U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D This room appears to be empty, but his eye spots a silver necklace on the counter. Lucas frowned. The mentally counting the doors was making him feel calmer, and now they were past the fourth set, and continuing. How long would this last, he wondered? Moving past set number five . . .
U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D There seemed to be something going on in this one. A raven-haired boy seemed to be having a fit as the scientists around him tried to quell the fit. Blood runs down the side of his face, and then a nurse injects him with a strange liquid that makes him go still. Three sets down . . . Lucas wasn't sure how well they were doing, but he was starting to feel completely anxious. DEEP BREATHS, he told himself. It would be fine. He moved past the next set of doors.
U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D The second office didn't have any patients, but two doctors having a casual conversation. Perhaps they were friends? That was two sets down, and some odd number to go. Lucas felt a bit good that they were doing well so far, and hoped that the overall competence of the group would hold up. He was worried that one of them might trip or something, and everything would end in HELLFIRE. He let out a breath, it would be fine . . . he hoped. With the thought, he moved past the next set of doors quickly.
U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D In the first set of doors, there was a group of scientists that seemed to surround a little girl, and what looked like scans of her brain were set on large screens. She was unconscious, with closed eyes. What could they possibly be talking about? Lucas clicked his tongue.With the success of making it through the first set of doors without being caught, he moved on past the next set, trying to keep his feet light. This was nerve-wracking, he had to admit, but if they wanted to get out of here, knowing the truth, then this was what had to be done . . . He just hoped they would remain concealed.
U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D They grouped and then moved into the hallway, quickly silently, knowing for certain that it would be bad if they failed. Trying to remain calm and collected, Lucas moved past the first door, hoping that he wouldn't be spotted by its occupants.
U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D They grouped and then moved into the hallway, quickly silently, knowing for certain that it would be bad if they failed. Trying to remain calm and collected, Lucas moved past the first door, hoping that he wouldn't be spotted by its occupants.
U N C O V E R I N G • E M E R A L D They grouped and then moved into the hallway, quickly silently, knowing for certain that it would be bad if they failed. Trying to remain calm and collected, Lucas moved past the first door, hoping that he wouldn't be spotted by its occupants.
+ 2 DAYS for at least two more entries.
⎝ DAY 5┊2/3 ⎞ ❧ ⎝ DATE┊MARCH 18TH ⎞ ❧ ⎝ LOCATION┊VAULTS ⎞⎝ MOOD┊CAUTIOUS ⎞ ❧ ⎝ ❤??┊0% ⎞ ❧ ⎝ WEARING ⎞ ❧ ⎝ OOC┊ — ⎞ Bryan listened to Cane's tale of conversion with interest. It didn't really explain much, only provided evidence for the population spike, and then pushed him in to the danger zone of worry, where he was starting to get a little fidgety again. After a few minutes of discussion, their disgustingly large group began to move towards their next destination, and Bryan made sure Lucas walked next to him because of the access key and the dumb fact that the guy wouldn't let him have it. He didn't understand why; it wasn't like he was going to snatch it, massacre the rest of the group, and then run off to find Noëlle. Maybe. With the key in place, the door opened and a security camera buzzed as it turned to take them into view. As they took a few steps further inside, the camera followed them and Bryan narrowed his green eyes at it. They stood in a skinny all-white hallway. There were two huge windows to either side of them, but it was completely dark on the outside of them. He gazed around some more, and then a switch was spotted; they discussed this too, and eventually came to the conclusion of flipping it, hoping it wouldn't kill them. Things begin to move and beep in the darkness and Bryan feels his way towards Quentin, asking for the flashlight that he had found on the maid, and then took it shaking it a bit for good measure. Another key is prompted, glowing red, and then the a door opens, followed by an odd, digusting smell that fills the area. "Keep your voices down." Bryan advised to the others, and then clicked on the flashlight, initially pointing it to the ground. Slowly, cautiously, Bryan upturned the light and looked to the ceiling; it was ridiculously high, and there were a few large grate fans that lined it across. Moving the light around a little more, there were bits and bots of scraps of machinery just lying around, and when he pointed it down, there was a weird-looking slush. He pointed the light elsewhere and spotted a caution sign with a gas mask on it, and just past the sign was a metal bridge and another door. He pointed the flashlight to the weird slush again and frowned, "We'd have to jump . . . Or walk through it." That bothered him; what if it was corrosive? Not all of them were athletically able to jump, in which case the group would be split again. He really didn't mind that, but it was troublesome. He looked back at the group and did a headcount; thirteen of them . . . He quickly began deciding who could jump through, and who couldn't. Lucas inspected the slush. "I do not think it's dangerous," he assessed, rubbing some of it between his fingers, and Bryan stared at him, "We should roll up our pants, though." A conclusion to walk through the slush barefooted was reached. Eventually, though some of the smaller people had been shouldered across, like Sophie, Pierce, and the unconscious maid, and they were all on the other side, not effected by the slush, luckily. After trying to tidy themselves off with a towel Torvald had in his medical kit, Bryan looked to the door again and it seemed to lead to a new, lit section of vaults. These ones were different because the doors were transparent, made of glass, and on the insides were people — innocent people? — , scientists, doctors, and other such workers. What should they do? It probably wouldn't be a good idea to just rampage into the area, even if Bryan wanted to. There were two choices, he thought; either move forward, or go back to the gross, dark room and close the door without anyone on the lit side noticing.
