Liminal 4: End Of The Line

Blurred

Adaliya's consciousness slowly drifted back, the world around her blurry, swimming in and out of focus. There was a harsh, sterile smell in the air—antiseptic and something else. Something burned. She tried to move but her body felt heavy, restrained by more than just the weight of sleep. Her skin itched, tight and sore, and as she lifted a trembling hand to her face, she felt the rough texture of bandages.

Where am I?

She blinked, her left eye barely responding, clouded and sticky, but her right eye could make out the outlines of the room. White walls. Machines humming softly. The rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor beside her bed. The soft glow of lights overhead. A hospital?

Then the memories crashed back—fire, pain, Ben's broken body, Atty's hollow voice, and the cold emptiness of the backrooms. She jerked up, her muscles protesting, but she forced herself upright.

"Easy," a calm voice said.

She turned her head sharply to see a man in a lab coat standing in the doorway, clipboard in hand. The logo on his coat—the same logo she had seen in the woods, on the car that had brought her into this nightmare—sent a wave of panic through her. **ASYNC.** Her breath hitched, the heart monitor spiking as her pulse quickened.

"No, no, no—" Adaliya muttered, her voice hoarse as she tried to pull the IVs from her arm.

The doctor, calm but firm, approached quickly. "Stop. Adaliya, it's okay. You're safe."

"ASYNC," she spat, voice trembling with fear and anger. "You—what did you do to me? What did you—" She fought against the bandages, trying to rip them off, her breathing erratic.

The doctor held up his hands, keeping his distance. "We pulled you out of the fire. You were severely injured. Burns across your body, lacerations... you were barely alive when we found you."

Adaliya's fingers trembled over the bandages on her face. Her head throbbed as fragments of her memory flashed before her—fire, her own hands spilling the flammable liquid across the house, determined to burn it all down. She had wanted to end it. End the nightmare. But she had failed.

The doctor's expression softened. "We had to perform multiple surgeries, grafts. There was damage to your eye, your face... I'm sorry, but we did everything we could to save you."

"I don't want to be saved," Adaliya whispered, the anger fading into something hollow. She pressed her hands to her face, the bandages now feeling like a prison.

The doctor paused, then reached over, undoing the ties. "It's time for the bandages to come off."

Adaliya sat still, her breath shallow as she felt the cool air hit her skin. The bandages fell away, layer by layer, until her face was exposed. She could feel the tightness of the scars, the parts of her that had been burned, altered forever.

The doctor held up a mirror.

Her breath caught in her throat. Half of her face was scarred, twisted flesh where the fire had claimed her. But it was her eye—her left eye—that sent a chill down her spine. The once vibrant brown iris had turned milky white, the vision completely gone.

She didn't recognize the woman in the mirror. Half of her face was a stranger.

"I..." she couldn't find the words. Her hand hovered over her face but didn't touch the scars. Her reflection stared back, scarred, broken, a reminder of the nightmare she had fought through and barely survived.

The doctor set the mirror down gently. "I know this is overwhelming. But you're alive, Adaliya. You survived."

Adaliya shook her head slowly, her hand dropping into her lap. "Survived? No. You don't get it... none of this is survival. It's just delaying the inevitable."

The doctor frowned. "I don't understand."

"They got out," she whispered. Her voice was hollow, numb. "The creatures. The things that were never supposed to leave... they're free now."

The doctor stared at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, with a sigh, he closed his clipboard. "There's more you need to know, but for now... rest."

He walked out of the room, the door clicking shut behind him, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She looked down at her hands, her fingers shaking slightly as the weight of everything crashed down on her. The fire hadn't been enough. And now, the world she had tried to protect was in danger.

The mirror glinted from the table beside her, a reminder of what she had become.

A warning.

The door to Adaliya's room clicked shut, leaving her in the oppressive silence. She sat there, motionless, her mind racing, replaying the memories of the backrooms and Ben's final moments. Her scarred face ached, but it was nothing compared to the hollow weight in her chest.

Outside the room, she could hear muffled voices, the sound of footsteps coming closer. She strained her ears, trying to make out the conversation.

"She's awake," the doctor said, his voice low but clear. "And somehow... she knows about the breach."

There was a pause, followed by another voice, this one authoritative, colder. "How? Did she say anything?"

"Not much yet," the doctor replied. "But from what she said, she understands what happened. She mentioned the creatures... getting out. I don't know how she knows the extent of it, but she's aware."

The second voice grunted in response. "We need to contain this, doctor. If she's a threat—"

"She's not a threat," the doctor cut in quickly. "At least, not right now. She's disoriented, injured. But if she does know more than we've revealed to her... she could be a valuable asset. She's been in there twice now and survived. We don't know how many others have."

"Survived is relative," the other voice muttered, clearly unconvinced. "Do you think she can still be useful after what happened to her? Look at her—half her face is destroyed."

The doctor hesitated, glancing back toward Adaliya's room through the double-sided window. She couldn't see him, but she felt his eyes on her. "Yes, I do. If anyone can help us understand what went wrong, it's her."

There was a brief silence before the other official spoke again, their voice steely and resolute. "Fine. But we can't afford any more mistakes, doctor. We've already lost control of the situation. The higher-ups are furious. If this gets out—"

"It won't get out," the doctor said, his voice firm. "We'll make sure of that."

The other official sighed, footsteps shuffling as he walked away. "I hope you're right. Because if this blows up in our faces, she won't be the only one left scarred."

As the voices faded into the distance, Adaliya's pulse quickened. The breach. She had been right—the creatures had escaped. The things she'd seen, the horrors that had lurked in the backrooms, were no longer confined to that endless, looping maze. They were out there. Somewhere. And ASYNC knew. Worse, they had lost control.

Her hand tightened into a fist as she stared at the closed door.

Whatever they were hiding, she was going to find out. And this time, she wouldn't stop until the backrooms, and everything that had crawled out of it, were buried for good.