This will be the last Chapter for this year.

Chapter 18: We Need Some Transportation

In an abandoned apartment room, candles glowed. Unitologist scribbles and Marker images spread around the room while the vast space stretched beyond the window. Three dots could be seen from a distance, hurtling towards the window as a small explosion illuminated behind them. Soon, the first one broke through, slamming into the apartment door and landing on the hallway floor. Followed closely by the other two, who landed on top of the first as the area was plunged into a vacuum before the emergency shutters closed.

"That was too close." Sora says as he slowly gets up before helping Kairi to her feet. "For a moment there, I thought we were going to hit the wall of the Sprawl."

"I thought so too." Kairi says as she shakes her head. "That Necromorph and that ship. They just wouldn't leave us alone."

"Well, we won't have to worry about them anymore." Isaac says as he stands to his feet, yet a frown can be heard on his face. "But so did our hope. We are still stuck on the station and still suffering from Marker-induced dementia. Daina never had a cure for us. All she and her cronies wanted was our minds."

"There just has to be a way." Sora says with determination as he looks over the Cutter in his hands. He will never know how they managed to keep a hold of their tools. But even Sora's determination couldn't find them a way out of this mess. They were stuck, without an objective and on a time limit. At this point, they could only wait for the Necro's to come and overwhelm them.

Until Isaac's comm flared to life. On the other end was Stross.

"Isaac? Isaac, are you and the others there? Can you hear me?"

"Stross? You're still alive and on the station?" Isaac says with a hint of surprise before shaking it away. "What do you want? It's over for us. Our plans just went out the window." Sora and Kairi look to the ground at Isaac's comment. But Stross was not affected.

"No. No, no, no! It's not over! Not yet!" He says adamantly, drawing the attention of the three.

"What do you mean, Stross?" Kairi asks. Stross, while jumpy and constantly looking over his shoulder and the video comm, replied instantly.

"The Marker! Isaac and I, we built it! We can tear it down!" He says as the comm begins to grow in static. They would have seen his eyes open wide if Isaac wasn't wearing a helmet.

"Wait, you know where the Marker is, Stross?" Isaac asks, with some hope in his voice. If they could destroy it, it could free them of this dementia. The screen remained in blue static before it cleared, with Stross thinking hard. Eventually, his eyes opened wide in remembrance before he turned to face the camera.

"It's in the Government Sector! Along with that unfinished Keyhole they were making." He reveals. Now it was Sora and Kairi's turn to go wide-eyed. Hearing that they were building something like that was one thing, but it was also close to a Marker? That more than confirmed the Marker and Tiedemann's intentions. "But we have to move quickly. Time is running out for me…for us." And with that, he ends the call, leaving the three alone in the candle-lit hallway.

"Alright. We have our new mission." Isaac says before he reloads his Pulse Rifle. "If I made a Marker, I'm sure as hell going to tear it down!"

"Not alone, you're not." Sora says as he and Kairi do the same with their tools. "If we were making some sort of portal to our realm, then we have to get rid of it. We can't risk the Marker or the Necromorphs spreading to our realm. Even if it means destroying our only means of returning home."

Kairi nodded determinedly while Isaac looked between the two with a heavy heart. None of this should have happened in the first place, yet he was happy they were willing to go this far to help him. Even if it meant they could never go home again.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry." He says before acting his waypoint, showing a path back to one of the elevators in the apartment complex. They begin to make their way to it, the silence of the complex falling on them like a heavy cloud, with candlelight as their only guide. But as they made their way across the connecting bridge, Stross contacted them again.

"They are afraid of us! After the sessions!" He says semi-coherently. "I remember. They took us to the machines. For our sessions. For the steps!"

"What machine? And what steps?" Sora asks as they near the lift. Just Stross saying those words brought a numbing sensation at the back of his right eye and dread. "We don't remember the past three years." Stross looks at them and gives them a look of jealousy mixed with relief.

"You're lucky you don't remember. When you do, he starts coming back." He looks at Sora and Kairi through the call with guilt in his eyes. "They used those machines to find out about you two. It's better you don't remember what they did." While Sora and Kairi looked at each other, wondering what exactly happened to them, Stross looked around for any Necro or Gov personnel after him. But then he stops, his eyes filling with recognition and joy. "Oh, look at you! You've grown up so much! Where are you going?" He mumbled as though he was in a trance, looking away from the call as Isaac tried to snap him back.

