Page 117 of Immersed
Asher’s hand relaxed, sliding up to rest at the junction of Levi’s neck and shoulder—a touch that managed to be both possessive and oddly comforting.“Okay. Let’s go.”
They continued forward, the corridor gradually widening until it opened into another chamber, this one even larger than the first. Massive industrial equipment filled the space—hydraulic presses, industrial lathes, stamping machines, and other devices Levi couldn’t identify. Allwerein motion, processing invisible materials with relentless efficiency.
“A manufacturing center,”Asher said, surveying the machinery.“Where the building creates new components for itself?”
“How? Are there more things that just do repairs?”Levi wondered aloud.
“It would make sense that not everything in here is meant to kill us, there has to be something maintaining the machines.”
They picked their way through the forest of machines, mindful of the moving parts that could easily crush, slice, or impale an unwary intruder. The elevator Ashermentionedwasvisible on the far side, its doors gleaming like a promise of escape.
A sound from their left drew Levi’s attention—a low moan, barely audible above the noise. He turned, flashlight beam cutting through the shadows between machines, and froze at what it revealed.
Zoe.
What was left of her, at least.
Shewasstrappedto a workbench, her body partially disassembled and surrounded by bloody tools. Componentshadbeen grafted to her, metal plates bolted to flesh, wires threaded through skin, a crude assembly replacing one arm entirely. Her eyeswereopen, aware, filled with unimaginable pain.
“No,”Levi breathed, moving toward her before conscious thought could intervene.“Zoe...”
Her head turned at the sound of his voice, movements jerky and uncoordinated. Recognition flickered in her eyes, followed by something worse—hope.
“Le...vi,”she managed, her voice distorted by the apparatus attached to her throat.“Help... me...”
Levi knelt beside the workbench, horror and grief competing for dominance. Was this what happened to Owen, too? What happened to anyone the building captured? Theyweren’tjust killed—theywereharvested, converted, integrated into the sanitarium’s systems.
“I’m here,”he said, reaching for her remaining hand.“I’m going to get you out of this.”
But even as he spoke the words, doubt crept in. The metal platesweren’tjust attached to her skin—they seemed embedded into her flesh, wires disappearing beneath the surface like artificial veins. Blood and oil mingled where components met tissue. Hehadno medical training, no way to know if whathadbeen done could be undone.
Zoe seemed to read the uncertainty in his face.“Too... late,”she rasped, fingers weakly squeezing his.“Please... end it.”
“I can’t,”he admitted, his voice cracking.“Zoe, I—”
“I got this.” Asher’s hand appeared on his shoulder, warm and comforting. He gently pulled Levi to his feet and pushed him a few steps back.
Before Levi could protest, Asher leaned forward and whispered something in Zoe’s ear—too low for Levi to catch. Whatever he said made her eyes widen briefly, then close. Asher grabbed what lookedlike a discarded ice pick from beside her and plunged it into her skull with a sickening crack.
Her body spasmed once, then went still.
“She’s dead now,”Asher said simply.
“What did you say to her?”Levi asked, his voice hollow as he stared at her mutilated corpse.“At the end.”
Asher’s voice softened fractionally.“That death isn’t the end,”he replied.“Just a transition. I think she understood.”
Itwassuch an unexpected answer from someone like Asher that Levi found himself speechless. Before he could recover, grinding from above caught their attention as the sound of massive gears engaged.
“We need to move,” Asher urged. “Now.”
They’dbarely taken three steps when warning klaxons began blaring throughout the chamber. Red emergency lights activated, bathing the machinery in a hellish glow. The floor beneath them shuddered, then began to tilt at a slight angle, the incline directed toward one of the massive industrial presses.
“What’s happening?”Levi shouted above the cacophony.
“I don’t think the building likes what I did,”Asher replied, grabbing Levi’s arm to steady him as the floor’s angle increased.
They struggled against the growing incline as the floor’s tilt increased, making each step a battle against gravity. The elevatorwasstill visible ahead, but reaching it meant climbing whatwasrapidly becoming a steep slope. An unsecured table saw slid past them, crashing into the machinery below.
