Survival

As my eyes were closed I heard a loud burst, my whole surrounding felt warm and humid then I heard whimpering. "What was that?!" I thought to myself so I hurriedly opened my eyes to the silhouette of a massive creature disappearing into the mist—I was stuck in my position as the fear latched onto myself locking my legs stiff although the creature was gone it left me a great deal of trauma but within minutes I could move again as I calmed down.

I went to look around to find the source of the explosion only to see the pipe I hastily destroyed and my hunch was right! the pipe

I was smashing on was a hot water channel in the water system. The water was still pouring out, it was scalding hot and good thing pipes like those were pressurized enough to explode but I wasn't too sure that it would burst open so I sighed with relief because luck was on my side today; I hope I wont get to encounter that beast again... I went outside only to see the devastation of the beast and the earthquake left: everything was out of place, all the beds are tossed to the farthest left side of the room while to the right: the huge viewing glass is broken that blew in the chilly night breeze.

I went to the edge hoping not to see the creature in sight but when I got there only the perfect view of the garden had met my eyes then I remembered something. The thought of Lorelei flew into my head as I remembered she was on the upper floors above me so she might be safe but I still had to check, The chilly air made me shiver as I made my way to the trash chute.

"Lorelei?!" I shouted towards the open chute.

she didn't answer... for a while I kept shouting or calling her but there was no response so I got worried and assumed possibilities that she might've have been killed but I brushed it off trying to be positive; I was alone again.

"I'll find her" I told myself. although she was stubborn and ignorant but I couldn't afford to be alone again...

The lights flickering caught my attention—

"I have a bad feeling about this"

The lights slowly died out till everything was in complete darkness except for the dim moonlight that shone inside the room and everything electronic died along with it. With my dire situation I had to do something the monstrosity might come back after a few hours then it hit me! "The door!" I thought to myself quite happily—I hurriedly ran to the door and peeked through the small window: it was dark. I could move in the dark but it was too risky so I tried looking for some lighting to use.

After a while I couldn't find anything but then I remembered the electric lighter from the pile of junk I collected around the room so

I searched for it—After an hour I had found it and took a book as well then I went to the restroom to get a pipe, minutes later I made

a make-shift torch by stuffing the open top part of the pipe with pages of the book till it was full before and setting it on fire using

the lighter to ignite it. Before I headed out I grabbed some of the blankets to keep myself warm.

As I slowly opened the door a gust of dusty-cold air blew towards me then I proceeded to march forward into the unknown, I wandered the cold hallways of T.I.R.F. the place looked barren plus with the added damages the earthquake caused some rooms in the hallway to cave in and parts of the flooring broke down leaving pits that lead to floor below. I felt uneasy as the whole place felt creepy but with no destination in my I had to keep going till I saw a place somewhere safe and only then I'll plan for tomorrow: I needed rest since it was already late at night... Throughout my long journey something felt off as if there were eyes staring at me in the dark so out of fear I walked faster.

I encountered a junction of the hall: one to left and one to the right, in front of me was an elevator door that had signs beside it.

[Lobby] was to the left.

[Nurse's quarters] was to the right.

As I was making decisions on where to go, floating lights from the hall to the left distracted me but out of fascination I followed the trail—they were extraordinary like fireflies but I looked at them carefully which they weren't, these glowing objects looked more like a light bulb hovering in the air. I descended down the stairs only to find a perfect view of the garden to the left and some of the window were broken that let in the beautiful orbs of light pouring in... I moved onward the lobby that I could see from afar since the brightness shone dimly on the whole area so I put out my make-shift torch as to not waste it.

At the lobby I saw the reception area with lounging arranged neatly in front of it but I felt a little bit drowsy so I searched the area just

to make sure it was safe, after a while I went behind the reception desk as I took some of the mattress on the lounge chairs and placed it under there so that no one could find me even if I went to sleep since the shelf's of the counter had curtains on it; I swiped it open. My eyes went wide when I saw some emergency rations slid on there! I just realized my hunger and was starving but just to be safe I checked the two boxes if they were still edible and they still were! Happiness overcame me as I prepared food while I ate the food inside a packet I just opened—Full and satisfied, I moved the boxes a little bit and slept with it directly above my head as I closed my eyes to a wonderful nights rest after all the horrors that had happened.

In the morning I woke up peacefully with no nightmares so I felt refreshed, I wiped my eyes as I lifted my head...

*Thud!*

"Ouch!" I forgot that I sleep under the desk last night and hit my head under the desk shelves so I slid out with a hand on my head trying to ease the pain... Once out that small space I pulled out one of the boxes I opened from last night to check inventory to see how much it would last me there were at least sixty ration packets! that would last me more than two months since there were two boxes but If I rationed it to one packet per day it would last me at least more than four months! I thanked God because I got so lucky these were military grade rations meaning that it would last a decade as long as it wasn't open and exposed but oddly enough the boxes seemed new—I paid no mind to this and started to prepare a meal.

I walked towards the viewing deck directly in front of the lobby at the left side of the hallway I passed through last night whilst there I breathed in and out as I was doing some regular stretching, I simply loved the garden view and decided to go the balcony to get a clear view—The air smelt fresh, the cool morning breeze blew towards me and the sunshine warmed me up so I casually leaned on the railings; finally safe. I viewed the tree from the highest point of it trying to get a clear view but couldn't see where it would end then I looked down to what seemed a wonderful garden and saw wonderfully weird sculptures! I thought to myself that the artists that made these must really be skilled since the place was abandoned for a long time the plants still had their figures intact...

After breakfast I was already planning ahead to the situation: I had to find way out of here while finding out the reason for my captivity

and survive as much as I can but with the whole facility exposed to the outside world the chances of dangerous predators coming here are high especially with that beast! the thoughts of the previous events sent shivers down my spine so with that in my mind I concluded that activating the power was the first priority since I could fortify the place by doing so along food plus safety. Since I had no map of the whole facility I had to look for something that at least gave me the geography of the whole place then Lorelei came to mind because she'll probably know all about it... I decided to look for her but

I had to prepare since earlier I had a good look of the structure of the building while appreciating the scenery there was maybe about three floors above me and I don't know how long it would take so preparing myself would be the best.

So I went to check the remaining ways since the lobby was an intersection into three different ways excluding the previous hallway and the elevator behind the reception area which I had no access to since the power died out, I went to investigate the northeast path first since it said--

[Technological wing]

The chances of me finding something that could help me there would be more likely and even if there wasn't anything there I could make something out of the materials there so after tucking two rations inside one of the extra curtains I found under the desk, I tied it around my torso making it look like a sling bag then stuck my make shift torch in between and pocketed the lighter with two rations I could probably survive more than twenty four hours as long I made one ration for two meals a day... I headed out as I covered the boxes again and walked the hall towards the technological wing, minutes into the walk there was a huge viewing window darkened with dust that had big metal doors that attracted my attention but the door was

was locked shut so I paid no mind to it; I'll eventually open it.

Throughout the way I saw some broken pile of human bones and some are weird creature remains that were intact—I wondered what killed them? soon enough I made it in front of the Engineering area but I proceeded with caution and held the only thing sturdy enough to swing that was the make-shift torch while slowly paving the way inside.