"Stross, don't follow him. He isn't real!" He cries, but Stross either doesn't hear or ignores him, as the call ends shortly after. "Damn it. He's doing a lot worse than we are…." Entering the lift, the three descend to the lower level to leave before finding an entire squad of dead Gov Soldiers. "Looks like they were coming after us. Must have been cornered by the Necroes." Isaac says as he walks over to one of them before looking at their RiGs.

"I don't think they even managed to kill a single one." Kairi comments as she looks around. While there was plenty of blood splattered on the floor, ceiling and walls, the only bodies lying around were those of the Gov.

"Or, they encountered the Hunter." Sora says with a grim tone. He hadn't forgotten about seeing it trying to bust through the door to get to them while that Gunship was attacking them. He still couldn't believe they got out of that alive. Kairi looks to the floor while Isaac looks over the man's body until one of his dead comrades, leaning against the door, suddenly has his comm flair to life.

On the screen was a middle-aged man wearing a high-class business outfit standing before a white screen. "This is Director Tiedemann. All surviving squads are ordered to fall back. Repeat. Fall back to Government Sector. Operation: Endgame is in effect. Contingencies are in place to deal with our lost assets."

"That's Tiedemann?" Sora asks as the video ends. "Well, at least we know what he looks like now."

"I'm more worried about what he talked about at the end." Kairi says with a hand on her chin. "What does he mean by contingencies? And what is this Endgame that he talked about?" Sora shrugs at her before crossing his arms. Whatever this 'Endgame' is, it's enough to have him call back all of the squads hunting them.

"We'll find out when we find out." Isaac says as he steps up, holding something in his hand before pocketing it away. "For now, let's get out of this place." Nodding, the three leave the pile of bodies behind, but they forget one crucial factor.

They left the bodies intact.

Walking around the complex, they eventually reach the open area that led to the church, its doors now locked and unpassable. Not that they were going back into that place ever again. But they had no time to think, for soon a Pregnant was stumbling towards them while Leapers and Slashers came from behind.

Not wanting to take a risk, Kairi opened up with the flamethrower on the Pregnant after Sora blasted it with Stasis, using the flames to destroy the Crawlers in its stomach as Sora and Isaac dealt with the Leapers and Slashers.

Until the flash of movement caught Isaac's eye. For a second, he assumed it was one of the Stalkers that had snuck into the room, but the flash of grey and erratic twitching of its frame shelved that idea. "TWITCHER!" He cries in alarm as the Necro charges in the low-light room. He fires a blast of stasis at it but misses as the Twitcher slashes against his arm.

It runs past him before slashing Sora across the back, then rushing up to Kairi and striking her across the side. But just as it was about to rush back into the shadows, a blast of stasis from Sora slowed it down to a crawl, allowing the three to open up on the speedy threat. Seeing the danger pass, Sora raises his left arm, casting a heal spell on them. Even though it was the only magic still available to them, he could feel it being weaker than it once was. They needed to get rid of these shackles!

"Just what we needed, Twitchers…." Sora says as they look over the charred remains of the Necromorph. "Then again, it was only a matter of time, huh?" Isaac and Kairi nod glumly before they leave the open area. Diving back into one of the corridors, they find the door leading out of the complex. Venturing through, they find themselves in a short hallway filled with the same fleshy substance they found on the Ishimura but with a noticeable bulge on the floor.

"Great, more of that stuff." Kairi remarks as they walk forward, not noticing the movement from the bulge. "Wonder how long it will be before we start seeing Guar—." She was suddenly cut off as Sora pulled her back, just as the bulge shot a yellow blob into the air before landing back on the ground in an acidic explosion. "What was that!?" she cries as the substance lands a few feet away. Isaac trains his Rifle on the bulge, noting that it has now deflated.

"A landmine, I'd say." Isaac says while walking up to it. Noting that it didn't react to him, he turned around. "It's not a threat now, but we should be careful. These things seem to only have one shot, but if that explosion was anything, it would be lethal to anyone without a suit and damaging to us, at least." The two nod at Isaac before Kairi gives a thankful look to Sora for the save.

