Troy was perfectly honest when he wasn't expecting to see somebody smear their own blood on the wall of an old building, looking to make a round insignia of some kind. It was a haunting thing, as the woman seemed to be having trouble getting enough blood out. Dr Hale had to stop every five seconds, so she could get out more of the blood.
It was not a haunting sight, really. He had seen worse in person before. It was only eerie. They were the only two there. The only things heard were the sounds of them breathing, Dr Hale’s finger tracing her work again and again, and Troy shuffling his feet every now and again. It was not something he had prepared himself to see, making the sight throw him off slightly.
Blood was smeared in the same places again and again. After some time, blood refused to come out, making the woman switch the finger being used. Again and again, these switches had to happen, as she failed to get whatever reaction she wanted. The time spent doing it made her seem irritated as if she had expected it to take less time.
Troy said nothing about it, doing his best to act like nothing. He was silent through it all, just as he had been instructed to be. It was hard. He was worried about her losing too much blood. There might have been a lot to take from, yet there similarly had to be a limit on how much could be taken. It could not end well if it was allowed to continue.
He could not understand what the insignia was supposed to be. Troy had never seen it before. Like before, the most signifying piece of it would be the circle, everything else being inside it. What looked like letters were inside. It was symbols, more like it. He could not find out what they were supposed to be, looking more like a curved a than anything else. Yet… what did that mean? Why was she so concentrated on making it perfect? She made the lines without smudges, making everything inside coloured red with her blood. It was better than any paintings seen before. Why did it need to be better?
No questions were asked, no matter how much he wanted to ask them. He just continued watching, overlooking her condition. Troy was ready to swoop in if she fell, figuring out how to best protect her head.
Yet this never happened. After five minutes of diligent work, there was finally a reaction. From behind the blood, the wall seemed to light up, going up and down the red liquid. From a guess, it was being analyzed. It took a long time, longer than the standard card-reader. But, this was also a literal painting of blood. There were times where one could be patient.
The red light stopped after some seconds, a white one replacing it. All the hard work put into the insignia disappeared, as the blood dissipated in some way. To replace the loss, the wall opened up to reveal a hallway. This one was not as lit up like the others, lamps only showing themselves once every ten meters. A good part of the place was left in the shadows, leaving Troy to wonder what was hidden.
He was not privy to finding out, as Dr Hale clearly avoided touching anything not touched by the light. She would take a longer step every now and then, and Troy did his best to imitate it. Walking where he was not supposed would only bring ill effects, and what exactly those were, he was not keen to figure out himself.
Doing this dance of emulation, the two walked for some time. The hallway would continue turning itself, spreading out again and again. It was like a maze, many openings showing themselves again and again. It was all identical, yet he could not figure out any pattern to it. Dr Hale would go right, left, forward, and even back the way they went randomly. Troy was not sure how it was memorized, yet it all helped them get forwards in some way. It would help them with the success, and that was all that mattered.
After nearly ten minutes of doing so, Dr Hale did something new. Taking a sharp right, she… stepped into the shadows. The same second her foot stepped into it was the second that she disappeared from sight. Most of her body had still been in the light, yet it was removed from his sight as well. She was not pulled suddenly through, for he would have heard it. What had happened?
Well… Troy had to follow his instructions and continue forth. There was nothing else he could do. Standing still would only spell disaster for him. He would not be able to go back either, for he could not remember more than the last ten steps made.
Taking the step, he was ready to close his eyes. There was no idea about what would happen, and that scared him slightly. Yet, that did not stop him, for he needed to do what he intended to.
A mild sensation of falling was felt, and then he stood on solid ground again. What had happened? Looking back, he could not recognize where he had been just a second before. The hallway was now lit up fully, but it was not the same one he had seen before. This one did not curve or split up. It was forward and back, for as long as he could see. Nothing was there, except him and Dr Hale. How were they to progress from here?
The woman had been nice, waiting for him to continue. She had clearly been expecting him to hesitate. Troy wondered for how long she had been willing to wait for him. A minute? Maybe ten? At some point, she would have needed to continue. Dr Fidelis would not be away for that long more, and they would need to have been done by then.
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"Are you ready to continue?" Dr Hale asked softly, not raising her voice. It was clear that she needed him to do the same.
"Yes," Troy answered with the same volume. He looked around once more, trying to figure out where they needed to go. The woman’s stillness did not spell well.
"Good. Be quiet in your steps from now on, and be ready to stop at the same time as me. We are in a delicate situation."
After answering her with a nod, Dr Hale moved forward. Her steps were without any sound, matching the rooms lack of movement. Even her breathing was muffled, Troy not able to hear it without straining his ears. What good would he be, if he would not copy this?
The first step forward felt like thunder in comparison to hers. The long tunnel was a terrible place to be quiet, the echoes carrying on for a long time. Every step taken after the first only made the echoes grow a little more. Constant adjustments to make it quieter did nothing to stop it, only delaying the sound from growing evermore.
