The moment that the door was locked and barred and barricaded and Park Sori was firmly on the other side of it, Karina could breathe again. She—they, all of them, were safe. Probably. As safe as they could be. The door to the storage room was thick and heavy and solid, and it meant that Park Sori almost certainly wouldn't be getting through it, but if one of them had been bitten and burrowed into them then they were dead already.

The room was filled with labored, panicked breathing as they tried to recollect themselves. 

Worms. 

So many goddamn worms. Karina had thought that the tidal wave from Mr. Kyungsoo’s case was all that there could have been, maybe a few more here and there but nothing like this . 

Karina glanced out of the window, also thick and probably inexplicably bulletproof (Dongwook had always cared more for her precious documents than his staff). It was dirty, though whether that was from years of neglect from the custodial staff or just the natural filth that Park Sori seemed to carry with her she couldn’t say. Through the grime, Karina could see Park Sori, all holes and muck and matted black hair threatening to slough off her rotting scalp. Karina tore her eyes away from her, feeling nauseous. She was very glad they had gotten away.

Or at least, she was fairly certain they had.

A sudden wave of panic hit Karina. Maybe they hadn’t, not really. The thought had crossed her mind before but now she let it fester into a real concern. What if she had gotten them? Bitten them, started making one of them, one of her co-workers, her friends into something like her, a shambling mass of putrefying flesh and ever-wriggling insects. Terror gripped her like it hadn’t since the basement as images raced through her head, images of Ningning missing half her face, Giselle peeling back her lips and only worms coming out, Winter, her Winter, tugging off her sweater to reveal not her undershirt but skin like coral, pockmarked and eroded. 

She was having trouble breathing again, though that was hardly her fault.

Winter set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “Are you alright? Did they get you?”

“No, I’m alright, I’m—I’m fine.” Karina swallowed and forced herself to make those words true. She rested a hand of her own on top of Winter’s. “You?”

“Fine, but—”

“As adorable as this scene is,” interrupted Ningning, who was slumped against the wall as limply as a coat on a rack. “They did get me unnies and I would like to be de-wormed ASAP.”

Giselle, who had been staring transfixed and wan at Park Sori out the window, whipped her head over to Ningning and lowered her onto a box of statements. “Oh God, Ningning!”

Ningning waved her off, sinking lower onto the box, which was holding her weight remarkably well. “It’s fine, but if we could just get them out?”

Karina reluctantly removed her hand and looked up at Winter. “Do you have your corkscrew?”

Winter withdrew her hand as well. “Always. Someone might want to hold her? It’s sort of...well it’s not pleasant.” Karina and Giselle shifted a few boxes into a makeshift bed and clutched her hands tightly. Winter fished the corkscrew from her pocket and fidgeted with it, looking nervously at Ningning. “Ready?”

“Yes, yes, go on and get it—Jesus ing Christ!” Ningning clutched Karina’s hand so tightly that she would have sworn her bones were snapping. Winter pulled her corkscrew out of Ningning’s leg and then a silvery worm, still wriggling and clearly not very happy to be out of the now steadily swearing Ningning. Winter dropped the worm to the ground and promptly crushed it. Karina wished they didn’t make that wretched popping noise, or would if she could do anything other than feel her throbbing hand and ringing ears.

Winter gave Ningning a customer-service polite look. “Maybe get her something to bite down on?”

“I’m not going to bite off my own tongue, unnie,” snapped Ningning.

“Yes, but you are very loud, and this room isn’t very big.”

“Fine. I’ll try to keep it down.” She temporarily released Giselle’s hand to point warningly at Winter. “Don’t gag me unnie.”

“It’s not a—”

“Yes, it is,” snapped Ningning, squeezing her eyes shut in preparation. “Get it over with. Go on, there are at least two more in my ankle and heel that I felt.” Winter let out a sigh and fished the other worms out of Ningning, who to her credit was substantially quieter, something Karina’s ears thanked her for.

Tossing and stamping another worm, Winter dropped her corkscrew from the death-grip she’d been holding it in and flexed her fingers. “That should be the last of them.”

“That I felt,” corrected Ningning. “Can you check for more?”

On the one hand, it was a very Ningning thing to do, and Karina really should have been prepared for it. On the other hand, one doesn’t usually have to expect their co-worker yanking off their blouse and demanding you stare at their...frankly impressively well-toned figure.

“Ningning!” Karina hastily averted her eyes and tried to ignore how warm it suddenly felt in the room.

“What are you doing?” demanded Winter in a very high voice, red as a beet and trying very hard to hide her face from a cackling Giselle.

