Test Subject: Escape 2 by A.V. Ray

Author:A.V. Ray [Ray, A.V.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2024-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

All emergency units activated with a heavy electronic click, but the yellow illumination remained localized to the bulbs themselves.

Everything else remained in shadow, making the space between lights almost impenetrably dark.

With my gun aiming down the utility corridor, I waited for Lynchpin and the others to return through the closet, but she still hadn’t shown up yet.

I could scarcely smell the Hunter anymore, but the shadows persisted. This was all deliberate. The Hunter had to be nearby, and yet he hadn’t shown himself.

And I had a theory on why he let us out.

In the Labyrinth, one could reconstitute themselves from death—as was the case with Dr. Gammon. By letting me out of the Labyrinth, it rendered any possibility of using its chaotic physics to survive.

A way to make me easier to kill.

But that also meant the same was true for him.

Our guns may not have worked on the Hunter in the Labyrinth, but there was a chance he’d be more vulnerable as well—the gap in our experience notwithstanding.

I didn’t see or hear anybody bolting toward the lobby.

Where was Alpha team? Bravo team? The DFC? Did he pull the entire field team into the Labyrinth? Was anybody still alive?

As much as I wanted to call out for someone, my instinct forbade me from doing so.

I heard a shrill beep echoing in the distance. The power had gone out, and yet the sound was coming from the lobby. I asked myself what it could be, only to be fed an answer from my subconscious.

An uninterruptible power supply box; enough electricity to run a computer for a few minutes to shut it down safely.

Another idea followed that recollection: the Escape Key.

The One Stop Shop told me when I first got it that it did what all escape buttons did, which was cancel an operation.

When I wanted to go somewhere, it cancelled the travel time from point A to point B—or that was what I assumed it did based on the computer’s description.

If I connected the key to a powered computer and tried to use it, what would happen? Would it work? I decided that the risk was acceptable, especially with the very shadows themselves clinging to the light fixtures.

My wrist immediately went from numb to nigh excruciating. The Hunter was close. And then I blinked.

I fucking blinked.

The Hunter was suddenly there, standing down the service hallway just beyond the closet door.

My mind said to shoot him, but my body held a still vigil instead. Watch. Observe. Learn.

Think through the fear.

His cigar was gone, leaving only his dirty burlap head, while his silhouette melded with the shadows in a way that was like stirring ink through water.

And he wasn’t moving; but he was facing my direction.

Using my back foot as a doorstop, I kept the service entrance open and immediately concluded that he still wasn’t seeing me. Amala’s claim was still holding true; I could get around this guy.

But seeing was one thing, perceiving was another. Could he hear me? Smell me? Maybe

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