327

by FoundtoArrive

Some people choose not to recognize some things in this reality. Now that Jim, Bones, and Spock are trapped in a universe where dangerous animals exist, they must acknowledge the existence of evil that solely hunts them down. Room 327. There was no way out until the morning shift, stranding them. Fear. That was all they felt. "Get us out," they begged. "Get us out."

1. Chapter 1

HELL

Starfleet had always been superstitious. Of course, when it involved their scientific reasoning, things like the supernatural were completely out of the box. However, it wasn't uncommon for officers to encounter unexplainable things during their trips to deep space or even at the academy. Moving objects and unnatural shadows weren't classified as "mortal dangers," so if anything were to happen, everyone would have to live with it. Starships were no different. Actually, they are the places where it's most likely to encounter something strange. Flickering lights, strange cold spots, disappearing things. Predictably, considering that people lose their lives on said ships every once in a while. Unfortunately, the most famous flagship rumored to have the worst supernatural occurrences was none other than the Enterprise.

Since the battle of Yorktown, the Enterprise has gone through many repairs and even more crewmates. Lives were lost, so much that it left an eerie feeling deep within the corridors that no one dared to mention. The lower decks have their fair share of gossip, which soon goes up in rank. When it reached the Captain, everyone in the alpha crew became skeptical — everyone, that is, the Captain, the CMO, and the First Officer. While they had heard this through the frightened whispers of the crew, it made Kirk all the more determined to calm his crew.

Up until he experienced one taste of the unexplained himself.

"I mean, seriously, a haunted ship?" Jim huffed unhappily, his face a near-pout as his best friend ranted about how ridiculous it sounded. "You've got to be kiddin'. There's no such thing as ghosts, Jim!"

"Oh yeah?" The man refuted this with another indignant huff. "So how do you explain that my quarters, which no one has access to unless permitted by either you or the First Officer, have been completely destroyed. Hm? And if that wasn't enough, when I tried to leave, the door wouldn't OPEN. So, how does that not sound like a spooky story?"

"A rather simple explanation, Captain." Rolling his eyes, Jim prepared for the ever-logical words of the Vulcan. "Someone trespassed into your quarters and meddled with your private belongings in some form of human emotion-inducing activity, and your door refusing would be a part of a small technical malfunction. You should not bother, sir. I had already reported the issue to engineering and the break-in to security. We shall find the crewmate soon enough."

"Christ, it's not a malfunction and a joke, Commander! Something non-living destroyed my room, I know it!"

McCoy sighed heavily as Spock raised an eyebrow. "Jim, you said not three days ago that everythin' the crew has been talkin' about is just ghost stories. There is no such thing as ghosts."

Jim grumbled under his breath, noticeably sinking into the center chair like a whiny child in the doctor's opinion. Right then, Spock had realized that the two officers at the helm were far from the embarrassment of their captain and were speaking quietly about an eyebrow-raising topic that certainly caught his attention.

"Helm," he acknowledged, making both Sulu and Chekov straighten at attention. Spock's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, sensing the amount of nervousness bleeding from their minds. "Elaborate on your references to '327'. You both seem fairly engaged in it."

At once, everyone on the bridge (apart from the centered three) stiffened at the mention of it. As Jim and McCoy exchanged glances, the two stuttered under the XO's scrutinizing stare. Eventually, Sulu sighed in defeat.

"It's, uh, a room number on sub-level 3, the lower deck's cabin floor," he said uneasily. "It's just a rumor, sir. Everyone talks about that room like a disease. Says that it's haunted but, uh, w-we don't believe that." He exchanged a nervous snort with Chekov. "Like, it can't be the most haunted place on the ship because of what some evil worshipers did while the ship was being built. No, haha, no way."

"Because der is no such ting as ghosts!" The navigator added with a beaming smile.

"Exactly."

