Investigation

Once the sun was up, the others wake up as Troy puts out what's left of the fire. Titus walks over to us and says "The radiation is back down. We suit up and go in. Thane, Valen and Conner are with me. We'll go in and investigate the room while Cruz and Troy pull the video feed on the room. Clear?"

We all nod and pull out the radiation suits. They're all pretty standard in size but when put on, the suit will size up or down a few sizes. Luckily, mine is only a little big on me but not by much. When I finish slipping everything on and locking it in place, I pick up the helmet and walk over to meet the others by the door. When Titus places his hand on the scanner again, we all put on our helmets.

I've done this exactly once in high school with an older version of this suit but it was pretty much the same. Everyone is taught how to use suits like this just in case a radiation cloud pops up in the city but it's extremely rare for something like that to happen.

The city has machines that filter out all the radiation but out here... it's a real threat. As the helmet clicks in place, a hiss is heard as it becomes airtight. The screen on the helmet comes to life, telling me how much air I have left, my heart rate, my temperature, and even my teammates as they all come online as well.

The suit will also tell me if there is any radiation in or around me at any given time and in the very corner of my screen is a radar. The suits are top of the line and honestly lifesaving when out in the Void. When the door opens, we all file in like we did yesterday.

As Thane and Titus lead the way back to the room, I follow behind them with Conner taking up the rear. When we enter the room, everything still looks the same. Titus's voice comes over the headset on the helmets as he says "Conner, try to get the computer up and running. Thane, keep eyes on the room."

Everyone gets busy as I point to the bloody handprints that Thane and I were looking at yesterday. When Titus sees it, he curses and says "I don't like this... at all. Hurry up, Conner." Conner nods his head as he says "Almost done, sir."

I nervously bite my lip as I look over to Thane. He locks eyes with me before nodding and looking back over to the door. When I look back to Conner, I see Titus standing next to him as the computer comes to life.

Just like Titus said... I don't like this. As Conner punches in codes to override the passwords, Cruz's voice comes over the headset and says "Titus, we found the footage but right as the machine looks like it comes on, the footage blurs until nothing can be seen. We fast-forwarded until it was clear again but everyone's gone. All that's left is the blood."

Titus curses again as he says "Send it to headquarters." Suddenly, the machine starts booting up. I take several steps back as Titus yells "Don't turn it on!" Conner types frantically as he says "I didn't turn it on. It's booting up all on its own!"

Thane pulls me back even further as Titus yells "Shut it down!" The ring suddenly starts spinning. At first, it's slow but soon it picks up so much speed, it starts causing the air in the room to become chaotic.

Alarms start going off again, inside and outside of the suit! Radiation is growing in the room and quickly climbing as something starts happening inside of the ring. I step further back and say "Uh... guys? I think we should leave..."

Titus curses again and says "Hold your ground! Conner shut it down! NOW!" Conner curses up a storm as things in the room start moving closer to the ring. The inside of the ring looks like some kind of... whirlpool.

I grit my teeth and try to remain in the room under Titus's order but it's becoming harder to listen especially when the fist piece paper gets sucked up into the ring and completely disappears. My eyes widen as I say "Shit... Titus! We need to leave!"

Titus holds onto the machine as he says "I said to hold your ground soldier!" When I start sliding forward, Thane slams his leg down in front of mine to help hold me in place. When I see Conner and Titus struggling to stay on the ground as well, I reach down and pull out my blade strapped to my thigh.

I reach over and quickly cut the tie-downs holding the boxes together next to us. Large boxes fly down and tumble over to the ring like they weigh nothing! I start sliding again until Thane grabs my arm but he starts slipping as well when the first box hits the ring.

When the large box hits, it gets stuck on the outer ring but the parts that touch the weird swirling whirlpool inside, instantly break down and disappear! Thane starts to slip, causing both of us to slide closer!

This time Thane yells "Today Titus or we're all going to find out what this machine does first hand!" Titus curses and holds on for dear life before lifting a blade and driving straight it into the computer. The computer sparks as electricity zaps across the whole thing!

The box suddenly gets sucked in and when it disappears, something that feels like a tornado suddenly starts pulling both of us. We both become airborne as we tumble straight for the vortex of death!

A large explosion suddenly knocks Thane and I back across the room and against the wall. Alarms are going off everywhere as I struggle to clear my head. Holyshit... As I struggle to stand, Thane suddenly appears and helps me stand before saying "Let's go!"

Fire takes over the room before the emergency system kicks in. White clouds are sprayed, instantly putting out the fire as Thane and I stumble down the hall. When we finally reach outside, I see the others.

Conner helps Titus walk over to the truck as he says "His leg was hit." Troy and Cruz quickly follow after them to help Titus as I try my best not to yell at the stubborn man. The idiot could have killed all of us and for what? Information on what they were doing out here!?

As if sensing my anger, Thane grabs my helmet and makes me look at him as he shakes his head and says "Calm down." I take several deep breaths before pushing him away and walking away. I unlock the helmet and rip it off.

I take a deep breath of fresh air as the others work to help Titus. Stubborn old fart...