Escape from Abyss

Carnage

Cassie was halfway to the storage chamber when a blast from behind was heard. The shock of the impact sent her falling down a secondary vent. "Arggh! ", Cassie cried out in pain as she fell onto the cold metal floor. A sharp pain rippled through her arm as she forced herself up. Her arm showed no sign of bleeding but the swelling beneath the elbow stung with pain upon movement.

No, I can't give up, Ms. Hinami and Steve...she fought back tears as she crawled through the vent. Biting her lips, she saw the new route to the coordinates. It was a longer path, one that threatened to erode her lead on her hunters.

I have to be quicker. The storage room is just ahead, past the generator chamber. She forced herself to crawl quicker but then she heard two more explosions. Their smaller profile indicated a greater distance from her. She froze upon hearing them, after a minute of silence, more explosive sounds erupted from the same distance.

Are they fighting someone? Is someone else here to capture me? The thought led to a rise in heartbeats. Forcing the terrifying thought out of her mind, she pressed forth till she came reached the power room.

It was a large, dark chamber with three large thermal engines, multiple cooling tanks, control panels, and drone tanks. The two primary engines had been dismantled but the smaller secondary one still operated with a low humming sound.

I think that man told me once that these engines operated on ionized gas extracted from space and liquid nitrogen was used as the cooling agent. She walked up and touched the device, a strong vibration was felt. Maybe this can mask the sound of my breathing and heartbeats.

She looked at the door at the opposite end and then back again at the engine. Maybe I could stay for awhi...right then a tremendous explosion erupted and the door burst open with flames.

The door flung over Cassie's head while fire flooded the room. Cassie screamed and fell back on to the wall as the greedy fire stopped a few meters short of the engine. She made move for the vent but a flurry of gunfire emerged from the other end, their distinct noises could be heard clearly.

Fire on the way forward, gunfire on the way back, She fell onto the floor in despair. She grasped her head as the sound of gunfire and explosions grew more pronounced. The same feelings of hopelessness as the day her mother left her, clawed on her heart.

Streams of tears rolled down her face, everything, all the sacrifices for her sake had been a waste, no different than her very life. She clenched her face to stop the trembling.

Mother, where are you?

#

"Area cleared, sonar isn't picking up any more hostiles in this area ", Glyph spoke up in his ears.

In response, the man lobbed a white orb into the air. The ball floated ahead into the factory while rotating on a 360 arc. It scanned its surroundings with a high-frequency laser and Glyph announced the report: "No further hostiles seem to be detected in the area. The target may have gone into the vents. "

Hm. The man took the tracker from the corpse of one of the FUG members and proceeded with his search. He walked through the abandoned complex, through dark hallways, staff quarters, and empty chambers. Not a soul was to be seen or heard. He checked the sonar readings to find a similar result.

"Is anything the matter Sir? ", Glyph asked, sensing his facial twitches. "It just feels as if victory was too easy ". He replied while walking through a dilapidated repair shop. "Well the FUG agents certainly didn't have it easy. Your surprise attack in front of the factory caught them off guard. It eliminated most of their forces and this was just the finishing touch "