Page 85 of Immersed
He stopped mid-sentence, his foot catching on something metallic in the dim lighting.
A video camera. Old, battered, and definitely not one of theirs.
“Wait,”he gasped, bending to pick it up despite Asher’s urgent pulling. The camerawasa single handheld, a bit older in style than the ones they brought with them.
“Levi, we need to move,”Tyler hissed, glancing back at the approaching sound of the applauding horror.
“This isn’t ours,”Levi said, showing them the camera.“Someone elsewashere. Another investigation team.”
The implications hit them all at once. Theyweren’tthe first paranormal investigators to be lured here. Which meant...
“How many others have there been?”Elliot whispered.
“We need to get to the atrium,”Levi said with sudden urgency.“All our backup batteries are there. We need to see what’s on this camera.”
As they turned to continue their escape, the grinding of machinery intensified around them. Wallsweresliding, sealing off passagesthey’djust come through. And ahead of them, another wallmoved—slowly, deliberately, cutting off their planned route.
The applause wasgetting closer, echoing from multiple directions.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
How is it following us?They sawit strapped to that chair with barbed wire, forced into eternal applause. Unless thereweremore of them, unrestrained and allowed to roam.
“There,” Asher pointed to a doorway that was still open. “Move!”
They rushed through just as the walls began closing behind them, sealing them into what looked like a maintenance room. The spacewaslarger than their previous safe room, with high ceilings and littered with what looked like HVAC supplies, but ithadonly one entrance.
The entrance thatjust sealed itself shut.
“No, no, no,” Tyler muttered, pushing against the wall where the door had been. It was solid, as if the opening had never existed.
The applause outside stopped.
In the sudden silence, they could hear something else—a low, automated breathing that seemed to come from the walls themselves.
Theyweretrapped. All five of them, with no way out and something hunting them just beyond the sealed walls.
31
Escape Room
Thesealedroomfeltsmaller by the second. Tyler ran his hands along every inch of the wall where the door had been, searching for some kind of mechanism or hidden switch. Jasper examined the electrical panels with focused intensity, all while the breathing sounds from within the walls grew louder.
There has to be a way out.Every room has to have some kind of—
“Hey,”Elliot called from near the far corner, his voice tight with apprehension, “look at this.”
Levi moved closer and saw what Elliotwaspointing at—grooves carved into the floor. Not random scratches, but deliberate channels cut deep into the surface. They all seemed to lead toward the center of the room.
As he examined the markings, Levi became aware of movement in his peripheral vision. Asherhadbeen poking along the walls, ostensibly searching for exit mechanisms with Tyler, but he kept looking back.
He’s not actually looking for anything,Levi realized.He’s justwatching me.
Following the channels with his eyes, Levi spotted what theyweredirecting toward: a central French drain, the kindusually seen in old buildings to prevent flooding. But the pattern leading to itwastoo precise, too intentional for simple water management.
“Theseweredesignedthis way,”Levi murmured, kneeling down to examine the markings. He pulled out their makeshift map and began sketching the pattern, just to have a reference.
Elliot knelt beside him.“You’re right. Architecture usuallyhasdownward slopes for drainage, but these are more like... gutters. Like they’re meant to direct something specific.”
