Boris found a pin lying on the ground as they walked through the wide area filled with different coloured pipes leading into other parts of the plant with large computers from the 70's lining areas with scattered papers left on the desk.
Studying it, he found that the pin came from Camp Alpha, he sees the symbol etched into reclaimed metal. There's a number underneath the letter, denoting the years the person served under the camp, underneath that, there's a name etched.
Gunther.
He showed this to Cyrus, studying it with awe, as they came to the realization that the team entered the power plant.
Vodka noted that they haven't seen any signs of the team, but Cyrus thinks they're further ahead.
Meanwhile, Theodore and Lila scrounged for anything useful for their plan, but only found papers, only when Lila went digging around the desk of a worker, she found a packet of unused matches near the packet of cigarettes.
"Think it'd work?" Lila looked towards Theodore with them in her hands.
Theodore thoughtfully touched where his chin would've been before saying that they'll need something more, but it's a start. He implored her to take them along and she did, stowing them away in the satchel she borrowed from the camp.
He grabbed sheets of paper, as a start, and he worked with Lila searching for anything else, until they heard shuffling noises coming from somewhere near the rows of pipes.
A bright light flashed them and a horrible scream as a disheveled man appeared out of nowhere, his gaunt pale face easily mistaken as a monster, his gas mask missing, having hid deep within the row of pipes that nobody spotted him until he came out of hiding, wielding a gun in his other hand.
"No!" The man shrieks as he wielded his gun tightly as he flashed his torch on Theodore and Lila, "you're not taking me! You're not taking me!"
He's incoherent, under the effects of advanced radiation poisoning, sustained after losing his gas mask and failing to procure another one, his pale skin covered with black veins as they pushed against his thinned skin, blood dripping from his ears and nose.
Immediately, Theodore grabbed Lila, flinging them to the ground as he covered her with his body, flinching while hearing the man open fire on the wall behind them, hitting the pipes until one bore a hole with steam coming out of it.
"He's here! I see him! The devil! He walks among us!" The man wept incoherently as he wailed that the devil walked among them, attempting to claim his soul, too, and he's forced to the ground by Boris and Vodka who disarmed him, while Artyom and Cyrus helped Theodore and Lila up from the ground away from the steam as it shot out from the hole in the pipe.
The man wept as Boris and Vodka restrained him, Cyrus went up to him, demanding who he is and what became of the other members from Camp Alpha.
In between weeping, the man babbled that the Devil lured them away, he's the only one left, and he's certain the Devil's coming for him, next.
"He's coming," the man whimpered as he dropped his torch, it landed with a loud thud, as he sat against the pipes behind him. "He's coming, he's coming to take you away!"
Regaining his composure, Theodore spoke up, wanting to know more about what the man's talking about, despite Boris thinking the man's brain having seizures due to the radiation, tumors forming from the exposure, causing delirium.
The man looked towards Theodore with his empty eyes, his gaunt face skeletal, before telling him that the Devil's coming, and he's coming for him.
"He walks among you, haunting you, watching, waiting, for the right time," the man wept as he tells Theodore about the Devil.
Confused, Theodore attempted to reason with the man, however, his attempt didn't go well, and it sent the man into a rant as he stared into Theodore's icy blue eyes.
"You can't stop him!" The man tells Theodore that he couldn't stop the Devil from reaching him. "Wherever you go, he'll find you, he'll always find you, and when he does, he'll take you away, too!"
Recoiling, Theodore watched the man panic, before he demanded to know more about this Devil, and the man incoherently started shouting at the top of his lungs, "He's not man! He'll find you! He'll kill everyone you love to get to you!"
Watching the man weep, the group glanced at each other, before Cyrus concluded that there's nothing they can do or him, now, he's too far gone from the radiation poison. It's too dangerous for them risking their lives bringing him back with them, their Geiger counters' going off near him, he's beyond help, the only choice they have's giving him a merciful death.
