Sinking Further

Wake up.

Cassie opened her eyes, her vision dark and blurred. She stayed slumped against the wall of the elevator, closing her eyes and then opening them again. In a daze, she glanced at her surroundings. Her vision was slowly returning, but everything was still dark, and she could barely make out anything. All she could see was the rubble around her. Letting out a heavy, deep breath, she tried to lift herself, pushing off the rocks and debris on top of her. A stinging pain shot up her back, and she found herself leaning back against the wall of the elevator. Her attempt to lift herself up was futile. She tried again, ignoring the pain in her back, and managed to sit up. Sitting up now, she tried to comprehend the events that had just transpired.

"What... What happened...?"

She looked around, still in a daze.

"Ow, my head..."

Cassie placed her hand on the side of her forehead and retracted it upon feeling something cool and wet. She brought her hand up to her face to examine the liquid, but it was too dark to determine what it was. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. How had so much debris ended up here? She remembered the elevator being empty when she had entered. Looking up, she noticed a hole in the corner of the elevator. The dim light, now dangling from the roof, illuminated dust particles flowing down from the hole above. Small rocks and dirt occasionally fell from the hole, explaining the debris. She looked over to another corner of the elevator and noticed a camera dangling halfway out of the wall. She stared at the camera for a few seconds until realization hit her.

"Gregory... He...? No... No, no, no, this isn't right... He wouldn't just do that... No... no, no, no..."

Cassie's breathing began to quicken as memories of the crash flooded her mind. After barely making it into the elevator and escaping the Mimic, Cassie recalled Gregory communicating with her through the speaker on the wall. Hesitantly, she called out.

"G-Gregory...? Gregory, are you there...?" No response. Only pure, eerie silence.
"I... I can't stay here. I need to get out of here before that thing... finds me."

Cassie attempted to stand up but was stopped by intense pain in her leg. Her vision had adjusted to the darkness around her, and she noticed her leg was caught under debris and what appeared to be the square plastic cover of the light from the top of the elevator. She reached over to push off the rocks and light cover from her leg and once again tried to stand. Everything was sore, and she still felt light-headed from the fall. How did she even survive it? When she stood up, she immediately felt pain in her foot upon putting pressure on it. She steadied herself against the wall of the elevator, bringing slight relief to her foot.

"Calm down, Cassie... It's okay... You're okay!"

Her attempts at calming herself were ineffective. She looked at the door of the elevator; it was bent and out of shape. It wasn't fully closed, only slightly open. Cassie limped over to the door and attempted to pry it open. The door gave a little, but not enough for Cassie to exit. She continued to pry at it, hoping it would open enough for her to squeeze through, but nothing came of it.

"No, no... Why won't this door open? Please, please just open!"

She took a step back, debating if she should slam against the door to see if that would be effective, but decided against it, fearing it might bend the door more and make it harder to slide open. It felt hopeless. How was she going to get out? She leaned against the back of the elevator, her mind racing, deciding what to do. Maybe she could try to crawl through the hole in the roof? Too high up... Might be worth trying though. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang from the top of the elevator, causing it to shift slightly and shake from the new weight that had dropped onto it. Cassie remained frozen. Was the elevator about to move again? Or did something drop down? The sound of rocks being kicked around came from outside on the top of the elevator.

Something was outside.