√A Chapter 08: 【Means of Survival and Hope】 9/16/2030 11:52

√A Chapter 08: 【Means of Survival and Hope】 9/16/2030 11:52

Radiation Level: 3,711 mSv

Remaining AD: 6

Area 6, Outer Ring

Factory

PASSING through the connecting passageway to Area 6 brings us face-to-face with a bizarre, sprawling space. This is more like a room you’d find in a factory than a research facility. The ceiling is at least a dozen feet taller than anywhere else in the facility, and heavy machinery and raw materials clutter the spacious concrete interior. The forklifts, conveyor belts, and other machinery have been charred useless and flipped on their sides.

A horrible fire must’ve ripped through the room. Soot and ash coat the entire floor.

“What the hell is this place?” I ask the room.

“This is the development block, nicknamed ‘the factory,’” Ukita answers. “This is my first time here, but I never imagined the damage would be this bad.”

The destruction and devastation here is particularly bad. Even the ceiling several dozen feet overhead and the crane stationed on the catwalk near it have been burned black.

I check the Procyon—it’s reading 3,711 mSv. This place has barely managed to stay within the safety standard. With our general safety confirmed, I hand out orders.

“Okay, let’s split into teams of two and four again. Team Tachibana is to search the factory. Moribe and I will cover the inner ring.”

“Roger!”

With everyone on board with the plan, I immediately head for the inner ring with Moribe.

Area 6, Inner Ring

THIS block has a lot of doors lining the stark white corridor in a similar layout to Area 5. I check room after room along with Moribe. Survivors and AD are nowhere to be found, but we discover another Procyon in the last room we check.

“Hey, this a Procyon, right? Why’s one lying around here?”

“Isn’t that obvious, Captain? LABO’s staff provided us with the Procyon. It’s not strange for them to have some in the facility.”

“Oh yeah, you said something along those lines before. This is a good find. It’ll allow us to break into three teams should we need to.”

I don’t know if we’ll ever have to do that, but it doesn’t hurt to have an extra on us, so I stash it in my pocket.

We rummage through the office for anything else of use until Moribe finds some kind of booklet.

“Take a look at this, Captain. It’s a disaster prevention manual.”

“The same as the one Yuuri found?”

“Nope. There’s a few small differences. This one says it’s for employees working in Areas 5 and 6.”

Moribe and I read it with our heads close together. The majority of pages are exactly the same as the manual we read earlier, except for an extra page added at the very end.

Disaster Prevention Manual (For Employees of Areas 5 and 6)

In the event of a fire, earthquake, or other disaster, the elevators will automatically ascend to the surface floor and stay there. This is to prevent passengers from becoming trapped inside operating elevators that stop due to aftershocks or other unpredictable factors. Please use the emergency staircase located in each block to evacuate.

However, please note that Area 6’s outer ring does not have an emergency staircase due to security risks and the facility’s structure. All staff should therefore evacuate from the inner ring. Should a situation arise where that becomes too difficult to do, please evacuate through the cargo lift.

Unlike the normal elevators, the cargo lift is extremely sturdy. It has been estimated to withstand earthquakes up to a 7.0 magnitude and poses little risk of stopping midoperation. Therefore, all staff members are granted temporary permission to use the lift during an emergency evacuation.

Please use it to promptly evacuate to the surface. The same applies during a Case N. Should evacuation of the facility become impossible due to a lockdown, the cargo lift can still be used to evacuate to a safe zone on the surface floor.

My whole body trembles as I read that page. “Hey, Moribe, did you read what I just did? About using the cargo lift to evacuate to a safe zone…?!”

“Doesn’t that mean we can escape to the surface from here?!”

We exchange excited looks. We’ve finally discovered a way out of this hell!

“You rock for finding this little treasure, Moribe! It’s the discovery of a lifetime!”

“I’m honored, Captain! So where do you think this lift is at?”

“Probably tucked away somewhere inside the factory that we didn’t pay attention to.”

“Sounds likely! Let’s return to others!”

I nod and, with Moribe, run back the way we came. We pass through the connecting passageway and arrive in the factory, where I immediately spot the other team.

“Hey! Guys!”

Hearing my shout, the others come running over to meet us halfway.

“Did you find survivors, Captain?” Tachibana asks.

“No. How about you?”

“None. We searched high and low too…”

We’ve finished exploring every area inside LABO. But we didn’t find those kids anywhere—not even their bodies.

“Then that settles it… Those kids already escaped to the surface with the cargo lift!”

Questioning looks cross everyone’s faces.

“What cargo lift?” Miss Ena asks.

“Supposedly somewhere in the factory is a lift you can use to evacuate to the surface! Look at this!” I open the disaster prevention manual for them to see.

“The cargo lift?” Ukita groans. “It completely slipped my mind that that was an option!”

