Large elevator passage, Ibis Island.

11:46pm

Her steps against the gravel were the only thing that resonated as she entered the passageway. Hidden by darkness, the only thing that allowed Kyungwon to see where she was going were the small lamps adhered to the wall, lamps that were few and far between yet were enough to reveal almost the whole area.

And that wasn’t saying much, seeing as the so called passageway was nothing more than a linear open area full with crates, barrels and a really steep cliff on the right side which really didn’t leave much room for walking properly. The place seemed more like a disguised deathtrap rather than a pathway.

Metal fences were built to separate the area from the backside entrance of the facility – the place from where she had entered – and the wall to the left was entirely made out of steel. Large crates were placed in the midway section of the passageway, making crossing it even harder than it should have been. They looked dusty, some of their wood beginning to show signs of decay.

She stopped before taking her first step, taking one last look behind her before properly setting off. She had been tracking the SOS signal as she ran through the facility hallways and it grew stronger the more she approached outside. She believed she was close to the signal beacon, which, she deduced, was another wrist radio much more like the one she had.

The signal either came from Minkyung or from another member of the Echo division, Nayoung was just being paranoid for no reason. And even if it was somebody else, then they were probably in trouble, and Kyungwon wasn’t just about to let someone die.

She knew Nayoung could be stubborn from what little time they spent together back in that government facility, but she never expected her to show outright apathy when it came to a plea for help from somebody that was, most likely, part of her unit.

She didn’t blame her nonetheless, the island was taking its toll in everyone, she herself had seen more death and blood than she expected to in her entire life. She may look chirpy and bright on the outside but she certainly did not feel that way.

But with Minkyung disappearance, Nayoung became more akin to a robot than what she already was, and Siyeon was growing visibly more paranoid as time went on, to the point that it was evident she was planning something and had dragged the civilian girl, Kyla, along with her.

Somebody had to try and keep the spirits up, right?

*THUMP*

Her train of though was brought to a sudden halt when the gravel shook below her feet as the ground quaked. The small rocks started shaking incessantly below her. Then small chunks of floor started breaking off, falling down the cliff. One of the aforementioned crates, stacked up until then with millimeter precision, fell right behind her, its wood splintering and letting out a few rusty canisters, which soon followed the small rocks that tumbled out of the cliff.

She didn’t take too much time to know what was happening, the part of the pathway she was on was collapsing, product of what? She had no idea.

*THUMP*

However, her brain wasn’t as fast when it came to ordering her limbs to move, she remained there for a few seconds longer than she should have. When she finally tried to start running, her footing was already unstable and the gravel was giving out under her feet. Then her back arched backwards, her whole body pushed forward as someone tackled her to the ground seconds before the entire midsection of the path fell towards the rocky coast. A fall that’d surely cause the death of any living being, human, animal or dinosaur.

But she still wasn’t safe.

After being tackled, her upper body had landed on a part that remained unaffected by the recent quakes – or whatever that was – however, her lower half was still dangling dangerously close to the collapsed path.

In fact, she had already started sliding off thanks to her legs’ dead weight.

She hadn’t managed to grab onto anything, not even as she raked the ground with her nails, trying to cling to the smallest of rocks.

She was about to fall.

 “Got you!”- Kyungwon, holding on for dearest life, looked up to her savior, which was no other than Julia.

The small blonde had her right hand clamped shut around her wrist. Her hand gripping Kyungwon tightly, its tendons tensed just as much as the rest of her arm, which showed how toned her biceps were even when covered by the navy-blue guard uniform. Julia face tensed and she gritted her teeth, in a sharp intake of breath as she doubled her efforts to get Kyungwon to stable ground.

Kyungwon, without wasting any time, boosted herself with the help of Julia, grabbing the edge of the cliff before climbing back up. Once her feet touched the ground again, she allowed herself to release the air confined in her lungs.

“You really are an idiot, running around by yourself on an island infected with big reptiles”- Dusting her greyed pants, Julia got up from the floor, taking a look at the gap that had formed between the door that went back to the facility and them.

The entire midsection of the pathway had crumbled after those small quakes.

“Thanks”- Kyungwon, moving away from the edge of the cliff for safety reasons, thanked her timely savior.

“Don’t mention it”- Julia replied - “Though, if you really want to die, at least make sure you get eaten by the biggest dino around… falling from a cliff is lame”

“How do we get back now?”- Momentarily forgetting the reason why she came outside in the first place, Kyungwon’s mind filled with acute fright. She didn’t exactly know the facility grounds like Siyeon or Nayoung did and she had no idea how exactly she’d do to get back to the control room.

As far as she knew, she was stranded there.

“Easy there, blondie, don’t panic”- Thankfully, Julia seemed to have an idea, which partially helped to erased Kyungwon’s worries - “There is an elevator literally next to us, remember? It can give us a lift, eh?”

Kyungwon rolled her eyes at the bad pun, biting her lower lip to repress a snort.

“Give me your transmitter, radio, or whatever it is”- Julia continued, now facing Kyungwon, as she extended her hand and waited for the radio - “I’ll notify big bad wolf about this”

“I can do it”- Kyungwon raised the device, preparing to establish a connection.

“Go ahead then, if you want to get yelled at”- However, Julia’s words stopped her dead in her tracks. - “She was pretty mad when you left, you know?”

“Is it that bad?”- Nayoung did not seem that angry when she left, more annoyed than anything, but she could never now, especially with how Nayoung had been acting lately.

