Subject-59

I stared at the vault door ahead of me as alarms screamed around me, the sound loud and shrill. Red emergency lights pulsed along the walls, bathing the hallway in violent flashes of crimson that made everything feel unreal, and distorted.

The vault door groaned, and shuddered, before it suddenly started to open. The massive sealed doors slowly crept apart, inch by inch, revealing nothing but darkness behind them. A darkness that didn’t just block out the light– it devoured it.

A thick, shadowy smoke began to seep from the widening crack, spilling out into the corridor like a living thing. It curled along the floor and crept up the walls, swallowing everything as it spread.

My head felt foggy, my eyes blurred—as I blinked hard, trying to focus… while the smoke carpeted the corridor like a dark fog.

My chest tightened painfully, like invisible hands were squeezing my lungs. Each breath, shallow and strained.

I staggered sideways, catching myself against the wall.

The cold metal pressed against my shoulder as I leaned into it for support, but even that felt distant somehow—like my body was lagging behind reality.

The vault door opened wider.

Every instinct in my body screamed at me to run, to escape and get far away from this place. But my legs refused—They felt rooted to the floor, heavy and unresponsive, as though something else was controlling my body.

I couldn’t move.

I could only stare at the darkness as something shifted inside. Writhing and twisting in the shadows I could see shapes folding into each other, forming and dissolving in ways my eyes struggled to follow.

My legs gave out, as I slumped against the wall, and slid down until I hit the floor, the impact barely registering through the haze clouding my thoughts.

It felt like reality was breaking all around me as Blurred figures rushed past me between the flashes of red light.

People were shouting.

Even still, I couldn’t focus on any of them—Their voices sounded warped and distant—like I was hearing them underwater.

“Ava.”

A voice drifted out from the darkness. Soft— like a whisper someone had leaned close and spoke directly in my ear.

My heart skipped a beat as I instinctively clutched my chest.

The darkness moved again.

A shape pushed forward through the writhing smoke, slowly emerging from the void. The black mist clung to it, obscuring its form like a shroud, but I could see it now.

Its limbs seemed—wrong… like there were too many of them—they were distorted. Twisted. And as it stepped out even further into the corridor, I could see the outline of its face. Six white eyes opened within the darkness—glowing faintly, soulless and hollow, all fixed directly on me.

“Ava.” This time, the voice was in my head. It was firmer, perhaps even reverent.

A long, clawed hand stretched out from the smoke, reaching toward me as I sat there unable to move. I could almost feel its touch as its hand came within inches of my face.

“Ava!”

My eyes snapped open as I jolted upright in my chair, my heart hammering in my chest.

The world rushed back into focus as bright fluorescent lights and my office desk filled my vision.

For a second, I just sat there— disoriented, my breathing unsteady as my eyes took in my surroundings.

My desk, the various papers and pens scattered across it, the lab, and jade—standing beside my workstation, staring down at me with a tired smile.

“Hey,” she said, crossing her arms. “Were you seriously taking a nap at your desk?”

I blinked several times, trying to orient myself.

I didn’t respond immediately, and merely let my eyes drift slowly across the room in a daze, as recognition settled in piece by piece.

“Hello?” Jade waved her hand dramatically in front of my face. “Earth to Ava, do you copy?”

Shaking my head to ward off the strange sense of displacement I was feeling, I gently pushed Jade’s hand out of my face and grabbed my head, feeling a headache already coming on.

“Yes,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes with one hand. “I copy.”

“You okay?” she asked, leaning against the edge of my desk. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Dream?

Oh. Right, My dream was—

My brow furrowed as I tried to think back.

My thoughts stalled as I tried to grasp the memory, but it slipped away immediately, dissolving into a hazy blur. No matter how hard I tried to think about it, it was slipping away like water through my fingers.

All that was left was the feeling it left behind.

“I…” I frowned, staring down at my hands.

They were trembling slightly.

“I don’t remember.”

Jade watched me quietly for a moment, her teasing expression fading just slightly before she gave me an awkward but reassuring smile.

“Maybe you’ve just been overworking yourself too much,” she said. “Why don’t we go to the cafeteria and grab some breakfast and coffee?”

Coffee.

The word alone made my brain feel a little less foggy.

