Chapter 11: 13th Military Science Research Institute

A shiver ran down her spine, and her hair stood on end.
Her heart pounded in her ears like a drum.
As the search continued in perfect order, she was the only one who stood frozen as if time had stopped.
Hannah recalled the satellite map that the unit had sent her.
The government building was right across from here.
Perhaps the areas where the Abaddons appeared weren’t near government facilities, but at the 13th Military Science Research Institute.
Even though it looked like a factory on the outside…
Her gaze was once again fixed on the words ‘Cultivation Department’.

“Company Commander?”

At the sound of someone calling her, she snapped her head up and saw an urgent gesture.
It seemed they had unlocked a security door beyond and found something.
‘Right, I need to finish the mission first. The research institute can wait.’
After flipping the name tag back over, she started walking.
Standing in front of the unlocked security door, Hannah saw a huge hole in the wide first-floor and gripped her gun tightly.
An enormous number of tentacled creatures were pouring out from there and into the city through the broken wall at the front of the building.
The way they spread out in all directions was like a manifestation of disaster.
Hannah deployed her soldiers in all directions and commanded.

“On my signal, fire in a crossfire from all directions to take them out.”

They scattered and hid behind containers that could serve as cover.
The Abaddons hadn’t noticed them coming in from behind.
All they had to do was deal with the ones crawling up and then throw in explosives.
Everything was going smoothly, but even as they exchanged signals for a simultaneous volley, Hannah felt a strong sense of unease.
And soon, she realized why.
‘What is it? What’s the rush?’
It was strange.
She had never seen the Abaddons move so fast before.
If their movements could be attributed to an intention, it was as if they wanted to get out of this space as quickly as possible.
As if they were running away.

“…From what?”

The moment she muttered, her eyes fixed on the aiming point.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Suddenly, a red light flashed on her helmet screen, and clear words appeared before her eyes.

[Emergency Alert 22:24 Magnitude 9.5 earthquake occurred in Rain River Factory Zone, Sector 17. Immediate evacuation of coastal areas is requested. Prepare for possible tsunamis and aftershocks.]

‘What?’

[Immediate evacuation requested. Immediate evacuation requested. Immediate evacuation requested.]

Magnitude 9.5.
The moment she read it again, BOOM! a shockwave engulfed the surroundings.
She slid for a moment, then reflexively grabbed the handrail on the wall.
Sensing what would happen next, she turned her head and shouted.

“Get out of the building now!”

The quick-witted soldiers all got up and ran towards the front of the building where the Abaddons were pouring out.
Even as they stumbled and slipped from the shaking.
There is no such thing as fate.
The only thing that matters is the judgment a person makes when faced with a choice.
The whole earth was vibrating up and down.
As they got entangled with the Abaddons, a few were pierced by tentacles and pinned to the wall like butterflies.
The rookies hesitated at the gruesome sight of splattered blood.
They couldn’t follow the order and hesitated behind their cover.

“Dodge!!!”

And that one moment’s judgment made a cruel difference in their lives.
Crash!
Glass shards and metal debris rained down from above, crushing the heads of those who hesitated like clay.
Another shockwave hit with a spray of blood.
When Hannah, who had been grazed on the shoulder by a ceiling tile that had suddenly fallen, let go of the handrail, to make matters worse, the ground beneath her cracked and a gap began to open.
Just before the darkness opened its jaws, Hannah barely managed to grab the railing with her good arm.
The floor she had been standing on opened up like the entrance to hell.
She hung there, swinging, and gasped for breath.
Even a clueless fool would know that falling down there would be f*cked up.
She was trying to pull herself up with all her might when she saw tentacles lunging at the running soldiers from behind.
Hannah gave up on holding the railing with both hands and pulled out her emitter with her sore right arm.
The shaking was getting worse.
It didn’t matter.
‘I can do it.’
She had sworn in front of a grave.
That she would never let anyone cry while holding someone who couldn’t come back.
With intense concentration, she stared at the aiming point.
Shooting had never betrayed her.
The finger pulling the trigger was straight, filled only with self-assurance.
The moment the wave that shot out exploded the tentacles and freed the last soldiers, the front of the building collapsed completely with a roar.
The hailstones of falling rocks got closer and closer, and then the bottomless darkness swallowed her whole.
No, maybe I was the one who let go first.

