Part 003

Carefully, I shimmy my way past the statue. On the opposite side of the room is yet another door, though this one blends into the wall seamlessly. Its surface is bare, without any writing like the first one I stepped through.

A thought occurs to me as I start to push it open. How am I breathing oxygen? Pulling away, I glance upward, above the statue. A small, square hole, barely big enough for a cat to fit through, catches my eye. I shine my flashlight up at it and sigh, realizing there’s no point trying to climb up inside of it. Not only wouldn’t I fit, but I’d also have to climb on top of the statue to reach, and no way is that happening, no sir.

Turning my attention back to the door, I start shoving it with all my might, but I’m surprised when the massive slab of stone easily flings open as if it were gliding on ice. I trip and fall forward, slamming on the ground and dropping my flashlight. In a panic, I grab my only source of light and shine it back at the statue, but the thing is in the same place as it was before. Damn my irrational paranoia.

Cautiously, I pull myself to my feet and aim the light into the new room. Well, it isn’t actually a room, it’s a hallway. The walls expand outward, widening dramatically to almost three times the width of the chamber I’m in now, and the ceiling is so high that the flashlight’s beam can’t reach it.

Slowing my breath to abnormal levels, I mutter to nobody in particular, "No need to be afraid. There’s nothing here but your nerves, Jason," and slowly I tiptoe out into the corridor, glancing around nervously as I patter forward.

Darkness stretches out all around me. I can just barely see the walls on each side, and cranking the light doesn’t give it much more juice. "H-hello?" My words are but a whisper, and the ether sucks them from my lips, absorbing them into the faint humming of the background noise that permeates this place.

No response greets me, as I walk further into the darkness. All at once, I feel a faint breeze on my back, and my body stiffens. Before I can spin around, a thunderous BOOM from behind nearly makes me piss myself in terror.

The door from the Cryopod room. It just closed.

Oh my god, oh my god…

It’s no big deal! The door must have had a spring on it or something!

My mind screams irrationally at me at me as I slowly turn around and shine my flashlight at the source of the noise.

What I see next chills me to my very core.

The statue. It’s gone.