Deep Dark Blues

Chapter 11- Hadal Zone

Her heart was beating too loud, making the world around her pulsate. It was dark... Too dark... The emergency lights that usually illuminated the floor were gone, drowning the Vault in darkness. She jumped up, tearing the spare blanket away from her window naively hoping to see the familiar cerulean blue, but to no avail. The abyss stared back at her from behind the glass, the only indication of the window even being there was the subtle glimmer of the phone light.

Her heart was racing, her mind trying to comprehend what was wrong. Why hadn't the sun come up... Why was it so dark?

She almost choked on the scream that followed, prompting her to jump right out of bed.

The power! The power was out! Oxygen, storage, everything must have been cut off!

Her legs were too shaky to walk, causing her to fall on the floor. She could feel her nails scraping against the cold surface of the floor, her vision blurring with every breath she took.

Impossible! Impossible! This is not happening!

The walls around her felt claustrophobic as if moving towards her, her head spinning as she tried to steady her breath. They were stuck at the bottom of the ocean without power. They would starve or suffocate... Did the air suddenly feel thinner?

Reed curled up in a fetal position, clutching her shins with force in an attempt to steady herself. The tears were freely flowing down her cheeks, snot and saliva dripping down her face while she struggled to breathe.

We are going to die! We are going to all die!

No! No! You have to think rationally! Find others!

She tried standing up, legs giving out from under her once again. She felt like she was going to vomit, struggling to keep her bowels from releasing the food from yesterday. She wiped her face, supporting herself before making her way towards the door. Her phone buzzed in her hand, causing the woman to flinch from the tension. She glanced at the screen, blood freezing in her veins...

Battery 5%

Power must have gone out long ago... how on earth? Her eyes widened. The battery! The battery was still pumping the oxygen production... But it was a small relief compared to the overwhelming nature of the issue at hand. The battery could only go for so long...

Don't think about it! Just find others! Hurry!

She stumbled forward, pressing the keypad to unlock the door before remembering about the power outage. She grabbed the manual handle, twisting and unlocking the lock before she tried to pull. She didn't realise how heavy the door was, pulling it open only an inch even though she used her whole strength. Reed was forced to put her phone away, pulling with both hands until the door gave in with a cloud whine, sliding halfway open and leaving a gap seemingly wide enough for her to squeeze through. Thanks to her lanky build Reed managed to narrowly avoid getting stuck in the doorway. The corridor was pitch black, reminding her of the inside of a cave. No source of light other than her dying phone...

Her bare feet felt like being stung with hundreds of freezing needles as she made her way through the dark corridor. The air felt freezing, whatever inefficient heating she had before was now gone with the power, her limbs tingling from the cold.

Halfway down the corridor, her phone released a dying buzz before shutting off, drowning the woman in darkness.

No! No!

"C'mon! Not now!" Reed slammed her fist against the screen, the mixture of frustration and fear taking over her senses. She couldn't see anything, the shadows around her impenetrable with human eyes. It took a couple of minutes before she resumed her walk. She stumbled, right hand hitting against the cold metal of the wall. She couldn't help but follow the direction the tunnel stretched towards, her fingers searching for objects before her. Her foot bumped into something sticking out of the floor, causing her to faceplant with nothing to break her fall. The thud of her body connecting with the floor was followed by soaring pain, Reed could have sworn she saw stars at the end of the tunnel as warm liquid began to drip down her upper lip. Before she could even attempt to stand up, her body stilled, eyes wide in the dark as she listened...