We stepped inside the mysterious doorway as the door closed behind us. The visibility was even worse than before. A heavy layer of red mist, the very same as that of my homeland, plagued the air.

  Despite my low visibility, I could tell this area was an extension of the previous one. The halls looked the same, except that it felt eerily empty, yet I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was being watched.

  “Hah….*Cough*....what is…*Huff*....this place?” Zero stuttered.

  She seemed to be having difficulty breathing, which is to be expected considering what little exposure she’s had.

  “I don’t know, but maybe we should return at a later date when we’re more prepared. It seems that to progress further, you’ll need a gas mask.”

  “Why are–*Cough* why are you ok?”

  “This red mist was present in my homeland. I remember my parents telling me the mist is unnatural, and doesn’t come from any mineral or resource. It appeared over 400 years ago, and no one has found the cause. It makes me wonder how they were able to replicate it here…”

  “Your….homeland?”

  “The toxic air there deters most visitors, and according to my parents, most residents there don’t live past 25. If you are born there, you have an innate immunity, but even that wears off after some time.”

  “Anything *Cough* else?”

  “The air there also mutated creatures residing in the continent to become far more fearsome. Are you aware of the phenomenon known as the Rust?”

  “My dad….*Hack*....once told me about it…”

  “That is what we have named this strange anomaly. It can mutate animals, and in extreme cases, even humans. There are theories that it was born from the supposed cataclysm 500 years ago, and while that is the most likely reason, there is no direct proof. My mother drilled that into me.”

  Throughout our conversation, we had been walking forward.

  “We should turn back, you can’t handle the air here without a mask. And even those don’t last long here.”

  She shook her head profusely before turning to me with a serious expression.

  “I can finally see what….*Hack*...my dad has been hiding here! You don’t understand how important this is to me.”

  “Then maybe you can help me understand. Is escaping here truly worth risking your life? It’s clear that your father loves you. Why do you need to escape so urgently when it’s clear that he won’t let any harm befall you? I just don’t—”

  “I’m dying.” She said bluntly, cutting me off before I could continue.

  “I–huh?”

  I was left stumbling over my words with the suddenness of that statement. I am at least self-aware. I am not like other children, and I am sure I could come to terms with my own death. But for such a bubbly girl to come to terms with her own death is truly a brave thing.

  “W-Well, you don’t know that for sure, do–”

  “I am.”

  We walked in silence for a bit longer.

  “I’ll tell you more when…*cough*....we’re in a safe area. For now let’s focus on finding a mask….*cough*....in this place.”

  I nodded my head as we continued down the winding hallways. We reached a dead-end, so we doubled back and made a right, spotting the first door we’ve seen in this place.

  We approached the door, and it slowly retracted to reveal a pitch-black room. We entered slowly, with me standing in front of her, taking the vanguard. The room was silent, but there wasn’t as much red mist in this room, making it easier for Zero to breathe.

  “What’s this room for?” Zero asked, taking a deep breath.

  “I’m not sure, I haven’t seen anything in this room thus far.”

  It was quite literally impossible to see anything; there were no sources of light here, so all we could do was stumble. Feeling my surroundings, I eventually found a wall. I ran my hand along the wall until I felt a different surface on the metal wall, and pressed it. I heard a slight rumble, then a couple of seconds later, the lights blared on in the room with maximum power, essentially blinding Zero and me for a good 10 seconds. seconds.

  “Ahhhhh! Can you do that with a heads-up next time?!”

  “How was I supposed to know it was going to come on like that?! Gah! Blinded twice within an hour!”

  “Yeah?! Well maybe….you……should….” Zero said as her eyes began to widen.

  “Huh? What is it? What the-?!”

  I couldn’t hide my surprise at the sight before me. We were in a large lab with countless large capsules extending from the ceiling to the floor, with red liquid. There were rows and rows of them, so much so that I couldn’t even see them all. Blood smeared the floors and walls of this place, as if there were countless battles in the lab. Scattered around the blood were malformed flesh and human bones.