I glanced down at the chaotic spread of papers and open files littering my desk. Research notes, observation logs, half-finished reports… it looked like I’d been working straight through the night again.

With a tired sigh, I pushed my chair back and stood, instinctively reaching for my glasses.

“Sure,” I said.

Jade instantly perked up.

“Great! I’ll tell Sarah and Jack we’ll meet them there!” she beamed.

She pushed herself off the edge of my desk and strutted out of the lab like she’d just accomplished some great task, and now had all the free time in the world.

I watched her go, the door sliding shut behind her, and for a second I just stood there, as a strange sense of déjà vu crept up my spine.

I shook my head sharply.

Get a grip, Ava.

Grabbing my lab coat, I slipped it on and tucked my glasses into the front pocket before heading for the door.

As the door hissed open, I found The hallway outside was bright as ever, the fluorescent lights above making me squint at the uncomfortable feeling they gave me.

As I stepped out, my gaze automatically drifted to the large painted emblem across the opposite wall.

A.C.O.R.N.

The letters curved around a sleek symbol with a sprouting seed, and Beneath it, the slogan was written in clean, optimistic lettering.

“The Seed of Humanity.”

I stared at it for a moment, and for some reason, my stomach twisted.

The logo was designed to look friendly. Professional. Reassuring.

But standing here in the cold underground corridors, it felt strangely… artificial— Almost mocking even.

She was already halfway to the next corridor, waving impatiently before turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

I rubbed my face and yawned into my hand as I followed after her, forgetting all about the logo, because there was only one thing I was truly interested in right now.

Coffee.

The walk to the cafeteria took a few minutes. I passed through the hall quietly, the walls on either side of me, lined with identical security doors and observation windows that looked into mostly empty labs.

When I finally stepped through the doors into the mess hall, the room felt quieter than usual.

Only a handful of scientists and security personnel were scattered around the tables, eating and going about their business.

Across the room, Jade was already waving me over, Sarah and Jack sat at the table with her, trays of food in front of them as they glanced my way.

I raised a hand in acknowledgment before detouring toward the coffee dispenser, paying no mind to the lack of activity in the mess hall. I had other priorities.

The machine hummed softly as I pressed a few buttons, and my mouth practically watered as it prepared my Cappuccino. While it processed the order, I leaned against the counter and waited.

Standing there waiting I felt a faint tingling along the back of my neck, and the unmistakable sensation of being watched.

Slowly, I glanced across the room, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and everyone there looked primarily focused on the food in front of them, but as I glanced around casually, I spotted something odd. Near one of the secured doors stood a lone guard.

His posture was rigid, almost unnatural. His brown eyes stared straight ahead with a strange emptiness, and they seemed darker than normal— completely devoid of expression.

He didn’t blink. Didn’t shift.

Didn’t react to anything happening around him.

For a moment, the thought crossed my mind that he looked less like a person, and more like a mannequin someone had forgotten to move.

A soft ding from the coffee machine snapped my attention back. I turned quickly and grabbed the cup before the thought could linger.

~Coffee. Finally.~

Taking my first sip, I immediately frowned.

“What the hell?....”

It tasted awful.

Bitter. Way more bitter than it should’ve been.

Grabbing a handful of sugar packets, I dumped them into the cup and stirred aggressively before heading toward the table.

Jade was already mid-rant when I sat down.

“…I’m telling you, I went through four hundred files yesterday!” she complained dramatically. “Four hundred! My brain is permanently damaged!”

“At least you get to sit down all day,” Jack shot back between bites of food. “Try standing guard in one spot for ten hours straight. My feet feel like they’re about to fall off!”

“Please,” Jade scoffed. “I had to take three aspirin this morning because of the headache those reports gave me. I’m pretty sure I killed off half my brain cells.”

She leaned forward with a grin.

“I’d tell you to try it sometime, but I’m not convinced you have enough brain cells left to lose.”

Sarah groaned loudly.

“Are we seriously arguing about whose job is worse again?”

Jack and Jade immediately launched into another wave of dramatic complaints, each trying to outdo the other.

Soon Sarah joined in.

The table filled with overlapping arguments and sarcastic jabs, But their voices faded into the background.

I couldn’t focus on any of it as I stared down at my cup of coffee.

