Reaper: The Novel

Dark Hallway

The Salvaging Room was dimly lit. The soft glow of the red lights was a tremendous contrast to the inviting illumination of the Main Halls. The girl was not sure if this was even a room. She could not see anyone else around her. All she saw was a narrow corridor extending in front of her. Beyond the darkness, she could just barely make out what seemed to be the rectangular figure of a door. With great apprehension, the girl started to shuffle quietly towards the door.

The girl's footsteps echoed into the dark, the resulting sound only making the eerie silence much more terrifying. No sooner had she taken her 14th step, a wild cacophony of primal, horrified shrieks started to fill the hall. The hallway seemed to shake with the sheer loudness, and the screams were made worse by the fact that there seemed to be someone sobbing, followed by wild, merciless laughing. The girl covered her ears, but then all of a sudden the screams started to become much clearer. She heard the horrors of those who screamed.

She heard the blood of those shrieking being wrung out of them. She heard the disgusting sounds of their internal organs being eviscerated, and eventually, ripped to shreds in front of them. She heard their bones break, and their dying screams as they finally expired. The girl was brought down to her knees, the horrifying screams weighing down on her. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of dragging herself along the floor with all the willpower she could muster, she reached the door.

With all her strength, she twisted the knob and finally, the heavy door opened. What she saw would change everything she just saw.

In front of her, there were a lot of fellow renegades operating a bunch of laptops connecting to lot of wires that led to a small hole drilled into a space between the left wall of the hallway that she was just in. Tagged to the wire, was a piece of paper that said:

"Speaker Row 1"

Across the room, another bunch of wires led to another hole, this time the wires in the hole would have led to a space inside the right wall. Tagged to those wires was a piece of paper that said;

"Speaker Row 2"

Still shaken from what she just heard, she approached one of her squadmates, Lily, and asked what the hell was the corridor that she was just in.

"Oh! Silly you, you weren't meant to take THAT path here." Still confused Reaper asked for some elaboration.

"What? You don't know? That's the Realistic Audio Specialization Chamber! Or "R.A.S.C", as we call it. Why where you in there? That's where we test out all our audio lures and audio decoys! The speakers inside the walls are designed to pentrate all but the toughest of solids! Cover your ears, and the sound just becomes clearer! Ain't it awesome? But why were you in ther-."

But Lily saw that Reaper was almost in tears, and suddenly she understood everything. "Oh... oh my... you weren't actually INSIDE when we tested out the audio right?!. Oh my god. I'm so sorry... we didn't know..." Lily said in an apologetic tone.

"Here take these." Lily handed the girl some black pills. "These pills will erase the last horrifying memory you've experienced. Take 2, since the audio we've played was a cognitohazard designed to drive anyone insane." But then something remarkable happened. The girl refused the pills. Although she was already in tears because of the whole ordeal, she simply pushed Lily's hand away.

"Huh, you really are something, aren't you?" Lily said with admiration. "Well, what were you assigned to anyway?" Lily said, concerned. "Well, uh..." the girl wiped the tears from her eyes, and continued. "Igneus gave me Salvaging." Reaper said, before holding back a sob. Suddenly, it all made sense.

"Uh, you do realize that the salvaging room is connected to the corridor right? Take the first right in the hallway, then you'll find it... also, there's a sign that says "WARNING, COGNITOHAZARD TESTING AREA AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.""

...

"Maybe it wasn't visible? That's impossible, it's supposed to glow... Odd. I'll have the tech guys check it out." Lily said with a tone of assurance. "For the meantime, I think you should just continue with your Salvage. The salvage drones just came back, so I guess you should just follow them. Take it easy." The girl nodded, her eyes still shaking with fear and looked at the gigantic window plastered on the wall.

Outside, she could see the drones flying by, carrying boxes upon boxes of old robots. She sighed with relief, and with a new mindset, started to turn around to head to the door. However, as she started to turn around, she caught a glimpse of a heavily damaged robot. It was being carried in its own box, and for a moment, she swore that it blinked.

It was looking at her.

Shuddering at the thought, she shook her head and told herself she was dreaming. She entered the hallway, grateful that it was no longer screaming, turned at the junction, and opened the door to the real Salvaging room. And what she saw would change everything.

(Heya internet, Author boi here! Whoo boy! This took a long time! My back hurts like hell! It was worth it, cuz I've managed to deliver another great chapter to you guys! Credits to shinku_tamashi for editing punctuations! As always, smash that vote button, leave a comment, and follow if you wanna read more!)

@shinku_tamashi (Great person)