  Zero ran up to me and hugged my arm. She held it tightly and was shaking immensely.

  “963, what is this place? What are they….no. What is my father trying to do here?”

  “I…don’t know. Our answer is most likely in those red capsules.” I said, pulling out my army knife.

  We took a couple of hesitant steps forward and peered into the capsules.

  “Aaaah….AAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Zero shrieked, jumping backwards.

  Even I was vastly unnerved at what I was seeing. I hadn’t realized I had jumped back as well until I saw myself standing next to Zero.

  Inside the capsule was a humanoid creature with tentacles growing out of its eyes. Their hands were talons, and they had razor-sharp teeth. Their chest was scaly like a fish, and they seemed to be frozen in a screaming position despite the liquid clearly bubbling.

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  “What…is that?!”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.”

  That might have been the most grotesque thing I had ever seen. I felt my stomach heave as I unwillingly released the contents of my stomach all over the floor. I don’t know if it was the sight of that thing or the sight of my throw up, but Zero soon went to the other corner and did the same thing.

  Once we were done, we were both gasping and retching continuously, unable to get the image out of our minds. I took a hasty step forward, deeper into the lab.

  “W-What are you doing? Why are you going deeper?”

  “I need to confirm something.”

  I hoped my theory wasn’t true. I walked further into the lab, glancing left and right at the red capsules. All of them were the same sight. Children mixed with different animal parts. One’s face was that of a Rusted giant ant, another had a giant claw merged with their abdomen, while another had crab-like claws and snail eyes. They were all more unnerving than the last.

  I kept walking until I saw something familiar. His face and body were greatly contorted, but there was no doubt. He was the child I killed in the preliminary round to get into the tournament. His jaws were replaced with those of a spider, and behind him, spider legs were protruding outward. He had an orange puffy tail, and one of his arms had completely Rusted away. Red flakes covered above his knees, and below that was black goo that I assumed to be the remnants of his leg.

  “I knew it. They’re using the corpses of these kids in an attempt to create….something.”

  I was about to walk back until I felt the slight breeze behind me.

  “Airflow? I don’t see any vents….”

  I turned around only to be met with the same wall that surrounded this entire place. I stood there for a couple more seconds until I felt another slight breeze.

  “There’s something here.”

  I ran my hand along the wall and began knocking on different parts of it. I repeated this every couple of steps until my final knock made a different sound.

  “The wall is hollow behind this area, a hidden door maybe?”

  Using common sense, I deduced there must have been a switch or button somewhere that revealed the door, although I didn’t know where it was. I ran my hand along the entire area multiple times, but was unable to find anything.

  I turned around and looked around the lab to see if anything was out of the ordinary, but nothing looked particularly out of place. The only thing that I remember being weird was the function of the light switch in the room; it not being a switch but an indent in the wall, which is an unorthodox design choice.

  Wait, maybe that slight rumble I heard was….

  My thoughts were interrupted upon hearing the quick tapping of feet running in my direction.

  “963! We have to go, now! I know why blood was smeared all over the walls now, one of those things escaped!”

  “What?”

  She grabbed my hand and sprinted through the sea of capsules to reveal a slightly larger one, completely shattered with red liquid oozing out of it.

  One of the creatures here had escaped and killed its captors, meaning it was roaming these halls as we speak.

  “You’re right, we need to leave.”

  I grabbed her hand and beelined it to the door. We exited and started going back the way we came. While we were running, I began to explain some of my findings from that lab.

  “Zero, there is more to those creatures than we thought. They aren’t just monsters. I had to kill one of the other subjects in a match before the tournament to enter, and I saw him in one of those pods.”

  “You mean–”

  “Yes, I don’t know if all of these subjects were alive or dead when they got turned into those creatures. But it’s a fact that the head researcher here is using subjects as experiments to create monsters.”

  “Dad…..why?”

  Zero started gasping for air as soon as we entered the less-contaminated area. To make sure she wouldn’t suffocate from sprinting, I moved my hands under her knees and lifted her up.

  “Whuh-*cough*!”