“Hey, Ukita, did you see anything like that inside the factory?”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure about this, but it might be that there.” He looks toward a corner of the factory. I follow his gaze to where a security gate is located on the farthest wall from us.

“What’s a security gate doing in a random place like this?”

“We were also curious because it seems out of place here, but…we couldn’t get inside because the security slot burned up in the fire.”

“It did?”

“But past that gate is the only place we haven’t searched yet. I’d bet this cargo lift to the surface is protected behind it.”

That’s enough to bring a smile to everyone’s face. Our distressing journey to find a way out is finally coming to an end!

“All right! Let’s find a way to pry that gate open! How about we break it down with the engine cutter?” I suggest.

“We already tried that,” Tachibana replies. “We even went back to base to get it… But it didn’t even dent the gate.”

Another look at the gate and I see the engine cutter lying on the ground beside it. But there’s only a slight nick on the gate itself.

Dang it all! What do we have to do to pry it open? The exit is right before our eyes. Yuuri and the others will be saved if only we can open it.

An unsettling snapping noise echoes loudly overhead before I can finish thinking.

Area 6, Outer Ring

Factory

SHOCK instantly runs along my spine. Fragments of something are falling from above. Startled, I crane my neck up and see a big crack spreading through the ceiling.

“G-Get away from here, guys!” As I shout, the crack shoots in every direction and the ceiling begins to cave in!

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

“Eeeeek!”

“Waaaaaah!”

Everyone screams. Debris, pebbles, scraps of iron, steel frames, and iron plates come crashing down on us like killer hail. We flee in different directions to get out of the epicenter.

“Kyah!” Yuuri slips on debris and falls onto her butt just as a fifty-five-square-foot ceiling panel plummets toward her.

“Yuuri!” On the spur of the moment, I lunge for her and shield her with my body. An impact like nothing I’ve ever felt before slams into my back a second later. “Aaagh!”

I had intercepted the falling panel with my back. With Yuuri splayed out below me, I try to push the panel up with my back. But even more debris crashes down on top of me, assaulting my body with impacts I feel through the panel.

“Gaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

The panel’s weight suddenly increases tenfold with great force. I can’t even begin to estimate how much the mountain of rubble weighs. Three hundred thirty pounds? Four hundred fifty pounds? I try to brace myself with my hands and legs, but my limbs feel like they’ll break under the overwhelming weight.

My eyes lock with Yuuri’s. She’s lying faceup underneath me as I try to hold up the debris on my hands and knees. My pained face is reflected in her frightened eyes.

If I don’t hang in there, Yuuri will be crushed with me! I muster every ounce of strength left in my body to hold out against the crushing weight. Protecting Yuuri is all I let myself think about.

By the time the ceiling stops caving in, Yuuri and I are buried under a mountain of rubble.

“C-Captain Kasasagi…!” Yuuri cries out in fear. Red droplets splatter onto her dusty cheeks. My blood. The back of my head has been split open.

I answer her through the pain: “Don’t you worry, Yuuri. I’ll save you no matter what…!”

“B-But…you’re in worse shape than me…!”

“Oh, this? It’s no more than a scratch.” I force a faltering smile, bringing tears to her eyes.

“Captain?! Yuuri?!” Tachibana shouts at the top of her lungs.

I can hear the voices of the other four who managed to escape the wreckage in time.

“Where are you?! Answer us!” Miss Ena calls.

“Don’t tell me they ended up under all this debris?!”

“A-Are they alive?! Captain Kasasagi?! Miss Yuuri?!”

“We’re right here!” Yuuri shouts through the rubble. “Move the debris fast! Or else Captain Kasasagi will—!”

“B-But how?!”

Miss Ena’s question sets my brain into gear. It’ll be near impossible for them to get this rubble off me with just their hands. And they have to act fast before my stamina gives out. I allow my instincts to guide me as I shout out orders.

“Tachibana, Miss Ena, Ukita! Move as much debris as you can!”

“Roger!”

“Moribe, run to base and grab the air jack! It shouldn’t take long if you go through Area 1 to get there!”

“I-I’m on it! I’ll be back in two minutes, tops! Hang in there till then, Captain!” I hear Moribe say as she runs off.

Tachibana’s voice echoes on the other side of the rubble. “Mr. Ukita, Ms. Tsubakiyama, help me with this debris!”

“O-Okay!”

“I will!”

The three of them commence clearing away the wreckage. One minute later and my arms are shaking worse than an earthquake.

“Grrr…!” I can hear my elbows cracking under the weight as they near their breaking limit.

“I-I’m so sorry, Captain Kasasagi,” Yuuri rasps in a mournful voice as she watches my face contort with pain. “…It’s all my fault that you got trapped in here too…”

“Y-You dummy… Don’t apologize…for nothing…!”