Ningning looked unamused. “Look unnies, I’m not going to let there be another hive named Ningning because you all refused to check my for worms. Except for Boss. Giselle, you’re a true friend.”

“Isn’t this workplace harassment?” Winter moaned from behind her hands.

“It’ll be workplace harassment when my worm-filled corpse comes knocking down your door because you people couldn’t put your pride aside and ogle me!”

“Fine.” Face uncomfortably hot, Karina forced herself to check Ningning’s... body for worms.

Finally, Giselle made a noise of contentment and patted Ningning’s shoulder. “I think you’re clean, put your rack away before Karina and Winter combust.” 

Ningning tugged her shirt back on and glanced around. “What do we do now?”

“I assume just stay put,” said Karina, face once again at normal temperature. “We should be safe in here.”

Ningning frowned. “Where is here exactly? I don’t think I’ve ever been back here before.”

“Storage Room.”

“You’ve never been back here?” Giselle asked, mildly horrified. “Really?”

“Look,” started Ningning, holding her hands up defensively, “there are a lot of rooms in the Pigeon—”

“This is why Karina is my favorite.”

Ningning looked almost properly wounded at that, save for her open-mouthed gape and the hand she’d thrown dramatically over her heart as if to shield it from Giselle and her cruel, cruel words. “Hey! Not all of us can move into The Pigeon.”

“It would seem we all are for the time being,” snapped Karina, feeling only slightly smug about the whole Giselle’s favorite thing. “There’s only one door and I very much doubt Park Sori will just let us waltz out of here untouched.”

“Can’t she just send worms through the door?”

“It’s sealed. Climate controlled, actually. This is probably the safest place in The Pigeon.” Karina tried to not think about how hard it would be for a rescue team to fetch their corpses if they all ended up dying.

“And if she does manage to get through?”

“Winter, how many extinguishers are in here?” Karina asked. “Other than the one I found, I mean.”

“Three that I hid.” Winter wouldn’t meet any of their eyes. “Plus the one Giselle had installed.”

Giselle furrowed her brow, confused. “You hid gas in here?”

Hints of pink played at Winter’s ears. “All around The Pigeon actually.”

“Why?”

Something fierce and defensive flared suddenly in Karina. “Does it matter? It may save our lives.” Winter gave her a small thankful smile.

Ningning picked at the lid of one of the statement boxes, a growing pile of cardboard accumulated at her feet. “So what, do we just sit here and wait for Park Sori to kill us or for dehydration to take us?”

“Unless you see another way out.”

There was the screech of a door opening, and for one terrifying moment Karina thought that Park Sori had managed to open the door. She couldn’t tell if the reality was better or not. 

Lucas, tall, unknowable, neon, and smiling like he had been given the greatest present anyone could have ever wished for, stepped into the room. “I might be of some assistance.”

The four leaped into action, Karina firmly planted herself in front of Winter. Winter rested one hand on Karina’s shoulder supportively and curled the other her corkscrew, which glinted dangerously in the light. Ningning and Giselle both put a protective hand in front of the other’s chest, and all four of them glared at Lucas with such a ferocity that a lesser monster would have keeled over from the sheer blunt force of it.

Karina was the first to speak.

“What do you want?” she spat, hands curling into fists. She hoped she looked ferocious enough that it wasn’t clear she’d never thrown a punch before. She knew she didn’t.

Lucas pursed her lips, unimpressed. “Touchy, are we? I’m here to help, humans. You all seem to be in a bit of a situation.”

“What do you want from us?” asked Giselle, voice level but with an edge in it that was either fear or determination. Probably both.

“I want to be friends, Giselle.” Lucas smiled at her, teeth like a shark’s and lips pulling and cracking and dripping blood that did not fall. “Your predecessor and I were not on good terms. I’d like us to be different.”

Ningning looked positively murderous. “So what, are we just supposed to go through one of your doors and just walk out the other side fine?”

“Why yes, human! Is that so hard to believe?” 

“Last time one of us went through one of your doors, you ate Winter.”

“And Kim Boyoung,” added Karina, voice wavering ever so slightly. “You ate her too.”

“You traded her life for your Winter, human,” Lucas reminded her, crossing his arms in a way that he should not have been able to with hands as large as his. “That was your choice and your choice alone.”

Karina ignored the pang of guilt building in her chest. “So you don’t deny it then?”

“Why would I?” Lucas smiled wider. Karina wanted to break some of his teeth. “I’m your only way out.”

“We could blast our way out,” said Ningning, sounding like she also wanted to break some of Lucas’ too-white and too-numerous teeth. “There’s a lot of gas in here, we’d just need to set off the fire suppression system.”

