Isolation (Penumbra Fanfiction)

Chapter 4

A/N: SO HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER!! :DD Whee. It's pretty long. o.o Did not intend it that way xD Hope it's good. I know it might seem a little boring, I tried to make it somewhat interesting though, hehe :P Btw, to those who know Penumbra, I know I messed up the order of the rooms, but I wrote it out then checked it and couldn't be bothered to redo it, so meh xD

Comment/Vote/Fan? C:

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“The heart says “I want it.” But logic says, “You cannot have it.” Eventually, logic gives in and imagination takes over.”

Philip once again found himself waking up without any recollection of how he arrived where he was. He was in what looked like an office. An empty grey desk stood beside the door, it's chair fallen over onto its side, old posters and papers falling off the wall above the desk. A mattress lay in the middle of the room, dirty and blood stained. It always unnerved Philip any time he saw a mattress in a room like this, he didn't know why. Maybe it was because it meant something, or even someone, was kept there. Stuck. Without possibility of leaving. Like he had been once. Although he had broken out, some would consider that luck.

But Philip never felt lucky that he left. It just put him through more shit, and all for nothing.

He wished he had died in that room instead of escaping.

He opened the metal door and left the room quickly, not wanting to stay in there anymore. He took one step outside, then stopped, the floor had fallen down. To the right on the wall was written, “WATCH YOUR STEPS!!” Philip looked back to floor below. There were green lights scanning over the floor. Cameras, no doubt, that could detect you if you went into the field of vision, he had seen the like before...

Philip could see no other way to get across the giant gap than jumping from pillar to pillar, and he knew there was a huge chance that would fail. Which it did after the first jump he took, as he fell heavily to the ground. The camera moved and paused on him before he could stand up. A loud warning alarm sounded, caused him to jump up, just as a threatening hissing alerted him that something bad was happening, and sure enough, he began coughing a second later. His vision began to blur as he looked around at the small hall he was in, there was a small room on one side of the hall with a door that was slightly ajar, he ran for it.

For some reason, Philip couldn't figure out why, the gas wasn't in that room. He was able to breathe perfectly fine. The room was tiny, only a metal shelf with nothing on it, a giant crate that would be impossible to open was in it, and a small button on the wall, with a red light. Without hesitation, Philip pressed the button, and the light turned green. He turned around and a hissing sound was heard again, and the lights of the cameras turned green once more. Above him, a robotic, female voice spoke, “9... 8...” It was a timer.

Philip stepped out cautiously, there was little gas left in the hall. “6... 5...” He ran for it. As soon as he was detected by the cameras again, they turned red, the threatening alarm went off, and the hissing began once more. “3... 2...” The door on the other side began to close, however Philip managed to slip into the next room.

It was full of red lasers. He recognised them immediately, a type of security system, they were almost identical to the ones he encountered in the mess hall, which was ages ago it seemed. However in reality it may have only been a few weeks... The lasers could kill anything living instantly. He only knew how to get around them, rather than turning them off with a complicated code, and he had no idea what that could be. So the only way he could get passed was by crawling underneath as carefully as possible so as to not touch the lasers.

Philip approached a door after getting up from crawling under the last of the deadly security. He reached out to grab the handle of the door, as he did, the lights shut off. He felt his heart begin to pound, and it only pounded faster as the walls began to shake around him. His thoughts immediately jumping to the giant rockworm he encountered just one too many times, if it was to show up now and attack him... But the lights switched on again and he was in a different room. The end of a hallway.

On the ground lay a radio. A very similar looking radio. He picked it up curiously, and it began to vibrate as a voice spoke from it. He jumped back in surprise as he heard what it said.

“Good day? Can you hear me? There is no time to explain. Well, in fact, time is one of the few things we have in abundance down here, but surprises are spoilt by such catty curiosity.” Philip stood there in shock for a moment. That was Red. A man he had killed. And only killed him because Red had wanted death... How had Philip just heard his voice speak from the radio? It was the same thing he had said to him when he first picked up the radio... But that wasn't since the mine... Philip stored the radio, trying to forget what had happened, and took a step down the hallway towards the stairs.

