Chapter 22: Echoes in the Dark

The beige marble of the stylish clothing store was slickly revealed in the headlight beams.

While the floor, which had probably never experienced such violence as a tire in its life, let out a sticky and viscous groan, Zakar slowly drove the motorcycle.
They didn’t exchange a single word as they circled the area before heading to the adjacent movie theater.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?”

Hannah finally broke the silence.
A low answer came from over his broad back.

“No.”

Behind them, who had stopped at the entrance of the movie theater, was a deserted, empty store, with clothes hanger stands quietly waiting for customers, and mannequins arranged facing the hallway, creating a tranquil atmosphere.
One might mistake it for a closed department store.
If it weren’t for the long streaks of blood on the floor and the handbags dropped while fleeing.
The corpses, posing as mannequins, were just staring at them with their black eye sockets, not moving an inch even with the lights on.
‘Is this possible?’
It was an act that only an intelligent being would do.

“I don’t know the specific location. But you should know, Captain. The place where they keep and study the creatures brought from ‘down there’…”

“Two years ago, when we came up from the Abyss, there was a huge commotion when the warship Titan recovered an intelligent being in human form. Remember?”

Zakar didn’t answer.
Silence was affirmation.

“That intelligent being crossed over to this side. Apophis, it must have been under the management of the 13th Research Institute in the first place, so it must have been there when the earthquake happened.”

Hannah silently looked around at the corpses, which seemed to have received someone’s orders.
‘Alright, let’s say an intelligent Abaddon has crossed over. What was the intention behind causing a commotion in the middle of a city like this?’

“It’s observing us.”

Zakar, who had reached the same conclusion, spoke slowly.
It was when she had raised her guard and gripped the gun.
Suddenly, from an unexpected direction behind them, an explosion erupted, and a wall was breached.
BOOM–!
A helicopter, fiercely pouring down shells, chased after the 2-meter-thick tentacle that had crashed through the movie theater ticket machine.
It was then that the tentacles that had been inside the mannequin corpses all slipped out at once.
They seemed to be escaping far down the hallway in the chaos, but there was no time to worry about them.
Hannah, who had muttered a rough curse, aimed her gun at the larger target without hesitation.
As the giant tentacle head that was sliding towards them exploded with a silent thud, the Abaddon roared and writhed, tearing into several pieces.
She used to think it was just a snake with no front or back.
But they had weaknesses too.
The Abaddons, which communicated with each other through electromagnetic waves, had a hole for gathering signals, like a human ear.
Usually, it was in the center, the deepest part, revealed when the head split like that.
That was what needed to be destroyed.
The hole that was open to receive had to be hit precisely.
How ironic it was that the channel for enduring loneliness became a passage to death.
‘No, it’s the same for humans. They always get stabbed by the one they let their guard down around.’

“Upper right, higher.”

While Zakar acted as a spotter and drove the motorcycle, Hannah ran alongside, pulling the trigger repeatedly.
As she ducked to avoid a stretching tentacle, the glass that had held popcorn shattered, and a rich, sweet smell spread.

“I can’t get an angle. Go in deeper. Right in front!”

She shouted, re-gripping her gun.
It was a request she would never make to anyone else.
If they went that way, they might get hit by the helicopter’s minigun, which was firing like crazy.
But the one holding the handlebars now was none other than Zakar.
The one whose skills and compatibility, regardless of their values, boasted the best pairing with her.
As expected, he didn’t complain or say it was impossible, but instead, he turned the handlebars without hesitation.
Screech.
The wheels, which had been scraping against the slick floor, finally picked up speed and dug into the middle of the rain of tentacles.
In the center of the black, slippery body, a hole of about 15cm was briefly visible and then disappeared.
She knew it well.
Inside the hole, which was layered like flower petals, a special membrane that detected electromagnetic waves would be vibrating.
For the past two years, her job had been to observe, study, and analyze those corpses after every meal.
Hannah stood up.
The earpiece in her ear was revealed in the passing wind.
Fixed muzzle, collimator aligned, aiming error 0.067 milliradians, output 90%,

“Release.”