⎛ DAY 5 ‖ 2/3 ⎠ ☁ ⎛ DATE ‖ MARCH 18TH ⎠ ☁ ⎛ LOCATION ‖ VAULTS ⎠⎛ MOOD ‖ DAZED ⎠ ☁ ⎛ ❤!! ‖ 0% ⎠ ☁ ⎛ WEARING ⎠ ❝ . . . . . ❞ ♡ ~ ✖ ~ ♡Sophie watched tentatively as Pierce began to stir awake, and was pleased that she wasn't in a coma of some sort. After blinking a few times, ❝Sophie?❞ After the hell they had gone through, apparently together, it was nice that they were both alive. Pierce touched her face, breathed out something, and then threw her arms around Sophie, making her wince in pain, but warming up to the refreshing embrace all the same. ❝It's a long story. Yes, the others . . . They came for us, Pierce.❞ Sophie replied next to her friend's face, who had just started crying. Always the crybaby, even if she was a big girl now. That day, when she had thought about her birthday, seemed so long ago, now. Before she could form anymore coherent thoughts, Pierce pulled Sophie in again, but not for a hug — she kissed her. It was probably the first time Pierce had rendered her silent instead of the other way around. Her mind swirled with possibilities and the circumstances. Now in a relatively dazed state, Sophie found herself standing in the hallway once more, Pierce holding her hand. Lucas eyed the pair of them and their connected hands, but then when Pierce let go, Sophie looked at her. ❝Oliver,❞ Oh, right. He was here, too. She suddenly wished that he wasn't because of the salty taste on her lips. She inwardly sighed and thought about the situation as Pierce unsteadily celebrated his life. He was alive, of course, why wouldn't he be? Unless . . . Unless she was worried that he would be dead because he was there at the hide-and-seek game, too. But how did Pierce know that? She wouldn't unless they had found each other, or were together from the start. Sophie narrowed her tired, pale eyes at Oliver. If he had been there, with Pierce, why was she captured, and not him? Luck of the draw, maybe? Or unlucky, for the girl. Sophie would have known if he was in one of the vaults with him, but he hadn't been. So what happened to put Pierce in the position, and not him? ❝Hey um, guys, not to ruin the moment or, uh, anything. But shouldn't we like, get out of this place? Ya see, we had to acquire the key from someone else, and I really wouldn't want to stick around for when she, um, realizes where we are.❞ Sophie looked up at Dennis, a face that brought distant memories of a Christmas party gone wrong. She then glanced over at Quentin, who seemed to be shuffling his feet at the mention of this maid, and the key. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know their means of acquiring that key. ❝Dennis is right.❞ Bryan began, sounding impatient, ❝Let's get on the move, then.❞ He turned towards Lucas and motioned for the card, but the young man wasn't having it, and slipped the card into his own pocket. Bryan didn't look happy. Before they got moving, Quentin appeared, yet again, but with a young girl in tow, on his back. Sophie frowned at the unconscious body; she must have been the maid. The group began to walk towards another door in the hallway that none of them had come through. Without thinking about it, Sophie grabbed Pierce's hand, glanced at Oliver with questioning eyes, and then began to walk with the rest. When they reached the door, Lucas quietly maneuvered to the front of the group, using the access key to get through. She felt like this was going to be a long day . . .
