Chapter 41 Permadeath #2
The earliest photos showed him as a conventional doctor, proud in his white coat. Then came images of early experiments—surgical procedures involving components. The later photographs documented Faine’s self-experimentation, his body increasingly integrated with the machinery he designed.
“He was replacing himself piece by piece,” Asher said, a note of fascination in his voice. “Becoming his own immortality experiment.”
The final image showed Faine seated in an elaborate chair, tubes and wires connecting his body to the sanitarium itself. His eyes were still human, though eerily alert, watching the camera with disturbing awareness.
“The date on this,” Levi noted, pointing to the label beneath the last photograph. “It’s thirty years after the sanitarium closed.”
A soft click from behind the cabinet drew their attention. A panel in the wall had slid open, revealing a hidden alcove. Inside, mounted on a pedestal, was a dictation machine that contained his voice recording.
“The second key,” Levi said, moving toward it. “But how did it—”
“The building is watching us,” Asher said simply. “Listening. Responding.”
It was an unsettling thought, but it aligned with what they’d seen so far. The sanitarium wasn’t just a structure; it was an entity with its own awareness, its own agenda. Perhaps an extension of Faine himself, or something he had created that had evolved beyond his original design.
The dictation machine was similar to old medical recording equipment, with a cylindrical medium and playback mechanism. The triangular symbol was engraved on its base beside an inscription: “Speak with the voice of the creator.”
“The tapes in the cabinet,” Levi said. “We need to find something to play them on.”
Before Levi could turn around, a loud bang echoed through the office. The new door, the only exit, burst open to reveal Maddie and Tyler, breathless and wide-eyed.
“There you are!” Maddie exclaimed, relief evident in her voice. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Tyler remained in the doorway. “This place is a maze,” he said. “Corridors that should connect don’t, doors that were there one minute are gone the next.”
“The building reconfigures itself,” Levi explained, noting how Asher had positioned himself between him and the newcomers. “It’s part of its security system.”
“Security against what?” Maddie asked, moving further into the room. “What is this place protecting?”
“Faine, maybe,” Asher answered before Levi could. “Or what’s left of him.”
Tyler approached the glass cabinet, studying the timeline of Faine’s transformation with poorly concealed disgust. “He did this to himself? Voluntarily?”
“In pursuit of immortality,” Levi said. “He believed the human body was just a machine that could be maintained indefinitely with the right replacements.”
“That’s insane,” Maddie murmured, hugging herself as if suddenly cold.
“We found a key that might help us get out of here,” Levi said, redirecting the conversation to their immediate goal. “Do either of you have something that can play one of those tapes?”
“Surprisingly, yeah, I do!” Maddie pulled off her backpack and felt along several pockets before she produced a small, battered cassette player, its metal surface scratched but functional.
“Jasper insisted we bring this thing. He said it was backup in case someone dropped their digital recorder in a puddle again.”
Tyler snorted. “You mean in case Jasper dropped it in a puddle again.”
“Exactly.” Maddie moved to the cabinet and selected one of the numbered tapes. “Let’s see what Dr. Faine had to say.”
She inserted the cassette and pressed play. After a moment of static, Faine’s voice filled the room: clinical, precise, but with an undercurrent of growing obsession:
“Patients 461 and 078 did not adjust well to internal brain stimulation. It appears sedation during procedures can reduce the effectiveness. Preparations for the next batch should be conducted without the use of sedatives—”
Maddie shut it off with a frown. “That’s enough of that.”
The dictation machine hummed to life, internal mechanisms whirring with surprising vigor for their age. After several tense seconds, a cheerful chime sounded and a cylinder ejected from the machine, presented like a gift. Levi grabbed it.
“Two down, one to go,” he said with a nod toward Asher.
He has to realize now why we need them, and why we can’t let more of them disappear.
“We should go,” Levi said, tucking the cylinder into his pocket alongside the blood vial. “The Observation Deck is next—that’s where we’ll find the third key.”
