CONTAINMENT ZERO: PROJECT SHADOW CODE

Chapter 7- No Room For Your Name

Two creatures erupted from the floor below them. The grate tore apart like wet paper as something pale and distorted shot out of the black water at impossible speed. Kate cried out as the stranger hauled Zamora backward just in time, teeth snapping shut inches from her face.

CRUNCH.

The creature missed her and slammed into the wall instead, hard enough that concrete cracked around the impact.

"GO!" the stranger roared.

Chaos again. Water churned violently around them as prisoners scrambled away from the two creatures now cutting through it, white and fast, moving like sharks that had given up on subtlety.

PLAYER GUEST220 HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

PLAYER NINA HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

A prisoner near her tried climbing the wall pipes, but something below the surface caught his feet and dragged him under headfirst, screaming the whole way down. Then silence. Then blood.

Kate looked like she was somewhere past terrified.

PLAYER STAYFER90 HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

"There are too many—"

PLAYER ANDY HAS MARRIED QUEEN ELLIE ON LEVEL 11.

Another tremor shook the prison. One of the prisoners actually laughed at that.

"Wow," he said, somewhere between disbelief and hysteria, "we're fighting for our lives, and someone's getting married."

BOOOOOOOOOM.

Further down, the ceiling gave way entirely, burying several prisoners under concrete and torn piping.

PLAYER GUEST771 HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

PLAYER DEX HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

The system spoke, calm as always.

CURRENT ACTIVE PLAYERS: 894

Zamora's stomach dropped. Under a thousand, and Level One hadn't even technically started.

The stranger hauled himself up onto the ledge of the maintenance hatch above them.

PLAYER ANDY IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE ON LEVEL 11.

"Hurry!"

The same prisoner from before snorted. "Serves him right," he muttered, laughing like he'd forgotten, just for a second, where he was.

The water kept rising, past their waists now, and getting colder. The longer she stood in it, the worse the images got. Snowstorms. Red eyes. A burning symbol glowing under a black sky. Then a voice, screaming, not in fear but in rage.

"Find her!"

She gasped and grabbed the side of her head, and the nearest creature turned toward her immediately. Its smile widened.

HIGH PRIORITY TARGET MEMORY ACTIVITY INCREASING.

The stranger's face went grim. "That's REALLY bad."

"What's happening to me?!" Zamora shouted.

He didn't get the chance to answer. Kate let out a scream that cut through everything, and a pale hand surged up from beneath the water and closed around her leg.

"KATE!"

The creature yanked her under in an instant. She resurfaced a second later, screaming, clawing at the flooded floor.

"SOMETHING'S PULLING ME DOWN!"

Zamora lunged, grabbing Kate's arm just as the current tried to take her. The stranger dropped down from the hatch, hauling Kate up by the other arm while the creatures circled them in the water, fast and patient, like they had all the time in the world.

Then, all at once, every creature froze. The water went still.

ATTENTION PLAYERS:

LEVEL ONE EXIT GATE HAS BEEN LOCATED.

Every surviving prisoner froze with them.

The system continued, calm as ever.

ONLY 200 PLAYERS MAY ADVANCE.