Trials of Survival

Prologue: Life in the facility.

8:30 AM

The familiar sound of rumbling filled my ears as I leaned back against the elevator wall. The elevator shook and groaned as it lowered, I swear the cable would snap any day now. Laminax couldn't give a rat's ass about maintaining these things, even if it'd eventually cost someone's life. But hey, I'd prefer death than working here, honestly.

That's actually why I'm here, got hired as security a week ago. Really, the proper 'sane' people, would probably call the government on these guys. Most of the experiments they did, were in secret and I never caught a glimpse of any one of them. On the surface, they were just a data centre, buuuut... they reached out to me!

Yaaaay.

I figured it was an easy pay, and so far it has been! But aside from that, it's unbelievably boring. They hadn't handed out much kit, aside from a tactical helmet, a bulletproof vest, a gas mask, a heavy-duty flashlight and a goddamned truncheon. Not a side-arm, not even a stun-gun or a taser... a truncheon...  I'm not a goddmaned 19th century police man!...

 But it's more fun beating people, then just shooting them in the leg, I suppose.

Even so, it's been pretty calm, I would've expected some reporter would atleast try to sneak in, one day or another... buuuut nope. No action, No fun, No missions, nada. Just pure, untouched silence... well, aside from the bickering of my co-workers. 

Eventually, the rumbling came to a halt and the doors slid open to reveal a familiar sight. The sleek white walls of reception, there were some couches lined up against the walls and a rather nice shrubbery hung up just above them. A feast for the eyes, it was too bad I didn't patrol here.

I walked out the elevators, letting the rickety doors slide shut behind me and I continued along my "merry" way.

I greeted the desk lady as I passed her by, subtly nodding to her before walking down to the right  and past Storage Bay 2. It was pretty empty, just a single forklift and shelves aplenty, stacked to the brim. Honestly, I could see someone making a hideout in here, lotsa space that no one uses. Too bad we only keep replacement bulbs here.

I shrugged it off and headed down the hall, into the north-west wing and into the server room. There were a few shelves about for reasons I knew not, and as the name implied, there were multiple servers lined up neatly against the wall.

 Also, I've noticed this a few times, for some reason they decided to do all the plumbing right through this room. There were lead pipes aplenty strewn across the ceiling, and worse yet, they looked way too old. Like they'd burst if someone left a tap on for too long. It was a blatant safety hazard if you asked me. And really? The server room? I'd get it if you ran them through the garden...

I continued at a slow pace through the room, whistling a soft tune with a hand on my nightstick. The floors seemed a little damp, small puddles littered about the place. They splashed as I trod through them without so much as a care and I continued onwards. It wasn't too much of a drawl.

My patrol usually consisted of a full sweep of the entire facility, except for the North Sector and the cavern, started off in the North East Wing, then sweep the server room, move on to the Support Cave, hopefully not catch radiation poisoning then sweep the Cafeteria, Freezer and Bathrooms (for some reason.)

Take a glance down Storage Bay 1, move down to the Main Hall, take a look through the Supply Room, make sure nothing's been stolen and then search the Gardens. I have no clue why they'd want me to look through there, it's not like there's anything but grass and trees there, but I get paid for it, so what the hell? 

And to finish off the first loop, I take a look through the Far East wing, Security, the Break Room, Main Desk whatever. And then I do that a few more times till it's break time!

Isn't my job just fun?

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Hours passed, and eventually I'd gotten my break from that hell. A voice rang out on the intercom system, calling out a few names, including mine. It was a distinctly robotic voice, hell, my boss wasn't even there for my interview, I just sent in a paper and got hired. It wasn't practical, but it was better than nothing. Besides, I doubt anyone would like to take a look at my ugly scarred mug.

 I passed on through the winding halls and eventually found myself in the Break Room. It wasn't much, just a few lockers, a bathroom and a crate. But hey, I don't have a need for luxuries such as "Chairs". 

A couple security personnel had entered behind me, the only other two security dudes down here. Laminax didn't hire much in the form of security that much is obvious, I think the other's were called Jack and Dave?... I know their names were just blared over the speaker system, but can you really blame me?

The doors slid open as they  approached, and I didn't even catch a glance. Not that it mattered, or that I cared much. Jack was leaned up beside the door, Jack was quite a big guy, a good head taller than me, but he was pretty lean. From what I knew, the guy had just a wee few screws loose, but hey, that was mandatory for the job. 

Dave was sat upon the crate, fiddling with a discarded baseball bat of all things... I get this was a locker room, but who brings a bat to work? Dave was spry, young and stupid, relatively taut and fit. I didn't know a damn thing about the guy, never crossed paths with him during my shift, and I couldn't be bothered to talk to him either. 

I scoffed, and walked out the room, towards a big bulky vending machine, I only gave the desk lady a dismissive wave, then turned to the monolith of rusty steel. I pulled my wallet out from my vest pocket and rustled about inside, before grabbing a dingy dollar coin. I dusted it off on my vest, before slotting it into the machine.

I clicked a random button on the vending machine, and it rumbled slightly, before ejecting a single can of Bloxy Cola. It was warm, but it didn't matter to me. Especially since it was the only option asides from Witchbrew, and everybody knew not to touch that stuff. I swear you'd get cancer from it. 

I opened the can, it hissed as the carbonated air was let free and I slowly sipped it, savouring the flavour of the drink. This shit was good, and not in a way as in "It's my least-hated" like, it was good. The stuff was pretty rare, being bought out wherever it was found. But somehow Laminax managed to grab like crates and crates of the stuff. And to think they'd waste it on a vending machine for such a low price. 

Not that I'm complaining. 

I walked on back into the Break room. As the minutes passed by, I eventually finished the can. The other two guards were still messing about. The stale stench of cigarette smoke hung loose in the air and the dingy bug filled LED lamps flickered overhead. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. Sooner or later I'd be back on my shift, so I'd just enjoy the peace and quiet... 

And just as I readied for our names to be blared out. The lights went out, the doors slid open at frightening speed and a echoing hum of cut off electricity rang out through the halls of the facility. 

Sigh.

It was another blackout.