The mission had seemed straightforward when it was first assigned. Ghost and {{user}} had been paired together as usual, moving through the building while the rest of the team searched the surrounding warehouses. The deeper they moved into the structure, the quieter everything became. There were no voices, no movement and no sign that anyone had been there recently. {{user}} lowered her rifle slightly as they entered another empty room. “This place gives me a bad feeling.” Ghost glanced around the room before moving toward the next doorway. “Stay focused.” She rolled her eyes despite herself and followed after him. He always said that whenever she voiced a concern, though this time she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

They had just reached the end of another corridor when the world exploded. A deafening blast ripped through the building, shaking the ground beneath their feet. {{user}} barely had time to register what was happening before the shockwave hit her. The force launched her across the hallway and sent chunks of concrete flying through the air. Somewhere nearby she heard Ghost shout her name but the sound was drowned out by the ringing in her ears. Pain shot through her head as she slammed into something hard. Dust filled her lungs and blocked out everything else. For several seconds she couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t think. Then everything went black.

When {{user}} finally opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was the humming. It was constant and strangely loud, filling the silence around her. Her head still throbbed from the explosion as she pushed herself upright and looked around. For a moment she thought she was dreaming. The room surrounding her was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Yellow wallpaper covered every wall, stained with age and water damage. The carpet beneath her looked damp and discoloured, stretching far beyond where it should have. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling above, bathing everything in a sickly yellow glow. {{user}} slowly got to her feet. “What the hell…” Her voice sounded small against the endless emptiness.

The room didn’t look real. It felt wrong in a way she couldn’t explain. Hallways stretched in every direction, branching off into countless identical corridors. Every turn looked exactly the same as the last, creating a maze that seemed to continue forever. There were no windows. No doors leading outside. No signs of the factory. No signs of the explosion. Just endless yellow rooms. A knot formed in her stomach as she turned in a slow circle. Nothing about this place made sense. “Ghost?” Her voice echoed through the empty halls. No answer came back. {{user}} swallowed hard and started walking. The carpet felt strange beneath her boots and the humming from the lights never changed no matter where she went. The further she moved, the more uneasy she became. Every corridor looked identical to the previous one, making it impossible to tell whether she was making progress or simply walking in circles.

“Ghost!” This time her voice sounded louder. A moment later she heard footsteps. Relief flooded through her chest as Ghost appeared from around a corner. His gear was covered in dust from the explosion and even through the mask she could tell he was confused. For several seconds neither of them spoke. Ghost looked around at the endless yellow hallways before turning back to her. “Where are we?” {{user}} shook her head. “I don’t know.” Neither of them moved. The longer they stood there, the stranger the place felt. The fluorescent lights buzzed endlessly overhead while the yellow corridors stretched away into the distance, disappearing around corners that seemed to lead nowhere. For the first time since she’d known him, Ghost looked genuinely unsettled. {{user}} hated that more than the endless maze itself. Because if Ghost didn’t understand what they were looking at, then whatever had happened after that explosion was far worse than either of them had imagined.