"Except when all those who enter it can't even last the night because of what that room does to them," Uhura offered from her station, sending a chill between the two. McCoy loudly rolled his eyes.

"Was that why some Ensigns came to me out of the blue with serious paranoia a few weeks back? Dammit, this whole ship has lost its mind!" He yelled while Kirk chuckled humorlessly. Spock hummed, pondering for a moment before addressing the two.

"Perhaps we shall spend the night in cabin 327-"

"What?"

"Kommendeer, ju can't! Eet is dangerous!"

"Yeah! You might never come out!"

"Everyone, settle down," he ordered, his expression stern. "This is a social experiment for the chance of knowledge. Spending the night in the cabin and proving that there was no otherworldly activity would allow the entire crew to calm themselves from the absurdity of the fiction of the supernatural." He gazed at the uncertain Captain and Doctor. "There is no reason to fear something that does simply not exist. When we prove that there is nothing, then the crew can finally forget this preposterous idea and continue to work admirably."

"You mean if we prove that there is nothing," Jim corrected with a small gulp. Suddenly, he straightened, nodding in agreement. "But you're right. If we prove that nothing is wrong, then no one can freak out."

"Precisely."

"Alright, I'm in." He looked up at the Doctor. "Bones? You in?"

McCoy scoffed, crossing his arms. "Yeah, whatever. I'm just goin' so I can shove it in yer face that there's nothin' that's scary except findin' someone's used condom."

Jim snorted, but Spock confusedly tilted his head. "How does one's-?"

"Eh!" The Captain clamped his hand over the Vulcan's mouth, shutting him up instantly. "Sh. Don't. Ask. And Bones quit it with that vocabulary! You know how Spock gets when he hears something like that, like a two-year-old talking without thinking."

The crew snickered to themselves as the Vulcan peeled the man's hand away, stepping a reasonable distance away to wipe his face and subtly shutter. As everyone turned back to work, the Captain began to make preparations for their hunt, suggesting that they bring flashlights, their phasers, holy water, and a cross, which were all removed eventually, with the two other party members agreeing that they wouldn't bring anything but their communicators in case of an emergency during their experiment. While Jim was disheartened, he was at least allowed to carry a small cross just to satisfy his fears.

Eventually, their shift ended sooner than the humans wanted. The three of them, with the rest of the senior crew following, made their way to the infamous cabin. Kirk and McCoy couldn't help but feel a sense of forbidding apprehension growing as they grew closer. Of course, the latter didn't believe that the room was haunted, but the people's warnings and nervous looks he was given by passing crewmates didn't help his anxiety. Jim was the same, though he had a better deal of hiding his discomfort. While he wasn't religious in a sense, he'd seen plenty of holovids to see that evil was blocked by crosses, so the small item in his pocket made him feel a bit better. He cast a glance at the commanding Vulcan officer, who was clearly skeptical of this thing, and wished he had the same courage.

It wasn't long when they arrived, staring at the door marked 327 in an ominous bold that seemed to glare back.

"Are ye sure you want to do dis?" Scotty frowned uncertainly. "Aye canne tell ye dat eet isn't likely you weel return. You will be mourned, Cap'n."

"Thanks for the reassuring speech, Scotty, but we'll be back sooner than you know it," Jim flashed an annoyed smile as Spock went ahead and unlocked the door with an access code. It hissed open to show the dark abyss of the room. The ones not going in took a noticeable step back the moment they saw it.

"Call if there's an emergency," Uhura mentioned, her tone professional as always. "I'll be monitoring your frequencies."

Jim nodded as the Vulcan went ahead and entered the room, determined to prove a point. "We'll be out by the start of the next shift tomorrow. You do the same if something happens, and we'll be out in a jiffy. Sulu, you have comm."

"Aye, sir." They all looked toward the room, hearing the faint sounds of things moving from within it. "I think you'd better get on with it, Captain. We'll see you soon."

