'Alice…? But why is she here? Didn't she join the main force later, via the Eternal Corps? Did I accidentally change something—No, but I just returned; even if I did, it's too soon for it to show any actual effects. What's going on?'
"Pace? You good?" A strong voice jolted Pace out of his mental musings. Remembering to breathe, Pace quickly shifted, wiping the tear from his left eye before looking back at Jayden.
"Y—Yeah, sorry. Just remembered something."
"Like what? Already missing the food back at the orphanage?" Jayden flashed his usual warm smile—almost too warm, to the point where it looked creepy.
"Ugh—don't remind me about that. It was more like feed for pigs." Pace replied with a disgusted expression.
"As if we weren't hogs." Jayden chuckled softly, leaning back into his chair.
Pace smiled back but couldn't completely hide the signs of worry from showing up on his face.
The officer continued his rant for another half hour or so… By the time Pace was guided to his quarters, he was already quite exhausted. To the point where he fell face-first onto his bed.
'I sure didn't miss this feeling of breathlessness. Ugh—to think humanity is capable of militarizing an almost magical virus but can't get rid of the symptoms.'
***
"Shit! When did I fall asleep?" Pace groaned, climbing off the white sheets of his bed.
'What time is it?' He thought, gripped by panic as he searched for the clock in the wardrobe-sized room that was allotted to each kid.
[7:56 PM]
"Fuck! It's almost time for the sink! Did I really sleep through an entire day? But my body shouldn't even be exhausted." Pace screamed as he paced around the cramped space in a panic, searching for clothes to wear.
The next few moments passed by in a frenzy as he quickly dressed himself in the crimson uniform of the Red Cross Army, complete with a red coat draped over a white shirt and navy blue pants.
Just as he was finished, and at the door, he slid his hand through his hair, adjusting it.
'Wait! Where's my hat?'
Panic gripped Pace as he was about to embark on his treasure hunt, but remembered just in time that hats were handed exclusively to officers.
'Old habits sure die hard.' Pace sighed before finally exiting his room at [8:11], merely four minutes before the sink.
Rushing through the maze-like hallways of the east wing outpost, he finally reached the main hall. It was almost completely empty, save for the two female officers sitting next to a single lonely metal desk.
Briskly walking to their side, he extended his hand out expectantly and stared at the black-haired, narrow-eyed officer.
She stared back with disdain before quickly grabbing a blue-colored token and gently placing it in his hand.
"Being late is not a good look for a soon-to-be officer, Cadet 571." The black-haired woman said in a bland tone. "What would we do if you entered into your nightmare before you reached the quarantine chamber?" She continued, watching Pace rush off toward the next room.
'You would pick my body up and put me in the chamber anyway. It's not like you don't have cameras teeming in every corner of this place.'
Standing in front of the mechanical door, the camera above scanned Pace's face before sliding open automatically. The room itself was narrow and long, filled to the brim with tiny capsule-like chambers, lined next to the grey concrete walls on both sides. The chambers were smaller than his quarters, all numbered from zero to six hundred.
Pace could feel his vision swaying as his breathing became more and more labored. Flipping his token, he quickly checked the code and found the chamber that had the same alphanumeric sequence as his token and walked toward it.
Standing in front of the door, he looked to his left and right, only to spot a well-built young man dressed in the Red Cross Army's uniform, but wearing a black hat instead of the usual red. He seemed to be nearing his twenties and held a tiny leather-backed book in his hands—a rather rare commodity during these times.
'A black hat? Wait, that man is a general? But why is a general witnessing the sink of a few random recruits?' Pace thought, but saluted with a smile nonetheless.
'Seriously, what the hell is going on in this loop? First Alice and now this? And to top it all off, it's my last chance. I can't deal with these unexpected issues so early. I couldn't even read about the Fool's Gate. Guess I'm going in blind. Just great!' Pace scowled in thought as he entered the chamber.
The inside of the chamber was nothing but white walls and a single narrow bed-like chair—the kind used by dentists. The only other noticeable thing was the camera in the top left-hand corner, zooming in on Pace's face.
He stared at the camera for a mere second, watching it adjust, before turning to close the door behind him and lying down on the bed.
Closing his eyes, darkness surrounded him. His lungs had already started to burn quite a while ago. Every single movement felt like a war of its own, as if he were caught in a large tide inside the ocean.
He could hear the sound of waves around him as every other sound grew more and more muffled.
A few minutes later, he felt himself sinking through water.
Opening his eyes, he saw the backside of the chair, the white room, the camera—all of them growing distant as he quietly sank through an illusory darkness.
Before long, the room looked more like a white dot.
A dot that was growing smaller…
Smaller…
So small—
Pace snapped back to reality. The clanking of chains filled his ears, quickly followed by the sound of a horse's footsteps.
Pace didn't even need to open his eyes after experiencing the disorientation so many times.
He could tell from just the sound—the nightmare had begun.
[Nightmare Path: The Undead Convicts]