Jasmine Adkins was riding her scooter through the desert, as she carefully looked around her surroundings for any reactions. In front of her scooter, a GPS device was tied to the head light, and it was constantly beeping, with varying frequencies as Jasmine rode from one hill to another. It was tracking a signal, the signal which Jasmine thought came from her parents.

Jasmine lived with her family in a nearby village. Three days ago, they were still living together normally. Surely one wouldn’t describe it as an harmonic family, the constant bickering due to the pressure of scarce resources always cast a shadow onto the family’s relations. However, when her parents disappeared two days ago, Jasmine would not believe that this was the reason they left. Since they’ve already lived in this condition for twenty years, there is no reason that her parents had a change of mind.

Fortunately, her father’s mobile device was traceable. It is a habit due to his work at the mines. The signal was weak, but Jasmine finally located it. As she drove her scooter closer toward the signal source, she couldn’t see anything around her, except the hills and valleys made out of sand.

“Father!” she shouted. “Mother?”

There were no replies. However, Jasmine was fairly confident that the signal is at its maximum here. So she stepped off the vehicle and decided to search around.

The basic protective wear on her prevented her from suffering under the extreme heat, but she had only brought enough water supply for a day. Jasmine was in a hurry, and during her hasty attempt to find any sign of life, she carelessly forgot to watch her steps, and accidently stepped on an area of sand softer than others.

Jasmine’s feet sunk into the sand, she immediately tried to pull it out, but it was like a hand firmly grasping on her feet, pulling her ever downward. Soon, Jasmine’s lower body was all under the sand.

Jasmine had a strange feeling, halfway through, her feet no longer felt the ground. She was sure that there was no surface under her, and if the sand completely swallowed her, she would fall from an unknown height, possibly dying from the impact.

Jasmine reached into her backpack behind her, and pulled out a metal stick that was the size of an arm. It was her father’s old equipment. She looked around and found a rock that was located far away from this trap, that seemed to be fixed on a solid foundation. She used all her force to pull her hand and the device out from the sand, and aim one end of it toward the rock. She pressed a button on the other end, and a hook tied with rope shoots out with lightning speed, just barely missing the rock.

Jasmine then pressed the button again, and the hook, on its way back, crashed into the rock. The momentum of the hook drove it into the rock, and the reaction force almost pulled the stick out of Jasmine’s hand, but she tied it firmly on her wrist.

Jasmine tried to pull herself out of the quicksand with the rope, but it was no use. So Jasmine relaxed instead, letting the sand sink her down further. When her whole body except her head and hand was under the surface, she started pulling the rope, and rappel down slowly into the trap.

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When Jasmine deceneded underground, she couldn’t see anything. The faint sunlight piercing through the sand was not very helpful, so she couldn’t see anything around her. However, when she looked up, she could see that the sands stopped moving after she fell through it. Instead, the sand which previously was soft and flowing, now formed a firm surface on top of her, only letting the rope pass, as if this whole underground structure were a chamber from the beginning.

Puzzled by this strange phenomenon, Jasmine continued to rappel down, until her feet touched something. After confirming it was hard ground, she finally let go of the rope and landed. With the rappel stick still tied to her wrist, Jasmine rolled the sleeves on her right hand upward. A wristband, almost transparent, was glowing in the dark, and Jasmine whispered toward it.

“Lights.” She said. The band started glowing in much more radiant fashion, and soon brightened the space around her. Jasmine used her hand as a flashlight to navigate her surroundings. She found several doors around her, with stone pillars around them. This underground dungeon clearly was made by humans, though Jasmine had no recollection that anyone told her about his place.

Jasmine touches her wristband again, and a small electronic screen is projected on top of it. On one of its corners, Jasmine could see the icon that was supposed to show signals was completely dark. She was confused, since she’s never been to a place with no radio signal.

She was getting nervous, but since there was no way she could call for help, she must either climb upward with the rope or explore what’s behind those doors. She chose the latter, since she didn’t have the strength to climb back up, and she suspected her parents might be somewhere around.

Jasmine used the remaining rope to fix the stick onto her backpack, and used its weight to keep the stick from moving. She hoped that someone who saw the hook and rope that was on top of the surface would notice her and thus could call for help, although she doubted if anyone would even come across this place at all. She gathered her water bottle, some emergency foods and a pistol she brought to protect herself. She left the rest of her belongings alongside her backpack, and walked into the closest door.

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It was a very well-built tunnel, the walls looked firm and barely aged, Jasmine could see some words carved alongside the walls, although she didn’t want to stop and inspect them. Soon, she arrived in another room, a room that looked similar to the one she fell into, but larger. Jasmine started to consider the possibility that this underground facility was a maze designed to trap people. She picked up a rock beside her, and started leaving marks on the ground and walls to trace her path.

With one hand constantly leaving marks on the wall, Jasmine ventured deeper into another door. Halfway through one of the hallways, Jasmine noticed that something was shining on top of the ceiling. She raised her right hand and flashed light toward it.

The ceiling suddenly started to rumble, Jasmine could see that something with the shape of a bug started crawling across the roof. Before she could react, the door behind her shut tight, and the walls beside her started moving up.

Jasmine realized that the ground was falling downward like an elevator, she kneeled and touched the ground to keep her balance, as the ground fell faster and faster.

Then, the ground started slowing down. There were some sparks emerging from the edge of the platform. It kept descending in a slow manner, until it completely halted.

After confirming her safety, Jasmine gradually stood up, alarmed by the trap she activated, she turned off the light. In the dark, Jasmine saw a part of the wall around her were glowing, with yellow light blazing like the headlight of a car. It was another door, this time smaller, like the window of a jail cell.

With no other choice in mind, Jasmine crawled through the small door with her eyes closed.