As Jim and McCoy entered the room right after, the door shut behind them, submerging the duo into total darkness. The two tensely drew breaths, still with apprehension. They could hear nothing, see nothing. It was darker than dark, blacker than black. All they could think was, where the hell did the Vulcan go? Then, there were footsteps, faint but there. The two pressed against themselves, their gaze snapping to the right, staring at nothing for all they knew.

"Spock?" Jim whispered into the darkness.

Suddenly, the light flickered on and they stared at the Vulcan who stood tall by the wall, his finger on the light switch and an eyebrow raised dangerously high into his hairline. The two sighed in relief before their anger got the best of them.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" McCoy growled, grabbing the nearest item and throwing it at the XO. Fortunately, it was merely a pillow. Watching it hit his chest and drop to the floor, the Vulcan merely tilted his head in the form of a shrug. "You coulda turned on the lights sooner! Yer lucky we don' have any phasers 'cause I coulda shot yer ass!"

"I find your panic highly illogical, Doctor," Spock stated matter-of-factly before turning toward the room. "Furthermore, I needed the lights off. I heard an organism within the room and I did not want to startle it with the light. However, I figured that you both would have trouble with your entrance, so I reestablished the bulb."

"Wait, you said you found an animal here?" Jim wondered aloud, gazing around the dusty room with a frown. Obviously, no one has occupied this place for a few years, surprising him. He looked back at his First. "How can any animals survive out here? We don't even have flies on this entire ship."

"Somehow, these insects have found their way aboard," said the Vulcan, walking over to the couch, moving it in a way that resembled the sounds from earlier, and bending down near the wall. They followed his finger, spotting a hole below the carpet and a dead cockroach beside it. Much to their disgust, he grabbed it to show them properly.

"Aw, dude. Gross," Jim muttered. "I hate roaches."

"I believe they had gathered from our previous rendezvous to Starbase VI and infiltrated the ship from one of the containment units," Spock acknowledged offhandedly, handing McCoy the roach without warning – "Fuck!" He screeched, dropping it instantly – as he stood to further push away the couch. The brown carpet under it was fairly old, which explained a few holes. "I believe that it would be beneficial to discover the source of the infestation before it evolves more."

"Fuckin', fine!" The Doctor grumbled, assisting the other to get a few things out of the way. "I didn' come here fer renovation, damn it, but I guess we gotta do somethin' for the rest of the night."

"Like hunt for ghosts," Jim snickered before going to help. The three of them kneeled down on the carpet, cutting it open with the scalpel McCoy had from his handy medical kit and holding it. "On a count of three, pull. One… Two… Three."

In one swift pull, the carpet tore and unleashed absolutely hundreds of cockroaches in its wake. The three of them staggered back, the humans yelping in surprise and shock while the Vulcan plugged his nose, a horrendous scent infiltrating his nostrils. The roaches spread like worms, making everyone step back and stomp at them (courtesy of Kirk and McCoy) as they scrambled to the nearest chair and couch for protection.

"Ugh, this is disgusting," McCoy gagged. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"It is not you who has heightened senses because of your lineage, Doctor," Spock muttered, looking the most nauseous with his expressionless face. Jim's eyes narrowed as he gazed within the pit of insects, spotting a strange dark color beneath it. As he leaned closer, the chair he stood on began to creak, to his alarm. He looked down, his heart speeding up when he realized that these roaches were chewing through the wood.

"U-Uh, guys?!"

They both looked at Jim, but then the floor below them groaned loudly. Suddenly, Spock dropped down, bursting a hole into the rusted metal, holding on with all his strength.

