Tao’s breath was uneven, his pulse hammering against his chest. The weight of everything dropped him on his stomach—the bloodied flashlight, the unnatural state of this house, the fact that Lucy was gone. What was the point of standing? The worst possible scenario happened and now it’s over. Can someone give me a reason to stand?

Yet, Oscar stood before him, hands clenched into fists. “Get up, Tao. What are you doing?” Oscar's voice pierced through Tao’s thoughts. He placed his hands on Tao’s shoulders and pulled him upwards.

“That’s just a flashlight. It doesn't mean anything. Now, get up!” Oscar shouted as he pulled Tao up with all his might.

Tao rose to stand, his shaky legs keeping him balanced. His gaze kept locking in back to the flashlight, the blood making a small puddle on the floor.

“Screw it,” Oscar muttered under his breath as he stuffed the flashlight in his backpack making sure to avoid getting blood on him.

“She’s alive, Tao. Pull yourself together,” Oscar assured.

“Y-yeah, you’re right. This means nothing,” Tao whispered.

“Good, now let’s go check all those doors we passed on the way here,” Oscar suggested, hugging his backpack with confidence.

The pair walked back into the dimly lit hallway. For a seemingly medium sized house, it had a lot of space underground. This put the uneasiness back in Tao's stomach. How much more was there to this?

To their left side, there were three doors. Behind them were beds laid out with a bathroom sitting on the side. The rooms felt like jail cells, but with doors instead of iron bars.

To their right side, there was a singular door, which Tao swung open without hesitation. Slowly, he was regaining his confidence back. He will not abandon Lucy.

The pair stood perplexed. Behind the door was a small hallway that led directly to an elevator.

“An elevator? In this rundown house?” Oscar questioned. None of this made sense.

“This doesn’t feel right, Oscar. But that doesn’t matter. I have to find Lucy,” Tao responded, a spark in his eyes.

Tao pressed the button next to the set of double metal doors. They could hear the scraping of wires as the elevator rose to their position.

“It actually works,” Oscar exclaimed, jokingly.

They both stepped inside the elevator, the double doors shutting behind them. The elevator was adorned with a dark brown wood floor and, not to their surprise, clean four metal walls. The elevator had four buttons—their floor which was labeled as ‘B’, the button below was labeled ‘H’, then ‘C’, and finally ‘A’.

“Gotta check each floor, no?” Oscar asked, tapping Tao’s shoulder.

Tao nodded as he pressed the button labeled ‘H’. The elevator’s doors suddenly slammed shut as the elevator began to move downwards.

The way down felt endless, leaving Tao to grip the bat until his knuckles turned white. Oscar took the time to inspect the items in his backpack. He attempted to clean what he could off the flashlight, but it had already tainted all the snacks he had brought.

Neither of them had any appetite, so Oscar stuffed them back into his backpack. What he left out was the flashlight, just in case.

“We’re gonna find her, Tao. I promise you,” Oscar assured Tao.

Tao dryly cracked a smile as the elevator came to a stop.

The elevator doors slide open with a soft ding, revealing a large, ambiently lit room. Tao stepped out first, gripping the bat, keeping his breath as quick as possible. Oscar followed close behind, holding the flashlight firmly.

The first thing they noticed was the subtle hum of electricity. There were no more distant creaks of an old house.

The room was divided into four distinct sections by a hallway forming a cross shape. Each section was visible by glass windows adorned on the inside of every side of the hallway. Each of the sections were filled with several hospital beds, each lined up in neat rows. Oddly enough, there were no doors on this floor apart from the elevator. The floor was smooth, polished tile, which reflected the white fluorescent light buzzing above them. The walls were a pale, sterile white, lined with cabinets and rolling metal carts. This wasn’t a basement.

This was a hospital ward.

“...Where the hell are we?” Oscar whispered as the pair quickly ducked behind a metal cart.

Tao didn’t answer. He truly didn’t know what this was. Or rather, how it was possible. Nothing of this made sense to him, but only one thing was clear to him. Lucy wasn’t here.

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“Let’s get out of here. Lucy isn’t here,” Tao sternly said as he turned to enter the elevator.

Before he could enter, the elevator doors slid shut in front of him and the elevator began to move downwards.

