D.E.E.P.

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line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> Located in a fissure is an underground research station that snakes its way down ten kilometers into the earth. At the very bottom is a four story structure connected by a ceiled tube to the primary structure. This is the D.E.E.P. or deep earth excavation platform. Fun fact, there are basically 2700 floors between DEEP and the surface. This is a research facility so it is primarily populated by researchers and support staff. There are also the men manning the excavator. There only a small number of security officers whose job really only involves making sure no one goes crazy from being underground for so long. They don’t have guns or knives; only pepper spray, a police baton and a taser.

What just happened: ten minutes ago, all power went out and only the emergency lights are active. Following proper procedure, everyone on the second floor of DEEP gathered in the conference room. And that is where it all starts.

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The conference room had four emergency lights mounted on the walls that lit up the room pretty well. A large oval metal table is located in the center with chairs all around it. Several people had already gathered and were expected the power to come back any minute. It was strange though. Only half of the staff had gathered, that was talking them so long to get there? A few seconds later, a woman wearing a lab coat came into view down the hall running towards the conference room. Lilian fell into the room, her long brown hair a mess. Breathing heavily she gasps the word, “Run!”</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac>
 
"Seismic activity monitor" Was Cliff Gordon's Job title. He always found it strange that his job title and machine he worked with had the same name. For six to eight hours a day he would stare at a seismograph and watch the needle, occasionally entering data into his laptop, but most of the time being bored out of his mind. As it was, the D.E.E.P research facility was miles and miles away from any preexisting fault lines, so to say the least Cliff's job was slow and monotonous. He worked on the second floor of the huge underground complex and had no direct coworkers. Sometimes he would feel as if he was the only one alive in the depths of the earth, he relished human contact…what little of it there was.

Cliff stood up, his lab coat, which was untied, fell loosely around his knees and waist. Today he wore a pair of khaki pants and a white tee, more or less casual wear. His sandy blond hair was a mess, as usual, but as there was no one around to see it so he really didn't care. He walked lazily across the room with an empty coffee cup in hand. Business as usual.

...or so he thought...


Without warning, Cliff saw the needle on the seismograph jump across the white paper. He didn't feel the ground shake or anything which meant that it could only be something moving deep underground. What the hell? He thought, for the moment completely forgetting about the coffee cup in his hand. Then the lights flickered twice and went completely off. Darkness surrounded Cliff. He ran in a mad panic for his flashlight. After knocking over a chair and several stacks of papers, he found it, but when he switched it on it was dead.

"Damn!!"

He cursed as he felt his way towards the door. The conference room was just around the corner, with any luck there would be people there. Maybe it was just a small power outage or something. Cliff tried to rationalize the situation. He tried his hardest to keep his mind off the fact that the power to the entire faculty had just been shut off. A slow, sinking feeling started to erupt in the pit of his stomach as he made his way to the conference room. He rounded the corner, feeling his way down the hallway when he heard the words.

"Run."

But before he could tell where they were coming from he tripped in the darkness over someone who was on the ground, hitting the floor with a solid ~Smack~