"Is there anyone waiting for you back at the camp?" Cyrus asks the gaunt man as he's slumped against the pipes. As he mumbled, his mind wondering, the man answered that he had a wife waiting for him, he promised her, he'd be back before long.
Cyrus asked for her name and the man replied that she went by a nickname, Nastya, and that Dimi loved her very much.
Nodding, Cyrus affirmed that he'll tell her this, before he grabbed his pistol, shot Dimi through his heart, killed him instantly.
Digging through his pockets, Cyrus found his Camp Alpha pin, and a picture of Dimil's wife, Theodore and Lila looking on as they see him pocket the pin and picture, before telling them they're heading onward.
Euthanizing a man dying from acute radiation poisoning didn't deter Cyrus from their mission, he only said a prayer under his breath, before pushing the group forward.
Visibly disturbed, Lila wondered aloud what Dimil's talking about, but she's informed that his mind started breaking down from the poisoning, one-minute coherent, next shouting incoherently, back and forth until they're either dead or languishing somewhere before something comes and eats them.
"I don't know, he seemed convinced the Devil's got his number," Lila felt conflicted as Dimil's held strong convictions that the Devil's coming. Though, it's baffling that the Devil wanted Theodore, though Cyrus gave insight into why Dimil felt that way.
Coherence's one of the things that breaks down first in these situations, there's no clue what Dimil's saying meant anything, other than he's certain the Devil's real, and Lila just wants a hot shower before she talks arguments about the chances that the Devil wasn't just allegories told to children during Sunday School so they'd behave.
Cyrus remained firm that Dimil's mind broke down as the radiation permitted the brain, delirium, it's fortunate he received a merciful death, he'll enter throws of madness if he stayed alive if he didn't die first.
Moving ahead through the open area, they head through the wide doorway with the broken off metal doors on the ground, the doors bent outward as they laid on the ground on the barely flat side, that it made Theodore briefly stop walking as he studied them.
In his mind, he imagined the scenario, Dimil running for his life, having lost his other companions, tried keeping whatever's chasing him at bay, tried closing the doors.
Something slammed into the doors, something heavy, and gave up just as the metal doors started weakening.
Dimil, unable to leave as his condition worsened, hid among the pipes, waiting for the inevitable, only stirred when he heard them coming through the doorway from the hallway before this area.
Brought attention to something bothering Theodore, what was it that Dimil desperately ran from, the thing that Al forewarned, or something else with them in this place.
He followed the others, against himself, as they went through a winding hallway with warning signs posted every inch of the walls.
Spotting Lila wearily looking at him, he reached out and comforted her, but not before hearing footsteps independent of theirs coming from behind them.
Instinctively, Theodore pulled Lila in front of him as he immediately looked behind, seeing nothing behind them, but he continued hearing the independent footsteps, enough that he jumped when Boris poked him, asking what he's doing.
"Shhh, can't you hear?" Theodore tells Boris as he looked behind.
Boris' confused, but he listened to their footsteps, at first, nothing, but slowly, he heard footsteps coming towards them. However, when he tried looking, he didn't see anyone there.
The curious event caused everyone else stopping in their place, hearing the phantom footsteps seemingly following them, until it suddenly stopped.
"I'm alarmed," Lila instinctively grabbed Theodore's arm as her chestnut eyes looked straight where the person would've been, but there's no one standing there.
Vodka turned towards his companions and asked, "Anomaly?"
Boris and Artyom shared looks before turning towards Cyrus as he visibly shaken by the phantom footsteps.
"I… I don't know…" Cyrus' unable to give an answer as they're standing in the hallway.
Boris moved his hand with his torch on as he attempted to survey the area, as his hand moved, light flashed on a wall adjacent, and nearly opened fire at the shock, as he saw a shadow on the wall.
It wasn't a shadow from anyone in the group, it looked like a man wearing a suit, and Boris froze in terror as the others looked where he's pointing the torch.
Seeing the shadow motionless, disjointed, it sent chills down everyone's spines seeing the shadow.
"I-it-it's true?" Boris gulped as he realized Vodka wasn't swimming in stories and vodka, the stories he relayed and believed in, they're true!
