Flee (Part One)

Authors Note: This story is based on the Roblox game “Flee the Facility”. How the game works are, there are 4 survivors and one beast. The goal of the game is to hack all 5 computers to open the exit and leave. But the beast can trap you in these little tubes and the only way to get out of one is if someone rescues you. Ok, that’s all, onto the story!

I pressed my ear against the door, imagining what must be going on in that lab. I could hear Alex Laclamore giggling at Sam Green’s jokes and quips. Ugh, I couldn’t stand those girls. They were so good at everything, all I could do was take notes. I’m still surprised I was chosen to participate in Project Oracle. Ms. Rose probably just pulled some strings. But it was fine because I had an idea. Project Oracle was gonna be my chance to-

“Um, June? What are you doing?” I heard a voice behind me ask. I jumped and turned around, coming face-to-face with London Parks. My face went beet red, I must’ve looked really stupid standing in the hall like that.

“C-can we pretend that didn’t happen?” I asked sheepishly. 

London nods and opens the door and we step into the “Crysis Labs: Junior Observer Laboratory”. Inside there are really just a bunch of beakers, microscopes, and test tubes. In the very center is the Oracle Gem, the ban of my existence. The gem is pretty medium-sized, about the size of a shoebox. It’s bright red and shiny, it almost looks like plastic. 

I slip on my lab coat and walk over to where Eden Green is standing. She’s looking at a chart, lightly tracing it with her pencil.

“Any progress?” I ask. Eden slightly jumps at the sound of my voice but quickly recovers. 

“No, not really. Today we’re going to see how the gem reacts to temperature and such. We also have a small theory that something may be inside the gem, because of what Alex thinks she saw” Eden explains, placing down the checklist and picking up a notebook.

“Hey, I know what I saw!” Alex buts in.

Eden rolls her eyes, “Ok observers! Time for our first test. We’re gonna put this gem in one of our freeze tubes. I couldn’t get a smaller size but luckily these things come with a shelf to put inside” she announced. 

The group sat down as Eden explained our first test. We were going to test the gem’s heat endurance. I tuned out what she was saying, it wasn’t like any of this would require me anyway. I was only there to find an opening when the gem was unguarded. 

“June, I’m gonna need your help for this one” Eden’s talking snapped me out of my daze.

“You got it!” I stood up and followed her into our supply closet. I put on some thick rubber gloves and grabbed a size 8 tray. Eden carefully carried the heating chamber to one of the tables.

“Ok then. Goggles on!” Eden said.

We put on our goggles, London and the rest stand a few feet away from us with clipboards. I place the gem on the tray, then slowly slide the tray into the heating chamber. 

“Now going to 10 degrees…” Eden turned the dial on the chamber. We watched the gem for a few moments, but it was obvious nothing was happening.

“25 degrees!” Eden turned the dial again.

“Now 35!”

45…” the gem still wasn’t responding. Alex sighed, I could tell she was getting impatient. We kept turning up the heat, we finally made it to 300 degrees before something happened. The gem started to glow, and then it stopped. It looked like it was slowly blinking. 

“WE GOT IT!” Alex exclaimed. Sam and London jumped at her outburst, and I glared at her. There were other people in the building, she couldn’t just shout. 

Eden laughed with relief, she was probably happy we made a breakthrough. 

“Ok. So now we know the gem responds to heat. Let’s take it out and see if it reacts when it’s not in the chamber” Eden said.

I quickly interrupted, “Hey Eden can I use the bathroom quickly? I’ll be back soon I swear!”.

Eden sighed, “Fine...but make it quick! We’ll start testing without you”

Perfect, I thought. I rushed out of the lab and ran down the hall. I looked around, and when the coast was clear I darted towards the server room. It was filled with computers and different hard drives. I carefully stepped over the chords and searched for the power cables. Sure enough, in the back of the room, there was a large power generator. I pulled some very strong scissors out of my pocket and cut a bunch of random cords. The lights flickered, and son everything went black. It seemed like everything was going according to plan.

“Everyone please exit the building while we try to figure out what’s wrong. This will be over in a minute” Mrs. Jones said over the intercom. Everyone left their labs and filed out of the doors, I didn’t see Eden and the other observers, but I assumed they were lost in the crowd. I dashed towards our lab, hoping the gem was still there. Sure enough, it was. 

I grinned, the gem was finally in my hands, as it should be. I was the only one in our observer team that actually knew what the gem was. It wasn’t a random gemstone, it was a chamber. There was something inside. I read in one of my favorite textbooks, “History of Magic”, that there used to be people in the world that had magical abilities. But times changed, so some of them stored their powers in little gemstones called “Host Gems”. There have only been a few uncovered, but the ones that have been discovered by scientists were tossed out. This was the opening I’d been looking for. 

I picked up the gem and studied it. Based on its form, and the way it reacted to heat. I assumed it just had some simple fire abilities. But that was fine, any power could make me better than Eden and her group of show-offs. 

Little did the jealous and broken June know, the repairmen had left the building to buy some parts. Everyone had left the building, and Mrs. Jones had put it on lockdown. That’s not the only problem though. Eden and the other observers got caught up in the line, and they were still inside the lab. With no clue what June was planning. The only way to get out was to hack the lockdown. Oh, and the readers are probably wondering what’s going on with June and the gem. June was wrong about the gem’s ability. It was a “host gem”, but it didn’t host an ability. It hosted a beast, a strange and personified emotion that can make anyone go insane. Beasts are powerful and dangerous, and our broken and jealous little June just released one...