But as they turned a corner, they were met with a dimly lit hallway, with bulges on both the walls and floors, eagerly awaiting them to get close. "These things are like Cysts!" Isaac groans as he fires his Pulse Rifle at them, forcing them to fire off their projectiles harmlessly. Curiosity getting the better of her, Kairi activated her Kinesis on one of the projectiles, catching it in mid-air.

No sooner did she catch it, she immediately regretted it. The pod was made of three spheres stacked on each other, while three tentacles hung form the bottom. Yet from the way it squeed and squirmed, lashing out to grab onto her, it was clear it was also sentient. Frowning, Kairi lobs it at one of the Cysts, killing it as she shakes her hand. "Never grabbing one of those again." She says as the three walks down the Cyst-free hallway. Sora and Isaac couldn't blame her after seeing the pod themselves. It was like all of the Necro's were sentient in some form or another!

Soon they reached the end of the hallway, a door leading to another set of apartments. But as soon as it opened, they were greeted by the floating corpse of a Gov Security. Entering inside, they could feel the weightlessness coming over them as they walked through. While the sound of a fire burning echoed before them.

Walking into the central atrium, they found their way forward was blocked by a wall of fire.

"Well, what now?" Sora asks as they look at the wall of flames. "I don't think our suits or armour can get through that."

"If only we could use our magic. We could have used blizzard or water to get rid of it." Kairi laments. Isaac looks between them before folding his arms and looking around the atrium.

"Well, thankfully, there is another way." He says before walking over to one of the monuments. "How much do you now about what makes fire?" He asks them. The two look at each other with puzzled looks before looking back at Isaac.

"We know it takes air, fuel and heat to create fire." Sora replies. "But why did you ask?"

"Because Sora, we can eliminate one of those elements." Isaac replies before pulling off a panel and revealing a battery. Without a word, he pulls it out with Kinesis, prompting the A.I announcer to alert the three.

Attention: Oxygen output falling to 66%. A service technician has been notified.

"Of course!" Kairi suddenly yells as she and Sora catch on. "Fire needs oxygen to burn. Without it, the fire goes out! Can't believe we forgot about that…." She adds on sheepishly at the end.

"Well, we HAVE been using water and ice magic a lot to handle fires, Kairi." Sora says in a comforting tone. "Don't feel bad about it." As Isaac removed another battery from the ceiling, Kairi gave Sora a smile behind her helmet.

Warning: Oxygen output falling to 33%. This area is now below life support minimums. Please verify your personal oxygen supplies.

"Alright, just one more to go." Isaac says as he rejoin the two on the ground before checking his oxygen. "Once I pull that last battery out, we'll have to run through. If any Necro's show themselves, ignore them. Getting out is more important." The couple nod as they backway from the window monument, the Sprawl before them in almost complete darkness. The couple could feel their hearts sink at the sight while Isaac remained silent. With one final burst of Kinesis, the last battery is removed, as the air around them is vented out.

Life support failure: Oxygen output is zero. This area is unsuitable for habitation. Personal oxygen supplies are now required.

"Got to love redundant announcements." Isaac grumbles as his oxygen timer comes up in his helmet. "Let's go." The couple followed Isaac past the smouldering remains of the fire. At the same time, Kairi brought one of the batteries with Kinesis. Exiting the now vacuumed complex, the three find themselves blocked off. The floor before them was ripped upwards like someone had burst through, while the lights around them failed to turn on. Looking to their right, they find a service room with an elevator and a dead battery.

"Looks like that battery you grabbed will come in handy." Sora says as he looks at his girlfriend. Kairi chuckles behind her helmet as Isaac removes the dead battery from its holder, allowing her to insert hers. The moment it was, power returned to the hall, with the light flicking on and the elevator activating. Seeing no reason to stay, the three enter the lift and descend towards the maintenance shafts below.

Along the way, Stross contacted them again,

"Guys, the steps. He wants me to follow the steps. Step one, crawl into the dark machine."

"Stross, calm down! He can't hurt you." Isaac says in a soothing voice. But Stross doesn't listen.

"He wants me to go into the machine, Isaac. I can't go. She's in there. She's waiting for me." Stross says with a mixture of grief and fear. While Isaac continued to get to Stross, Sora and Kairi looked at each other.