Gripping his arm, Lila asked aloud, "W-what do we do?"
Rattled, the group turned to Cyrus as he stared at the shadow, with its pressed suit, he's thinking to himself, there's a look on his face, before uttering an uncharacteristic, "You!"
Hoisting his gun, he opened fire on the wall, sending everyone to the ground, ducking their heads, when the smoke cleared, and the shooting stopped, the men and Lila poked their heads from their arms, seeing the wall marred with bullet holes, but Cyrus' gone.
The shadow, whatever, no longer there, and as they helped each other up, Theodore's forced to tell the men that something's in the basement of the power plant and it's controlling Cyrus. He urged them to help him rescue Cyrus and destroy whatever's in the basement before it kills them.
He knew that he risks them not believing him, but he urged them that they needed to escape the power plant, there's nothing here, and Camp Alpha likely found out about the basement dweller, that's why they went out here without the other camps knowing. They didn't want anyone risking their lives, that's why the lone Camp Alpha member sealed off the manhole cover from inside.
Already knew what happened to Dimil, so if there's a standard size, there's two others unaccounted for in the group they haven't come across yet, either they're dead, too, or slowly dying.
It's farfetched, he knows, but with everything they saw thus far, there's wiggle room for them giving him the benefit of a doubt.
"How do you know?" Boris wearily looked at Theodore as they're processing what he warned them.
Chewing on his bottom lip, Theodore stressed that he just knew, the shadow already proved his point, they needed to find Cyrus, drag him kicking and screaming back with them, then set fire to the basement.
Vodka asked about the radiation and Theodore stated that the fire won't affect it, at least not exacerbate it that they're at risk, but he needed their help setting fie as papers and matchsticks won't do much.
"What about the shadow?" Vodka winced as he pointed out they don't know where it went or what it'll do to them if it sneaks up on them, with everything he knows, he's not sure if it means anything, now.
Thinking quickly, Theodore sharply turned to him as he said he's sure it's somewhere in the power plant and they'll likely find it when they find Cyrus.
"If we find him," Artyom pointed out that if they don't find him, he probably went down into the basement, and if that's the case, he's a lost cause, because there's no chance, he survived the fall.
Lila uncomfortably looked around before speaking up, saying they needed to do something before whatever's in the basement starts trying affecting them, again.
"How're we going to light a fire big enough to kill whatever's down there?" Boris brought up a good point, "if it's as big as you say, we'll need triple the number of flammable objects, not to mention the intensity of the flames to do more than second degree burns."
Thinking to himself, Theodore asked if Vodka brought any alcohol with him and he replied that he did, he brought some as it's pure enough, it works as antibacterial. Not recommended for drinking unless someone's deep in the throes of alcoholism, but even then, blindness isn't worth it.
"That'll do, I need your help finding me anything that'll start and feed fires. If you find any valves that sends water or anything of that sort and you know where they go that they'll go near the basement, turn them," Theodore tells them their orders and the men looked at each other before they acknowledged the orders, going off in search, keeping watch for the appearance of the shadow, Cyrus, and whatever else's with them in the power plant.
Lila asked what Theodore wanted from her and he stopped briefly while pondering before asking her help in finding the emergency system, maybe he can help flood the pipes, causing them to spill into the basement, filling it with contaminated water that'll help them start a fire.
"You sure that'll work?" Vodka inquired if Theodore's sure the water in the pipes' contaminated with flammable substance and Theodore mentioned that if they're mixed with uranium, maybe.
He'll come up with something, he's sure of it, but now they can't dawdle anymore, they've got work, and they split up into their respected groups.
Cyrus' still around here, Theodore's sure of it, the creature in the basement wouldn't let him perish easily without taking out Theodore and the others.
If Theodore's correct, Cyrus' somewhere close, he warned them all that Cyrus' isn't sick, he's manipulated by the creature in the basement. Once they kill it, if they're lucky, they won't have to kill him, since the influence waned from the death, if Theodore's right.