Even after dumping half a cup of sugar into it, the taste was still… wrong. It was unnaturally bitter.

I tilted the cup slightly, staring into the dark liquid. It was darker than cappuccino should be.

Almost black…

There was no reflection staring back at me.

Just darkness.

~Ava…~

A whisper brushed across the back of my mind. The image of the vault door from my dream flashed violently through my head—

“Ava!” Sarah snapped her fingers in front of my face.

I jerked back, nearly spilling my coffee.

“W-what?”

“Who has it worse?” Jade asked, pointing dramatically between herself and Jack and Sarah. “Us, or those dimwits?” Jack and Sarah glared at her.

I blinked, completely lost.

My gaze drifted back down to my cup. This time I could see my reflection staring back at me.

“I—uh…” I hesitated. “Us… I guess?”

The table went quiet. All three of them were staring at me now.

Something about the sudden silence made my stomach tighten.

“Ava…?” Sarah said carefully. “Are you alright?” “You’ve been completely zoned out this whole conversation,” she added.

“And she fell asleep at her desk again,” Jade chimed in.

Sarah frowned slightly. “Maybe you should talk to the doctor. You seem really stressed.”

Jack snorted. “Maybe the doctor is the problem. They’ve been spending a lot of time together lately. with him keeping her up all night, she’s probably just sleep-deprived.”

Heat rushed to my face instantly at Jack’s teasing.

Sarah elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“OW!” He clutched his side with a dramatic pout.

“Leave her alone,” Jade scolded. “Just because she has an actual sex life and someone to get tangled in the sheets with doesn’t mean you get to tease her about it constantly.”

Sarah turned back to me with a sympathetic smile. “You should take a day or two off,” she said gently. “Catch up on sleep. De-stress.”

“Yeah,” Jack added, rubbing his ribs. “Sleep deprivation gets bad down here. You’ve seen what it does to people. Hell, we’ve had to sedate three guards this past month because they snapped from stress and lack of sleep.” he said conversationally as if the information didn’t affect us.

Sarah shot him a warning glare, but the words had already landed.

For some reason…My mind immediately drifted back to the guard standing by the door.

An uncomfortable pressure was beginning to build up inside of me, making my stomach churn and skin crawl.

It wasn’t work that was overwhelming me at this point, it was everything else that just seemed… wrong.

Every strange sensation, every odd glance, even just the taste of my coffee— All of it pressed against the edges of my thoughts like something was crawling under my skin.

I exhaled slowly and pushed my chair back from the table.

“I think I’m gonna go back to my room and rest for a bit,” I said, forcing a small smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes.

Jade, Sarah, and Jack all looked at me with varying degrees of concern. I hardly gave anyone a chance to speak before grabbing my coffee and standing up.

As I walked toward the exit of the cafeteria, I paused near a disposal station and dumped the remaining liquid down the drain.

The dark coffee swirled away, disappearing into the metal sink like ink being washed away.

I didn’t bother throwing the cup out properly. I just set it on the counter and kept moving. My hands slid into the pockets of my lab coat as I stepped back into the hallway.

The sterile, bright hallway beyond the cafeteria was quiet, and did little to ease any of my discomfort.

My footsteps echoed softly against the polished floors as I walked.

Halfway down the corridor, my gaze drifted to the wall again.

Another large painted emblem stared back at me.

A.C.O.R.N.

I slowed to a stop and For a moment I just stared at it.

Aviation Control and Operations Relay Network.

That was the name we gave the world. That was the corporation printed on every official document, every press release, every smiling recruitment advertisement.

“The Seed of Humanity.”

A noble mission. A hopeful slogan.

According to the public, we were a cutting-edge research organization dedicated to aerospace technology and communication infrastructure—advancing humanity’s reach into the skies and beyond.

I felt my stomach twist slightly. Because that wasn’t the truth.

Not even close.

Down here—buried miles beneath the surface—no one was building satellites..

No one was studying aviation control.

Because ACORN was also an acronym for something else entirely.

Something the public would never accept. Never understand.

Aberration Containment and Origin Research Network.

That was the real purpose of this place.

Not aviation, not communication.

Containment.

Only we weren’t containing people down here.

No— the only things being held in this facility—

Were Monsters.