He had been wandering aimlessly in the lower levels for two days now.
The hunger was beginning to get to Poole.
Sleepy had left him long ago after realising he had no easy way out.
His hope slowly had been dwindling away as he searched each room he passed for stale food or a drop of water.
As he trudged down the hallway, he began to hear another familiar whisper. All at once, the lights of the hallway turned themselves on.
He yelped in pain as the light hit his eyes. His vision, previously used to the darkness, suddenly blurred. Poole could now see he was in what used to be a test viewing room complete with a long drop into the testing room.
Through the blurriness he could see a figure in the standard test subject uniform. It was holding and talking to something... but what?
As he got closer, his vision began to clear. Poole could now see that the figure had sideburns. Each were completely covered in dried blood.
Suddenly, Poole stepped on a cracked floor-tile, causing a loud crunch to echo down the hallway.
The figure stopped speaking with this and turned his head to face Mr Poole.
Lockwood.
His eyes had been gouged out, Poole couldn't hold back his gag reflex as he quickly fell to his knees, vomiting.
"Lockwood..." He choked, attempting once again to stand up. "What the hell happened?"
"You..." Growled Lockwood as he realised who was in front of him. He quickly threw what he was holding to the ground and began to run towards Mr Poole in a blind rage.
Poole reacted quickly, running towards the window and looking over the edge. Too high to jump.
Lockwood was still speeding towards him. He finally lunged for Poole's head. His lack of sight became his downfall as Poole leapt out of the way causing Lockwood to fall down into the pit.
Poole could hear each and every one of Lockwood's bones crack and break as he hit the bottom.
But who was he talking to, himself? Mr Poole immediately set off to investigate the object that Lockwood was holding.
He was speaking to a phone... Mr Poole picked it up as it booted up automatically.
Poole felt a rush of adrenaline and excitement as the realisation set in. "PAI?"
The phone had developed a digital face for itself in the years the two had been apart.
(Drawing by NickJellyNinja on Deviantart)
"Oh my god..." Spoke the phone, heating up in an attempt to deal with the excitement it felt.
"Caleb...?"
————————PRESENT DAY————————
Sasha stayed on her knees, looking to where the deep pit holding Red once was. Her lip quivered. Both of her eyes filling with tears.
"I'm so sorry... I should've told you sooner, I loved you, Red." She whispered, falling into a fetal position with this in a fit of crying.
Sasha felt a warm hand on her arm, holding it gently.
"It is okay..." Hummed a warm and comforting voice. "You never liked him anyway."
Sasha jumped in fear, quickly turning to face the person who had spoken. Noone. The
'Forest must have been trying to get at me again.' She thought as she stood and began walking, no longer feeling the comfort that someone was still at home waiting for her.
As she walked, she looked back down to her hands. They had begun to turn a brownish colour from the blood starting to dry. She gagged and cringed.
Her mind eventually wondered to all of the people she had wronged.
PAI, she didn't trust from the beginning.
Red, she didn't listen to.
Charlie, she stabbed to death.
Jack, she had broken her promise to him.
Reno, she had murdered.
PAI vibrated. Sasha took him out of her pocket, staring at his screen.
"From what I heard, I presume that Red is no more." He spoke, sorrow in his tone.
Sasha nodded with this, her heart falling lower and lower with each action she took.
"I am sorry this has happened to you, I take full responsibility for your grief. Red was a good person."
"I don't blame you, PAI. I'm sorry I didn't trust you before." Replied Sasha, a tear trickling down her face.
"I forgive you. It was a lot of information to take on all at once. You do not have to find Caleb if you do not feel you are mentally or physically capable of doing so." Spoke PAI "I will not consider it a broken promise."
"I need to find him. If I don't then Red and Reno both died in vain." Sighed Sasha, putting the phone back in her pocket and continuing her walk.
After what felt like hours and hours of walking, Sasha began to see a strange rectangular shape through the dense fog. As Sasha got closer, she began to realise she was looking at a wooden shack.
She was now close enough to make out a small engraving on top of the makeshift door.
'Fuck off'
How inviting. Sasha pulled PAI out again with this, pointing his backwards camera at the shack.
"Who could build a house here? Two likely scenarios: One- The person has survived here for a long time and been unlucky enough to never find an exit or be killed. Two- The forest is attempting to trick us." Spoke PAI "Do you plan on taking that risk, Sasha?"
"Well, I suppose I have to... what if Caleb is in there?" She questioned, looking down to PAI.
"Please be careful." Replied PAI as he was put back into Sasha's pocket.
Sasha slowly raised her hand and placed it on the door. It creaked open with very little effort. Inside was a dark room was a makeshift bed made from mud and leaves, a rock in the place of a bedside table, a place where a fire once burned and a row of sharpened sticks and branches.
Sasha gasped as she saw the branches, they were clearly meant for use as weapons. Some of them had dried blood on them already, a shiver traveled down her spine.
"Whatever you have in your pocket, take it out and put it on the floor."
Shit.
A voice from a dark corner of the room spoke, it sounded menacing, as if used to threatening people.
Sasha slowly reached for her pocket, pulling PAI out and pointing his camera towards the dark corner.
"Its just a phone... nothing that I can seriously injure you with..." Replied Sasha as softly and calmly as she could.
A man stepped out of the corner, he looked oddly familiar. His eyebrows were slightly raised in anger. He held up one of the sharpened branches towards her. Then, staring at the phone and holding out one of his hands.
"Give me it." He spoke, his hand shaking as he held it out.
"I... I shouldn't. It isn't mine." Replied Sasha, pulling the phone further back from him.
"Give me it or I drive this branch through your neck!" He yelled, taking a step closer.
Sasha sighed, she didn't want to kill him. If he tried anything she surely could, what with all of the weapons lay out for her. She put PAI down on the floor and kicked him over to the man.
The man picked PAI up, looking at the logo imprinted on his back. "I swear to fuck if you're with Lynch.co." He growled, turning the phone around so the screen faced him.
PAI booted up automatically upon the camera getting a good look at the mans face.
"Caleb?"
"Oh my god, PAI?"
Sasha suddenly came to the realisation as to why she recognised the man. "Holy shit you really exist... PAI and I have been looking for you for days... how the fuck did you end up here?" She spoke, shocked at the sight of him.
Caleb looked to Sasha, still struggling to trust her. "PAI, is she with Lynch.co?"
"Not to my knowledge, no."
"I was doing my job. I'm sorry, trust hasn't my strong suit recently." Spoke the man, shaking his head.
She felt a rush of relief as she realised her promises had been fufilled. "You won't believe how much I've given up to give PAI to you." Marvelled Sasha, still revelling in the rush of relief. "I'm Sasha, by the way... Now that I've helped you... do you know a way out of here?"
Caleb nodded, smiling as PAI began to vibrate. As Caleb read the text showing on the screen he visibly shuddered.
"Do you have an explanation for this?" Asked Caleb as he reread the text.
Sasha looked to Caleb. "What does it say?"
"Do you really think that we will allow her to leave with ease?"