"Whose he talking about? Nicole?" Sora asks with puzzlement. Kairi tilts her head with a hum before replying.

"Maybe… I mean, we have seen her with our Keyblades. At least, I THINK they are our Keyblades. But Stross could be talking about someone else entirely. Maybe his wife?" Sora folds his arms as he thinks it over. They did learn that he killed his wife and child due to the Marker, so it could be her that's haunting him. But then again, it could also be Nicole. She was haunting them instead of an apparition of one of their friends, so it could also be her.

"Stross! Listen to me!" Isaac's voice suddenly breaks the two from their musings as Isaac yells into the comm. "You need to keep moving. Can you get to the train? Can you do that?" He asks kindly, yet all he heard was rambling on the other end before the comm cuts off. "I hope he heard that…." He mutters as the elevator stops and opens up. Before them was a catwalk hovering above a room filled with boxes, with small passages between said boxes. A glance ahead showed the catwalk missing a section, leaving them only one path forward.

"We're going to go through the storage area, aren't we?" Sora asks as he looks over the room before them. Isaac silently nods to him, to which Sora sighs deeply. "Figures. This place looks like a home those Stalkers would live in."

"My thoughts exactly." Kairi chimes in. "This place can easily be used for ambushes. We should be careful when we go down there." With a nod from Isac, the three move down the catwalk to the lower floor before slowly venturing towards the crates. Everything was quiet for a moment apart from the above sparking. But the moment they reached the middle, Stalkers swarmed into the room from the vents. Rushing between the crates, some even leaping over them, forcing the trio into a circle. Tools faced outwards as the Stalkers surrounded them.

Soon, one breaks cover and charges forward, only for Isaac to shoot its legs and head off. Another leaps over some boxes, only to meet the flames from Kairi's Flamethrower. Another is caught in a blast of Stasis before meeting the same fate as its brother at the hands of Sora. Several more charge from the sides, only to meet the same fate. One did manage to jump into the middle of them but was hit by a blast of Stasis from Isaac before being dealt with by Kairi.

Seconds pass as they stay in formation, waiting to see if any more will come. After a minute, they begin to move again, safe in knowing they had dealt with the Stalkers for now.

Weaving through the maze of crates, they eventually find the exit, only to find it locked. Luckily, Isaac spots a panel he can remove before twisting his arms into the exposed wiring to haywire the door. Sora and Kairi keep their eyes out, senses on high for any more surprises.

Eventually, after getting himself shocked, Isaac manages to open the door. Before them was a dark corridor, wires exposed from the walls while blood flowed on the ground. A dismembered worker lay in a pool of his own blood. Wincing, the three walk past the unfortunate soul before Isaac's comms flare to life again.

"Isaac!? He's gone." Stross says on the other side, still jumpy. "Listen, the steps can destroy the Marker. Step 1, crawl into the dark machine. Step 2, the screws go tight, all around…."

"Stross, we don't understand." Sora says, cutting him off. "How can these steps destroy the Marker? What is important about these 'Sessions' anyway?"

"You really don't remember?" Stross replies with glumness. "Those sessions were what they did to keep us under control. To lock away certain things. I overheard them talking about using it to seal away something in the two of you, but I don't know what." That got the couple to look at each other. Could their inability to use their Keyblades and Magic be because of not only the dementia but because of something Tiedmann or one of his men did? They needed more. But Stross soon turned into a panic as he abruptly closed the comm.

"Well, that told us something important." Isaac says as they reach another door. "Either way, getting to the Gov Sector has become more important than ever. If these steps can help you regain your strength and help destroy the Marker, then we have no choice."

"That, and that incomplete Keyhole is there as well." Kairi adds. "We can't let the Markers gain an entrance into our realm! I don't even want to know what damage it could do. That nightmare of seeing everyone turned into a Necro was too much…." A shiver runs up her spine as Sora gives her a one-arm hug. Isaac nod as he opens the door, revealing a small room. But the moment they stepped through, they could hear the sounds of a Plasma Cuter firing in the distance. "Isn't that a Plasma Cutter?"

"It is." Isaac says, a glimmer of hope in his chest. "Someone else is alive! Come on!" Not needing to be told twice, the three entered the shopping complex they passed through on their way to Cassini Towers. Only now, it was plunged into darkness. The only light source comes from a shopping area with the grate closed down.