‘Protect your head, bend your arms and legs, the landing terrain, to absorb the impact…’

“Huk, heok…”

When she snapped her eyes open, the world was dimly dark.
The ground was rumbling as if she had woken up from an aftershock.
The headache was severe, and the floor she reflexively grabbed was as soft as a mattress.
It wasn’t just like a mattress, it was a real mattress.
She remembered bumping into things here and there.
At least her helmet had saved her head… and her limbs?
For about ten minutes, while shaking, she moved her body and slowly regained her senses.
Her entire arm throbbed as if paralyzed, and a tingling sensation spread to her fingertips.
When she turned on the night vision, she saw a tilted room and a crack in the ceiling on the broken blue screen.
The blinking suggested it would turn off soon.

“This is Nemesis 2… survival confirmed. Nemesis team, please respond. Nemesis team, please respond. Over.”

There was no answer.
There was only static, and then the screen went black.
As darkness fell, she felt nauseous.
There was a smell of blood somewhere.
Just like in the Abyss, that nightmare, just being in a similar situation made her go back in time…
Seeing no hope in the night vision, Hannah threw off her helmet and immediately turned on the light on her watch.
If the Abaddons were drawn to the light, she would just kill them.
More than that, this terrible darkness, this abyss that was choking her, was unbearable.

“Haa, haa…”

The last time she had seen was 00:46.
She had to join up with them quickly before it was too late.
Hannah pushed herself up, feeling the scream of her muscles.
More than anything, the strange smell that had been piercing her nose since a while ago was unbearable.
She could climb up to the ceiling, but there was a risk of collapse.
She had to find a safer way.
Another aftershock would come.
The fact that there was a mattress meant that there was a facility in the basement of the research institute.
She drew her pistol with her left hand and walked to the tilted door.
It wouldn’t open, so she kicked it a few times to break it down.
When she went out into the hallway, she noticed that all the rooms started with the number 5.
It seemed she was on the fifth basement floor.
She climbed over the collapsed materials and the long, cracked floor and looked for the stairs.

“…I thought I was too lucky.”

But the stairs she arrived at were completely blocked, both up and down.
She had to find another way.
She turned around and was quickly retracing her steps when she suddenly felt a suspicious presence.
Since she couldn’t see or hear it, it was more accurate to say she ‘felt’ it.
The moment she spun around and raised her arm, there was a click, and a gun was already aimed at her forehead.
For about a second, as they aimed at each other’s forehead and chest in the same posture, they simultaneously recognized each other and lowered their guns.
Of all places, here.
An untimely laugh almost burst out, inappropriate for the situation.
She slowly lowered her arm.

“Company Commander Hannah Tara.”

It was Zakar, standing there in a black containment suit spattered with dried blood.
He spoke lowly, as if to drill into his own brain who the other person was, and his sharp eyes under his disheveled hair swept over her face as if to dissect it.
He was alone.
There was no one else.
The 1st Company that had come down from the rooftop must have been scattered as well.
Or…
Seeing the blood splattered even on his cheek, she spoke her first words as if nothing was wrong.

“Where did you leave your helmet?”

“It was smashed early on.”

Instead of asking the same question, Zakar slowly looked her over and then answered lowly, looking at the pistol in her left hand.
A brief silence fell.
It had been a long time since they had been alone.
Almost three weeks?
As she unrealistically retraced her steps, he looked in the direction she had come from and added, as if he knew.

“The stairs are all blocked. Find the elevator shaft instead.”

“Elevator? How do you know there’s one?”

“Because I saw it before it collapsed.”

He answered curtly and was about to turn halfway when he stopped and leaned against the wall as if to shield her.
Another aftershock was starting under their feet.
Stone dust fell, and a beastly cry came from under their feet.
She didn’t misunderstand.
This was a habit of Zakar Kairos, who prioritized efficiency.
He would have done the same thing if she were a smaller man.
It was only then that it occurred to her that he couldn’t have survived alone.
Her stomach churned.
As something collapsed in the darkness, Hannah leaned against the wall and stared at the jaw of the man who was looking away.

“Zakar, what about your team members?”

“Some are dead, some are isolated down there. Some are probably wandering around looking for a way out, like me.”

Zakar answered slowly and turned his black eyes to her.
With an air of either awkwardness or discomfort between them, they stared at each other silently at close range.
Silence is rarely empty.
What fills that space is the heightened nerves, like scales, from being overly conscious.
As the wall vibrated, her fallen hair swayed softly on her neck.
It had always been like this, but she had a feeling that this summer, in particular, would be suffocatingly dark.