“Oh...no. W-w-what do we do?” Oscar stuttered.

Tao quickly grabbed Oscar’s arm and swiftly moved to the furthest section of the room. This section had IV poles at each bed, their tubes hanging limp as if they hadn’t been used in a while.

Oscar and Tao both ducked behind the windows hoping nobody would come to this floor as simply go past them.

“Is…this a real hospital?” Oscar tried to make conversation.

Tao put his back on the wall as he scanned the section, his pulse hammering. “No,” he said firmly. “It’s something else.”

Something much worse.

Tao looked upwards to reveal a red sign painted on the ceiling. The letters looked blurry with time, but they were still legible.

MATERNITY WARD

Tao froze, his nerves shocking his thoughts. “Maternity?” Oscar blurted as he pointed his flashlight towards the sign. “What the hell does that mean?”

Tao’s throat tightened. He couldn’t…or rather didn’t want to answer.

Suddenly, the elevator doors slid open and a pair of steps broke the silence that the boys made. Tao covered his mouth and motioned Oscar to do the same.

“Make sure to place this file in Recents, please,” a voice rang out.

The pair of steps split into two sets of steps which stopped at the sections right next to the boys. The first set of steps roamed around in the sections across from the boys. They were pinned. If we were to run out and head straight for the elevator, maybe we could make it. Unlikely. I don’t even know who we are dealing with. They have lights that make people disappear. The lack of information will get me and Oscar killed.

“Are you done, yet? I need your help with the one we just brought in. I’ll be down below.”

“Yes, sir,” the other voice responded.

“Good. Finish up with this one and meet me downstairs. The Ark be with you,” the voice said.

“The Ark be with you,” the other voice repeated.

Then, the elevator door opened and closed again. Finish up with this one? Did they bring someone in? Is it Lucy?

The person in the section next to the boys made their way to the section across from them. Noises of liquids being squished out and floods being extracted started erupting in the room.

“We gotta do something,” Oscar whispered into Tao’s ear. “What if it’s Lucy?”

That’s right. What if it’s Lucy getting messed with? Or what if it’s not and we risk our lives for nobody? Then what?

“Are you fucking listening, Tao?” Oscar exclaimed as he smacked Tao on his head.

“Yeah, sorry, you’re right. Let me take a look,” Tao responded. It doesn’t matter who it is. They must do something.

Tao slowly raised his head above the window to take a look into the other section. His hands left an imprint on the window edges due to the amount of sweat on them.

A tall figure stood hunched over a bed. They wore black pants with an upper piece robe that covered their head. A mask gleamed under the fluorescent light.

It was them. The Ark.

Tao dropped back down to Oscar. “Shit…it’s them.”

“Who?” Oscar asked.

“The cult, the Ark, those monsters who originally asked Lucy to come here,” Tao explained.

“What do we do?”

“There’s only one thing for us to do,” Tao fumed, looking down at his bat.

“You’ll go through the open doorway next to the elevator, and I’ll sneak up behind them through the doorway across from us,” Tao described.

Oscar shuffled a bit, clearly uneasy with going face to face with them.

“Hey, you’ll be okay,” Tao reassured as he placed a hand on Oscar’s shoulder.

“You’re right. Let’s do it.”

Oscar sneakily made his way to the open doorway next to the elevator and waited just behind. He counted the seconds in his head as Tao got in position at the other doorway.

With a deep breath, he stepped out into the open doorway.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Oscar called out, his voice shaking as the words escaped his mouth.

The figure snapped towards Oscar. It was standing over a person, a sheet covering the upper half as blood was splattered all over the place.

“What are you doing here?” the figure said. “I thought we dealt with you already.”

“W-w-what are you doing to that person?” Oscar could barely get the words out.

The figure took a step toward Oscar, the mask tilting slightly—like they were smiling beneath it. “Ah,” the figure said.

Tao didn’t think. He just moved.

Suddenly, a high pitched ping rang out throughout the room. The bat connected with the back of the mask with a sickening crack. The figure dropped to the floor instantly, blood seeping through the eye slits of the mask and staining the polished tile.

“Holy shit,” Oscar blurted as he walked over to the figure.

“I think he’s fucking dead.”