And behind it was a woman, firing into a group of Slashers as they tried to make their way to her. Not taking any chance, the three rush over to the bridge on the other side, aiming to assist. But the moment they reached it, the woman fired a shot at them, missing Isaac's head by a few centimetres.

"Hey! Hey!" Isaac yells in alarm, retracing his Helmet. Sora and Kairi do the same, vanishing into motes of light. Even from a distance, the woman looked startled for a second but kept the cutter on Isaac.

"You stay back." She calls over. "You wanna talk? You talk from there and holster your weapons." Not wanting to antagonise her, Isaac puts the Pulse Rifle on his back while Sora and Kairi place theirs on their hips. That seemed to do it, as she lowered her before activating a video call to Isaac. On the screen, they could see she had long brown hair and eyes, with blood marks on her face and shoulders. She was also wearing a shoulderless shirt, with her shoulders and collarbone exposed. "And don't say you're here to help. The last person who said that tried to kill me. And I'm not going to risk it with a group of three."

"We're not here to hurt you." Kairi says. "We're trying to escape as much as you are."

"That's right. We're not going to do anything. Our weapons are holstered, and our helmets are off." Isaac says as calmly as he could. The woman still looked like she would raise her cutter again. Still, it looked as though whatever adrenalin she was on was starting to wear off as her breath became more stable.

"Yeah, you got that right. Any of you three try anything, and you're dead." She says before ending the call. Taking that as a sign, the three moved up to where she was, as they were busy trying to get the lift working again. Her back showed her RiG was in the yellow, with bandages on her left shoulder and arm. Taking a deep sigh, Isaac walked up to the grate.

"Look, I think we got off to a bad start. I'm Isaac." He points to the couple behind him. "And this is Sora and Kairi." The couple smile at her while Kairi offers a small wave. It seemed to work, as tension in her shoulders seemed to ease away. But not all of it.

"Ellie. What do the three of you want?" she asks. While it was clear that the hostility was gone, she was still on guard.

"We're trying to get to the Government Sector." Sora replies. Ellie looks at him before spinning on her heels to face them.

"Really? So were we. But you can see how that happened. Not even near the Transportation hub before this bastard tried to kill me." She points to the corpse beside her, a manic grin on his face.

"Just like on the Ishimura…" Kairi silently says under her breath.

"Hey, we can help you, Ellie." Isaac says, hoping to get her on their side. "Besides, we got a better chance if we stick together. Don't you agree?" Ellie seemed to ignore him as she worked on the elevator before it finally opened. She turns around while picking up her cutter, a resolute look on her face.

"Not a chance, Isaac." She says with finality. "Other people are just a liability. You may be an exception with those two with you, but after what happened to me, I can't risk it." She gives the couple a look before walking to the lift. "I'll release the door lock, but after that, you're on your own. And please, DON'T follow me. OK?" Isaac looked ready to argue, but he reluctantly nodded. Seeing his acceptance, Ellie moved into the elevator.

"Before you go, a little heads up." Sora suddenly says. "There are more than just Slashers that will be out there." Ellie looks at him for a moment before nodding as the doors close.

"Well, there she goes." Isaac says as the grate suddenly lifts. "Hope she knows what she's doing." He feels a pair of hands on his arms as Sora and Kairi give him comforting pats.

"Don't worry, Isaac. She'll be fine." Kairi says before looking back at the elevator. "She reminds me of Aqua. And she managed to last in the Realm of Darkness for ten years. I think Ellie has the same strength as her." She looks at the lift as the doors open again, revealing an empty box. "But that's not the only thing that's different…."

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?" Isaac asks as the three steps onto the lift. The couple shares an uneasy glance with each other before sighing in resignation. They were going to have to say this eventually.

"Isaac. Remember when we talked about how things work in our realm on the Ishimura?" Seeing his slow nod, Sora continued. "When we first met you, Hammond and Kendra, we couldn't feel Light or Darkness from anyone apart from you. When we looked deeper, we found that you were the only one with a Heart."

"What?" Isaac asks, dumbfounded. "You are talking about the soul and not the organ, right?"

