Page 51 of Immersed
The van slowed as they approached their destination, gravel crunching beneath the tires. Through the windshield, Levi could see the imposing structure of Drosselmeyer County Sanitarium silhouetted against the late afternoon sky.
“We’re here,”Tyler announced unnecessarily, parking near the main entrance.“Let’s get set up before we lose the light.”
The team moved just as it had before, unloading equipment from the van and distributing it according to some pre-established routine. Levi followed their lead, accepting a camera bag from Maddie and a tripod from Owen.
He took a moment alone while the others organized gear, staring up at the sanitarium’s façade. The building looked like something straight out of one of Ethan’s horror games—the kind where the player collected audio logs to piece together what went wrong.
The realization struck him—nightwaswhen the danger escalated. Daylight offered a window of relative safety for exploration. If he could gather information now, before darkness fell...
“Hey,”Levi called to the group,“Elliot, Tyler, why don’t you two lead the investigation this time? You’ve got more on-camera experience.”
Tyler perked up.“About time you recognized my star quality.”
“You just mean we’re prettier,”Elliot added with a grin, flexing dramatically.
“Excuse me?”Maddie protested, hands on her hips.“The audience consistently rates me and Zoe higher in the comments.”
“Yeah, but sometimes they want conventionally attractive guys instead of sensitive, elf-y types,”Tyler teased, gesturing toward Levi.“No offense.”
“Tons taken,”Levi replied dryly, but he found himself smiling despite the tension.The banter felt genuine, comfortable—these people functioned as a real team, with established dynamics and inside jokes.
Zoe adjusted her camera strap.“I think the audience appreciates when Levi gets scared. He’s more relatable that way.”
“True,”Jasper agreed.“People love watching him face his fears. It makes for good content when he jumps at every little sound.”
Levi studied their faces, struck by how real they seemed—not just NPCs following programming, but individuals with distinct personalities and motivations. The camaraderie felt authentic in a way that made his sternum ache with unexpected longing.
“Can I see the floor schematics?”Levi asked Tyler, deliberately shifting focus back to practical matters.
Tyler handed over a folded paper from his back pocket.“It’s incomplete. But it should help us navigate the main areas.”
Levi studied the blueprints, noting exits, stairwells, and potential danger zones. The kitchen where he and Asher had died wasmarkedon the first floor. The Research Wing appeared as a separate section, connected by a single corridor. He pulledhis phone out and snapped pictures of them, struggling to get a picture that wasn’t blurred from the tremor in his hands.
“Asher,”Levi said, keeping his tone professionally neutral,“can you handle the cabling and battery setup separately? I want to do a preliminary walkthrough of the upper floors while we still have daylight.”
If Asher found the request unusual, he didn’t show it.“Sure thing. I’ll get the base station established in the main entrance hall.”
Levi nodded, creating distance between them while maintaining the appearance of a normal working relationship.“Great. I’ll check the third floor—it looks like it hasn’t been documented yet.”
As the team dispersed to their assigned tasks, Levi headed toward the main stairwell, flashlight in hand despite the afternoon sunlight streaming through broken windows. The sanitarium’s interior felt different in daylight—less oppressive, the shadows lacking the menacethey’dheldduring his previous exploration with Asher.
The third floor revealed a series of abandoned patient rooms similar to those on the second, but with significantly more damage. Water seeped through the ceiling in several areas, creating dangerous soft spots in the floor. Levi tested each step, mapping a safe path through the deteriorating corridor.
In what appeared to have been a supply closet, he discovered an abandoned messenger bag, its canvas faded but intact. Inside, he found a cache of medical supplies—gauze bandages, adhesive tape, and several bottles of pain medication with labels dating back to the 1960s.
Levi emptied the ancient medications but kept the bandages and tape, thinking pragmatically about potential injuries in future loops. The messenger bag itself would be useful for carrying items that might transfer between resets.
Like finding a bigger inventory bag in an RPG,he thought, shouldering the canvas strap.Now I can carry more between loops.
Further exploration led him to a recreation room, its furniture vandalized but mostly intact. A piano stood in one corner, its keys yellowed with age. Card tables and chairs remained arranged as if waiting for patients to return for their daily activities.
Levi settled onto a relatively stable chair, hanging the messenger bag from it as he pulled out his notebook. Time to document everything while the memories were still sharp—the gas death, Asher’s unexpected humanity, Dr. Faine’s experiments. His pen moved rapidly across the page, recording details while they remained fresh in his memory.
Loop 7
Hospital scenario.
Exploring with Asher revealed Dr. Faine’s experiments