"Spock!" The two yelled, reaching out to grab him. The Vulcan could only stare. His eyes widened as the insects crawled over him and the strong scent became overbearing when – "Spock, no!" – he plummeted into the pit with a grunt, disappearing without a trace of him in sight. Before they could think, Jim's chair collapsed, breaking the floor and causing the couch to fall along with him, sending both him and McCoy into the pit. His shouts endured as he watched the light from the room slowly grow smaller before his surroundings were engulfed in complete darkness. His voice was cut short as he frantically looked around, looking for Bones or Spock or a way out; he spotted a faint grey glow beneath him. That wasn't good. At this speed, he'll surely break at least his legs when he gets to the bottom. A cry resumed in his throat, his body flailing as it desperately tried to grab anything that might break his fall. The ground became closer and closer until he landed.

"Oof!"

On something... soft.

He sat up, looking down at what he landed, only to widen his eyes at the pile of Starfleet officers he had practically crushed under his weight. But he was delighted to see that they were in one piece and together again. "Bones! Spock!"

"C-Captain," Spock grunted in pain (the most emotion he'd heard in a long time!) and clearly having had the air knocked out of him because he was at the bottom of the stack. "If you would be willing, get off so that McCoy can rid himself from me… please."

That's when he realized that he hadn't moved. "O-Oh! Sorry." He hopped off, watching as they slowly lifted themselves up before observing where they landed. They were definitely not in the Enterprise anymore, that's for sure. There were buildings, old and some were covered in vines that resembled 20th-century earth. It was gloomy, the sky raining non-stop ashes with the hint of something burning in the air. Wherever they were, it was creepy. He jumped when McCoy punched him in the arm, grumbling that he could have landed somewhere else before realizing where they were.

"What the hell? Where the hell are we?" He made his demand to no one in particular. No one had a proper answer as they were equally left in the dark.

"No longer on the ship, I presume," Spock mentioned, with that ever-Vulcan nonchalance back in place as if he had never become a pointy-eared pancake. He took out his communicator and began adjusting the settings to contact the crew while the other two humans roamed outward.

"Well, this is Class M, that's for sure. Probably pre-warp considering the 20th-century Earth look," Jim concluded with a cross of his arms. "I'd suggest we keep a low profile and uphold the Prime Directive if there was anyone to uphold it too."

"Yeah, a town with no townsfolk? What type of Twilight Zone shit is this? Where the hell is everyone?"

"If I knew that Bones, I wouldn't have been asking in the first place." They turned when the Vulcan approached them, looking troubled. "No dice?"

"If you mean that I could not reach them, then the answer would be 'no'. I cannot reach a single frequency. Our communicators are useless," he said grimly. Jim harrumphed.

"Then, we'll have to find something that can get a signal. If this is a town, then there should be people nearby. My guess is that they're staying in a town hall of some sort," he reasoned. The silence around here was heavy and unusual, making him wonder if the others noticed it too.

They began their journey without saying anything else, each of them keeping a close eye on the world they'd found themselves in. It confused them all greatly, wondering how they could have gotten into such a mess from a simple room on the lower decks of a starship. Their footsteps seemed to be the only sound within miles, their feet trudging along the ash-strewn road with uncertainty and tension. Nothing about this town settled right with them, and it kept them from truly feeling calm. It wasn't long until they found the edge of town; unfortunately, the term became more literal than anyone ever thought to expect.

"What. The. Hell."

McCoy's blurted statement wasn't for nothing. The trio could only stare in silence as the road abruptly ended, a ravine slicing through it, showing no bottom and no other side. Across from them was a thick fog, supplying no information as to where they might be or how they could ever leave. Something settled deeply in their stomachs, and it only took a moment to realize that it was dread.

"It stretches around the sides," Spock noticed, looking far to the left and then swinging his head to the right, careful not to lean too far over the edge. "It is likely that it wraps around the town."

"You think?" Jim glared, already feeling more helpless by the second. "Come on, we have to find those people or else…" The possibility of never leaving hanging in the air is unsaid for now. "Well, you know."

