▼ 12:17 pm
Area 6, Outer Ring
Factory
THE Procyon lets out a shrill warning cry in the factory. Alarmed, I check the display—it’s reading 4,001 mSv. Contamination has spread to the factory, shooting the radiation levels up to the first danger standard.
The whole facility could be over 4,000 mSv now if this is anything to go by. That’s a problem just as dire as the dead body we discovered. This hellhole of a facility has now become a danger to our lives even with AD.
“Tachibana, Moribe, Ukita, inject yourselves with AD, stat,” I urge them. “I know you have a lot on your minds, but you need to do this.” I hand out the AD and they administer it in silence.
Our lives have been extended for another hour, but with our escape routes severed, it’s nothing more than a stopgap on our way to certain death.
We’ll have to inject AD five more times before the lockdown officially ends. We’ve already used up the AD we had on hand. I’m fairly certain we combed over most of the facility, so if we didn’t miss a supply of AD lying around, we’ll all be exposed to radiation in an hour.
Do we have to check all the same areas again? Go over it with an even finer toothed comb? That thought is like a jolt to my brain. With our one hope crushed, all my fatigue is catching up to me at once. My body isn’t in perfect shape anymore, either, what with my cracked ribs and the cut on the back of my head. And I shouldn’t forget the countless bruises, scrapes, and burns I’ve gotten along the way.
The others’ faces are equally filled with loss and despair. No one is saying anything. They’re likely just as confused by these unexpected events as I am.
Heavy silence hangs over us. But an abrupt voice from my pocket slices through it.
“—sagi…—…ead me? …Kasasagi, do you read me?!”
It’s a transmission from Commander Murakami! I hastily whip out my PDA and respond, “I read you! This is Kasasagi, over!”
“…—sagi! I finally got a hold of—…—” The transmission has more static noise than ever. The commander talks without waiting for my reply this time. “—…—ception is extremely unstab—…—is will probably be the las—…—nsmission—…”
“Commander! I can’t hear you!”
“—…idn’t find anyone with—…—gun. –ouldn’t confirm if there’s a kill—…”
He seems to be saying that they couldn’t find anyone with a gun or confirm if there’s a killer. I keep my mouth shut and try to catch everything he has to say.
“According to—…—rapped there aside from you guys—…—…—…the ones possibly trapped inside are—…—including the deceased—…—Dojima and Hiyama—…—resear—…—…—I repeat…” Commander Murakami is desperately trying to convey the information we need to know through bursts of static.
“…—rapped with you are—…—Dojima and Hiyama, two researchers—…—…—…—…—…—…—wo research—…—three high school stude—…—…—girl—…—…—…—…—gh school students…—…one girl—…—…—…—…————”
The transmission ends there. Static is all we can hear now. Pocketing the PDA, I confirm what I heard with the others. “Was that a list of the people trapped down here?”
Tachibana thoughtfully answers, “Yes. He was probably trying to tell us who else might possibly be in the basement floors with us.”
“Did you make out what he was saying?”
“From what I could piece together, he said, ‘The ones trapped inside aside from you guys, including the dead, are Dojima and Hiyama, two researchers, and three high school students.’ I think?”
“Wait, he said something else after that. One girl, right?”
“A girl?”
Everyone’s gaze turns toward the lift at once. He was probably talking about the young lady we found in there. Most of the people he listed are already dead: Dojima, Hiyama, the two researchers, and the one girl.
Their loss should be mourned, but Murakami’s list told us something of even greater importance—those three high schoolers were included in the list of people still trapped down here.
“Dammit! So those kids didn’t get out after all!”
Miss Ena blanches. “This is horrible! We must’ve overlooked them! They must be unconscious somewhere down here!”
“Calm down, Miss Ena. They could be moving around the areas like we have been.”
“How?!”
“Our search has basically taken us in only one direction at a time. It’s reasonable to think we’ve been going the opposite direction from them.”
“Then that’s all the more reason to get on with the search right now!”
Ukita puts out his hand, stopping her from running off. “Wait just a minute, Ms. Tsubakiyama. We have something more important to think about first.”
“What could be more important?!” she shrieks.
“The dire situation we currently find ourselves in. When you stop and consider there was a mysterious girl’s body right next to our intentionally destroyed escape route, you have got to ask yourself—what in the world have we gotten mixed up in?”
No one has an answer.
Tachibana breaks the oppressive silence. “…Then let’s sort out the situation first. If you ask me, I think the young girl died trying to escape.”
“Based on what?”
“Please take a look at this and see for yourself.” Tachibana pulls a security card from her chest pocket. Written on the front of it is “Level N.”
“Level N?! How did you get this?!”
“It was on the floor next to the girl’s body. She must’ve made her way to the lift using it. I assume she was searching for a way out of here just like we are.”
“Okay, say she was—how did she get a hold of the highest level card? Who in the world is she?”
“I don’t know. All I can say for sure is that she desperately dragged herself all the way here after being shot by someone—but lost hope and her hold on life after discovering the only exit was destroyed.”
“That’s a good theory… The next question is who in their right mind broke the lift controls?”
A look of fear crosses every face.
Moribe frowns as she asks, “Someone broke it? It wasn’t accidentally destroyed?”
“No way. The controls weren’t damaged by accident, no matter how you try to spin it. Someone did it intentionally.”
“But what’s there to gain by doing that? Destroying the lift traps the culprit down here with the rest of us. And I find it hard to believe anybody would wanna stay in this hellhole,” Moribe groans.
That’s as good of a question as any. Is there someone down here with us who wanted to destroy the escape routes so badly they’d risk getting trapped?
“…Wasn’t it the killer?” Miss Ena ventures in a subdued voice.
“The killer?! What are you getting at?”
“I’m talking about the culprit who murdered that girl. Whoever it was is most likely the same person who killed the three people in Area 3.”
My mind flashes back to the grotesque way we found the researchers’ slaughtered bodies. They’d been pumped full of bullet holes, just like that girl. It’s the same M.O.
“You’ve all been trying to forget about those three bodies up until now, haven’t you? We’ve shelved away any discussion of it by going along with the theory that the killer had already escaped. You all figured we could just look for the murderer after we got out of here, no?”
“Y-You’re not wrong.”
“But that assumption has been totally invalidated. They couldn’t have escaped as easily as we assumed… So I’ll say it again: this was no mere accident!” Miss Ena’s barbed voice echoes through the silent factory.
I swallow the lump in my throat. “...What’s that supposed to mean, Miss Ena?”
“Seeing as a girl was shot to death right next to our escape route, it’s only natural to infer someone did it while she was trying to escape. Murders have been happening in the basement of a facility that’s impossible to escape from… Doesn’t it make more sense if the killer’s the one who created this enclosed space in the first place?”
“Impossible! Why would they do that?”
“Perhaps they wanted to kill someone so badly they remained in the basement to do it? Think about it this way: if they killed their target during the lockdown, all the evidence would go up in flames with the bodies.”
“Drop it, Miss Ena. You’re speculating too much! All you’re doing is getting people spooked over nothing!” I raise my voice in objection to her out-of-control conspiracy theories.