Click.
The sound of the trigger moving was very small compared to the noise made by the combat helicopter, and it was like the footsteps of an ant compared to the Abaddon that was destroying the building with its whole body.
But she temporarily felt the sound of the entire space disappear and the surroundings become completely silent.
And in that silence, the air was torn apart, and the tentacle exploded.

“――!”

Swoosh – !

She knew she had hit it the moment she pulled the trigger.
While she held onto Zakar’s firm back and ducked, the motorcycle didn’t stop and sped through the empty space created by the Abaddon being blown open, successfully making a turn at the precarious edge of the broken wall.
It was after they came face to face with the helicopter that had come up to the front of the building.

“Go to the underground parking lot! If there’s a hole somewhere, it’s only down there!”

There was no time.
This time, they might really get caught by either the military or the police.
As she shouted, still gasping for breath, Zakar drove the motorcycle towards the emergency exit.
In front of the elevator, they got off the vehicle at a suitable place and headed for the stairs.
The plan was to go down to the basement like this.
As she pushed the long panic bar of the emergency exit, her hand suddenly stopped.

“…help… here…”

A sinister sound caught her ankle.

“Help me… There are people trapped here…! There’s a child too!”

Following the sound of knocking, a sob flowed out from the elevator gap.
‘Survivors caught in the chaos?’
Hannah hesitated and stared into the darkness.
As if they had heard her presence, several people who had been holding their breath suddenly started banging on the door all at once.

“There are people here. Here! Here!!! Sob…. Ugh, please help me…”

“We pressed the emergency bell, but no one came! The phone isn’t working either, please open the door!”

Most communication is cut off around the Abaddons.
It was highly likely that the elevator had stopped because the power system was damaged by the strong electromagnetic waves.

“It’s been 7 minutes since we came in. The rescue team will be here soon.”

As she was contemplating, Zakar, who was looking at the same place, warned her without any emotion.
It meant that even if they didn’t do it, someone would soon come in and rescue them one by one.
…I know, but.

“Even if we’re in a hurry, we have to get out the people who need to be rescued. Don’t you smell it?”

Hannah muttered as she turned around.
The faint smell of gas in the area was bothering her.
The gas pipe that passed near the elevator shaft might have been loosened by the physical impact…
When she turned on the backlight of her watch, the faces of the people who were looking up eagerly through the elevator, which was only about one-fifth of the way on this floor, were illuminated one by one.
‘Let’s rescue them as quickly as possible and get out. Nothing is more important than a human life.’

“W-we’re saved. We’re saved. It’s soldiers. The door won’t open here… We tried to get out ourselves earlier, we tried.”

“We’ll get you out right away. Please come forward one by one according to the rescue priority. How many of you are there in total?”

“Five, five of us.”

Clank.
While Zakar pushed the elevator door open as much as he could, Hannah reached her arm down.
The people inside, without anyone having to say anything, sent up a primary school girl first.
She and Zakar took turns lifting them up one by one.
Most of them were small women.
A primary school girl, her mother who seemed to be her guardian, and two adult women who seemed to be friends.
The smooth rescue got stuck on the last person.
The man, who had been waiting calmly for his turn, suddenly started gasping for breath, and there was no time to wait for Zakar, who was lifting a woman.
Sensing the danger, she reached out her arm to the man.
To put strength into it, she had to bend her waist deeply.
Creak.
It was then that a strange sound came from the elevator.
As if it were about to fall at any moment, the man, in a panic, suddenly hugged her neck as if to choke her.
The surrounding darkness and the suffocating weight brought back a similar memory, as if by an irresistible force.
A tightly embraced upper body.
The smell of iron from somewhere.
And,

“Don’t lose your grip! Pull me up together! Grab me and help!”

‘If the elevator falls now, the man hanging on will probably be cut in half… just like Ian.’
There was something she had overlooked.
That water is only calm up to 99 degrees.
That when it reaches 100 degrees, the calm surface disappears, and it boils over.
One degree was enough for the water that had been suppressed and blocked to rise to the top of her head.

“Hannah.”

Her pupils dilated.
A familiar voice whispered from lips pressed to her ear.

“Are you going to go alone this time too?”