Just as they turned, they all froze when they captured a small figure in the distance. It was too hard to see their faces, but it was obvious that it was a child. They all quickly glanced at each other before the captain made the first move to address them. Cupping his hands, he yelled out, his voice echoing in the windless town. "Hey, kid!" His call wasn't directly responded to. An echo of a child's laughter reached their ears before she turned and ran off. "Hey, wait! We want to talk to you! We need help!"

Instinctively, they followed, racing through the ash. The trio only had the chance to catch a glimpse of the girl disappearing into a library. They entered cautiously. A slight jingle heard from the doors was the only sound that echoed within the building. It was dark, barely allowing them to see a few feet in front of them. The library was barren of books and chairs. There was no one there, and the girl was nowhere in sight.

McCoy approached the largest desk in the center, looking for any useful items, anything that might tell them where they were and where they could find people. It took a minute, but he found a flashlight. He thanked the gods that it turned on without a hitch.

"We've got light!" He exclaimed with joy. But then, something moved above them. Something big. Everyone froze at the low growl, sending shudders up their bodies. The flashlight in the doctor's hands shook, making an unfocused blur on their bodies. Ever so slowly, his arms moved automatically with his head, simultaneously trailing up the walls until he pointed the light at the ceiling and palled a few shades lighter as his eyes made contact with what was up there. The other two followed his gaze, watching the light shake harsher as they stared at something, some inhuman creature with no eyes and a mouth that split open at the base of its chin, revealing razor-sharp teeth and a slithering black tongue. It branched out like a spider, its ends merely nubs, and its body made of a woman, bare and naked. It twitched under the light, screeching slightly, but making no other move. But that didn't strike the terror out of the humans.

"J-J-J-Ji-i-im," Bones whispered in fright, jumping when the monster twitched closer toward him. He couldn't tear his eyes from it, it was too much, too… too… too…

When a hand wrapped around his mouth, Bones let out a muffled holler, jumping practically a foot high as if he hadn't been held in place. The creature screeched, now dangling dangerously close to him, so much so that he could feel the hot rotting breath that cascaded upon him. His eyes snapped to the owner of the hand, his confusion and fear mixing into one when he saw the hobgoblin closely beside him, his eyes fixed on the creature, and Jim on the other side with a hand also tightly clamped across his mouth.

"It is blind." Spock's voice was soft, so quiet that he nearly thought he was imagining it when he barely saw his lips move. Fortunately, it didn't seem to notice. "It uses sound to detect where we are… You will move slowly and delicately to the second floor. I spotted stairs in the far corner of the room on the left. If you hear it moving, stop. We must split up or we will be vulnerable together." He then removed his hands from the stunned humans, casting one last glance among them before grabbing the flashlight and turning it off.

Darkness came instantly, engulfing them in blindness and fear. McCoy cursed loudly in his head, feeling someone's hand squeezing his shoulder in reassurance before dropping. Must have been Jim, he thought. His eyes scanned the area, the very little light coming from the windows nearby allowing him to see silhouettes going to the left and right. He sucked in a deep breath, flinching when the creature a few feet above him did the same before he took his first step forward. The ground was wood, which meant his boots unintentionally made that soft tapping sound with each step. He tensed with every sound, hoping and praying to whatever deity that the creature wouldn't notice.

Spock said that the stairs were in the back left, but he could barely see anything! No way was he going to make it without tripping over and alarming the monster with his presence. Shit, what the hell was this room?! He should have taken the advice of those damn ensigns! This was insane! He narrowed his eyes, attempting to see anything past where he was. Was he going in the right direction? Did he pass the stairs? Damn it, why doesn't he use the flashlight? The hobgoblin said that the thing can't see, so it shouldn't be a problem if he turns it on, right?