"Yeah." Kairi confirms. "And until now, it has been the same with everyone we met. Kyen, Stross, and even Daina. But Ellie…We could sense Light and Darkness in here. She has a Heart like us."

"And that means…what exactly?" Isaac asks, a mixture of emotions rushing through him. The couple before him look at each other with edgy looks before they slowly shake their heads. "Guess it was a bit of a long shot to ask you…." He admits as the lift comes to a stop. "Honestly, that only raises more questions than giving answers, but we'll cross that bridge when we reach it. For now, we have a train to catch if they are working…." He adds with worry as they look at the corridor before them.

It was the same one they used to get here, but now it was consumed by the fleshy material they had encountered.

"It is gotten this bad already?" Sora says as they walk through the tunnel, the left side being consumed by the growth. An orange fog flows through the room, almost like they see a vision. "It's not even been a day yet."

"Then I think it's time to increase our weapons." Isaac says as he walks up to the shop, blasting away a Cyst that lay in wait. Walking up, he inserts a device he picked up from the soldier from before, grinning behind his helmet as a new option becomes available. Clicking on it, a compartment opened up to reveal a new weapon.

It was the same length as the Pulse Rifle, with a stock and grip. Yet the front was a single rectangle like the Plasma Cutter, with what looked to be a handheld telescope on top. Picking it up, along with what looked to be ammo clips for it, Isaac handed the new weapon to Kairi before explaining.

"This is the Seeker Rifle. It's a sniper rifle for extreme-range fights while packing more punch than the Pulse Rifle. Of course, the Pulse Rifle has more ammo and can fire faster than the Seeker, but seeing how you'll be in the back, I figured it would be a good option for you." Kairi tilts her head at Isaac as she holds the Rifle. She could feel it was heavier than the Flamethrower, but not much that she couldn't use her left hand to use Kinesis. Just as she was about to ask more, a Slasher, bereft of clothes, comes charging at them from around a corner.

Bringing her new Seeker Rifle up, with the scope appearing in her helmet as it zooms in, Kairi fired a round at the Slasher's leg, severing it entirely before shooting off one of its arms. As Kairi lowers the Rifle in awe of its power, Sora lets off a low whistle.

"Man, what was that made for if it could do that?" Sora asks Isaac, who gives a low hum before shaking his head. He was about to reply until the groans of people grated their ears. From the end of the hall, a Pregnant, Puker and another naked Slasher lumber towards them. The three waste no time engaging them, with Kairi staying behind the boys as they fire Stasis as the Slasher and Puker. At the same time, Kairi used her new Seeker Rifle on the Pregnant. Using the scope allowed her to easily avoid the bulging sack as she took out its head, followed by one of its arms and legs.

Sora took off one of the Puker's arms before shooting it in the head and leg, just avoiding a splurge of acid puked his way. Isaac, meanwhile, fired off one of the Slasher's arms before using Kinesis to lob it right back at the Slasher, pinning it to the wall. But it was then that Isaac saw where their path was leading them.

While all the other doors were either locked or had growth over them, there was one door that remained online and clear. A door that leads to an elementary school. Oh great… This is going to go well… "Guys, bad news. Our path is leading us right through an elementary school." He says to the couple, who look at him before seeing the door.

"As if things could get bad enough…Just how many kids would have been here when the outbreak started?" Kairi asks with a sombre tone. Neither of them forgot about the baby they abandoned earlier, even if Isaac knew how impossible it would have been to keep it safe. Isaac didn't answer her, instead moving to open the door with a heavy sigh. Before them was the reception, in colourful blue and yellow, while toy suns, moons and stars hung from the ceiling. Toys lay scattered along the floor, along with bags and drawings.

Along with pools of blood.

Grimacing, the three start to move forward before finding a window gazing into one of the rooms. Inside was a female staff worker, her eyes glazed over as though she was in a trance. All the while, she was motioning and talking to something like a mother would to their baby. A few seconds later, they saw what she was talking to.

It was a Necrotized baby, with its body a glowing yellow pod. Its head was twisted around to be staring at the ceiling. At the same time, it crawled forward on its two hands, an identification bracelet still on its wrist. Its feet were joined together as one. The three looked on in horror as the baby crawled up to the woman, who then hugged it in an embrace. The baby seemed to giggle at her before suddenly and violently exploding, covering the window entirely in blood.

