Chapter 13 (Interlude)

Alarms blare as the sound of windows shattering echoes throughout the pyramid-shaped facility. Hallways turn dark and red as the emergency lights do their job. Critical servers throughout the data center blink off one by one, whether they simply lose power or are destroyed.

“Tsk! Move it or lose it, kid!” An older voice screams as rapid footsteps flee. On the verge of tears, a young intern follows an older technician like her life depends on it. The intern’s huffing and puffing versus the technician's ironclad lungs shows a clear difference in speed. Even so, she slows down for the young intern.

“Don’t lose that badge!” The technician yells at the intern as they take tight turns. “Unless you think you can take a .50 cal bullet!” The young girl remembers the lectures… if your image and DNA aren’t registered in the security system, the turrets and drones will shoot you and anything that gives off heat. They’re AI image and thermal-based.

But if they see an immunity badge, they’ll ignore you. Those badges are given to the newbies. But how useful will it be now?

The intern can hear almost inhuman laughing and sometimes even a monstrous growling through the walls.

“A-as long as we get out, everything will-”

“Don’t know about that one.” The technician cuts off the intern as she looks at her phone. “It’s not just us… It’s the entire globe.”

A gulp and silence come from the intern before receiving another notification on her phone.

“H-hey! HQ says we should stay inside and wait for security forces to clear us out!” She explains. “Is there any safe pla-”

“Forget it.” The technician says. “They don’t know what's happening in here.”

Gunshots ring out and draw closer to the two fleeing employees, causing them to stop.

“Those shots…” The technician begins. “They’re coming towards us! Get back!” She pulls the young intern as they duck behind a server rack. The technician slowly pokes her head out, and the intern follows suit.

The banging and ringing of gunshots draw closer and closer until the flashes from the gun reveal a man at the end of the hallway. With his pistol raised and back facing the hiding women, he keeps backing away from something and empties his mag at something in the distance.

The intern begins to move to get the man’s attention, but the technician holds her back and motions her to silence. Screaming at the top of his lungs, the security guard yells at the radio on his chest.

“Is anyone out there?! This is a code… I don’t even know what to call this! Just anybody! Please!” The man begs as he reloads. Just as he finishes, he pauses as his face goes pale.

The technician and intern can feel it, too. Aside from the suddenly freezing temperatures, the feeling is hard to explain. Something that is not supposed to be… something that doesn’t belong on our plane of existence. Something that is nothing… Yet is clearly something…

Anger… Depression… Vengeance…. Despair…

…Death. The feeling of death lingers in the air.

Limbs go numb. Spines begin to chill.

And then it appears. A large white and blue haze rises from the ground, gently floating in front and just above the security guard. A soft and echoey groaning comes from the fog as it slowly condenses and starts to take form. A translucent human woman with blueish-pale skin appears out of the haze, with a white gown and black hair longer than her body. Her eyes have no color as she stares down the mortal before her.

The security guard’s knees tremble as the technician narrows her eyes. The intern’s hand reaches her mouth just after she mouths, ‘Oh my god.’

The specter slowly reaches for the guard, only for him to quickly point his pistol at her with tears streaming down his face.

“I’M NOT SCARED OF YOU!!!” He screams as he unloads whatever he has left in the 9mm. The specter gives a harrowing roar filled with rage. It flies up and then dives straight into the security guard, disappearing inside him. He quickly falls to the ground with his body cracking and contorting in all sorts of directions.

The intern falls back and stares with bulging eyes and gags at the horrifying scene, quickly becoming nauseous and bringing her other hand to her mouth. Whimpers and shrieks escape her as she tries desperately to comprehend what’s happening in front of her.

As the convulsions finally cease, the guard’s skin turns pale as his pupils and iris slowly fade. The body’s movements become uniform once more as the guard begins to stand up, bones cracking in every limb.

Now hunched over on its two feet, the guard turns its horrid face to the source of those whimpers. Its white and empty eyes meet the shrinking intern as the guard lets out a sick, raspy breath.

The intern scoots and scrambles back as she screams. The technician desperately looks around for something blunt, sharp, or explosive. But nothing is close enough to save-

The sound of rapid footsteps catches all three’s (or four if you count the specter) attention.

“Is it back up? Are we saved?” The technician wonders in her head.

“Wait… those footsteps… those are too thick! And too many of them! What the heck is that?! And is that growling? It’s not coming from the guard…”

The possessed guard screams in a horrifying and raspy voice as he looks down the hall. An even more resounding roar shoots back at the guard, causing everyone in the room to jump.

The guard attempts to turn away but is quickly bathed in a sea of violent flames. The raspy screams turn into human screams as the blue haze shoots out of the body and into the ceiling.

The fire suppression system sprays a discharge as the fire lights up the whole room. But that doesn’t stop the footsteps from approaching rapidly.

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A dark, inhuman shadow pounces on the guard and quickly puts him out of his misery by biting and twisting his neck like an apex predator.

The intern’s eyes widen and the technician’s jaw drops as the fire reveals what’s on top of the body.

A brown, scaly reptile with wings no more than five feet tall and seven feet long inspects the body, ensuring it’s dead before opening its teeth-ridden mouth. But then, it quickly snaps its head and snarls at something in the distance.

From the hallway where the intern and technician ran in, a familiar buzzing rings through and quickly gets louder and louder. Lasers appear on the creature’s face as it stares ahead. The intern and technician's faces light up as they know what this means.

The lizard’s throat and mouth glow orange as it gets ready to do what every winged lizard would do, but it is met with a hail of bullets, causing it to roar painfully before turning away and eventually collapsing on the ground.

Five quadcopter drones equipped with machine guns enter the server room and immediately split up—two check to see if the creature is dead while the rest scan the room for other threats. One examines the sighing technician before moving on to the intern.