With that thought in mind, he raised the flashlight and flicked it on. The first and only thing he saw was the hideous face of a woman dangling by a white rope in front of him. A barely repressed shout erupted from his mouth before he clamped his hand over it. His body stilled for just a moment, his ears straining with such furiousness that he thought that his eardrums might rip open. And it only took a moment for the thunderous movement to occur and search him like a bloodhound during hunting season. McCoy was off like a rocket, forgetting to be quiet as warned, and stomped his way through the library, his flashlight wildly bobbing up and down with his sprinting. He forgot about what he needed to do or who was with him. All his instincts told him was to GET OUT. The stairs were in his sight, quickly approaching, and he thought he was going to make it when he heard a shout.

"Bones, NO!"

Then something sticky and strong caught him like a fish, wrapping around his neck and pulling him down against the wood with a loud thud before hauling him into the air. His flashlight had dropped since then, his hands occupied as they frantically attempted to rip the rope, feeling oxygen quickly depleting from its cut supply. His eyes strained to look up, vaguely seeing the string coming from the creature's mouth, luring him closer to his demise. His face had changed into a whole different color by then, his chokes echoing weakly as his body slowly gave up on escape. Just as his vision began to fade, something jostled the rope with such force that it snapped in half, causing McCoy to fall onto the floor with heavily missed gasps of air.

"Come on, move!" Jim's voice was faintly heard in his ringing ears. Bones weakly complied, putting all force to be lifted and running off toward the stairs. "Shit! Spock, let's go!"

Thunderous footsteps came marching their way. The three of them ran up the stairs, sprinting with all the energy they had to reach the top, the footsteps disappearing long before they ever chose to stop. They found a room, a small one devoid of anything but one clear door for entrance. They piled inside, practically collapsing onto the floor in their heavy pants. Their breaths were forced to stay quiet, however, as they strained to hear anything that might have followed them outside the door. There was nothing, but they felt far from safe.

"Are you okay?" Jim's question sounded dumb in his mind, but McCoy nodded nevertheless. His breath returned to normal (or as normal as it could get in this situation). He suddenly realized that they were still in the dark, so they couldn't see it.

"Uh, yeah… yeah, I'm good."

There was a tense pause after that, no one knowing how to fill it. The Doctor caressed his neck, grunting softly at the soreness of it. It would leave a bruise, he knew it.

"We have to get out of here."

Something in that statement alone made McCoy's fists clench. "How, Jim? We're fuckin' stuck here and there doesn't seem to be a way out."

"Then getting to those townsfolk is even more demanding," Kirk responded softly, with no malice to compete with his friend. "What I want to know is what that thing was. I've never seen anything like it."

McCoy frowned, thinking the same. "Yeah. It's never recorded. Do you think that this planet hasn't made First Contact yet?"

"Could be. Spock, what are the chances that room 327 somehow transported us to an unknown planet?"

There was silence.

"Hobgoblin?" A light flickered on, aimed at the floor, dimly lighting up the room. So Jim picked up his flashlight—that was good. His attention returned to Vulcan, his gaze tensely on the XO, who seemed disconnected from the situation. He analyzed his face, taking in every detail in an attempt to find out what was wrong. "Hobgoblin? We're talkin' to ya!"

Spock blinked, and then he was back. "I apologize. I seem to have been distracted," he said softly, his brown-eyed stare slowly flickering over the two. "What was your query?"

"What are the chances that we are on an unexplored planet?" Jim repeated, his frown evenly placed on his face. There was a scrunched look deep within the eyes, something that the Vulcan didn't seem to notice.

"I do not know."

The news made them backtrack. "You don't know? How the hell can you not know? You're always babblin' about statistics. You can't think up some numbers now?!"

"Doctor, I told you that I do not know," Spock emphasized ever so slightly with a hardened tone. "I am as much 'in the dark' as you are and, in this current predicament, it is in the literal sense. I cannot provide an answer you keep pestering me for."

Bones recoiled a little, not expecting such a response. Before anyone could respond, their communicators burst with static, making them all jump. The trio scattered up, watching as the ground and the walls peeled back into metal and an odd, flesh-like material. The walls pulsed as they breathed, a few places stitched with clamping teeth and staring eyes. There was nothing that kept them in the room anymore. The metal gate that was originally the door had disappeared, revealing a similar hellish state. The trio trickled out, observing their new environment with sickening awe.

