Led by Calista, the fully armed Rock Fortress Rescue Team approached Raw Material Loading Dock No. 3 at the Singularity Polymers Plant in Block D.
Unlike the Spearhead Task Force's cautious advance when they first entered, the rescue team moved quickly.
Calista took point, scanning the entrance. "Bossie, the moment we get inside, use the modified equipment to assess the electromagnetic conditions."
As soon as the rescue team entered, they felt the oppressive atmosphere pressing in from all sides. Under the beams of their headlamps, the dark brown chemical deposits looked even more sinister and revolting.
"The electromagnetic conditions aren't good, Calista," Bossie said worriedly. "The interference is stronger than I expected. Even with our modified equipment, we'll only be able to maintain a weak signal over short distances."
"Yeah, that's about what I expected." Calista could not hide her slight disappointment. "We'll proceed according to plan. Once we're inside, physical markers and hand signals will be our primary means of communication. Honeywell."
She looked at the former security advisor walking close beside Maya, his eyes filled with complicated emotions as he surveyed the surroundings.
"You're up. We need the fastest, relatively safe route to either the central control room or the reactor core area. That's where the task force is most likely to be."
At last, he had to face his nightmare.
Honeywell trembled slightly and licked his cracked lips. "We'll take the raw materials corridor and bypass the main loading area.
"Back when the leak first started, the contamination along this route may have been relatively light. There's also a maintenance passage that leads directly to the outer perimeter of the Level B reactor area.
"If they were heading for the core of the contamination incident, they probably took that route. Or they may have been forced onto it."
Calista did not hesitate. "Lead the way. Maya, stay close to Honeywell and make sure he's okay. Bossie, Ethan, and Jenson, cover the flanks. Mikey and Leon, watch the rear."
Honeywell occasionally became dazed for a moment whenever he saw a familiar place, but overall, his mental state remained stable.
Whenever they reached a junction, he was able to point out the correct direction from memory. He even warned them whenever they neared one of the former "temporary storage sites for high-risk substances," which they needed to avoid.
He truly was a living map, saving the rescue team a great deal of time they would otherwise have spent scouting the way.
"Stop!" Bossie suddenly whispered from his position on the flank, where he was monitoring their surroundings.
He crouched and studied the floor. Finding his headlamp too dim, he switched on his flashlight and carefully swept its beam over the ground.
"There are tracks here. They aren't the dragging tracks left by walkers. These are boot prints, and they're fairly fresh. There's fluorescent paint too."
Everyone immediately perked up.
Calista hurried over.
Several lines of relatively clear boot prints were faintly visible across the dust and chemical stains covering the floor. They continued in the same direction the rescue team was heading.
On a rusted pipe nearby, roughly at head height, was a small patch of pale green fluorescent paint. It was easy to miss, but it had clearly been sprayed there by someone. It formed a tiny arrow.
"It's a marker from the Spearhead Task Force!" Maya whispered excitedly.
Calista crouched and examined the fluorescent mark closely.
The arrow clearly pointed in the direction they were already heading. Beneath it was an even smaller symbol.
After studying it for a moment, her heart tightened. It was the symbol for "combat encountered." There was no additional casualty marker, which meant no one had been injured.
The others searched the area. Sharp-eyed Jenson soon spotted a large amount of suspicious slime and numerous shell casings scattered across the floor nearby.
It was the site of a brutal fight.
Large patches of thick brown gelatinous fluid had splattered across the ground, shimmering with an unnatural iridescence beneath their headlamps.
It was clearly bodily fluid, but it was nothing like the black blood of an ordinary walker.
Dozens of brass casings lay scattered among the slime, most of them from submachine guns and rifles. The walls were riddled with bullet holes and several deep, vicious gouges that looked like claw marks.
"The distribution of the casings shows sustained fire. They fought their way here from the far end of the corridor," Bossie said as he crouched beside the edge of a drag mark.
"Look here. This was the killing blow. There's a massive spray of bodily fluid. Whatever that thing was, it must have fallen here and died."
This had to be the place Leah had reported, where the Spearhead Task Force encountered and killed a Black Fire mutant.
Calista's heart sank as she stared at the floor.
It was empty.
The misshapen corpse of the Black Fire mutant was gone.
All that remained was a broad drag mark extending from the large pool that marked where it had died.
The slime within the trail was thicker and wetter, with fragments resembling decayed tissue mixed into it.
The trail did not continue down the passage Leah's team had taken deeper into the facility. Instead, it veered sharply into a narrow, unmarked side corridor on the right.
The darkness within that passage seemed even deeper, and a mournful current of air wailed through its ventilation shaft.
"That damn thing's body was dragged away," Bossie said, swallowing hard.
The atmosphere instantly became unbearably tense.
Every member of the team raised their weapon and aimed into the dark side corridor that had swallowed the corpse.
It had not walked away.
Something had dragged it.
But what?
Jenson moved closer to inspect the trail. "The biological residue in the drag marks is almost identical to the bodily fluid on the floor. It came from the same mutant. But there's another kind of slime beside it. It looks similar, but the color is slightly darker."
"You're saying whatever dragged it away may have been one of its own kind?" Calista pressed her lips together.
"Very likely," Jenson said gravely. "Or it could be something that feeds on them."
As though confirming his theory, a foul odor drifted faintly from the depths of the right-hand corridor.
They did not have time to hunt down whatever had taken the body.
Calista swung her flashlight back toward the passage Leah's team had followed.
"Leave it. Our objective is to find the task force.
"Stay at maximum alert and tighten the formation. Mikey, Leon, cover the rear and watch for any movement behind us. Keep moving."
After giving the Command Center a brief report, the rescue team increased its pace. Following the fluorescent markers, they moved swiftly along the bloody path cleared by the Spearhead Task Force.
The deeper they went, the more horrifying the surroundings became.
"Oh my God..." Honeywell gasped.
Vast sections of the walls and floor ahead looked as though they had been drenched in enormous amounts of concentrated acid. The surfaces had been corroded and then hardened again into grotesque shapes.
Honeycomb-like holes and winding channels had been etched across them. Large quantities of semi-crystallized lumps clung to the corroded areas.
Bossie forced down his discomfort and moved closer for a better look.
The lumps were dark reddish-brown, with visible patterns running through their interiors. Their texture resembled coarse pine resin, and they appeared to have grown directly into the corroded surfaces.
"Static... Command Center... static... Rescue Team... come in... static..."
The sudden burst of noise in their headsets made everyone stiffen. The Command Center's transmission had become fragmented and intermittent.
"Command Center, this is Calista. Come in!" she called urgently. "We've moved deeper into the facility and discovered extensive anomalous corrosion."
Only harsher static answered her. Amid the interference, they could barely make out a few broken words.
"Signal... interference... maintain... static..."
...
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