Joe Industries

Chapter 1 - A day like any other

Today was like any other, Steven got up from his "bed", a metal sheet elevated off the floor. As he sat up his daily rations slid into the room through the hole in the ceiling. It was a grisly, mushy paste that was hardly enough to keep you going, and that's if you don't have to share it between the other 7 people living in your room. A *crackle* filled the room as the intercom roared to life. "Employee 43E7F-74CB2 report to reception area for maintenance duty" spoke the monotone voice speaking through the speaker. Everyone sprint from their beds and shared a distressed glance with each other, they all knew what this meant, Steven was about to die.

Steven was a new employee, only just joining Joe Industries a few days ago.
Steven's roommates all knew his birth name, it was of course Steven, but they also knew his employee name, 43E7F-74CB2. As they all glared towards him they told him what this meant, he was being sent outside to perform maintenance on the outside of the factory. That didn't seem bad, being allowed to see the sun, feel the wind on his skin, but little did Steven know, he would never see the sun again.
His roommates said their farewells and he started towards the corridor. As the slow heavy doors hissed open, he could see figures hurrying past towards their rooms.
That was strange Steven thought, as he walked towards the reception area, everyone was going back to their rooms, weren't they meant to be going to their workstations by now. He could see more people as he went past, breaking into sprints in different directions back towards their living quarters. It was as if they were trying to hide from something.

Steven had never been to the reception before, not many people had, it was a dull metallic colour, a single lone locker was the only piece of furnature in the room. A large blast door was on the far side of the room with a sign labelled "Exit" above it.
As Steven entered the room the door locked shut behind him with a *click*. As the intercom crackled to life again, a different announcer to the normal monochrome voice spoke this time, it was a deeper, more rough tone but you could hear excitement in his voice. "Walk towards the locker", it said. As Steven approached the lone furniture of the room he could see it housed a strange costume, like a hazmat suit, but different, the gloves were a heavy steel, while the lining itself seemed to be a strange, shining alloy that buzzed at his touch. "Put on the suit" the intercom ordered. As Steven, or 43E7F-74CB2 as he will be remembered, put on the protective suit, the announcer on the intercom heaved a rough and course cough. The strange clothing was surprisingly light, but also quite uncomfortable. As he shifted in his clothes, the announcer seemed to notice he has finished. "Excellent, now when the doors open, head through and wait for further instructions." exclaimed the announcer with apparent glee.
As the large blast doors whushed open all Steven could think about was why everyone had fleed after hearing he would be on maintenance duty, or why the voice on the intercom had suddenly changed. Past the large thick doors, there was a simple square of a room with large vents and fans in the walls. As he walked in a small screen on his suit's arm lit up. "Proceed outside" it read, and the far wall in the new room opened to reveal outside.

It was wrong.
There was no blinding sun shining in through the door.
There was no leaves gently blowing in the wind.
There was only darkness.
A thick fog started to fall in through the opening on the wall.
The panel on Steven's arm buzzed.
"Proceed outside" it repeated.
"Yeah yeah" Steven muttered to himself as he took a step towards the mist and was hit with a wave of heat.