"Dear light…And I thought Lurkers and the Pack were bad enough, but this…." Kairi whispers as they walk away from the window, Sora embracing her. None of them could work up the words to see another variant of the Necromorphs that took the form of an infant. They continue down the unblocked corridor in silence, eyes alert for any more attacks. Just as they came to the only door open, an automatic voice echoed above them.

Okay everyone, 15 minutes for recess! Play nice!

"So it was a school day… Those poor kids…." Sora says in sorrow as they open the door, finding themselves in a room full of cribs and plunged into darkness. Moving to the centre of the room, they hear giggling before one of the new variants crawls through a hole in one of the walls. Soon, more join its friend as a horde appears before the three, intent on adding them to their brethren. But it was not to be, as Isaac fired on the glowing sacks that were their stomachs, blowing them up in large groups.

Sora and Kairi follow to do the same, fighting back against the pain of seeing so many infants coming at them. Once the last one was dealt with, Isaac noticed a door leading into the next room was open. Motioning to it, he led the couple towards the door while Kairi switched back to her Flamethrower for the tightness of where they were.

Inside, they found themselves in a classroom. Which had numerous infants crawling all over the place. Wasting no time, the three opened fire on them, taking them out before they could reach them. Sora noticed that shooting off the heads left the bodies as unmoving objects which could still be picked up. A fact that Isaac found when he accidentally used his Kinesis when he was trying to reload his cutter.

After silencing the last Crawler, the three exit the classroom into another hallway, its lights malfunctioning and a part of the floor erupting upwards. Diving into the sick room, the beds filled with the bodies of staff workers, they make their way past the ruined hallway and renter the obstruction. But no sooner do they do, their heads are filled with pain as their vision grows orange. Another horrid scream echoed in their ears as the lockers to their right flung open as though a harsh wind was blowing.

But like all the others, it faded as the room returned to normal. Shaking their heads free, they leave the hallway and enter a gymnasium. Before them were benches and stands, while on the stage to their right was a play, while a row of benches formed a wall separating the room in two. It depicted a forest with a sun hanging from the top. However, they had no time to ponder the room, for a group of Pack came charging them from the shadows. Kairi took the first shoots, attacking with the Seeker Rifle, while Sora and Isaac attacked with their Plasma Cutters.

The Necro's didn't stand a chance.

After ending the immediate threat, the three look around the room, seeing a passageway behind the stand leading to the other half of the room. Walking around, Isaac, Sora, and Kairi pass through while stepping over a closed air vent, eyes trained in case it moves. Once they passed to the other side, they found the way out blocked.

Grunting in annoyance, Isaac switched on the way marker to see if it could help. He was surprised to see it show a way to the stage. It couldn't hurt to take a look. "I'm going to check something out. You two stay here and keep an eye on things. I don't want us to be jumped by any Necro's."

"You got it, Isaac." Sora replies as he and Kairi stand at the front of the stage, Kairi swapping to her Flamethrower. Nodding, Isaac made his way to the rear of the stage, briefly stopping as a prop sun fell in front of him. Swiping it out of the way in annoyance, he finds a wall panel that could be removed. Ripping it off, he began to work hotwiring the wires, hoping that doing so would bring power to the door.

After rewiring without shocking himself, power within the room began to change. The set started to retreat and vanish. The benches flipped over to reveal gym flooring before sinking into the ground. Soon all that was left was the stand before them.

Unfortunately, the noise caused by the room recognizing itself alerted the Necromorphs, who charged through the windows above and from underneath the stands. A horde of Pack and Crawlers came charging down on the three. While Kairi used her Flamethrower in the centre of the room, Sora and Isaac stood on her sides, firing on any that tried to flank them, only getting closer when one of the three had to reload.

Eventually, the swarm ceased its endless tide, leaving the room littered with the corpses of transformed children and infants.

The three paused to catch their breath as a part of the room began to retract, revealing a line of lockers and a door. But what caught their eyes was the pools of blood staining the floor, with bloody handprints scattered over the lockers and door.

"Oh, light…The kids were trapped in this room…." Sora says in sorrow as they walk to the door, blood dripping everywhere. "They must have been crying for help, their parents, anyone at all…."

