the tunnel wasn't a tunnel.
Not really.
It was a relic an old storm drainage route beneath the school's substructure, cracked and rust-streaked, its air thick with mold and memories. The silence down there had a sound to it, the kind that curled into your bones and whispered things you didn't want to hear. Arin felt it crawl under her skin.
She walked at the front.
She always walked at the front.
Behind her, Kael's boots crunched gravel in rhythm with hers. Tasha followed, quiet but alert, while the remaining members of Kael's team down to two now dragged the injured boy between them.
Zara was last.
Of course she was.
Trailing like a shadow too polite to disappear, her mouth stitched into an expression of faux concern that made Arin's fingers itch to draw blood.
They were only fifteen minutes in when the tunnel narrowed, and the temperature dropped. Arin paused near a rusted hatch that had been sealed shut with old metal rivets, now twisted open like something had forced its way out.
Not in.
Out.
"Hold up," Kael said behind her.
She already had.
Tasha turned her head slowly. "Do you hear that?"
It wasn't the usual moan or shuffle.
This was humming.
A low, almost human melody. Haunting.
It drifted from the right an offshoot passage, part of the water filtration system that should've collapsed with the school's foundations years ago. But the melody pulsed steadily, like it belonged there.
"Ignore it," Kael muttered, uneasily.
Arin didn't.
She turned left instead.
Kael caught her arm. "That's not the way."
"I know," she said, voice low. "But someone's in there."
"You don't know that."
Arin pulled her arm free. "I do. It's calling."
His jaw clenched. "We stay together."
But she was already walking.
Zara's voice cut the dark. "Let her go. If she wants to wander into a trap, we can't stop her."
Arin stopped mid-step and smiled without turning.
"Funny thing about traps," she said, drawing her blade, "they tend to catch more than they're set for."
She moved on.
Kael cursed and followed, leaving Zara to chew on the taste of her own bitterness.
---
The offshoot tunnel was smaller, tighter. The further they moved in, the more twisted the walls became, etched with claw marks and what looked like… symbols.
Not language.
Not art.
But memory.
Etched in desperation. Scratched by blood-wet nails. Faces. Names. Numbers. Over and over.
Then the humming stopped.
Arin held up a hand.
Silence.
No breathing. No footsteps. Not even Kael's.
She turned her head slightly and realized she was alone.
Completely.
She hadn't heard them stop.
Hadn't heard them fall behind.
No signal ping. No alert. Nothing.
Just silence.
Until the system buzzed violently behind her eyes.
---
[Memory Fragment Triggered: Category – Death Loop Event]
Accessing… Accessing…
Memory Source: [User Terminated – Author: Zara Liren]
Processing Visual Overlay…
---
The world warped.
Reality snapped.
Suddenly, Arin stood in the same tunnel but it wasn't now. It was before. A flickering version of this moment. The air was full of screaming. Hers. Her own.
She watched herself stumble, poisoned, convulsing as Zara stood at a distance, syringe still in hand.
"I told you not to trust me," the memory-Zara whispered.
Then a whisper came from behind.
Not hers.
But another voice. Male. Deep.
"She played her part perfectly."
And from the shadows… Commander Rylan emerged.
Arin gasped.
The vision shattered like glass.
She dropped to one knee in the tunnel, sweating, heart hammering against her ribs like a war drum.
Kael caught up, skidding to her side. "What the hell just happened? You blanked out!"
Arin couldn't speak.
The system's last lines burned behind her eyes.
[Memory Fragment Acquired – Death Sequence: Betrayal #17 Unlocked]
Note: Zara Liren and Commander Rylan previously collaborated. Data Obscured. Partial retrieval. Confirmed: User terminated in variant timeline.
Risk Assessment Updated:
Zara Liren – Trust Viability: 3%
Commander Rylan – Unknown Entity: Affiliated with Variant Suppression Program
---
She finally stood, jaw tight.
"We go back," she said.
Kael blinked. "What did you see?"
"Nothing good."
They returned just as Zara was leaning against the tunnel wall, pretending to nurse a twisted ankle, clearly eavesdropping.
She straightened too fast when she saw them. Too ready. Too rehearsed.
Arin ignored her. For now.
---
Ten minutes later, they hit the end of the tunnel.
It opened into what should've been a forgotten maintenance junction a dead end. But instead of rubble, they found it cleared. Patched with steel. Reinforced with floodlights.
Someone had built here.
"Whoa," Tasha whispered.
And then they saw them.
A line of soldiers. Real soldiers. Black armored suits, red lights embedded in their chests like false hearts.
Weapons raised.
"Drop your weapons!" a voice commanded.
From behind the wall of soldiers stepped the man from Arin's vision.
Commander Rylan.
Same jaw. Same voice.
But his eyes they didn't match the warmth of a savior.
They were calculating. Cold. Exactly like Zara's had been, that night she let Arin die.
Kael lowered his weapon slowly. "You're from the Variant Response?"
Rylan nodded. "We track and contain. You're infected," he said, pointing to Arin's neck.
Arin blinked. Her hand went to her skin.
Her system buzzed.
[Mutation Signature Detected – Latent Host Condition Confirmed]
"What?" Kael whispered.
Rylan smiled. "That's why she can hear them. Why she knows where to go. You're not just infected, Arin. You're evolving."
Zara stepped forward slowly, eyes locked on Rylan.
Her voice shook. "You weren't supposed to be here yet."
The soldiers turned toward her, guns rising.
Rylan didn't even blink.
And Arin?
She drew her blade again. Slowly. Calmly.
Because something in her blood had already turned cold.
And deep inside her system, a new message formed.
[Main Quest Update]
Zara Liren – Confirmed Double Agent
Commander Rylan – VSP Operative / Subject Manipulation Tier
Mission: Survive the culling. Escape the Program. Rewrite the sequence.
Side Note: You've died before. Let's not make it a habit.