Groundbreaking Nova

Chapter 5: Survival

As my eyes were closed I heard a loud burst, my whole surrounding felt warm and humid then I heard whimpering. "What was that?!" I thought to myself so I hurriedly opened my eyes to the silhouette of a massive creature disappearing into the mist—I was stuck in my position as the fear latched onto myself locking my legs stiff although the creature was gone it left me a great deal of trauma but within minutes I could move again as I calmed down.

I went to look around to find the source of the explosion only to see the pipe I hastily destroyed and my hunch was right! the pipe
I was smashing on was a hot water channel in the water system. The water was still pouring out, it was scalding hot and good thing pipes like those were pressurized enough to explode but I wasn't too sure that it would burst open so I sighed with relief because luck was on my side today; I hope I wont get to encounter that beast again... I went outside only to see the devastation of the beast and the earthquake left everything was out of place, all the beds are tossed to the farthest left side of the room while to the right: the huge viewing glass broken that blew in the chilly night breeze.

I went to the edge hoping not to see the creature in sight but when I got there only the perfect view of the garden had met my eyes then I remembered something. The thought of Lorelei flew into my head as I remembered she was on the upper floors above me so she might be safe but I still had to check, The chilly air made me shiver as I made my way to the trash chute.

"Lorelei?!" I shouted towards the open chute.

she didn't answer... for a while I kept shouting or calling her but there was no response so I got worried and assumed possibilities that she might've have been killed but I brushed it off trying to be positive; I was alone again.

"I'll find her" I told myself. although she was stubborn and ignorant but I couldn't afford to be alone again...

The lights flickering caught my attention—

"I have a bad feeling about this"

The lights slowly died out till everything was in complete darkness except for the dim moonlight that shone inside the room and everything electronic died along with it. With my dire situation I had to do something the monstrosity might come back after a few hours then it hit me! "The door!" I thought to myself quite happily—I hurriedly ran to the door and peeked through the small window: it was dark. I could move in the dark but it was too risky so I tried looking for some lighting to use.

After a while I couldn't find anything but then I remembered the electric lighter from the pile of junk I collected around the room so
I searched for it—After an hour I had found it and took a book as well then I went to the restroom to get a pipe, minutes later I made
a make-shift torch by stuffing the open top part of the pipe with pages of the book till it was full before and setting it on fire using
the lighter to ignite it. Before I headed out I grabbed some of the blankets to keep myself warm.

As I slowly opened the door a gust of dusty-cold air blew towards me then I proceeded to march forward into the unknown, I wandered the cold hallways of T.I.R.F. the place looked barren plus with the added damages the earthquake caused some rooms in the hallway to cave in and parts of the flooring broke down leaving pits that lead to floor below. I felt uneasy as the whole place felt creepy but with no destination in my I had to keep going till I saw a place somewhere safe and only then I'll plan for tomorrow: I needed rest since it was already late at night... Throughout my long journey something felt off as if there were eyes staring at me in the dark so out of fear I walked faster.

I encountered a junction of the hall: one to left and one to the right, in front of me was an elevator door that had signs beside it.

[Lobby] was to the left.