Author's notes: This chapter is going to be a tad shorter than usual, but I feel the pacing would be off if I did it any other way. Here is a response to a review left by my friend Leo: The start is definitely interesting, but we have yet to see what danger awaits him behind each door as he gets closer and closer to the essence.

I hope you people enjoy reading this.

Chapter 2-2: Perilous Encounter

Jotting down the details of my trek has certainly helped me sustain my composure, especially after the moments when my life is in peril. As this chunk of text forecasts, one such escapade has occurred recently, and I still bear trepidation.

As I stated before, three doors were present in a hallway, each leading to a cramp and humid room. I rendered the electronic locks inoperative, and began rummaging through each of them one by one, starting from the one closest to my exit.

The first room was in utter disarray, even compared to the decrepit walls of this facility, the part of which was hastily retrofitted into a prison. The table was lying on its side, papers were scattered everywhere, stained in filth, and smog resided in every nook and cranny. The rusty shelves were filled with empty boxes, with an exception of a bottle containing ethanol, more commonly known as alcohol. I held onto the disinfectant, awaiting its usage to be anytime soon.

Going over some of the lockers, I came across a cassette tape. I promptly presumed that vital information might have been hidden within, and it just so happens that there was, in fact, a cassette player equipped with a mic. This meant that the tape could have been recorded in this very room.

I placed the cassette tape into the player and delicately pressed the play button, making sure not to accidentally record over the tape. A hoarse voice of a man came through, and articulated these sentences:

"Name: Eloff Carpenter. Rank: Elevated. Status: Code C – imprisoned. Observing the movement of the Prechaos, I predict my cell is the one they will visit next.

To my knowledge, the state of the Overseer is unknown, and the members of the Elevated Caste are all either dead, under Prechaos' influence, or missing. I am the only confirmed member of the Elevated Caste who is alive.

I must ensure the Xeno protocol isn't compromised, and so I record the only way to neutralize this viral energy threat."

The voice was ready to disclose the info, but judging by the otherworldly shrieks that abruptly became louder, followed by the man's dreadful wailing, this Eloff has met his creator. Like a plot of an unremarkable horror flick, the secret to the quarry's survival was put out with its bearer, an act of cruelty for dwindling the spectators' hopes. The triteness was somewhat amusing to me, but I had no time to waste on the prospect of death.

The moment I stepped into the second room was also the moment I stepped out. As I should have predicted, I've come to a full circle, and I simply wasn't up for a rerun of being passed out on a filthy old mattress. The vents in there became obsolete as an escape route, now that I had a more approachable roundabout.

The third room appeared to be made for storing medical equipment. At least, the glass cabinets on the walls and a shelves gave that impression. The room was a mess, and whatever little it had was almost entirely impractical.

The only thing of utmost significance was a dirty syringe I found on one of the cabinets. It has been gathering dust for a while, and its needle was clogged with some old, dried blood. Nothing a little alcohol couldn't resolve.

However, sterilizing the syringe ended up postponed as another presence announced itself loudly. Someone, or rather, something, has entered through the metal door near to the chamber I was in. I hastily hid behind an overturned desk in the corner of the room, waiting for my vision to adapt to the blinding darkness.

A creature that was carrying a flashlight came through the door and began combing the room. It was one of those things I saw back there while I was crawling through the vents. Pale, wrinkled skin, dead black orbs for its eyes, crimson enveloping its constantly exposed, rotten yellow teeth. It had an uncanny resemblance to a person, but the way its skin hanged loosely from his bones sent shivers.

I had to look away from it. Before I became aware of it, my breathing became audible and my head felt unsteady. I wasn't about to let myself be the victim of my unfortunate quirks. Despite my newfound strength to have a grip on my fears, I was still incapable of keeping myself in touch with reality. I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth, hoping that I wouldn't be blinded by a flashlight pointed straight at me.

"Nothing here," grumbled the carrier of this Prechaos energy as his footsteps became quieter and quieter with each step.

I let out a sigh of relief, and was almost inclined to chuckle at my fortune. It wasn't over yet, though. I still had to make my way back to the cafeteria door. I slinked through the door, stopping occasionally so I could try and distinguish anything in this dark veil.

The creature entered the cell I was in after I passed out. I realized at that point I haven't considered that my tampering with the power in this sector would attract unwanted attention, and I internally declared myself an idiot for letting this catch me off-guard. Still I seized the opportunity to walk past the door before sprinting away as swiftly as possible to the entrance. As expected, the sudden manifestation of loud thumps on the floor didn't go by undetected. Fortunately for me, I reached the door a few seconds after the creature acknowledged my undesirable presence.

I closed the door behind me, leaning against in as I let out yet another loud sigh of relief. It was followed by a gasp as I got startled by a disconcertingly loud bang on the door. My ears rang because of the immense shock, and it took me a few seconds to collect myself. Good thing that these doors are the epitome of robustness, otherwise I would have been mangled to death.

Now that I was in a safe haven, I promptly proceeded to clean up the syringe with alcohol. Now all it needed was some blood. I was skeptical about the usage of my own blood, as common sense dictated that I was definitely not a trustworthy individual in this facility.

The corpse of that chemist, however, seemed worth a shot. I filled up the syringe with his own blood and inserted the needle into the hole in the wall.

As I emptied the syringe, a red light was swapped with a green one, and the display that declared "Only trusted blood can pass" displayed "You are free to enter the Shelter."

If there was ever an instance of me that believed I have seen the worst in the mines, I condemn their credulity and blissful ignorance. I breached into the sanctum of death, and there was no doubt my journey was going to be plagued by more of these lurkers.