“P-please! We need your help! Send someone! Anyone! Preferably with lots of guns!” The intern begs the drone in a shaky voice as she approaches it.

“Don’t bother,” The technician says as the drone keeps scanning. “They’re automated. Nobody is watching them live; HQ will just review the footage later…”

The intern looks downcast as the gravity of the situation begins to sink in. She and her family were so excited when she landed this internship, but now? Is her family even alive?

Just as the dark thoughts begin to swallow her, she notices a laser pointing at her chest. She gives an audible “huh?” before the drone releases a menacing beeping noise.

The technician's eyes grow as she figures out what’s about to happen.

“YOUR BADGE! YOU DROPPED YOUR BADGE!!” The technician screams at the intern. The intern gasps as she looks at the badge on the ground, but out of reach. The other drones join the first one and all point lasers at the intern, ready for an execution. She raises her hands to surrender instinctively… but knows that won’t work.

The technician runs and leaps for the badge before chucking it at the intern with a throw that would make the MLB proud. The badge smacks into the intern’s hand but bounces up in the air. The intern makes multiple attempts to catch it, each hitting her hand as it gets closer to the ground. Her final effort succeeds before hitting the ground, and she quickly shows the badge to the drones.

The drones point their lasers at the badge as the beeping stops. After a tense amount of time, the lasers finally blink off as drones turn away and enter a formation, taking off into the hallway where the guard came from.

“Th-thank you…” The intern squeaks out as the technician nods, before they both turn their attention to the dead lizard.

“I… didn’t really watch those nerdy movies, but,” The intern begins. “Isn’t that a dragon? And aren’t they supposed to be huge?”

“I think it’s a baby,” The technician says as she gets on her feet. “Which isn’t good.”

“Why?” The intern asks. “Wouldn’t we rather deal with a baby than an adult?”

“Because it means that mama’s around.” The technician digs around the guard’s body and finds an overheated but still working tablet. “We can use this map he has on here. It looks like security and the drones are marking danger zones. Stay close to me.”

The intern nods as she gets up and begins to trot along behind the technician.

15 Minutes later…

After navigating the halls and watching a few spirits fly through the walls, the technician and intern find themselves at the door that leads to the security office. It’s locked down tightly and won’t budge. For some reason, candles surround the entrance.

“Tsk, even with explosives, this titanium alloy would be hard to break through…” The technician says, examining the door.

“Heeeeyyyy! Is anyone in there?! Please let us in!” The intern says, knocking both fists on the door and looking at the camera. The technician rolls her eyes at her.

“As if that’s gonna-”

“Are you possessed?” A nervous voice says over the loudspeaker next to the camera.

“N-no?” The intern responds, looking back and forth between the camera and the technician.

A brief silence goes by before a light on the door turns green and slides open.

As the two women walk in, they see a young man sitting on the ground with wide eyes shivering. He has a remote in his hand pointed at the door, pressing a button, causing it to close behind the women.

The technician takes one look at the young man with narrow eyes.

“Wait, who are you?” She asks him. “Where is everybody?”

The young man is huddled in a corner with bags of chips and pop cans lying on the floor. It’s evident to the women that he’s been stress eating.

“I-I-I’m sorry! It’s my first day, man! I d-don’t know what to do!” He starts sputtering. “It’s all gone to hell! Literally! Look!”

The women look at the numerous monitors showing live footage of the entire data center. Some show numerous adolescent dragons running rampant in the facility, with even a few attempting to dig into the vending machines. Some show specters periodically fading in and out of existence. Another shows what remains of security trying to fight off both forces with the assistance of drones and turrets. Some monitors are entirely static.

But one camera in particular catches the women’s eyes. The camera shows a humanoid cloaked with a black and purple robe wandering down the hall. Its eyes glow red as its pale face decomposes. He wields a tall decorated scepter that's glowing a dark purple. Even more interestingly, he has countless blue hazes following him.

“Th-they just told me to stay put and that they would take care of all of this, but look at them now, three-fourths of them dead and-”

“The heck is that?” The technician cuts him off and points at the cloaked figure.

“N-NO! DON’T LOOK AT HIM!” The young man screams, but human instinct directs both women’s gaze at the screen. The figure slowly turns toward the camera and unleashes a screech as its eyes glow brighter. He points the scepter at the camera, causing one of the hazes to fly at the camera before the footage goes static.

“NO, NO, NO! NOW HE’S GONNA SEND MORE!!” The young man yells as he covers his face.

“S-send more?” The intern asks.

“I’ve been trying to avoid watching b-becuase he somehow knows he’s being watched every time I look at him. When he catches me looking, he destroys the camera before sending those ghosts here!” He explains through tears now.

“Wait, if he’s been sending those… things for you, then how are you still alive?” The technician asks.

“Those little d-dragons.” The young man explains. “The g-ghost seemed to be scared of the fire coming from the dragons, so I g-grabbed a bunch of candles from the cabinet and lit them all in front of both doors. It works for now, but they’re getting bolder every attempt…”

“And the turrets plus patrolling drones are keeping the dragons off of you…” The technician finishes the young man’s thought. He nods in agreement.

“Well, as long as we stay here, we’ll be ok, right?” The intern says to both the technician and the young man.

However, a light on one of the doors turns green as it opens up. All three employees' eyes widen as they witness a security guard with pale skin and faded pupils standing at the door’s entrance. She unleashes her raspy breath as her hand leaves the side of the door, revealing the ID card she just scanned.

The technician and intern take a few steps back as shivers travel through their bodies. The young man scrambles backward with incoherent blabbering.

As the guard shambles forward, she reaches into her holster and slowly raises her pistol.