  “Just hold on! Make sure to cover your mouth!”

  I ran while holding her, as we ran back down the winding halls. The red mist felt thicker than before, so I ran faster to make sure Zero wouldn’t face any adverse effects.

  We were making good progress until I heard a loud stomp before turning a corner. I immediately slid to a halt and hugged the wall. The stomping continued. It got closer and closer, it stepped slowly but surely was making it’s way to our location. I couldn’t move and worried that if I were to make a sound it would learn our whereabouts.

  I steadied my breathing so as not to make a sound, but Zero couldn’t. She was whimpering and hyperventilating while trying not to cough from the smoke. I hugged her close, and she put her head down and closed her eyes, slowly calming her breathing down.

  Then I saw it.

  It was at least 7 feet tall, and where its eyes were supposed to be, there were two gaping holes. Its jaw was unhinged to be far wider than it should have been, with its open mouth being bigger than my entire face. It was walking slouched with it’s Rusted arms almost reaching the floor. It had one bird wing and one bat wing behind it, and a horn protruding from its skeletal chest resembling a rhino's. I could see the veins on the outside of its arms, shaking like antennae. Its skin was a greyish-red hue.

  I almost let out a gasp as I covered my own mouth with my other hand. I had dealt with various Rusted creatures before. When I encountered my first one, I was scared, but they were mere beasts whose minds had been corrupted. This thing was no mere beast. I don’t know if it had intelligence or not, but I do know that it was far stronger than the things I’ve faced before.

  It was my naturally honed instincts from surviving in the wild that told me I should by no means engage in combat with this creature.

  It whipped its head in my direction as if hearing my thoughts. It slowly crept closer until it was standing directly over me, its saliva dripping down like a waterfall. She wasn’t looking, but I could tell she knew it was here.

  After what felt like an eternity, it slowly retracted its head and began walking back in the direction it came. We waited for at least two minutes until we heard the stomping cease.

  Zero and I took a large exhale.

  “Thank god it couldn’t seem to see us. Its eyes were just gaping holes.” I said, turning to Zero, who was still shaking. To ease her, I released her from a hug and held her hand softly.

  “We can’t go that way anymore, not knowing that thing is patrolling near the entrance.”

  “How are we going to escape?” She said, holding my hand tighter.

  “We have to go deeper in,” I said reluctantly.

  “What? Why?!” She yelped, falling into a brief coughing fit.

  “That thing is patrolling near the entrance. Even if we get past it, we don’t know how fast it is. We have no weapons except for my survival knife, and only you have a gift, but from what you’ve said, there needs to be some condition to activate it, right?”

  She nodded her head slowly.

  “Our only hope is to tread deeper and hopefully find something that can kill it. Do you know when was the last time your dad went in here was?”

  “The last time I saw him enter this place was two days before he fought you and the other numbers.”

  “So, a little over two weeks ago, then? That means that thing broke out within the past two weeks, there’s a high chance that’s the only monster prowling these halls.”

  “What? I….*hack*....don’t get it.”

  “Your dad isn’t the type to let this thing roam free. Maybe if it had some intelligence, but I could tell that thing had no sense or reason. It wouldn’t be able to distinguish friend from foe, meaning that if it came across any other monster here, they would most likely come to blows. Assuming it broke out from the pod in that room, we can infer that the researchers here tried to subdue it and failed, and then it left the room after that.”

  “But why didn’t it break anything if it had no reason? Wouldn’t it go berserk?” Zero said between coughs.

  That’s a good question. Why wouldn’t it go on a rampage?

  “Let’s think about this as we’re walking. If facilitators were able to experiment on and subdue all of these things, there must be something deeper that can help us. No more running, though, I know the air is rough here, but we’ll take breaks at any room we see. We have to go slow so as not attract the attention of that thing.”

  “Alright….I trust you.”

  I bent down so she can hop on my back, and she did and quickly hugged my neck and wrapped her legs around my stomach to keep herself balanced.

  “Let’s go.”

  With her on my back, we walked deeper and deeper into the mist.