Chapter Text
I paced the sub, heart pounding, trying to make sense of what I’d just seen. Was I imagining things? But that thing—it looked real. Thoughts raced: Am I really alone? Is something down there?
The speaker crackled again, cutting in and out. It sounded like the woman who’d been ‘guiding’ me. “Li-Li... Am, Liam, L—” then silence. She doesn’t know my name, I realized.
Without hesitation, I dashed to the control panel and started ascending. No way was I staying down there—not even a minute. The speaker crackled as if she was trying to reconnect, but I knew it wasn’t her. She wouldn’t call me by my real name; she doesn’t know it. “L-Liam… P-PL- please… C-c… Come ba-… ck,” the voice stuttered, fading in and out like a desperate lure.
Fear gripped me. Whatever that thing was, it was trying to pull me back. “FUCK NO, I’M NOT GOING ANY CLOSER, NOT BACK DOWN THERE!” I screamed.
Voices and cries filled my ears—screams of lost souls trapped in this nightmare. “Liam… please… HELP US,” one gasped, suffocating, desperate.
I sped up, desperate to escape. I felt the sub shake violently, a loud thud echoed throughout the room. I held on trying not to fall over.
The agony in their voices slowly faded, replaced by eerie silence. The speaker crackled wildly before the woman’s voice returned, sharp and demanding: “Convict, what the hell happened down there!?”
I was frozen, trembling, words failing me. “I-I… I—” I stuttered, barely able to speak.
“Come on, Convict! Stop stuttering, speak up!” she pressed.
I took a shaky breath, calming slightly. “There’s something down there,” I said, voice still shaking. I heard faint voices beneath the static, but couldn’t make out words.
“Alright, just come back up to dock,” she ordered.
My grip tightened on the wheel. Was I really the first sent down here?
When I surfaced, the woman and a few others greeted me. I rushed to the window, pounding it. “GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!” I shouted.
The person who I’d been communicating with through the speaker appeared. She was pale, wearing a black turtleneck under a white, baggy jumpsuit unzipped halfway. A golden coat with a badge hung over her shoulders. She glared, the left side of her face scarred, her left eye completely white with slight redness, probably from the wound. Her brown hair, streaked with faded red, was half-tied into a messy chestnut bun, like she was in a rush to tie it.
“Can’t you quiet down already?” she snapped, annoyance cutting through her tone.
“L-listen, just please get m—”
“Do you not know what quiet means?” she interrupted, looking like she wanted to storm into my sub and punch me.
”Now tell me Convict, during your ascent did your sub get damaged?” The female said her voice sharp.
I stayed silent, I was trying to figure out what could’ve happened to my sub while I acsended.
the female started to get impatient, “Convict, answer me. Did anything damage the sub.” Her voice was annoyed and oozing with impatience.
Another person came in and started using ASL <Listen Captain, it’s fine you don’t need to force an answer out of him… I can find the problem myself.>
“I don’t care. Harvey, you should be welding the parts onto the sub right now,” she ordered sharply.
Harvey looked disappointed, he simply nodded and apologized before leaving.
The Captain turned back to me. “Listen, Convict, you’re not leaving that sub. You agreed, and you can’t back out. Whatever you heard down there? It’s all in your fucked-up head. Don’t make excuses.”
Her voice was cold, merciless.
Harvey returned with welding gear. “Alright, we’ll weld this clamp on and send you back down,” the Captain said.
Every nerve screamed at me to run, but there was no clear way out.
Then a voice called, “Cap’, you might wanna see this.”
She turned and walked away. I heard hushed chatter—probably about the images I took. I guessed they’d seen the one of the monster because the voices dropped to whispers.
After she returned, “Also if you’re wondering what the clamp is for, it’s to collect samples” I sat there like an unmoving statue, I didn’t know what do.. not even what to think.
My fear and shock slowly twisted into a burning anger and frustration. I couldn’t let them send me back down there—I just couldn’t. The thought of returning to that place clawed at my chest like a wild animal.
As the Captain walked away, and Harvey—the man ordered to weld and repair the sub—got to work, I sat frozen, trying desperately to bottle up the storm inside me. I fought to keep the rage from spilling over, to keep it from swallowing me whole.
Around me, the low murmur of chatter and the sharp clang of Harvey’s tools on metal blended into a distant, muffled hum. The edges of my vision blurred, the world softening like a dream fading at dawn.
Then, a sudden, searing pain exploded behind my eyes, as if a bullet had shattered my skull. An ache spread through my head, dull and relentless.
The voices I’d heard in the Blood Ocean returned, echoing inside my mind like cruel ghosts.
“Liam, why did you leave us… why did you leave us to burn?” one whispered, cold and accusing.
“YOU’RE A MURDERER. YOU LET ALL THOSE INNOCENT PEOPLE DIE,” another spat, venom dripping from every word.
I clamped my hands over my ears, desperate to block them out, but the voices only grew louder, sharper, more unbearable.
“You’re a monster, not a hero… so stop pretending,” the last voice sneered. It was his voice—the one I never wanted to hear again.
Suddenly, muffled shouting cut through the haze. At first, I couldn’t make out the words, but then—
“CONVICT, WHAT THE HELL!?” The Captain’s voice thundered, sharp and furious. But what had I done?
“W-what… what happened?” I stammered, I was confused.
“YOU FLASHED EVERYONE IN THE ROOM WITH RADIATION!” Her words hit me like a punch to the stomach. Radiation? What?
Panic surged through me, replacing the anger with raw fear. “What the fuck do you mean I flashed everyone with radiation?” I demanded, disbelief cracking my voice.
“The camera! It’s a fucking X-ray, dipshit!” she snapped.
I froze, the room tilting around me. I wanted to scream, to smash the window, to strangle her for not warning me—not telling me that every photo I took was bathing the area with radiation.
“How the hell was I supposed to know it was radiation?!” I protested, voice rising in desperation.
The Captain’s frustration boiled over, her rage cutting through the air like a blade. “I DON’T KNOW, THE FACT THAT NORMAL CAMERAS CAN’T TAKE PICTURES THROUGH BLOOD!?” she yelled, stepping back, nearly losing her balance.
Crew members rushed forward, hauling away those hit by the radiation. The room felt emptier, colder.
New faces replaced the evacuated crew, their muffled shouts mixing with the lingering tension.
I sat there, numb, words caught in my throat, thoughts swirling like a storm. I didn’t know what to say, what to do—I just sat, trapped in the silence of my own mind.