⎛ DAY 5 ‖ 2/3 ⎠ ☁ ⎛ DATE ‖ MARCH 18TH ⎠ ☁ ⎛ LOCATION ‖ VAULTS ⎠⎛ MOOD ‖ DAZED ⎠ ☁ ⎛ ❤!! ‖ 0% ⎠ ☁ ⎛ WEARING ⎠ ❝ . . . . . ❞ ♡ ~ ✖ ~ ♡She didn't know how long she had been in the white bed, inside the giant vault, being held against her will, but most of that time was spent between consciousness and sleeping most of the time, she felt completely lethargic and usually only moved to shift. The horrific, pathetic excuse for a game of hide-and-seek had seemed like it was ages ago. Her only real regret was being caught by that group of girls, but, for some reason, they had spared her life. The game had been called to an end as soon as they had caught her. She had been self-depreciating about the whole ordeal, mostly because she couldn't outfox the group, but she had to give herself brownie points; for all of her injuries, she had brought down some of the others trying to kill her. On the downside, she had been captured, and then discovered that Pierce had been apart of the game, too, though that section was mostly blurry, and she couldn't remember if she had dreamed it up or not. Hopefully, it was the former. How had Pierce being at that campfire in the first place escape her? Shouldn't Oliver had been with her, too? The last time she had seen the either of them, they had left her at the festival. Her tired mind flickered back to the present, where, strangely enough, there were voices. For a moment, she thought she might have started hallucinating, especially when one of them was calling her name. There was a familiar woosh just like always when the giant metal door opened, and then more shuffling and voices. . . . Chaton? ❝Lucas . . .❞ She was sitting up now, despite the searing pain of her multiple and various injuries, and was looking the face of the one person whose existence had kept her sane, and then next to him, ❝Freddie, too.❞ A wave of emotion washed over her and she couldn't help but throw her arms around both of them, feeling like she was going to cry, only it became worse because all of her injuries burned. With Lucas' coat around her smaller frame, Sophie stepped out into the white hallway, hearing some noises and yelling, but mostly blocking them out and then inspecting the rest of the group. No Oliver, no Pierce. Another one of the vault doors was open and Sophie, barefoot and all, limped her way over to it, and looked inside to see her friend laying on a similar-to-her-own white bed. To her relief, she was breathing, and only looked a little worse for the wear. She slowly made her way over to her, and placed a hand on her face, stroking it almost lovingly. Pierce had to go through that hell of a game, too? Where had Oliver been? She wondered if he had been there that night, too. Probably not. She couldn't remember if she had seen him or not, but that didn't matter. Pierce was alive. Sophie smiled, and tears began to blur her vision; she had really become emotionally invested in this weird little relationship, hadn't she? She leaned over and kissed Pierce's forehead, wondering if she would open her eyes soon. ❝You should wake up soon, we won't be staying here very long, I don't think.❞ Sophie murmured against Pierce's forehead. Quiet footsteps interrupted her thoughts and she looked over her shoulder to see Oliver. Sophie wasn't sure what to say. She guessed it was nice that he was alive. She mentally shook her head. Best to leave it at that. Leaving him to it, she left the Pierce-vault and returned to Lucas and Freddie, leaning onto the latter. After a series of events involving calming speeches and psychotic rampages, Bryan was laughing, and saying that they should move on, even further into the facility to find Noëlle and Jonathan. She was still in loads of pain, and leaned against Lucas. ❝Thank you for coming,❞ she mumbled to him in French, and he glanced down at her. ❝They were going to kill us, I heard, if we didn't . . . What was it they said? . . . Convert. I suppose that meant giving us the green-eye treatment.❞ Lucas gave a light laugh at this, and Bryan's attention snapped onto them. ❝What's that?❞ he asked and Sophie twitched at the slightly scary aura that he gave off, where then, Lucas stepped to be in front of her slightly. She coughed awkwardly, not in the mood to mess around with him, so she just out with it, ❝Pierce and I were set up for execution, in a month. There was something about testing, and when it was over . . . But they would only kill us if we didn't 'convert'.❞ she explained in a cracking, slightly hoarse voice, ❝Which I assume means turning us into one of their citizens . . .❞ She remembered reading about the population spike. Was this how they had gone about it; luring/kidnapping people, converting them, and then killing them if they didn't comply? ❝You wouldn't look good with green eyes, I don't think.❞ Lucas murmured to her, and she returned a small smile, wanting to laugh, but feeling too tired. She looked past Bryan to see Quentin, a relief, a sight for sore eyes, Dennis, and Cane moving towards them. ❝Cane,❞ Lucas began to ask, ❝do you know anything about this . . . 'conversion'?❞ She limped back into Pierce's vault again, and walked in to return to sitting on her bed. She grabbed her hand and winced at its cold feeling. ❝Wake up,❞ she hummed tiredly, squeezing her hand.