Working without the map, a difficult prospect, but Theodore worked with less, and he guessed the Cyrillic writing as he went with Lila searching for the emergency system.
He's certain it's down here somewhere, a power plant wouldn't operate without multiple emergency systems as a backup for any failures.
Of course, he and Lila couldn't read the signs as they're in Russian, but they didn't have the time, so they forged ahead, hoping to stumble upon something useful.
Weighing on Lila's mind, the shadow, as they're running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to find the emergency system with the hopes that Theodore's able to cause a malfunction, forcing contaminated water into the basement, though she didn't know if there's any sort of uranium in the water and if it's even flammable in that state.
Uranium powder, definitely, uranium liquid, no telling, but they couldn't think too much on it.
Thankfully, they didn't have to guess what they're doing's any good, because Al popped into Theodore's head for a moment wanting an update on their adventure thus far, which Theodore rapidly summed that when he's done, Al processed it before saying that if they flood the basement, he might've a solution to their problem.
"And Al, warning, there's a roaming shadow," Theodore warns the TARDIS that, yes, there's a roaming shadow, independent movements, and all, none of them sure what it's capable of, but they don't want to sit around and guess.
Sure as hell don't want it sneaking aboard the TARDIS!
"Don't worry kid, I may be old, but I know a thing a two about keeping things out," Al assures him that the shadow won't be a problem for him, but he's intrigued that a shadow's roaming, which Theodore summed that it's a damned person in death looking to hunt damned living people or the Devil as Dimil colourfully mentioned.
"Right, I'll get ready, you two flood the basement and rejoin the others," Al tells Theodore what he wanted from them and Theodore acknowledged before asking if he's capable of tracking Cyrus.
It took a moment, but Al responded that he's able to track Cyrus by his Geiger counter, every ping from it's like a footstep, and Theodore wanted him to follow Cyrus.
If it looks like Cyrus' too close to the danger zone and they're not close enough, Al does something to knock him out, and bring him inside the console room. Kicking and screaming, get him away from the basement, and Al affirmed he'll do just that, but warned that he noticed structural damages that indicate the entire floor further down from them collapsed.
It's a good indication the creature's in that hole and the hole led down into the basement.
Just don't run ahead without checking where they're stepping or else, they'll land right on top of it and Al didn't want the imaginary, so he spared Theodore the details.
All he knows, if Cyrus hadn't dropped down into the hole, he's nearby, and if the creature's influencing him, there's a chance he's trying to lure them close to the hole.
"Keep watch for us, Al," Theodore responded before he rushed with Lila after stumbling around until they found a room with valves labeled with large Cyrillic lettering, that they can't begin guessing, if not for the warning labels that they easily recognized.
Adjacent, there's old computers collecting dust that Theodore ran towards with haste, looking them over with his icy blue eyes darting back and forth, the computers without power for decades, he couldn't use them if he wanted, and without them, they're unsure where the large pipes went, and he couldn't redirect them towards the basement.
"Unless there's a blockage down there and the pressure mounts," Lila suggested Theodore that they flood the basement that way, but he mentioned that they don't know the integrity of the pipes, if they're intact or broken off in sections before the basement.
Shrugging her shoulders, Lila sighed as she said they don't have any choice, but to try, and he agreed with her as he hurried back to her side as they're trying to turn the valves.
Age hadn't been nice to them, but they tugged and turned until the wheels started moving, the sound of liquid coming down echoed throughout the room.
Running with her, Theodore tried finding another way to draw more water, but as the adage went, nothing went according to plan, as he learnt quickly with Lila freezing in place as they're faced with complications following their pursuit trying to flood the basement.
Whatever's down there figured out something's wrong, obviously, and doing everything preventing them from succeeding with their plans.
Shuffling towards them like a zombie from a Romero movie, a heavy armored man came towards them, the Camp Alpha emblem visible on his shoulder.
Must've stowed away like Dimil and unlike him, lost his mind completely to the creature, as he shuffled towards them.