“Do you really think you would survive that?” Lucas laughed and Karina felt green. “All of you? With one of you hurt? No. We all know that what you need is another door, one that I am more than happy to provide.” The door, yellow and inviting, opened a little more, hinges squealing like a messily butchered pig.

“Alright.” If not for Giselle’s determined expression and the step forward she’d just taken, Karina wouldn’t have believed she’d been the one who’d spoken.

A look crossed Ningning’s face that was somewhere between fear and uncontrollable rage. “What?”

“He’s right, and you know it.”

“If Ningning can’t make it through the worms out there I very much doubt that she’ll be able to make it through the maze in there,” noted Karina. She wasn’t sure any of them would be able to make it though, injured or not.

There was clearly more rage in Ningning’s face than fear. “Hey!”

“She’s right, Ningning.” Winter swallowed and fidgeted with her hands. “It’s...it’s not easy in there.”

“So what, am I supposed to sit here looking pretty waiting for worms to get me while you all get yourselves killed?” roared Ningning, trying to stand and failing.

Giselle shook her head. “No. We just need to get to the fire suppression system. That much gas should kill her and we should be able to get you out.”

“You three aren’t just going to leave me here—”

“It’ll just be me and Giselle going,” Karina interrupted.

“What?” cried Winter, incensed. 

“Ningning needs someone to look out for her if worst comes to worst,” Karina explained. She bit her lip. “And...and I can’t let you go in there again.”

Winter looked thoroughly unimpressed. “I’m an adult, unnie, I don’t need your permission.”

“Please.” Karina hated the way her voice broke. “I barely got you out last time. I need you to stay safe.”

“What about what I need, unnie?” demanded Winter. “I know what it’s like in there, I can’t just let you wander in there alone!”

“I won’t be alone. Winter, I—”

“I don’t have all day, humans.” Lucas impatiently rapped his fingers against the wall, leaving deep lesions in the stone with long, sharp bone. “Time is strange in my corridors. It’s best not to waste any on drawn-out goodbyes.”

Winter chewed her lip and crossed her arms, resolute. “This isn’t goodbye.”

“No.”

“You’re coming back.” She glared at Giselle. “Both of you.”

Karina smiled, only slightly, and squeezed Winter’s forearm. “We will. I promise.”

Winter seemed to accept that and handed Karina two fire extinguishers, and then two more to Giselle. “I’m going to be so pissed off if you two die.”

“If they die,” added Ningning, glaring daggers at Lucas, “I’m going to kick your , you creaky hinged piece of .”

Lucas regarded her dismissively. “Terrifying.” She turned to Karina and Giselle. “Are we ready to go now?”

Karina looked at Giselle for confirmation, and she looked back and nodded at Lucas. “Let’s go.” 

Lucas smiled again, all teeth and gums and spiraling eyes full of mirth, and the door slammed behind them.

How long had they been walking?

It couldn’t have been forever, even if it felt like it. So how long had it been? Only a few moments, then. If it hadn’t been forever (and it couldn’t have been, because Karina remembered a place outside these hallways), then it must have barely been a moment, barely a single second in these God-forsaken halls. 

But that didn’t make sense. Karina’s feet ached, ached like she had spent every moment of her life wandering. And when she looked at the wallpaper, garish and ever-changing in color like someone was spinning a color wheel until it blurred, she knew she had never seen anything other than the wallpaper. When Karina looked at her arms, she was surprised it too was not made of too-bright colors and pulp. 

Her memories hurt. They seemed wrong, foreign, like they didn’t fit. Why could she remember things outside of carpets and rugs and mounted lights and pictures of the same hallway again and again and again? That implied that she had not been here forever, but Karina knew they had been.

There it was. They. She was with Giselle, who was The Manager, and who should not be in this place of unknown and walking and headaches. She wasn’t sure why, because she knew her to be this place’s antithesis. Or maybe this place was hers. 

Was it her? Her antithesis, her opposite, her undoing? She certainly didn’t like it here, but she supposed that no one did but the thing that was it. Karina...hurt to be here. This was wrong, this place, their presence in it, their desperate need to know the way out, to know anything about it, to know how long they had been walking.

How long had they been walking?

“We’ve passed that picture before.” Giselle’s voice was hoarse and raspy unless that was how she always sounded and then her voice was the same as it has always been.

“It’s all the same picture, Giselle.” The same picture over and over again, always hallways and corridors and always the same hallways and corridors. It was forever, the pathways. Forever like how long they had been walking.

Giselle just waved her off and stared deeply into the painti