⎝ DAY 5┊2/3 ⎞ ❧ ⎝ DATE┊MARCH 18TH ⎞ ❧ ⎝ LOCATION┊VAULTS ⎞⎝ MOOD┊. . . ⎞ ❧ ⎝ ❤??┊0% ⎞ ❧ ⎝ WEARING ⎞ ❧ ⎝ OOC┊ — ⎞ Bryan was finally going to have lost his shit, and it would have happened too, if it hadn't been for that meddling one-eyed man! What was he even thinking right now? He could hardly compose a coherent thought, and most everything that went through his mind either made no sense or was completely influenced by a thirst for blood. Just before he could reach Cane and slice her throat open, a large hand grabbed his arm and he tripped, nearly impaling himself with the knife, but moving it out of the way just in time. Julius had a knee on his back and basically incapacitated him, and for god's sake, took his knife away! He began to violently thrash against the man, knocking him in the face, stomach, arm, and chest, but Julius wasn't having any of his psychotic thrashing and held him down, shoving his face against the ground. Julius yelled him, and slowly, Bryan began to be quelled by his more reasonable side which had, unfortunately, decided to make it's long-overdue appearance. Why was he attacking Cane again? He actually liked her, and it wasn't like she personally kidnapped Noëlle — right? It was unlikely, the small voice in the back of his mind said. Don't be an idiot, Bryan. Yeah Bryan, don't be an idiot! . . . "Bryan, your sister is alive." Bryan stopped thrashing and tuned into the voice. He couldn't see behind him, and wasn't really registering who was talking, but they continued, "You think she'd still have an entire vault reserved for her if she weren't? . . . Obviously she's not here, but . . ." He fell limp against the ground. For a moment, he forced himself to think rationally. Before, the vault had just been there to tease him, to provoke him because he was a failure of a brother — of a human, but come to think of it, why would the Grants have a vault for someone who was dead already? Unless they hadn't cleaned it yet . . . He closed his eyes, feeling tears sting at them again. I'm going to completely flip my fucking shit. he thought to himself. The voice of reason, who Bryan finally realized was Oliver, began talking again, "I think she's herself, too. If she were brainwashed or whatever Bentley calls it, then . . . well, I don't think she'd have a vault. Otherwise we'd probably be seeing some familiar faces." After he was done talking, it was quiet in the hallway for a long time, and Bryan, his face practically hidden from everyone against the hard ground, was silently sobbing. He took a few minutes to compose himself, and then told Julius to get off him. He got up, dusted himself off, wiped his face, and gingerly glanced up at Cane. She seemed unperturbed by the turn of events, and he muttered an apology to her, moving to pick up his knife. "Don't touch it if you're going to charge again." started a stern, harsh voice, and Bryan glanced up to meet the intense blue eyes of Quentin, who glared fiercely at him. He narrowed his own green eyes, and while acting childishly defiant, picked up the knife and skillfully closed it, slipping it into his pocket once more. He gave a wide, refreshing stretch and let out a groan after loosening up his muscles. That had been . . . interesting. Psychotic tendencies, fun stuff. He made his way back over to the main group, "Alright, well," he began, slightly awkward, and then gave a laugh, "Sorry about that. I guess. We should keep moving. If Ollie here is right, then she'll — . . . they'll be down here. We're going to find them. Sound good to everyone?" . . . It wasn't like he left much room for debate anyway.
S O L U T I O N • A N D • R E L I E F Because of the maid from earlier, Lucas had surmised that there were only three tries for a passcode, and when two of them were spent, wrong, on NOËLLE's vault Lucas felt frustrated, and then there was even more argument and debate about what the passwords were. After one, very long, very arduous hour, they finally decided on a set of numbers, and Lucas tried the first on SOPHIE's vault, which caused it to . . . to . . . It opened. And there she was, lying on a white mattress, clothed in a simple white garment, eyes closed. For a long moment, Lucas feared she might have been dead, and then what? Aside from FATIME, SOPHIE was the last of two people who held his strings of humanity up, and without her, he was that much closer to losing interest in life of all forms and doing something many people would say he would regret. He eyed her closer and then saw the steady rise and fall of her chest. She was still alive. That was . . . That was good. In a daze ( only if you really knew Lucas could you tell that he was in a daze ) he proceeded to open the rest of the vaults, hardly checking if they had occupants, and then returned to the opening of SOPHIE's TORVALD had begun a REVOLUTIONARY SPEECH, but Lucas was hardly tuning in, until his hand was grabbed, and then he was yanked inside. He didn't realize it, but he laughed loudly at the name 'Miss Baguette', and thought she would have found it funny too, were she awake. After he — cough — pirouetted out of the vault, Lucas made his way over to her bedside, joining a teary-eyed FREDDIE. ❝Pull yourself together.