Page 110 of Immersed
But as he caught up with the group, Levi couldn’t shake the feeling that theyweremoving exactly as the building—as Faine—wanted them to. Following breadcrumbs laid out to send them deeper into a trap decades in the making.
Behind them, the archive door swung shut with a final, decisive click.
38
Fibonacci
”—andthenthewallsstarted closing in, like something straight out of Star Wars,“ Maddie explained, gesturing wildly to emphasize her point. “If Levi hadn’t noticed that vent, we’d be archive pancakes right now.”
Jasper whistled.“Damn. And here I thought Iwashaving an exciting night.”He gestured to his monitoring station, where several screens displayed different areas of the sanitarium.“Most action I’ve seen is a door closing by itself on the second floor. Probably just air pressure, but I got it on camera.”
Theymade it back to base camp to find not only Jasper waiting but also Zoe, whohadreturnedfrom her solo exploration of the East Wing patient rooms. She crouched in the corner, organizing her equipment with the practical efficiency that characterized everything she did.
“Did you find anything useful?”Levi asked her, trying to keep his voice steady despite the unnerving sense of déjà vu. The last timehe’dseenZoe crouched in a corner,she’dbeen transformed into one of Faine’s creatures.
“Nothing extraordinary,”she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Some patient records, medication logs. The East Wingwasprimarily for long-term care patients.”She hesitated, then added,“Though I did notice something odd about the maintenance doors. They all have the same circle and triangle symbol. It's creepy.”
Levi exchanged a glance with Asher, who positioned himself strategically between Levi and Elliot.“Did you try opening any of them?”
“I’m not an amateur,”Zoe replied with mild offense.“Rule one of paranormal investigation: don’t open strange doors alone.”She gestured to the blueprint they brought back.“What’s that?”
“The real floor plan,”Levi explained, unrolling it across the central table.“And it confirms what you found. The maintenance system runs throughout the entire building.”
The group gathered around the blueprint, examining the intricate network of hidden passages and chambers that lay behind the sanitarium’s public face.
“It’s like the buildinghasa secondary circulatory system," Owen observed, tracing a line with his finger.“These passages connect everything.”
“And lead to a central point,”Asher added, indicating where multiple pathways converged at the basement level.“The lab we’re looking for.”
Levi oriented himself on the blueprint, finding their current position and the path to their next objective.“Specimen Storage is here,”he said, pointing to a room in the east wing.“According to what we found, that’s where the blood sample should be.”
“Still gross,” Maddie muttered.
“Once we have that, we need to find the voice recording in the Administrative Assistant Office, and then a tissue sample at theObservation Deck,”Levi continued.“All three together should grant access to the lower level.”
“We should split up,”Elliot suggested for the second time that night.“Three teams, three objectives.We’dcover more ground.”
“No,”Levi and Asher said in unison, then shared a look that didn’t go unnoticed by the others.
“Do you guys practice that?”Tyler asked, half-joking.“The synchronized talking thing?”
“The building is actively hostile,”Levi explained, ignoring the question.“We’ve already encountered one death trap in the archive. Who knows what other security measures there are?”
“Safety in numbers,”Asher agreed smoothly.“We tackle one objective at a time, starting with Specimen Storage.”
“Which is in my section,”Zoe noted.“I can lead us there. I’ve already mapped most of the patient room corridors.”
Another reason to keep the NPCs alive. Zoe’s methodical exploration saved them valuable time.
“We should go now,”he said, glancing at his phone. Almost midnight.
“What about base camp?”Jasper asked.“Should I pack up?”
Levi considered. The monitoring station provided valuable eyes across the building, but leaving Jasper alonewasrisky.“Pack the essentials,”he decided. “You’re coming with us. We’ll set up a smaller mobile base when we reach the east wing.”
Jasper nodded, beginning to disassemble his more portable equipment.“Give me five minutes.”
“Everyone else, gear check,”Levi instructed.“Flashlights, spare batteries, radios. Anything that might be useful for the kind of security system we’re likely to encounter.”