Everything blacked out.

When the lights came back on, Philip was standing where he was a moment ago. With the radio back on the floor. In the exact same position. Hesitating slightly, he picked the radio back up again, just like it had a minute it, it began to buzz as a voice spoke. However, it was different this time.

“Ah... Philip. It is I, your friend, Dr. Eminiss. Were... you expecting someone else? I already know you will come to find me, but I invite you all the same.” Dr. Eminiss. How had he known Philip would be the one picking up the radio? And how could he know Philip expected Red, and not him? He remembered only too well what had happened concerning him...  Eminiss was a survivor, and had promised to help Philip... Which he had, yes, but afterwards he had turned into one of... one of those infected things, and had almost killed Philip. And Philip clearly remembered trapping him in an empty room... How could he have just messaged him via the radio? Well, it did seem more likely to be real than Red messaging him, Philip thought, although he would've preferred Red... Eminiss seemed untrustworthy to Philip...

He carried on, a door at the end of the hall was wide open, leading in to what seemed like a cafeteria. Another? Why would there be two? It was bigger than the one he remembered before, though still similar. He walked into the room and then stopped dead in his tracks. He felt his heart pick up pace again.

“Good day? Can you hear me?” It was Red's voice again. But where was it coming from? “Well, I hope that your ears-... Well, I hope that your ears-... Well...” It carried on and on, playing the same part over and over, as though a tape was stuck and it just kept going and going. He walked to the nearest table, sighing from relief as he saw a tape player, he opened it, expecting to find something, instead there was nothing inside. No cassette. He felt his stomach flip from the shock of what just happened. How could it be possible? How could he have possibly heard Red's voice coming from, seemingly, nowhere? Was he imagining it? Was he hearing things?

His mind still buzzing with thoughts of Red and the possibility of himself being insane, he walked over the vending machine, examining it. He had no change. But he wanted a drink. He vaguely remembered feeling that way before. A long time ago. Not completely aware of what he was doing, he smashed his fist against the machine and what fell out was ice, and a cassette. Despite being disappointed by what he had received from the vending machine, he took the cassette and went to play it, half expecting to hear Red's voice play out again, and being slightly shocked when it was Eminiss once more.

“Patient: Dr. Eminiss. Medical Examiner: Dr. Eminiss. Patient, that's me, reports disorientation and rash.” Philip was only half listening, his thoughts more focused on when he was attacked by this man, and how he could possibly have been human before... “I am infected...” The tape continued to play, “Paranoia, aural distortion... did I say that already?” Philip vaguely recalled reading about the signs of infection... Disorientation, rash, paranoia, aural distortion, and deja vu. “Patient had... The most exhilarating out-of-body experience. I... escaped reality. I feel... good.” Out-of-body experience? Escaped reality? “Confided findings in Dr. Swanson. There is a 79.55% probability it will lead to her death.” The way Eminiss said that unnerved Philip. He didn't sound upset, or... or... or guilty about it. He sounded, almost happy, pleased, like he didn't care, and this disgusted him. Philip didn't care that Eminiss was crazy and infected or not, the way he said that just disgusted him.

The next room he had entered was filled with large machines that carried giant, metal, and rusted crates up and down, left and right. Everything was blurry. Which wasn't good. Philip could only see one way out of the giant room he entered. A door one a ledge above him on the opposite side of the room. Vision blurring more and more each minute, feeling light headed and dizzy, he could only think of one way there. That was via the crates, jumping on them, trying to get on the right one to take him to the door, one again, he remembered doing something similar... To escape something, something... he couldn't remember what it was. He finally reached the ledge with the door. His vision too blurry, he barely made out the handle as he reached for it, and felt himself collapse.