"If this isn't Hell, I don't know what is," McCoy grumbled under his breath. The area groaned in the movement now, metal clinking together and unknown growls resounding from deep within the walls.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to stick around and find out," Jim huffed, glancing down at the rusted floor and the long distant flames. Hope this doesn't break. Wouldn't want to burn to death, he thought grimly as he led them toward the stairs, only to find them completely blocked off with rusted wires that, if they were to crawl through them, would be ripped to shreds. "So much for this being our exit. Look around; see if you can find another way out. And, I swear, don't go far."

The other two quietly agreed as they navigated through the fleshy remains of the second-floor library. Spock took his place in the back corner, inspecting each office room with a keen eye for anything that might point them in the right direction. The entirety of their location made his stomach churn, his heightened Vulcan senses affecting his performance; the scent of the burning flesh had him holding his breath every now and then; the shadows that danced across the dark pigmented walls had him double-checking that he did not see someone standing there watching his every move, but the voices were the worst of all. Whispers faintly settled in his ears, all speaking at once and never truly telling him anything but 'Look Out' or 'Shh… stay quiet' or 'Go ahead, kill them'. They captured his focus and irked him because of the lack of reasoning he found, but he ignored them and illogically hoped that they would go away soon. But he couldn't afford to lose and become compromised; both the Captain and the Doctor needed him, so he would have to make sure to keep steady and vigilant.

That being said, while his Vulcan mind worked to control his behavior, his human half still managed to focus on the things that made him perfectly frozen. There was a room he found, one of the larger study rooms, and in it was a rusted metal gate that led into a small metal room. The child they saw earlier sat on the other side, humming hauntingly in his ears as she drew on a piece of paper. It entranced him, begged Spock just to take a step closer, that it wouldn't hurt to do so, and the voices grew louder.

He hadn't realized that he was already in the room until he was standing right in front of her.

"What is your name, child? What are you doing here by yourself?" Spock asked, his words sounding detached even to himself. The girl never answered, only continued to hum and scribble away, pausing slightly to switch colors from blue to green. "I am in need of assistance. My colleagues and I are stuck here and we need to find the people of this location. Will you tell me where they are?"

She finally stopped to look at him, and he finally saw what she truly looked like. The child was pale and dirty, her freckled face not even colored on her cheeks as any human would; her eyes were green and droopy, much like the dark patches under them, and her lips were pressed thinly together. She stared at him emptily, so strange that he began to wonder if she was even human. Her mouth opened; a small breath sucked in through her teeth, making his ears twitch.

"Lives are not spared under the hands of the devil," she whispered quickly. Before he could process the statement, a high-pitched scream erupted from her lungs, making him stagger back and place his hands over his rattling ears. A wince penetrated his features, a grunt along with it, as the sound became louder; it was so unbearable that he felt his ears begin to bleed, leaving a pool of green in the gap between his hands. He watched as the little girl lunged at the bars, rattling them and him greatly as he staggered back only to crash into something. As he turned, his mind automatically made the correction. He bumped into someone. All were humanoids, some in childlike conditions, others appearing to have been burned to death, their flesh darkened with ash, and the remaining clothes clinging to their pale bodies. But all of their mouths were sewn shut. The voices were now roaring in his ears, and he realized at that moment that those voices belonged to them. They all grabbed onto him, but Spock continued to yank back toward the door, pushing any hands away from his body.

The moment he was surely past the doorway, it grew flesh in its wake, molding together until there was never an opening there to begin with. Spock could only stare dumbly, his mouth slightly parted and his eyes wide with exertion.

"Hey." The Vulcan blinked, slowly turning to the Captain and Doctor, who stared at him in concern. "Your ears are bleeding... You okay?"

