The ONE Archives

ONE ([0.008]): Driven Ill

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[THERE IS A MOMENT OF SILENCE EXCEPT FOR THE BUZZING OF LIGHTS]

[MUFFLED FOOTSTEPS GROWING LOUDER]

[DOOR OPENS]

BRYCE

Hey, Liam. I was wondering if we could talk...?

Oh... That's weird, he's not here. Usually he's here, recording spooky stories... and stuff.

Tape recorder's still running. Laptop's strangely on.

(sigh) Alright, fine, Case of Parker Robins, encounter on the date, July 12, 2013, Bryce Hansen, archival assistant. recording.

BRYCE (STATEMENT)

For a rather long time, I never really liked descending and exploring caves. I'm not the type of guy to get dust and dirt on myself, and I'm not usually that hyped for adventure. That is... until I stumbled upon one cave strangely off-limits for some reason. I figured it would be a good exercise rather than jogging around the city for a change. Now, I don't think I brought my cave exploring, safety equipment, but that didn't stop me from going in. From my point of view, I could see it was a normal cave. I had no idea of the disease growing within my reach.

I descended into the cave; and for the first few hours, it seemed fine. The stone walls were lit with lanterns on the way; possibly to guide the people in the cave forward. The breath of cold air gushed through me; and when I shouted, I could practically hear the echo bouncing off the walls, endlessly, into the distance. Heaving my way through, that's when I noticed something strange... There was a wretched smell starting to form. It was the smell of... how should I say this? It smelled weirdly, sickly sweet. For a moment, I decided on dismissing the smell, but the smell got stronger and more unbearable for me to handle, each time I descended further.

I didn't want to back out just yet. I needed to know where the smell was coming from. I took every step to move forward. The cave's state was getting worse, as I started to notice patches of mould in every corner; even in places where I could see, cockroaches and flies started appearing in my hindsight, and I swear to you that I started itching. Now, there wasn't anything of an injury or an infection, but I started to itch every part of my body. I couldn't handle it, where was this coming from? Regardless of the itching; I wandered further into the cave.

That's when I noticed people; not normal ones, their skin were pale and peeling off, and their clothes were ragged and torn. Their eyes were dead, no sign of life anywhere, staring directly at me. "Join us." They mumbled, their voices low, "Be our home." I felt a chill rushing down my spine as I tried to breathe. They only smiled as they stared with lifeless eyes. Their gaze bored in my skull.

My eyes widened as a swarm of moths bursted out of their heads. I screamed as I stumbled backwards. There were so many of them, all fluttering. I knew that I would be their new host; I started a moment before I scrambled away, giving chase for the moths. I dashed at every corner I could get through, the light blindly guiding me towards the exit. I made sure I would lose them, I didn't want any contact with them. With my efforts, I managed to get myself out of the cave.

The itching hasn't stopped since I entered that filthy cave.

BRYCE

(breathing heavily, trying to regain breath) These statements are a lot. Statement e... ends.

Parker Robins, um, friend of Charlotte, who works here as well, wouldn't consider her friend, but... uh, Parker Robins seemed to have died due to a stroke. That stroke, according to an autopsy they did on him, was apparently due to some specimens of eggs laid inside. That is uh, (shiver) what the fuck...? The species the eggs come from is apparently a Coding Moth. Now as for the cave, I think it was abandoned years ago, and there was an incident that occurred on December 11 2001, a bunch of miners ran out of food and got trapped in that cave, so they starved to death, which caused it to shut down.

[AIRBORNE SOUND PLAYS; BRYCE LETS OUT A 'EEP!']

BRYCE

Who's there? Oh, it's the laptop. Hold on, why is it–

hey!! who are you and where am i?|

BRYCE

I'm Bryce. Archival assistant, (even though I and a few others have no idea how this job works),

and this place is the Zmrok Institute... Who are you?

texty

im texty...

hang on, there's more of you?|

BRYCE

Uh, yeah. Actually, there's Charlotte, Amelia, Owen and...

Liam's the head archivist here, but I don't know where he is. You might know.

texty

you think i know? i just started my progra

oh wait, i think i got something... wait|

BRYCE

What?

texty

                      maybe if i gain access to the institute's database,

i should be able to map out the entire place; making it easy tracking down where liam's location is, maybe|

BRYCE

How do you know that, for sure, this will work?

texty

trust me bro i'm a professional hacker, i know how to do this|

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