand over her mouth in case whatever was coming could hear her breathing.
It was then that she spotted the medkit, laying in the same spot she had just moved from moments ago. Tears nearly welled up in Riley’s eyes again. Sadie must have tossed it to her right before…
She was quick to stop that thought.
Riley paused for a moment, waiting to hear the noise again. There was only silence. She turned back to the medkit. I just have to be fast, she told herself silently. Fast. Fast. Fast.
She went to move -
SLAM!
Another hand suddenly took the medkit. It dropped in from nowhere and so unexpectedly that it nearly startled Riley into shrieking. She swallowed it down, slapping her other hand over her mouth to restrain any noise that she could have made.
Her gaze fixated on that hand. It was inhuman, with large claws on the ends of each finger and with what looked like…grayish-blue scales as its skin? It was also massive; the medkit had been bigger than Sadie’s, but it looked tiny in this hand.
She watched in cold terror as those huge claws curled around the item, pulling it up from Riley’s view. Then she heard what sounded almost like a scoff from above.
“Ugh. Talk about a lousy hall.”
The voice was deep and masculine. Smooth even, but it was hard to tell with a growl hinging on his words. He was irritated, that much Riley could tell.
“First suckers this place sees in months and they die as soon as they get their feet through the door.” He complained. “And not even a scrap of data. Waste of my time.”
Riley was so confused she almost forgot she was supposed to be terrified.
What the hell was he complaining about?
That leathery sound caught her ears again and she stilled, her blood turning cold as a large tail slithered into her field of vision. It was massive, covering the hole of the locker she was inside and leaving Riley in darkness.
Her eyes widened when she heard the door - the same door that had that monster inside - suddenly open. That angry, hateful snarl was instant.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Said the voice, sounding completely unfazed by the monster. “Snarl, snarl-growl, growl right back at ya. I’m just checking to make sure your meal didn’t have anything of value on them. Chill out.”
Riley's gut churned at hearing her friend being referred to as a 'meal'. There was another series of growls and grunts, the voice reprimanding the monster like it was a misbehaving dog.
“Hey - HEY! Knock it off! I’m almost done!”
She made some room for her to breathe through her nose, fighting to stay calm. The tail remained motionless in front of her, holding her curiosity in its grip. Riley studied it for a moment, making quick notice that it was also scaly. It looked smooth, like a snake's would. There was also a grayish-blue tint to them, with some green in-between.
But what stumped Riley was that there were leather straps attached to the tail. They seemed sequenced by every few inches. She could only imagine what they were there for, not that she had time to ponder before the sound of the door slamming startled her attention back to the voice
“There. Done.” He groaned, possibly rolling his eyes. “God, I’ll never get why Painter insists on keepin’ you around…”
Riley shrank back when she noticed the tail shifting before her. It slid and slid and slid until the end dragged past her - and she was surprised to see a pair of fins glide in her field of vision. She didn’t have the chance to really study them before she heard the voice grumblings fade into the distance.
He’s leaving.
Swallowing, Riley inched out of her hiding spot, poking her head out just in time to see the tail turn the corner. He was backtracking to the way she and Sadie had run from.
In that moment, two thoughts went through Riley’s head:
One - she needed to go forward. She was positive now that the door she’d seen the opposite way was the real path to progress.
And the second…she didn’t know why, but Riley wanted to follow whoever - whatever - that was. Not for the sake of making friends, but simply to take back the medkit he took.
Sure, there was bound to be more of them ahead. It was the principal. Sadie had given that to Riley. The thought of someone else taking it for themselves set a fire in her stomach; the kind that made her push all rationality aside. Made her crawl from her hiding spot and look around.
He’s big, so following him from behind isn’t smart. I’ve got to be careful. I need cover.
Riley looked up. There, above the locker she’d hidden in, was a vent with the door barely hanging on.
She moved without thinking. Riley stepped onto the locker, using it to boost her to the vent. Twisting off the last screw holding the door, she set it down as quietly as she could. Then she looked inside.
Riley peered into darkness. And she hoped nothing was staring back.
She paused, taking in a breath for six seconds, holding it for three, and then exhaling for another six seconds. There wouldn’t be any room for hesitating anymore; Riley kept reminding herself that this was more than just about taking back the medkit.
For Sadie, she had to get it back.
With this thought in mind, Riley crawled into the vent.