Page 109 of Immersed
“Maddie!”he called.“The vent! Do you think you can fit?”
She followed his gaze.“Maybe! But what about the rest of you?”
“If you can get through, maybe you can find a mechanism controlling this trap,”Levi explained.“Therehasto be an override somewhere nearby.”
The walls lurched inward another foot, cabinets groaning as they compressed against each other. Timewasrunning out.
“Do it,”Asher ordered, still bracing himself against the advancing wall.“We’ll hold this as long as we can.”
Tyler and Elliot helped Maddie squeeze behind the cabinet, working to pull the grate free from its moorings. It came loose with a screech of rusted metal, revealing a dark, narrow passage beyond.
“I’ll find the override,”Maddie promised, already wriggling into the vent.“Just hold on!”
She disappeared into the darkness, the sound of her movement through the metal duct soon fading into silence.
“If she doesn’t make it...”Elliot began.
“She’ll make it,”Levi insisted, throwing his weight against a tilting cabinet.“Shehasto.”
The minutes stretched like hours as they fought against the compression, muscles burning with the effort that seemed futile. The space in the center of the room shrank to half its original size, forcing them closer together as the walls continued their advance.
“We’re not going to make it,”Owen gasped, sweat streaming down his face despite the cold.
“Yes, we are,”Asher said, his voice calm despite the strain evident in his rigid posture. His eyes met Levi’s across the narrowing space.“We’re not dying here. Not like this.”
Something in his tone made Levi’s breath catch—a fierce determination that went beyond their immediate survival. Asherhadplans for them, for him. Plans that didn’t include being crushed in an archaic trap.
The thought should have terrified him. Instead, Levi found himself drawing strength from Asher’s certainty, pushing back against the encroaching wall with renewed vigor.
A cabinet buckled beside him, its metal frame folding with a shriek of protest. Papers spilled across the floor, immediately trampled underfoot as theywereforcedto retreat toward the center of the room.
“Maddie,”Tyler muttered through gritted teeth.“Any time now would be great.”
As if in response, the room shuddered, and the walls’ movement slowed, then stopped entirely. A grinding echoed from somewhere beyond the archive, followed by a series of clicks.
The walls began to retract, cabinets screeching as theyweredraggedback to their original positions.
“She did it,”Owen gasped, collapsing to his knees in relief.
The emergency exit door swung open, revealing Maddie’s triumphant face. “I found a control room!”she announced.“Itwasright next door.”
Levi sagged against a cabinet, adrenaline ebbing to leave him shaky and exhausted.“Nice work,”he managed, offering Maddie a genuine smile. Another point for keeping the NPCs alive—most of them couldn’t have fit through that vent.
“We should get back to base camp,”Owen suggested, adjusting his glasses with trembling fingers.“Compare notes, make a plan for the Specimen Storage room.”
“Agreed,”Levi nodded.“And check in with Jasper. He might have picked up more readings while wewerein here.”
As they filed out through the emergency exit, Asher’s hand caught Levi’s arm, holding him back until the others moved ahead.
“You did well,”he murmured, voice pitched low enough that only Levi could hear.“Keeping your head under pressure. Finding the vent.”His fingers tightened slightly.“It’s attractive, watching you think.”
“Just survival instinct,”he replied, attempting to dismiss the praise.
“No,”Asher insisted, moving closer until his lips brushed Levi’s ear.“It’s more than that. You’re adapting. Evolving. Becoming even more perfect.”
Before Levi could respond, Asher released him and strode ahead to join the others, leaving Levi with a confused tangle of emotions hehadneither the time nor capacity to unravel.
The blueprint rolled securely under his arm, Levi followed, trying to focus on their next objective rather than the lingering sensation of Asher’s breath against his skin. Theyhadthe information they needed: locations, protocols, a map of the building’s true layout. They could find the biometric samples, access the laboratory, and maybe find a way to end this nightmare.
