Deep Axiom.

Chapter 4: Better Under PSI

"God. Fuck. Pain. Why? "

Theodore wasn't dead. There was a wish of death contained in the ache in his bones but he wasn't dead. This fact was underlined by the splitting headache and the burning sensation going through his chest. He couldn't see anything without being blinded by the pain and he couldn't think of anything beyond several expletives.

He wasn't sure how long it took him to start moving, but eventually, he was able to get something underfoot. Surrounding him was gravel, rocks and concrete broken over signs. Looking up, the hole above him was covered by the broken layers up above. The smell of fish and salt water wafted down to him, dripping from some unseen hole. A broken neon sign with some cartoon sea mammal

"Definitely around the 8th level, christ."

As he inspected himself, all he could see was his shirt basically ripped to shred, revealing his... underwhelming physique. Not fit enough to be called skinny but not bulky enough to be called healthy. The body of someone who'd sustained themselves on vending machine snacks and whose healthy choices came from broccoli hidden in fried rice.

Rather than focus on future workout plans to flake on, it was time for him to get up and keep moving.

The drip and the drop of unseen water and piping echoed through the dark. Faint and flickering blacklights gave Theo a sense of what jagged edges he should avoid as he stumbled through the black.

"Did you people not have flashlights here?"

Again he stumbled through until he found himself stepping on something mushy and the feeling of a corded rope brushed his hands. With a pull, a light came on and the room was revealed. Well.. what was left of the room. The entire thing was soaked and covered in microplankton samples. Ruined whiteboards and notebooks and -

One glance was all it took for Theo to bend over and lose whatever lunch he had. A singular glance but it couldn't leave his mind. A piece of shrapnel through the chest of some unfortunate young woman. Her fingers were bloodied and her palms were ripped open as she laid splayed out, the skin still stuck on the pointed parts of whatever rebar was sent flying toward her on the floor. Scarlet skin wrapped around the metal pole, or at least worked as though someone skinned a cat on it.

Theo could only crawl outside of his little pile of sick past the woman. Her nametag started with a J. The rest was...

"I'm so sorry,J."

All he could do to forget what he had just seen was to keep moving, keep crawling.

Each step was an attempt to move around the startling amounts of water flowing from... somewhere and shattered glass from the implosion up top. Each of the rooms were wrecked and the ones that weren't were still flooded. Bloated bodies and broken projects. The abject rejection that had gripped him before had dissipated into a dread that filled his bones. No noise other than the dripping someplace down the hall.

Plosh!

That wasn't the sound of a drip. That seemed more like

Plosh! Plosh! Plosh!

Footsteps.

Theo rushed towards the sound of the noise, the footsteps seemingly getting louder. Getting louder and... away. It was running away!

"Hey! My name is Theodore! I worked here! I was trying to find someone but everyone was... gone."

The footsteps stopped. Then they started again. Faster and faster and this time in Theo's direction.

I just told some stranger who is was. Fuck.

Everything around Theo was either broken or waterlogged or some other synonym for fucking useless. Leaving Theodore with only one option. As whatever it was began to turn the last corner, Theo put his mitts up.