The power cut threw the entire core room into darkness. Only emergency lights flickered faintly along the floor, painting the space in pulsing red.
Karen's hand was still on the switch.
She didn't move.
She didn't breathe.
Alex gently pulled her hand away. "It's done."
Luca exhaled. "System's dead. No backups, no recovery you buried them."
Karen stepped back, her heartbeat thundering in her chest. "Then why… do I still feel watched?"
That was when the soft click echoed behind them.
They turned.
The woman was gone.
The steel door they came through sealed shut.
A panel beside it blinked. A new message appeared on its display screen:
EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN: INITIATED
CONTAINMENT IN PROGRESS.
NO EXIT AUTHORIZED.
Luca rushed to the keypad. "No… no no no, she triggered a backup protocol. We're locked in."
Karen's voice cracked. "She let us shut it down… and sealed us inside?"
Alex's jaw clenched. "She knew, she planned for this."
Karen moved toward a second panel along the side wall, frantically scanning it. The screen glitched then displayed a map of Avalon.
Red zones lit up every exit.
Blocked. Electrified. Sealed.
Luca banged his fist on the server casing. "Avalon doesn't just die. It traps what it created like a tomb."
Karen's breathing grew shallow. "Then we burn our way out."
Alex nodded. "We find fuel, wires—anything. We make a path. There has to be one backup route. One hidden corridor. This place was built on secrets."
Suddenly...a noise overhead.
Karen froze.
It wasn't mechanical.
It was footsteps.
Slow, heavy, dragging something.
They all looked up at once.
Karen whispered, "Someone else is in here."
Then the ceiling vent slid open with a quiet screech.
And a voice echoed down through it:
"I told you. You never really leave Avalon."
A rope ladder dropped from the dark.
Karen stared up into the black.
Then looked at Alex and Luca.
"Time to see where the rabbit hole really ends."
And she began to climb.