The smell hit immediately,heavy, layered: sweat, old bandages, dampness.
Ethan froze on the threshold.
"Someone's… here?"
A faint sound—barely audible rustle of fabric.
A ragged, gasping breath.
Flash instantly killed the main lights. Only the narrow red beam remained, thin as a blade, slicing through the darkness.
"We're not enemies," he said into the black void ahead. His voice was calm, low, without threat.
"If you're human, come out."
Silence.
Only the distant drip of water.
Then a voice.
Hoarse. Male.
"Password."
Bruno muttered under his breath, almost soundless:
"Goddamn it…"
Flash didn't even turn.
"We don't have a password."
A long pause.
"Then leave," the voice said.
"Before they find you."
Ethan stepped forward slowly, careful not to startle.
"We're looking for labs. Corvin's experiments."
Silence again.
Then a click.
A dim battery-powered lantern flickered on in the corner.
And they saw them.
Six people.
Two sat with their backs pressed to the wall. One lay on an old mattress, bandaged, face gray, breathing shallow.
A woman stood slightly in front of the others, gripping a kitchen knife,dull, serrated blade,but held so tightly it might as well have been her last chance at life.
Ethan slowly pulled the filter from his face.
The air here was bitter.
"We're not with them."
A man around forty rose slowly, visibly struggling.
Thin to the point of transparency. Eyes too old for his age.
"Prove it."
Bruno snorted.
"Well, I sure as hell wouldn't crawl into this stinking hole for a vampire corporate team-building event."
Flash shot him a quick look,shut up,but without anger.
"We're looking for proof," Flash said evenly.
"About the experiments. The blood."
"About…" He hesitated for a split second.
"…people like you."
The woman sucked in a sharp breath; it sounded almost like a sob.
"They're making new ones."
Gideon over the radio, quietly, almost a whisper:
"Recording."
The man glanced at the tiny speaker in Ethan's ear.
"You've got comms?"
"Yes," Ethan said.
"We have a base."
A pause.
"Then you're either very brave…" the man shook his head, "…or very stupid."
Bruno gave a crooked grin.
"Oh, we're versatile."
The woman suddenly asked in a trembling voice:
"Have you seen Vourdalaks?"
Ethan nodded.
"One passed right by us.
Very close."
A quiet, collective exhale rippled through the room.
"Then you understand," the man said.
"Why we're here."
Flash frowned.
"Vampires don't come down?"
"No," the man answered.
"They're afraid of them. They created monsters they can't control.
They lose their own."
Bruno muttered under his breath:
"So you're hiding behind Vourdalaks?"
"Yes," the woman said.
"But at least those don't hunt us. Turns out we taste disgusting to them."
Ethan slowly crouched beside the wounded man on the mattress.
His skin was cold, pale, almost bluish.
"What happened to him?"
"Donor center," the man replied.
"He escaped. Climbed wrong. Got badly injured."
Flash was already scanning the room,quick, professional,his gaze sweeping corners.
"How long have you been here?"
"Two months. Maybe one," the woman said.
Ethan's head snapped up.
"Two?"
"Yes," the man continued.
He exchanged a look with Flash.
Flash understood without words.
Maria had died around then.
Flash turned back to the group.
"Have you seen a woman?"
"Chestnut hair. Glasses. She was supposed to be that man's wife—" he pointed at Ethan.
"Then she disappeared."
The woman froze.
The knife in her hand trembled.
"We saw her."
Ethan's heart lurched again.
"Where?" he asked.
"Here."
"She came here.
Twice."
The woman said, looking at the newcomers in this place.
The silence was so thick you could hear the water dripping.
"She… helped us," the man said.
"Gave us maps.
Warned us about raids.
Then she stopped coming. About a month ago."
Ethan closed his eyes for just a second.
"Was she looking for something?"
The woman nodded.
"Archives.
Old experiments.
Some books about vampires or something connected to division."
Flash exhaled quietly.
"Soul."
The man looked at him sharply, almost frightened.
"You know?"
"We saw the container," Ethan said.
The people exchanged glances.
Fear rippled across their faces like a wave.
"Then listen," the man said. His voice hardened.
"If Corvin finishes this… vampires will stop being separate beings."
"They'll become gods," Flash finished quietly.
The man nodded.
"Yes."
Gideon over the radio, almost a whisper:
"Jesus…"
Bruno scratched the back of his head.
"Okay.
Simple plan: we smash everything to hell."
The woman gave a faint, first smile; the corners of her mouth twitched.
"She said the same thing."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
The woman spoke again.
"That if the truth comes out… people won't stay silent."
Silence.
Then the man stepped closer,slowly, carefully.
"We have something."
He bent down and pulled a small plastic container from under the mattress.
Inside lay an old pass,not new anymore, but the name was still legible.
—Maria McCallen—
Ethan flinched.
The man held out the container. The object itself was small, secured with a combination lock; the key slot was shaped like a square pass,Maria's pass.
"She left this."
"Said… if people come who need this crap, give it to them."
Ethan took the card.
His fingers trembled,barely, but they trembled.
Flash quietly:
"We'll find what she was looking for."
Bruno, almost cheerfully now:
"And blow that place apart."
Gideon over the radio:
"I'm already pulling archive maps.
There might be more levels.
Deeper."