How did she do it so well? For how long did she practice for this? Years upon years of lining the plan up perfectly, culminating into this. He needed to make it as well, only given the time he had right now. He needed to be quiet. Quieter than he had ever been before. Soft footsteps, deep breaths, and a calm mind made it all possible, yet he needed to take the chance.
Step after step was made, and it all made her seem so more dedicated to it all. Troy could only begin threading the footsteps of becoming silent, while she was already a master at it all. He needed to copy, he needed to take her technique and improve upon it.
And so, he did. Not well. Not even close to well. He was terrible. Yet, he continued doing it all, until the very moment that he became decent. The echoes were quieter than his breath, and that was one thing he could not improve upon. It was not perfect, but it could not be improved upon now. Given a month or two, it could take one step closer to the perfect, yet that would not work.
Troy did his best, and it worked at some level. And this work to improve was nearly how he ruined it all, as he nearly took one step too much, not realizing that Dr Hale had stopped in front of him. It was only her physically holding her shoulders, a death-stare sent directly into his irises, that made him come to his senses.
Neither spoke, for neither dared to make the slightest sound. Why this was, Troy could not know. He only trusted that Dr Hale understood it better than him. The woman moving to the wall again made him twitch.
Were they going to have another batch of blood smearing? He hoped it would not be as so, as she had already lost enough of it. Would the woman make it if that happened?
Troy’s worries were fortunately without reason, as Dr Hale only put her hand onto the wall. A brief time of pressure put on it made all resistance go away, the hand disappearing within. That part of the wall was only an illusion, as Troy could now clearly see. Only the sound came out now.
A flick of switches was heard before the woman audibly sighed. The young man could only falter slightly from the loud voice heard. Were they not meant to be quiet? What happened now?
…
Nothing. Nothing of note came out. They were not immediately injured. Neither were they assaulted by a loud alarm. If anything, the echoes were just there. Was there an error of some kind?
"We can rest briefly," Dr Hale stated, sitting down against the wall. The woman did not look to be filled with strength, as she had been just seconds before. "There are few blockades left, and the one before us now will need the precision that I don't currently have. Give me one of the first-aid kits."
Seeing her in so weak a position was not what Troy had expected to see. Yet, there were many things he had not expected to see today. One more was not out of the chances. He just handed her the small box.
Dr Hale wasted no time in opening it up. There was a variety of small bandages, bottles of disinfectant, and a few drinks of some kind. The first two were thrown out of the way, the doctor downing all the remaining drinks inside. It looked to have burned her throat, a few coughs coming out after the fact.
"Are you supposed to drink that?" Troy asked, more than a little worried for the woman. He did not want any damage to her.
"Not in these amounts, no," Dr Hale answered, getting back up from the floor. The woman looked back to her normal levels of strength, if only in a temporary. "However, it will help do what I need to do now."
Bringing out the knife once again, Dr Hale threw it down the hallway. It got out five meters before it was hit with… something, cutting it right in half.
"I just needed to be sure," Dr Hale muttered. "Before us is a three-dimensional mine-field. It will cut through anything we have. It stopped moving when I hit the switch, but it doesn't look to have turned off entirely."
"How exactly are we supposed to get to the other side, then?" Troy asked.
"I am reasonably sure what point the movements stopped. If I am correct…" Dr Hale said, not finishing her words as she took two steps forward. Troy could only watch in horror, expecting some part of her to be cut off cleanly. However… nothing of that sort happened. "Yes. I have a decent grasp of where it all is. Troy, follow my movements. We need to get through to progress. Also, walk forward with your head down. There are parts where you could be decapitated if it was raised."
…
Saying a mental prayer to whoever would listen, Troy moved forward, doing his best not to worry about any potential death-rays coming his way. It was hard not to turn his head, him walking slouched to match the height of the doctor perfectly. His arms were straight to his sides, no way he would be going to have them stretched out at any point.
A long time was spent on it, making sure neither of them was hurt in any way. Dr Hale herself was grazed slightly on the left side. It was not deep, but it clearly was a painful endeavour. It had burned straight through clothing, taking the outer layer of skin. Troy had made sure to avoid the spot, when he followed through a few seconds later, as the injury did not stop the woman in the slightest from moving forward.
When they finally got out of the invisible maze of death, a part of the second first-aid kit was spent on making sure Dr Hale was alright. Troy had to help her with it. It was hard to do, but it was done well enough to be usable.
"Where to now?" Troy asked the woman. In response, Dr Hale went over to another part of the wall, this one on the other side from before. There was not much of a surprise when her hand passed through a section, the young man guessing that there would be some form of an illusion.
What did surprise him was the click of a button and the slow descent of a ladder from above.
"We have reached the testing room," Dr Hale answered, testing out the stability of it. "We only need to climb up to it."