Published: 1173
Words: July 19, 2023

{THIS PART WILL CONTAIN BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO BLOOD, LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE.}
________
{Nobody's PoV}

The wind was getting extremely violent, hitting enough to hurt or even knock you over if you weren't used to it. But to the members of group 2 were far used to it by now, The Airship's crash site even in view if you had good vision.

Of course, they weren't making as efficient progress as they'd hoped; most of them weren't wearing proper clothing for the weather and Blaza was heavily injured (yes, he was still wearing shorts). It wasn't all bad though, despite the temperature being about -24°c, nobody really felt anything bad.

That would only change when they reached the broken-down entrance of Polus, then everyone grew anxious.

Blaza cleared his throat and got everyone's attention, with him being all sunshine and rainbows all the time even Muffin listened to him. "Once we head in, go to the bunking area to get suitable clothing, then we'll all meet in the sanitation area in front of the lab".

Everyone nodded and walked in, going to the different bunks that were scattered around Polus, looking for spare jackets of some kinds, first aid kits or even information on the virus. Nobody was ever off guard, the metal creaking along with the beeping of machinery and cracking of electrical wires, even if their guard was down it was up again within milliseconds.

...

"Meme... you should come look at this..." Tbh said, hovering wearily over the lower bunk of a bed.

"Hm? Yeah what's u-" He gasped as he saw what was on the bed, it was a pool of blood on the sheets, dripping off of the bed in to a small puddle on the ground. It was still completely fresh, but no sign of a body.

"Tb.. we aren't alone here... even if it was R.E.Ms, whatever got killed definitely wasn't one. We need to go to the sanitation room and warn everyone else... watch my back and get recourses, I'll take evidence." He said, pulling out detective-grade bags and other equipment that he really shouldn't have on hand.

"Shit, what time did Blaza say to get there?" Tbh said keeping eyes on the doorframe. Meme paused for a second "I don't think he did.. but it's completely obvious we shouldn't be in this room at least". They shot glances at each other before taking outerwear from the closet and walking back out of the room.

...

"Muffin, would you like a jacket?" Nadwe said, placing him down on the desk in the small single-bed room. "I am pretty cold, but I don't think they make jackets in my size" Muffin said, sitting on the edge of the desk. As soon as that, Nadwe found some scissors and sewing material and began cutting him a mini jacket.

"I- Thanks, Nad.." Muffin said, tugging on his custom-made jacket. "No problem! I wouldn't want you to be cold, now let's see what we can find in here..." Nadwe said, opening drawers of the desk as Muffing rummaged around another.

A muffled voice came from the drawer Muffin was in, Nadwe looked inside, he saw a dusty Muffin looking nervous. "What's wrong Muffin?" Nadwe asked, concerned for his friend. "J-Just look at this.." He mumbled, climbing out of the drawer and wiping dust off of himself.

Nadwe reached inside and pulled out a heavily dust-covered picture, the glass was shattered and the frame was cracked. He wiped off the dust and saw a picture of about seven people in the Polus uniform, they all looked cheerful and seemed like they were enjoying themselves. But when he looked more at the faces, he knew exactly why Muffin had been scared.

...

Of course, that was just luck. Blaza had unknowingly went in the more severe impact area, the rough terrain certainly didn't help his mobility at the time. Although by some miracle, he had found the broken-down bunking area and looked around for anything useful.

There was a small recording machine on the desk, with Blaza's size, his elbow knocked it over and it began playing, a soft male voice began speaking, static almost blocking out each word.

"Hello! Today is my first day of working on Polus! I'm actually quite nervous.. we've received some dangerous toxins recently and I feel like it's going to cause issues.. no matter though! I'm sure we'll deal with it!" The record clicked and began playing the next one.

To Blaza, the voice seemed somewhat familiar, but with that level of static, nobody could tell. The next few recordings played as Blaza continued searching the room, all of the recordings were along the lines of research process and team morale.

Bzzzt

The once static-filled recording were now clear as day, the cheery talking in the background now eerie silence, the voice spoke again. Their once excited tone now seeming, lifeless or even scared.

"Sometimes.. it feels like there's... gaps in my memories... times where I wasn't there... or even conscious. Mabye I'm overthinking it. The virus is getting out of hand, our team is exhausted. I don't know what to do. I feel bad for what I last said to my friends before leaving them, I didn't tell them I was risking me life..." the voice pauses, and then continues, now sounding even more scared.

"I-I have to go. I'm sorry. If anyone hears this, go to V-197 that's where you'll find answers. Who am I even talking to..." The sound of the machine falling and alarms blaring came from the small machine on the ground, it sounded what the start of a zombie apocalypse would be imagined to sound like.

Blaza wasn't completely certain of it then, but now he was completely sure. That was definitely Socks's voice.. had he really died...? He had already come to that conclusion, but now with even more evidence... it hurt.

He just stood there for a minute, before sighing and continuing with that he had been doing, trying to not think about what just happened, but it was hard to ignore.

'V-197.. what could be there..?' He thought to himself while leaving the room, he should probably ask the others about it when he was back at the sanitation room.

...

"AGH- LET ME GO YOU LITTLE SHI-" Meme said while kicking Tbh in the shins, attempting to get away from his headlock yet again.

"No swearing." He said while letting go, causing Meme to fall mid-kick. "You're one to talk.." Meme sighed while getting up, they were waiting in the sanitization room for Blaza, Nadwe and Muffin. It had been a while but it was far too late now to go anywhere.

Tbh twirled a pen in his fingers, "Do you think we should go look for them? It's been a while.."Meme looked around before the shadows in the glass flickered about and staggered breathing came louder along with heavy footsteps.

Then,

Gunshots.