Chapter 7 - The Submerged Corridor
The service tunnel was a nightmare of twisted cabling, freezing water, and claustrophobic darkness.
We waded waist-deep through the rising brine, our flashlights cutting erratic paths through swirling debris and floating oil slicks. Every step felt like fighting against an invisible current as the Resolute continued its slow, agonizing roll into the depths.
"Keep pushing!" Sarah urged from the front, her boots splashing frantically against the corrugated steel floor. "The forward bulkhead is just past the secondary junction!"
Suddenly, a dull, rhythmic thud echoed through the metal wall beside us—not from the ship's machinery, but from human fists beating against the other side of a sealed compartment door.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my hand slamming against the damp bulkhead. "Did you hear that?"
Miller paused, holding his light steady. "Sounded like... someone hitting steel."
Bang. Bang. Bang.
A faint, muffled voice cried out from behind the reinforced partition—a sound so filled with terror and desperation that it cut straight through the roar of the flooding ship.
"Help us! Please, someone open the hatch!"
My heart hammered against my ribs. Project Chimera wasn't just about illegal chemical cylinders or hidden arms shipments. The warning scrawled on the metal container flashed in my mind: THEY ARE STILL HERE.
"They locked the test subjects down here," I whispered, horror washing over me. "Kane didn't just abandon the ship—he left human lives trapped behind the classified bulkheads to drown."
"Mercer, we don't have time!" Sarah shouted, grabbing my arm. "If we stop to cut this hatch, the entire tunnel will flood before we can override the electronic locking mechanism!"
"I am not leaving them to drown," I snapped, wrenching my arm free and pulling my multi-tool from my belt. I jammed the data-probe directly into the emergency manual override port beside the sealed door. "Miller, help me cross-wire this grid before the electrical system shorts out completely!"
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Miller cursed under his breath but immediately dove into the water beside me, yipping exposed wires together as sparks showered over our shoulders into the freezing brine.
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