Page 56 of Immersed
“Then we work together to figure out what this place is. How to escape.”Levi straightened, finding strength in having a plan.“You said you want me? Well, I want answers.”
A small smile played at the corners of Asher’s mouth.“A partnership, then.”
“A temporary alliance,”Levi corrected.“Based on mutual survival. Not trust.”
Asher nodded slowly, then gestured toward the electronic equipment scattered around Elliot’s body.“We need to decide what to tell the others.”
Levi looked at Elliot’s corpse, bile rising in his throat. The woundwastoo severe, too obviously violent to explain as an accident.“What happened to him, exactly?”
“Hewasreading your notebook,”Asher said, studying the electronic devices with a frown.“Taking pictures of the pages with his phone. I didn’t like that.”
The matter-of-fact admission made Levi’s skin crawl.“So you killed him.”
“I protected your privacy,”Asher corrected. He knelt beside the equipment, unplugging cables from the wall outlet. The red lights flickered and died, but the doors remained sealed.“There’s a difference.”
Is there?Levi wondered, but kept the thought to himself. A more pressing concern occupied his mind.
“Can you unlock the doors?”Levi asked.
Asher tried reconnecting the cables in different configurations, his movements growing increasingly frustrated.“I thought... last time when I plugged everything in, the doors shut. I assumed unplugging would reverse it.”
“But it’s not working.”
“No.”Asher sat back on his heels, staring at the equipment with genuine confusion.“I don’t understand how any of this works. Things were simpler when you guys were just camping.”
“So we’re trapped,”Levi said, testing the door handle again. Still locked.
“Temporarily,”Asher replied, though uncertainty colored his voice.
What happens when night falls and we’re still locked in here?
“The others will come looking for us,”Levi said, trying to convince himself as much as Asher.
“Will they?” Asher asked.
Levi sank onto one of the chairs, mind racing. He looked at Elliot’s body, then at Asher, whowasstill futilely attempting different cable configurations.
“We can’t bring him back downstairs like this anyway,”Levi said.“The others will panic.”
“Would that be bad?”Asher asked, pausing in his work.
“For our alliance? Yes.”Levi forced himself to think strategically despite the claustrophobic pressure building in his chest.“If we’re working together now, we need to maintain our cover. The team needs to believe this is still a normal investigation.”
Asher considered this, then moved to the recreation room’s supply closet. He emerged with several dusty sheets, probably used to cover furniture during the hospital’s closure.
“We wrap him,”Asher suggested.“For when we get out of here. Tell them he fell through a weak floor. Internal injuries.”
Levi stared at him.“You’re very calm about being trapped.”
“I’ve been in worse situations,”Asher replied, spreading a sheet beside Elliot’s body.“Besides, I’m not alone this time.”
The way he said it—with genuine warmth—sent conflicting signals through Levi’s nervous system.
Together, they wrapped Elliot’s corpse, Asher handling most of the physical work while Levi focused on not vomiting. The sheet quickly darkened with blood, but it contained the worst of the gore.
“The wound,”Levi said, noticing how the fabric revealed the shape of the gash.“It’s too obviously from a knife.”
Without hesitation, Asher picked up a loose floorboard and brought it down hard on the wrapped body. The sickening crack of ribs breaking echoed through the room.