“O-Okay…” Yuuri meekly nods, then quietly asks, “But why…why are you going so far to save me?”

I don’t know why. That “voice” I heard could have something to do with it. Or it might be completely unrelated. So I just answer with the role I’ve been given.

“D-Do you even need to ask…? I’m…a rescue…squad…captain… That’s why…,” I choke out between ragged breaths.

“No way… Then why did you—”

Yuuri’s question is cut short by Moribe’s voice on the other side of the rubble. “Sorry for the wait! How’re you holding up, Captain?!”

“Hon…estly…not…well… Hurry!” I holler.

Tachibana’s orders echo back. “Moribe, cut a line from here to here with the engine cutter! Then insert the air jack into the opening! We’re going to lift the debris and pull the two of them out!”

“Roger! Ms. Tsubakiyama, Mr. Ukita, please stand back!” The sound of the engine cutter quickly follows Moribe’s orders. The two rescue workers begin removing the debris from us.

But the muscles in my arms are already past their limit. They could buckle under the rubble’s weight any second now.

I look Yuuri square in the eyes and ask, “H-Hey…Yuuri? …Can you…do me…a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Please…tell me to…hang in there…!”

A heartbreaking expression crosses her face, but she promptly encourages me. “Captain Kasasagi…please hang in there!”

Renewed strength fills my aching bones with those words. “ALLLL RIIIGHTTT!”

I rally every ounce of strength in me and push the debris up with my back. At the same time, an opening is made in the wreckage and light shines on Yuuri’s face. Tachibana inserts the air jack into that opening.

“All set! Everyone, please lend a hand so that the rubble doesn’t collapse while the air jack is inflating!”

“I’ve got you covered!”

“All right! I’ll handle this side!”

“Okay, inflating the air jack nooow!” The debris lifts into the air with Moribe’s signal.

“Captain! Yuuri! Hurry!”

We obey Tachibana’s orders and roll out from under the rubble.

Area 6, Outer Ring

Factory

“HAH…haaaaaaaaaaaah…” Out of danger, I collapse on the ground and catch my breath. Every bone in my body aches, and my muscles are shaking and cramping.

I’m amazed I survived that one.

No sooner does that cross my mind than I hear Tachibana’s voice right beside me. “Captain! Yuuri! Thank God you’re all right!” She throws her arms around the both of us.

“Whoa!”

“Wah!”

Ignoring our surprise, she tearfully expresses her concern. “I was worried sick about you! I thought my heart was going to stop for good this time…!”

“I-It’s okay. Both Yuuri and I are in one piece.”

“But…it’s hard to breathe…Lieutenant Tachibana…”

Tachibana doesn’t let us go anyway. “Isn’t it okay for us to stay this way a little longer? You were in serious danger just now.” She pats us both on the back. Yuuri starts trembling as if the reality of the situation has finally dawned on her. “…You must’ve been so scared.”

“I-I was…!”

“You did such a good job not crying. You’re safe now,” Tachibana soothes as she rubs Yuuri’s back. I can feel warmth from her arm around me, which brings into stark reality what I just went through as well.

That’s right… We survived the impossible…!

I gently return Tachibana’s hug. Yuuri rests her hand on my arm. We stay there sharing a wordless hug for a good few moments.

It’s not long before Moribe’s teasing voice interjects into our moment. “Wowwie, enjoying the benefits of being captain? I mean, it gets you a hug from the iron-faced lieutenant here.”

Brought back to earth, I look over my shoulder to see everyone looking extremely pleased.

“That’s a rescue captain for you. You get to walk away with all the juicy moments,” Ukita teases.

“But Captain Kasasagi is the one who saved Miss Yuuri,” Miss Ena says with a smile.

I shake my head. “Nah, I was powerless alone… It’s everyone’s teamwork that saved Yuuri.”

Bashful expressions appear on each person’s face.

“You’re bleeding from the back of your head, Captain Kasasagi,” Miss Ena mentions with worry as soon as she takes a good look at me. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. I think some of the debris nicked me, that’s all.”

“Here, turn around. I’ll apply some Chiron for you.” Miss Ena pulls the tube of medicine from her pocket.

“Um, please let me do it,” Yuuri timorously requests. “…I caused his injuries…”

“Take good care of me, Yuuri.”

Yuuri accepts the Chiron from Miss Ena and starts rubbing it into the back of my head. I can feel the gentle movement of her fingers. After a while, she speaks up in surprise. “…Huh? I just noticed that you have a single streak of white hair.”

“Oh, I do? I never knew, since I can’t see my own head.”

“You do. It looks like a kasasagi feather.”

“Kasasagi?”

“It’s the name of a kind of magpie. It’s a very intelligent bird that has a single white feather among its black feathers.”