"But no one helped them. Either because they couldn't, or they were dead." Isaac ends with a grim tone as he opens the door. Sure enough, more blood greeted them as they walked through the empty hall, finding themselves in a room similar to the entrance.

Recess is over!

"For these kids, that is forever…." Kairi remarks sadly at the inappropriate timing of the announcement. Even if it lets them know they have been here for more than fifteen minutes. Exiting through the door, they find themselves in a playground with a spinning ride with rocketship pods for the kids to sit in. Walking in, all they could feel was sadness at the sight before the pain returned with a vengeance. Suddenly, Phantom-Nicole, still with the Keybldaes acting as her wings, was standing there pushing the merry-go-round.

Still in denial? Afraid you're going to cut your wrists if you listen to me?

"We're not listening to this. You may fool Stross, but you can't fool us." Isaac says, turning his back on the Phantom. Sora and Kairi do the same, blocking out the screeching noise as the Marker tries to work its influence on them. "We know you're not real."

Oh, you claim I'm not real, and yet here I am.

"You're just a hallucination! Stross knows how to destroy you! He knows how to destroy the Marker. We will destroy you!"

"And while we're at it, we will destroy the portal you wanted us to make." Sora adds in. "So long as we still live, you will never get to our realm."

How convenient. Destroy the Marker, and all the pain and hurt will go away. Destroy the portal, and your realm will be safe. Imagine it, Isaac, Sora, and Kairi: You'll never have to listen to your Heart.

"You know nothing about the Heart!" Kairi shouts back. "All you care about is turning people into mindless monsters! You are no better than the Heartless, even worse than them!"

Is that so? We shall soon see if that's true.

Phantom Nicole then screams at them in a rage before vanishing into the air, the Merr-go-Round spinning as though she had pushed it. The three shake their heads before glancing around the room, a lift resting in the corner. "You not real, and never will be." Isaac says under his breath before shaking his head. "The lift will take us to the Transport Hub. The sooner we get to the Gov Sector, the better." Nodding at Isaac, the couple follow him into the lift before Isaac hits the button, sending them up.

All is quiet in the lift as they check their gear before Isaac's comm flares to life. On it was Ellie holding her cutter towards Stross. "Isaac, it's Ellie. I've found someone. Another survivor. He says he knows you. I said stand still!"

"Ellie, wait! He's with us. We know him. His name is Stross." Kairi says suddenly, grabbing her attention. It seemed like the tension in her shoulders eased at that, yet she still had the cutter pointed at him.

"He looks…twitch. I don't trust him."

"Considering what Tiedmann had been doing to him, and we are in the middle of an outbreak, can't really blame him." Sora says, hoping to ease tensions in the air.

"Ellie, listen. We need him to be – not dead. We need him. Please." Isaac says. Ellie looks at him over the coom, seemingly deliberating in her head, before giving a resigned sigh.

"Alright, you win. I'll march him to the Transport Hub. But if he tries anything, guys. ANYTHING at all. And I will shoot him." Nodding slowly over the comms, Isaac ends it as the lift stops, opening up to a small corridor. A giant hole was torn in one end, large enough for a Drag Tentacle with a mangled body hanging out of it. Deciding not to chance if one of those was here, the three quickly ran past it and through a door leading to the central atrium of the Travel hub. A vast open space with a second level leading to a different part of the station with multiple shops. As the three walk to the centre, they spy Ellie moving along the top layer, Stross closely behind her.

"Isaac, guys! We're up here!" Ellie calls down with a wave while Stross gives a small wave. "Well, this brings back bad memories. I barely managed to escape this CEC Facility the morning."

"Wait, you're with CEC?" Isaac asks, intrigued. Sora and Kairi stand to the side while glancing between the two.

"Heavy equipment pilot, class Four. You?"

"Engineer."

"Nerd. Figures." Ellie says cheekily with a smirk, earning a laugh from the couple. Isaac had a smile on his face at the quip, even though his helmet hid it.

But then, all of the lights in the room shut off. Plunging them all into darkness. The comforting sound of air rushing through the vents had also ceased, alerting them to life-support having been cut off. Before anyone could ask what was happening, Isaac's comm activated.

And on the other end, was Director Tiedmann.