❞ he told the other, quietly. To showcase so much emotion . . . Lucas felt a slight sting, but then smiled, stroking her face; it was cold, but she was most surely alive still. Outside of the vault, TORVALD was saying something else, but for long moments, he and SOPHIE were the only things existing. It was good to know she was alive. ❝Hey, can you hear me? Sophie!❞ Lucas clicked his tongue and put his hand over FREDDIE's mouth to get him to stop yelling, and then returned his attention to her. ❝Nico, Chaton is out in the garden again.❞ he murmured near her face, and she shifted slightly, and then mumbled something in reply. ❝You're not going to get him? He'll disappear again.❞ ❝You go and get him, I'm too tired . . .❞ ❝You know that he dislikes me.❞ ❝Then let him runaway . . .❞ ❝You don't mean that.❞ She sat up and glared at him, tired, but fierce. ❝Chaton doesn't like me either!❞ she argued childishly, and then winced. She took a long moment to look around, and then returned to her senses. ❝Lucas . . .❞ she murmured, eyes wide, and then looked at FREDDIE, ❝Freddie, too.❞ To his surprise, she pulled the both of them in a hug that made her yelp in pain. ❝Ah, fuck.❞ Lucas pulled away, and quickly inspected her injuries. She looked worse for the wear, definitely, and Lucas turned to FREDDIE, ❝Could you excuse us for a moment?❞ he asked, and then ushered him out of the vault. They stood against the wall, hidden from view of the others and Lucas inspected her naked form as she scowled. ❝Alright, put it back on.❞ he told her, and then draped his jacket on her, ushering her out of the vault to join the others. A commotion with BRYAN seemed to be happening. Had NOËLLE not been in her vault? He didn't stay long enough to check.
⎝ DAY 5┊1/3 ⎞ ❧ ⎝ DATE┊MARCH 18TH ⎞ ❧ ⎝ LOCATION┊VAULTS ⎞⎝ MOOD┊. . . ! ⎞ ❧ ⎝ ❤??┊0% ⎞ ❧ ⎝ WEARING ⎞ ❧ ⎝ OOC┊ — ⎞ Bryan had almost killed Lucas, knife out and ready to shank and all, the son of a bitch. The only reason he hadn't was because he was going to open Noëlle's vault, and he needed to be alive for that. He had tried two passwords, and when both of them failed, he sighed, went over to Sophie's vault, and thought about hers for a long time. It made him mad, but there was something almost scary about Lucas that made Bryan wait. After too long a time, Sophie's vault was opened, and then Pierce's, and then Jonathan's ( Bryan was happy for Julius ), and then, finally, finally, the moment of truth, Lucas opened up Noëlle's vault, and Bryan didn't waste a heartbeat running into it, only to find it . . . Empty. The world stopped turning. He stopped breathing. Nothing passed through his senses except for pure white noise that filled the entire void around him. Snap. • • • • • . . . I wasn't entirely sure of what I was doing, but it felt more like I was an outsider looking in! Kind of weird. I had a first-person view of the world, which was kind of neat, but I couldn't really control my body or anything else. Everything around me felt like it was on fire that just crazily popped up as if the devil himself stampeded through the area like a crazy, skinless Titan. Before I really knew what I was doing, the mattress in the vault had been pretty much ripped to shreds, and I was screaming! I think that was me doing it, but I felt kind of bad about it — the mattress didn't do anything . . . It wasn't its fault that my sister, the person I love more than anyone or anything else in the whole wide universe, wasn't in here. But I couldn't stop. Where was she, I wondered? What she getting enough to eat? Sleep? Did she make friends . . . She was awfully lonely sometimes, and that's why I needed to be there for her. But when she needed me most, I vanished. Three months later, here I am looking for her, having my hopes up so high that she would be here, in this vault, only to find out that she wasn't . . . I'm a terrible big brother. I'm sorry Noëy. I'm sorry that I'm such a shitty older brother, and that I couldn't protect you. These Bentley guys definitely have something to do with your disappearance, and I'll find out what it is, for sure! Ah, looks like I'm leaving the vault now, and my handy butterfly knife is opened. There's the innkeeper, Cane. Cane. She's a citizen of Bentley. Bentley is the reason you're gone, Noëy. Hey, I'm going to kill Cane now, is that okay? • • • • • Bryan sharply darted out of the vault and began sprinting, low, fast, towards Cane, his knife open and ready to strike. This was their fault, and they would pay. Since Cane wasn't at fault for anything, clearly, Bryan wasn't in his right mind. Quentin jumped in the way of Cane, but Bryan wasn't having it; that guy wasn't the one he was after. Almost there . . .
ATTEMPT #6 __ NOËLLE MARILYN CHAMBERS ⌈ I N P U T ; 1 5 4 3 ⌋