“Cool… Maybe that’s where my last name, Kasasagi, comes from?”

Miss Ena corrects my light joke. “Of course not. Don’t teach her weird things.”

“Aw, come on, Miss Ena. Can’t you take a joke? I’m just trying to cheer Yuuri up…”

“Is that what you were doing? You’re a tough guy, but you have a questionable taste in humor.”

“Boy, are you as hard on me as ever.”

Yuuri laughs at our banter. I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard her laugh.

Once she finishes rubbing in the Chiron, Yuuri faces the group again. “Um, Captain Kasasagi, everyone…thank you so much for saving me.”

“Your being safe is all that matters,” Tachibana answers gently.

“We’d fail as rescue workers if we lost one of our survivors after coming this far, y’know?” Moribe jests.

I squeeze out a wry smile. “Damn straight. But man, who woulda thought the ceiling would cave in?” Sighing with exasperation, I look up at the collapsed ceiling. Something there catches my eye. “Ah!”

“Is something the matter, Captain?”

“I just got a genius idea about how we can open that gate!” I exclaim and point to the crane hanging from the ceiling. “Can’t we use that? We’ll use the engine cutter to cut a notch into the gate, then hook the crane to it so it can pull the gate open…!”

“It’s worth a shot!” Tachibana runs over to the wall and operates the controls there. The crane lurches forward. “It moved! We can use it!”

“Okay, let’s get to work, people!”

We head straight to the security gate in question.

Moribe picks up the engine cutter. “Alrighty! I’ll start things off by cutting into it with this bad boy! Stand back, guys!” She starts it up and runs its spinning blade into the gate. Sparks bathe her body with the grating sound of metal cutting metal. It doesn’t take long before she makes a four-inch incision into the center of the gate. “…Phew! Captain, how’s this?”

“Perfect! All that’s left is to hook the crane to it. You’re up, Tachibana!”

“Roger!” Tachibana operates the crane controls. The crane swings, dropping the chain from the ceiling.

I grab the hook and latch it on to the notch in the gate. Tachibana presses a switch on the controls, winding the chain up to the ceiling and pulling the hook tight against the gate as it goes.

I watch and pray it succeeds. It’s not long before the gate starts creaking, widening the notch we made until it pulls open a gap big enough for us to walk through.

“Okay! That’s perfect!”

“Whoo-hoo! W-We did it! We did it! Hell yeah, we did it!” Moribe’s jumping with joy.

It’s a narrow opening even I can fit through. I see what looks like a lift inside the darkness beyond.

“We pulled it off, huh?” Ukita seems happy for once.

“Phew… We can finally breathe easy,” Miss Ena says with a sigh.

“You’re all so amazing! Really, really amazing!” Yuuri cheers.

Their praise brings a grin to my face too.

At long last, we’ve secured an escape route. While we haven’t found all the survivors yet, this will get Yuuri, Miss Ena, and Ukita to safety at least. Then we won’t have to worry about finding AD anymore. And we can probably call for help from the rescue squad on the outside.

I stifle my ballooning excitement and address the group: “Ready continue with our escape?”

“Let me go on ahead and confirm it’s safe!” Moribe happily pushes her way through the opening. A fraction of a second after she’s on the other side—“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” we hear her shrill scream from the darkness.

“Moribe?! What’s wrong?!” I call after her.

The group gasps and slips past the opening into a space the size of a small bedroom. Toward the back is a cargo lift large enough for people to board, just like we read in the disaster prevention manual.

Moribe is rooted to the ground in front of it. Someone else is inside—

“What the?!”

We are all at a loss for words.

A dead body is propped up in a corner of the lift. It’s the remains of an unfamiliar girl dressed in what looks like a white nightgown and sandals. She was probably in her late teens. She’s a beautiful girl with white skin and even whiter hair. Blood from a gunshot wound to her stomach has dyed her clothes red.

“Wh-Who is she? Mashiro Toba?”

“She isn’t…!” Miss Ena says in a ghost of a whisper, her face whiter than a sheet. “She’s not one of my students…”

“She’s not?! Th-Then who is she?!”

No one has the answer to my question.

This girl no one knows was undoubtedly murdered. Why was she killed? Her face is completely expressionless. There isn’t a hint of fear or pain at her death to be seen there. She’s merely staring at the floor with empty eyes.

Everyone is rendered dumbstruck and speechless.

Ukita eventually lets out a small groan. “…Oh no!” He walks over to the lift’s control panel.

The panel right beside the girl has been—completely and utterly destroyed. He tries to operate it anyway. Nothing happens when he presses any of the switches. Growing annoyed, he slams his fist into it.

“Wh-Why…,” Yuuri mutters in a wisp of a voice. “Why did this happen?!”

I’m frozen to the spot, too frazzled to offer any comfort to the young girl.