Spock looked back at what was once a door. He could still hear their whispers. "Yes, sir," he answered tersely, wiping away the blood with his hand before holding it behind his back.

"Mind tellin' us why you looked freaked outta yer mind?" McCoy frowned, crossing his arms skeptically.

He returned his gaze to them, uncertain as he considered his next words. Sharing what happened would not advance anything further anyway, Spock thought miserably. "Have you been able to find an exit?"

At once, Jim winced. "No."

"I saw the child again," Spock confessed quietly. The two matched surprised looks, only for them to drop when the Vulcan pointed toward the closed wall. "There is a room behind this, a smaller one that may be an elevator. Even if there may not be electricity, we can use the pulley system to force it down."

"How are we gonna get through it anyway?" McCoy sighed heavily, rubbing his hand through his hair and feeling the abundance of sweat collecting from each pore. "I lost my med kit back when that spider thing got me. I've got nothin'."

"Well," Jim said with a sigh, turning to look around. One of the pipes that made up a wall was poking out, looking weak. The man yanked it down, tearing it after a few good tugs. "I guess we'll have to make due," he chuckled, returning to the wall. He glanced at their commander, who seemed unsettled (and had he gotten further away?). "Right here?"

Spock nodded wordlessly.

That was all Jim needed before shoving the pipe into the wall, ruggedly tearing through the flesh. The squishing sounds that accompanied it made the group shudder. It wasn't long until there was a slit. Leading the way, Jim slid through the gap, the other two following after he had reassured them that the coast was clear. There was a room just like the Vulcan said, but to his shock, there were no people inside. It was as barren as it had been before he met the child, and the knowledge alone left him conflicted.

"You said you saw the kid," Bones acknowledged, a strange look in his eyes. "Where?"

The voices are quiet, but not gone. "In there," he said, nodding toward the gates. Jim hummingly propped it open as he noticed the blinking light of the floor they were on - floor 2.

"Looks good to me. Now come on, we should get going and I really don't want to be spending any more time here," Jim said, allowing the other two to step inside. Pressing a button, the gates slowly shut, causing him and McCoy to smile as they descended to the first floor. "Oh!" He got their attention as he dug into his pocket, pulling out a small pamphlet. "Ta-da! I figured that maybe we could find a map, so I got this before everything turned to... well, hell."

McCoy grabbed it out of his hands, opening it up to study the large area with the other two looking over his shoulders. It showed all the buildings, the parks, and the roads. And, at the very top, in bold italics, was the name of the entire place – 327. "Guess this really is the damn room," he muttered in disbelief. "Then where the hell is the damn door outta this place?!"

"Since we don't have a clue, we'll continue on our path to the town hall," suggested Jim, pointing to the area on the far left. "There may not be people, but it's a start."

"It's a long shot, Jim, but if it means gettin' out, then I guess we don' have a choice."

Suddenly, the elevator halted right in between floors. The group frowned, looking up and around to find the issue, Kirk even pressed the button a few times to get the motion going, but it refused to budge. As they pondered what to do next, Spock had become still as a board, his eyes trained below their feet and his ears peeled.

"Stop that motion, the both of you," he instructed tightly, causing the two to stop and turn.

"What is it?" Kirk asked after a moment, exchanging a tense gaze with McCoy. Spock simply held up his hand, motioning for them to wait and listen to the sounds that he could hear. It wasn't long until they were caught up in the loop, the pitter-patter of thousands of insects crawling their way. McCoy cursed loudly, a thunderous shake rolling through his spine. The minute they saw one football-sized cockroach leak in from the bottom, hundreds more poured in, biting their flesh and clothes. The trio scrambled to get them off, each throwing the insects toward the walls or crushing them under their feet. No matter what they did, they just kept coming. With all their motion, they failed to feel the elevator shaking harshly until it was too late and it dropped, sending their shouts of alarm down into the depths until their world plummeted into darkness.

TBC…