As if in response to his words, a low rumble emanated from within the walls. The floor beneath them vibrated.
“What’s happening?” Maddie asked, alarm edging into her voice.
The rumble intensified, and the floor lurched beneath them, tilting at a slight angle. Picture frames slid from the walls, crashing to the floor. The massive desk began to inch across the carpet.
“Run!” Levi shouted, pointing to the door. “Now!”
They bolted for the exit, the floor’s angle increasing with every second. The doorway was their only escape route, but it was shifting, contracting before their eyes as the walls themselves began to fold inward like massive origami.
Tyler reached it first, shoving Maddie through before following himself. Levi was next, with Asher close behind. They emerged into a corridor that was already transforming—the ceiling descending in alternating panels, the floor buckling in waves that traveled its length like ripples on a pond.
“This way!” Tyler called, taking the lead as they navigated the changing architecture.
This isn’t right, it didn’t move like this before. This is impossible.
Walls didn’t just move; they folded, bent, reconfigured into new forms. The corridor ahead split into multiple branches, then recombined like a kaleidoscope in action.
“Look out!” Levi shouted as a section of floor ahead of Maddie began to fold inward.
She leapt forward, narrowly avoiding the collapsing segment. But the movement and constant reshaping continued, the floor behind her folding upward while the section ahead folded downward, creating a rapidly narrowing funnel.
“Maddie!” Tyler lunged for her.
The space where Maddie stood contracted from all sides. She screamed, the sound cut off abruptly as the sections sealed together, forming a perfect cube.
“No!” Tyler slammed his fists against the seamless surface, as if he could break through by sheer force of will.
“Tyler, we have to move!” Levi shouted as the remaining corridor twisted like a serpent. Tyler remained frozen, staring at the spot where Maddie had vanished. The floor beneath him began to distort, forming a concave depression that deepened with alarming speed.
Asher grabbed Levi’s arm as he tried to dart forward after Tyler. “Don’t,” he warned. “You’ll be caught too.”
The depression became a pit, Tyler’s stunned form sinking out of sight. His eyes met Levi’s in one final moment of horrified recognition before the opening sealed above him, the floor returning to its original flat state as if nothing had happened.
And just like that, two more of their companions were gone.
“We need to get out of here,” Asher said, already pulling Levi down the corridor. “Before the building decides we’re next.”
They ran through the morphing hallways, the architecture shifting around them in ways that defied physical laws.
Walls curved inward, formed acute angles, and sometimes disappeared entirely to reveal new passages.
The ceiling alternately rose to cathedral heights and descended to force them to crawl, and the floor itself seemed alive, rippling beneath their feet like muscle contracting.
They rounded a corner to find the corridor ahead twisting into a corkscrew of carpet and wainscoting that rotated before their eyes.
“This isn’t possible,” Levi gasped, watching the geometry unfold.
A doorway appeared in the wall beside them. With no other option, they ducked through it, finding themselves in what appeared to be a small conference room. The door sealed behind them with a definitive click, the wood grain flowing like liquid before solidifying again.
The room remained stable, unaffected by the architectural chaos outside. A long table surrounded by chairs occupied the center, while a whiteboard covered one wall. It looked ordinary, as if they’d stepped out of a nightmare into a mundane corporate setting.
“Is it over?” Levi gasped, leaning against the table to catch his breath.
“For now,” Asher replied, testing the wall where the door had been with a few knocks. “It seems like the building has decided to contain us rather than crush us. For the moment.”
The calm in his voice was unsettling. Four of their companions were gone—Owen and Zoe erased from existence, Maddie and Tyler consumed by the building itself. Yet Asher seemed almost pleased by the development, as if the deaths were convenient rather than tragic.
“We’re trapped,” Levi noted, searching for another exit and finding none. “No windows, no other doors.”
“Not trapped,” Asher corrected, moving toward him with that predatory grace that always signaled danger. “Private.”
The word sent a chill down Levi’s spine.
“Now we have time,” Asher continued. “Just the two of us. No interruptions.”