He lit the first of the flares and tossed it into the darkness, where it rolled to a stop between walls of shifting black. The white flicker of light licked at the shadows who betrayed nothing of the boundaries hidden within its depths. The darkness felt like a living thing, watching, waiting for the opportune moment to attack.

After striking a second flare to life, Seth stood over the first flare while preparing to retreat to the security booth should the shadows prove to be more than his paranoia playing tricks on him. He strained his ears, desperate to hear nothing, while preparing for the slightest sound. Nothing.

It was now or never. Standing there baiting a foe that he was sure he could sense was unwise. What would baiting it do? Prove that he was right in thinking something was lurking in the darkness. Little comfort that would be when it ravaged his body.

He focused his gaze on the red door bathed in light. He pushed the presence of the encroaching dark from his mind and stepped forward, flare out and above him as a symbol of his resolve, then took another tentative step, followed by another quicker step, until he was running toward his destination.

Each step sent shocks of panic up his legs and jolted his spirit as the door drew no closer. He’d been through this farce before. Seth feet pounded against pavement, the only other sound was the hallow inhale and exhale of his breath. He stopped, catching his breath and swallowing his frustration.

Think this through.

Seth looked back to his first flare, whose dying flicker was succumbing to the dark haze that lingered around it. Learning that he was creating distance between himself and his starting point offered little in terms of confidence. In a few desperate moments, he’d have nothing but the flare in his hand, and the three unlit ones that remained in the case in his other hand.

The security station was hidden behind the thick haze that dampened the light, confirming Seth’s suspicions that the darkness was more than shadows.

So far, the demons he had faced had shied away from the light. This demon, the living darkness, reacted like an animal, dashing away from the unknown element, then returning to inspect the strange new object introduced to its environment.

If I can’t move toward my destination…

Seth took a step backward, then another, watching as a flick of a dark wisp turned solid and rolled the dying flare toward him. Keep moving backwards.

The shadow jerked its mass upward, like a wild animal catching the scent of its prey.

He’d seen this before during the finals. Another step backwards.

It lunged toward him, the darkness swirling around it like a soft linen being pulled from the surface.

Seth’s hand searched behind him for the comfort of cold steel. Another hurried step back, followed by another. He fought the urge to turn and run, knowing that he’d never reach the exit. Finally his hands found the aged metal surface.

He gripped the door handle and pushed against the resisting frame until he had enough room to squeeze through. Once on the other side, Seth slammed his shoulder into the door, forcing it shut just as the demon collided with the exit. The force of the impact shook Seth’s body.

There was no roar to exhibit frustration. No growling to announce its threat. The only sound of its existents was the scratching of claws against concrete and steel and the occasional dull thud when it beat against the door.

Then nothing.

He dared not breathe as he strained to hear the assailant beyond the door. The silence that greeted him held no comfort.

He shut his eyes, leaning his head against the rusted metal and slid to the bottom. He was in over his head. Who was he kidding, there was no way he’d survive the killing fields. What good was forcing Astral to train him if he wasn’t willing to listen. What did some kid know about the war? Even if she survived a demon raid, that didn’t make her special. It made her lucky. That’s the lie he told himself to justify reactivating the training program.

‘Are you going to just sit there and feel sorry for yourself? Or are you going to do something useful?’ His version of Astral chided him. He blinked away tears just as the last light of his flare flickered out. He lit his third. Two left and a flashlight he wasn’t sure would do any good.

The flare cast it’s light over human remains. In his surprise, the squad captain dropped the flare. The dead sat against the walls in a display that was reminiscent of a doll collection. With a shortage of shelving space, smaller corpses, generally those of young teenage girls sat on the laps of larger men. At a cursory glance, there wasn’t anyone below the age of fourteen, or older than fifty, but Seth always had a hard time distinguishing age.

He plucked the flare from the ground, taking in the near life-like stillness of the dead and the unnatural pristine condition of the uniforms. Security guards, teachers in long black robes, students in the varying styles of school uniforms. All of the students had the Academy’s badge over the left breast. He held his breath. The machine had lured each of these people to their deaths.

He reached out to touch one of the bodies, as though to confirm that what he was seeing was real. He hesitated inches from touching a young woman’s hand. Everything he interacted with so far felt real. He was sure that the bodies, projection or not, would convince his sense that they too were real.

Worse, what if it was a ruse. What if at his touch, these dead sprang to life.

He stood to take in the rest of the room. It was crowded, leaving a narrow path to the back where more bodies were displayed. At a guess, he’d say that there was a couple hundred trophy kills with him. If they came to life, he’d be overwhelmed.

What if he was meant to be one of the trophies?

Was he a step in a long chain of people who tried to unleash the program? He realized that he was a part of a patient plan to groom new candidates to achieve the next step in a greater plan, and he was on the verge of succeeding. But was he the last step? Was it possible that Astral was the last step? Was he allowed to remain active so he could lead a Hunter into the belly of the beast? Or was there something more involved in keeping the machine at bay than a separate system and a few firewalls? If it were that simple, connecting the machine to the Academy’s system would have been done years ago. Maybe it was… Maybe whatever was blocking the program was what Astral was here to deal with. Another piece of the puzzle…

One quiet step at a time, he ventured deeper into the room, searching for his next exit. A flash of auburn hair and a narrow face among the dolls caught his eye. William?

He wore the orange and whites of squad IV’s training uniform, which would have been worn on game day to represent solidarity. The game ended hours ago and he would have been permitted to return to his school uniform afterwards. When did the boy find his way down to the program chamber?

Seth shook the boy. He couldn’t be dead, not like the others. It might not be too late.

William groaned and fell over into the lap of a young woman next to him. Seth stepped back, watching the sleeping dead for any sign of movement, and searching for a way out.

“UGH!” William’s hand shot out to stroke the back of his head. “She hit me!”

He’d have had to have come here with Astral, which meant that she was working her way through the program. It was unlikely that she would have encouraged the nuisance to join her. It was possible that she struck him and left him in the elevator for his safety. But she, of all people, would have been aware that once the elevator was in the program chamber, it’s boundaries were no longer safe. No, it was most likely that William was blaming her because she was a convenient excuse.

“Where’s Astral?” Seth whispered.

“What?” The loudness of William’s voice was grating. Seth glanced to the dead, taking a quick look around to make sure nothing had changed.

“Keep quiet!” Seth urged in a harsh whisper. “Is Astral down here with you?”

William squinted at the squad captain as though trying to decipher a complicated math problem. “Yeah, she was sneaking around. I caught her red handed too. I’m totally going to report her.” The boy climbed to his feet. Seth had half a mind to knock him out and leave him with the bodies. “Where are we?”

Didn’t he see the bodies? Or was it a case that he didn’t care? Either way, the squad captain was beginning to understand why Astral kept the boy at a distance while keeping a close eye on him. Something wasn’t quite right with the kid.

Seth shrugged and decided that William had followed Astral into the program out of blind jealousy. He was probably willing to risk curfew just for the chance to get her investigated. “We need to get out of here,” the captain said.