A Protogen's Misadventures

The Facility - Part 1

‘Finally, done with work,’ I thought. All this stress and worrying over Evergreen has taken a bit of a toll on how much sleep I’m getting. I just hope he is going to be okay.

I made my way to my car and hopped in. The city at this time was bustling with people and cars alike. It was when everyone was getting out of work or school. I turned into the parking lot of my apartment and parked my car. I got to my door and opened it. I looked around and saw Evergreen staring out of the window into the forest. Something seemed off about him. I approached him.

“Hey buddy, you doing alright?” I asked. He jumped when I said that. “Ah! I was not expecting you, don’t scare me like that man,” he said. “Sorry, just wanted to check up on you, what are you doing?” I said. “Oh, well not much, just waiting here for you I guess,” he said. “Well in that case, I’m done with work for today, so there’s that,” I stated. “That’s good, because I need to tell you something,” he said. “Whats up?” I said, intrigued. “I’m worried about our safety, considering that I have people after me, and since I’ve been with you, I’m afraid they might take you too. So that is why I’ve decided that we are going to go and find a way into that facility,” he finished. I thought for a moment, the facility is most likely really old, and probably structurally unsound, would it be safe to go into there? “Are you sure? The place could be unsafe, considering it's probably really old,” I questioned. “Yes, I’m sure. While I don’t know exactly how old it is, all I know is that if it has lasted this long, then it will probably be alright,” he said. “Well, if it protects us from them, then I trust you,” I said. “Good, now all we need to do is find a way into there,” he said. ‘I hope he knows what he is doing,’ I thought.

After an hour of searching, we have found nothing, not a single way in. “Are you sure there is a way in? We’ve been searching for so long,” I complained. “Yes, there has to be,” he said confidently. We kept searching but it was getting late, the sun was starting to set. “Hey, it's getting late, I think we sho-” I stopped. I noticed something glinting in the ground. “Hey Evergreen, check this out,” I said. “Whats up?” he said. “Look at this, something is poking out of the ground over here,” I pointed out. “Interesting, try pulling on it,” he said. I tried pulling on it, nothing happened. “Hmm, trying pushing it?” he questioned. I pushed on it, and it lurched forward. The ground then started shaking. “Here we go,” said Evergreen. Near the object, a hatch opened, revealing a ladder. “Nice catch Jack,” he said. “Thanks, it must’ve been a lever of some sorts,” I responded. “Yeah, but why is the ground shaking and then just a hatch opening?” he said. “Maybe it was the mechanical systems opening the door?” I said. “Probably,” he said.

We made our way over to the hatch and looked down. “Seems kinda dark down there,” I said. “A little bit,” Evergreen responded. “Well, let's proceed,” I started. “Alright,” he said. I got down and started down the ladder. Evergreen came in after me. All of a sudden, the hatch door suddenly closed, and a faint click sound could be heard. “D-Did you just close the door?” I said, scared. “No, it must’ve closed by itself,” he responded. “Now I can’t see anything,” I said. “Don’t worry, let me just…” Evergreen suddenly lit up, providing light. “Woah, I didn’t know you could do that,” I said, amazed. “Yeah, it’s pretty neat,” he said. “Alright, well, let's continue,” I said.

We continued our way down the ladder, until we reached the bottom, which housed a room with 2 elevators. “Why is there a room with elevators here?” I questioned. “Well, we are only 25 meters down below the surface, so maybe these lead to the facility?” he said. “Let’s hope so, and let’s hope they still work,” I said. I pushed the up arrow button to call the elevator. A light above the elevator showed that it was coming up. “Sweet, it looks like they are working,” I said. Eventually, the elevator arrived. “Ladies first,” said Evergreen, smirking. “Oh shut up,” I retorted. He laughed. We stepped into the elevator and pushed the down arrow button. The elevator doors closed and we started downwards into the facility.

About a minute later, the elevator stopped moving and the doors opened, revealing the facility. “Woah, this is crazy!” I exclaimed. Bright lights illuminated the hallways, which seemed to stretch on forever. Different types of rooms and doors could be seen, each labeled by the person that used to work there. The floor was lined with tiles, with arrows painted on, seemingly leading to different important parts of the building. This all raised a question though, what happened to everyone? It seems like it should be bustling with life, but the only thing that could be heard was the buzzing of the lights overhead.

“Hey Evergreen, something doesn’t feel right,” I said. “Yeah, I feel like there should be people, but there is no one here,” he said. “Also, something about this place seems familiar, the architecture looks very familiar,” he continued. “Oh really?” I questioned. “Yeah, this looks like...our architecture?” he said. “Wait, what?” I said, surprised. “How is that possible?” he questioned. “I’m not sure, but we should not just stand here and waste time, let’s explore and see if we can find food and water, and maybe some sort of life, if there is any,” I said. “Sounds good, I’ll follow you,” he said. We started walking around the endless facility, looking for any sort of kitchen or breakroom. After a few minutes, we found a kitchen. We entered the room. I looked around and noticed that it seemed to be fully stocked. “These items were placed here recently,” said Evergreen. “I scanned the room and noticed these items have only been here for a couple  hours,” he continued. “So that means that someone has been here recently?” I said. “Most likely,” he responded. I began to worry. Usually when you find a gigantic facility devoid of life, you would expect there to be nothing, but when there is food that has been placed here recently, someone has most likely been here.

We left the kitchen and continued exploring the facility. We eventually found a room that housed some sort of radar device and it seemed to be active.

“What is this?” questioned Evergreen. “I’m not sure, but we should probably head back,” I said. When I turned around, I saw a figure standing in the doorway. That was the last thing I saw before everything turned black.

============================================

ooooooooo cliffhanger I know yall love those. I wonder who it is?

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the story, sorry for the delayed release.

I would also like to thank everyone who has been commenting and voting and sharing! This story has grown so much over the past few weeks and I did not expect to hit so many huge milestones! But I can tell you guys are loving the story and I’m very glad you are giving feedback, it really helps!

As always, I will see you guys in the next chapter!