“Yeah, she went nuts”- A weird sensation formed at the pit of her stomach - “I don’t know if I should be saying this, but do you think your friend is sane enough to lead the group?”

Julia’s question raised an alarm inside of her head.

Was Nayoung really in the right set of mind to guide them?

Kyungwon had never been a leader herself, more a loner than anything else. Nayoung was trained, capacitated thoroughly to deal with situations like this one, there should be no doubt about her suitability for this task.

But Kyungwon had started to wonder nonetheless, the seed of doubt already ingrained in her mind.

“I… I never really thought about it, still, she is the leader of the rescue team so it’s not like we…”

“The rescue team mission failed long ago, girl, the deal now is every man by themselves, and your friend doesn’t seem to interested in rescuing civilians either…”- Julia’s words were curt, somber, and had a cruel pessimism embedded in them - “But we can discuss this later, give me the radio, I’ll call her so that I can spare you all the screaming, a’ight?”

“Okay, sure…”- Kyungwon didn’t hesitate to unfasten the radio device from her hand before handing it to Julia, who received it with a smile on her face.

“Cool, now go check the elevator while I finish here, I’ll catch up, promise.”- With a wink for added effect, Julia turned around as she started messing with the radio, trying to figure out its controls.

Kyungwon sighed, she could use a little bit of time alone to think about what Julia had just said.

With that in mind, her eyes set themselves in the iron double doors, which were poorly painted in a worn-out red color, and she marched towards them, accessing the destination were the SOS signal came from.  

**************************

Large size elevator, Ibis Island.

11:48pm

“Ugh!”- The stench of death was the first thing that assaulted her nose.

It came from everywhere; the entire area was littered with the bodies of battle-ready soldiers. Kyungwon was not prepared for it the moment she entered. Maybe she should have let Julia take the lead and enter first. Some of them were torn, half-eaten messes, the rest remained mostly intact, save for some obvious bullet wounds that were certainly the most frightening aspect. A fight had broken out, that much was clear, and it had led to their untimely deaths in the field.

Speaking of which, the area itself was just a big open-spaced rectangle, lacking decoration of any sorts – and she certainly did not count the copious amount of bodies as such – it was a really lackluster sight. The only thing that stood out was the painted white letters “R-6” on a big gate that, she knew, headed to some sort of container deposit or hangar, which in turn led to the heliport. It made sense, considering that the elevator was mainly used to transport the materials that arrived through helicopter to the lower levels of the facility.

Large part of the area, including the part she was standing on, were part of the lift itself. Right in the center of it was a small control panel that displayed a faint cyan light, indicating that, fortunately, the generator that powered the elevator was still up and working. Two other doors caught her attention, one of them appeared to be from the elevator’s control room, while the other – which looked rather worn down – belonged to a maintenance lift that appeared to be out of order.

She searched the area for any signs of life with her eyes but everything was silent. Deathly silent.

*munch*

Her ears caught something, or so she thought. Soft crunches reached her ears, making her scan the area once more, this time with a little more haste. Nothing out of the ordinary was revealed. She then made her way towards the elevator console, pinching her nose and trying hard not to step on any deceased.

*munch*

There was it again. She whipped her head to her right, where the sound was coming from, but there was nothing there but a few dead soldiers. Was her mind playing tricks on her? She dismissed the thought, focusing on the console in front of her, though she wouldn’t deny she was growing nervous.

The small computer had a tactile screen with very intuitive commands. Either “up” or “down” were the only options, the first one being greyed as she was now in the top floor.

“Mmm, can we really use this to reach the control room…?”- She muttered out loud to nobody in particular. If Julia wasn’t wrong then the first stop was the first subfloor, which was a hallway and a set of stairs away from the facility control room.

“Grrrra…?”- A low, gentle screech came from her right, questioning her.

“I know, but I don’t exactly remember the schematics of the…”

*munch*

Something nibbled at her leg, causing a sensation akin to being prickled by a needle to spread through Kyungwon’s right calve before she started flailing her leg wildly, hitting something in the process and sending it flying back like a soccer ball.

“Holy !”- Her hand clumsily reached for her gun, clearly showing her lack of experience as she tried to unfasten it from her belt.

Thankfully, her assailant was a good three meters away from her, trying to stand up with its little paws. It was a winged creature that looked pretty much like a small eagle, only with a visible bony frame that outlined its wings. Its small beak was tainted with both dry and fresh blood, which gave Kyungwon the impression that he had been feeding of the corpses not long ago.

Something that certainly explained the low munching sounds she had been hearing. At least she was relieved to know it wasn’t something bigger.

Reaching no taller than Kyungwon’s knees, the small dinosaur – or what she thought was one – started walking towards her with an awkward fashion, this time screeching a bit louder. Kyungwon wouldn’t lie, she actually felt pretty bad for having kicked a creature the size of a puppy, so she approached it, kneeling once she was around arm-length of it.

It tried to bit Kyungwon’s fingers but she evaded its klutzy attempts with ease, petting the dinosaur in its triangle-shaped head after that.

“There, there, I’m sorry I hit you”- The small dinosaur screeched again, louder this time – “Hey! You bit me first! What was I supposed to do?”

There was another indignant screech and Kyungwon could tell her new friend was annoyed.

“I’m saying I’m sorry! What more do you want from me?”

From its mouth came another demanding squeal, the sounds becoming louder by the second.

“What?! I did nothing