The next day after her conversation with Erwin Cassiopeia decided pay a visit to the famous lab after work. She didn’t have any problem avoiding the security around it. These humans really were clueless…
"Ok, let’s see what all the fuss about this lab is about."
The lab was completely deserted and it was a huge mess, it looked like the scientists left in a rush. There were papers all over the place, on the floor, spread over the tables. It would be hard to sort everything out.
But not for nothing she was Collection Technician #1999.
"Time to get down to business."
She started collecting pictures and documents, she also found a weird red fruit that glowed softly in her hand. She put it in the depths of her pocket to analyze it later. And then she found the door.
Cassiopeia didn’t need a closer inspection to know it was closed. The lock opened with a keycard… and she knew exactly who to ask about it.
After a shower back home and a change of clothes - because that day StrangerVille was going through a heatwave in the middle of the fall, and Cassiopeia couldn’t stand the lab coat anymore - she paid Erwin a visit.
"So it seems they are researching some kind of plant." The boy mused while looking at the files and pictures Cassiopeia provided him "Do you think they were creating a virus and it got out of control Resident Evil style?"
"I have no idea who this Resident Evil you talk about is, but I do believe the answers to all our questions are behind that big sealed door, and I need the key"
"Resident Evil is not a… forget it. I think I have a military keycard somewhere (which I totally didn’t steal from Jess house), you can try your luck with it"
"Come on Erwin, we have to get going!"
"We? Do you mean you want me to go with you to the lab? Right now?"
"Of course, aren’t we investigation mates? Who else?"
Erwin looked away for a second and then again at the girl with his doubts and guilt painted all over his face.
"But you see… I can’t leave my shop unattended…"
"I’m your only customer, Erwin. What are you talking about?"
"I… what I mean is… I don’t want to go."
"WHAT!?"
They stared at each other in silence for a while, and then Cassiopeia gave up.
"Ok, I’ll go alone"
"Alone!? You can’t go alone down there! It’s dangerous, what if something happens to you!? Let me call Jess, she’ll go with you!"
Cassiopeia threw Erwin a glare that froze him in place. She was disappointed.
"You humans are all the same. All cowards. And I don’t need help from cowards"
Back at the lab Cassiopeia’s day kept going downhill.
She tried to hack one of the computers now that she raised her programming skill to level 3, and all she managed to find in it were some encrypted files before the thing died on her.
"Uuuugh… Human technology is so useless. Everything they do is useless!"
Cassiopeia had been dreading this moment, but finally she dragged herself to the front of the sealed door. Maybe she wasn’t a coward human like Erwin, but she had to admit she was a tiny bit… anxious.
What would she find in there? Was it safe? She had a really bad feeling about this.
"Stop it! You are going to do this! Back in Sixam you were never like this, don’t let this human case to blurry your judgement"
She told herself this words again and again as she pulled out the keycard Erwin gave her. It was a light rectangle of plastic, and yet it felt so heavy in her fingers when she pressed it on the scanner.
Slowly, so nerve-wracking slow, the door opened.
Cassiopeia couldn’t get rid of that feeling that something was wrong there, really, really wrong. She never felt like this before, it was as if some kind of inner alarm had set off. But she ignored it.
And then she stepped inside the guts of the lab.
The door led to a staircase and the floor beneath was barely illuminated. The few flickering lights made the shadows even more disturbing, sending chills down Cassiopeia’s spine.
Again the feeling that something was not right hit her. But she pushed through it and headed to the only hallway she could see around.
She only managed to take a few steps inside though, because suddenly she started to cough and breathing was really hard.
"What… what’s…?"
Later on Cassiopeia wouldn’t be able to remember how she managed to leave that hallway. How she dropped on her knees, with everything around her spinning so fast that it made her dizzy. How hard it was to breath, and the feeling of something creeping inside her body, slowly taking control of it.
How everything suddenly turned black.
Ugh… what… happened…? My head is killing me…
ΜØŦĦ€Ř
Human bodies are so delicate, they get hurt so easily…
ØUŘ €¥€Ş ΔŘ€ ØƤ€Ň
And I still can’t breathe properly.
ĐØ ŇØŦ Ř€ŞIŞŦ Ħ€Ř
I need to… leave this place…
ΔĆĆ€PŦ Ħ€Ř ǤI₣ŦŞ
I need to… eh…? Why can’t I move…?
ĴØIŇ UŞ
Cassiopeia desperately battled her own body, trying to move, trying to drag herself out of that terrifying lab. She suddenly understood why Jess acted the way she did when she snapped her out of the possession back then.
Moving was hard, but the worst was what was going on inside her brain.
The voices, she couldn’t stop them.
ŦĦ€ ΜØŦĦ€Ř ҜŇØŴŞ ΔŁŁ ĐØ ŇØŦ Ř€ŞIŞŦ Ħ€Ř
Stop. Please stop.
Ħ€Ř Ň€ŞT IŞ ĆŁØUЀРIŇ β€ΔUŦ¥
I need… to leave…
I need to leave I need to leave I need to leave IneedtoleaveIneedtoleaveIneedtoleaveIneedtoleaveIneedtoleaveIneedtoleaveIneedtoleave.
ŦĦ€ ΜØŦĦ€Ř ĆΔŁŁŞ ΔŇĐ ¥ØU ΜUŞŦ Ř€ŞPØŇĐ
I know… please stop… I’ll help you, I promise, but please stop…
ĆØŇŞUΜ€ ŦĦ€ FŘUIŦ ØF ŦĦ€ ΜØŦĦ€Ř
I’ll… help you…
With that last thought Cassiopeia dropped on the floor again, and the last thing she heard was not the voices in her head, but a very familiar voice screaming her name.