Page 127 of Immersed
His lungs began to burn, the need for oxygen becoming desperate. There was nothing he could do. He pressed his hands over his pockets that held the two keys, determined not to lose their hard-won progress even as his consciousness began to fade. It was a strange feeling to drown in utter darkness, cold and lonely in a way none of his previous deaths had been.
Asher was always with him when he died.
I don’t like dying alone.
Levi took in a deep breath and surrendered to the water.
43
Fetch Quest
Consciousnessreturnedwiththeviolence of drowning in reverse.
Levi’s lungs burned as they expanded, greedily gulping air he’d been denied in his final moments. His skin prickled with gooseflesh against the cold concrete floor beneath him and a metallic taste coated his tongue—blood or fear or memory, he couldn’t tell. His hand flew to his throat as he gasped, his fingertips finding the tender bruise Asher left.
This didn’t reset.
Why didn’t it reset? Is it permanent?
The thought should have disgusted him. Instead, his fingers lingered on the bruise, the slight pain a strange comfort.
He’d been swept away in the flooded maintenance passage. Separated from Asher. Drowned in the building's hidden systems. And now—
He was somewhere new?
Levi pushed himself upright, wincing at the protest of muscles that remembered dying even if his reset body didn’t bear the evidence. Decay hung heavy in the air, the musty smell of abandonment overlaidwith something sharper and less natural. Formaldehyde and other, less identifiable substances. The room had high ceilings, large windows covered with metal shutters, medical equipment arranged in tiers like a classroom or—
An observation deck.
He patted his overstuffed pockets. He still had the blueprints, the journal, a notepad, and the keys. Everything was where it was supposed to be, except…
“Asher?” His voice sounded wrong in the cavernous space, small and tight and far too desperate. He tried again, louder this time. “Asher!”
Only silence answered.
A hollow ache spread through his chest, radiating outward from a point just beneath his sternum. It hurt, like hunger and thirst and being shot all at once, but sharper. He felt like he couldn’t breathe again.
I can’t do this without him. I don’t want to be alone.
He needed to move. Find Asher. Find the third key. Escape this nightmare. But his feet felt leaden, his body unwilling to venture further into the darkness alone.
A noise echoed from somewhere in the corridor outside, followed by what might have been a whispered conversation. Levi froze, straining to hear.
”—swear I heard something—” The voice was familiar. Jasper?
”—probably another of those fucking things—” That was definitely Elliot.
Levi moved toward the door, relief washing through him.I’m not alone after all.“Jasper? Elliot? It’s Levi!”
Silence, then hurried footsteps. Two figures appeared in the doorway, both looking like they’d been through hell. Jasper’s face wasstreaked with dirt and dried blood, his normally relaxed posture rigid with tension. Elliot’s designer clothes were torn and filthy, his left arm bleeding and held protectively against his chest.
“Jesus, man.” Jasper’s voice cracked with relief. “We thought you were dead!”
“Tyler and Maddie?” Levi asked, though he already knew the answer.
“Who?”
Fuck.
