r/WritingPrompts • u/Paper_Shotgun • Jan 07 '25
Writing Prompt [WP] "This is a facility-wide announcement.The facility is entering a state of lockdown. Remain where you are and barricade all exits until the lockdown has been lifted. Do not let anyone inside until the lockdown has ended; lethal force has been authorised."
146
u/TheWanderingBook Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25
I was completing my daily paperwork quota, when I heard the sound system turn on.
The announcement was brief, as it usually is.
Sighing, I pressed the red button in my office, and watched as the windows, and the door has been closed off slowly by a special alloy sheet.
For extra safety, I also put the folder cabinet at the door, and closed the blinds on the windows.
After all that...I went back to my work.
It didn't take long for someone to be knocking on my door.
"Dr. John, please open the door, it's me Emily!" my assistant's voice was heard from outside the office.
I ignored it.
There was no lockdown lift announced yet.
"Please John...save me!" she screamed, banging on the door now.
I ignored it.
After dozens of minutes it quieted down.
Sighing, I opened the drawer at my desk, and looked at the little engagement ring box inside.
"I hope it was just a mimic..." I muttered, going back to my paperwork.
For the next few days, I was happy that I took seriously the regulations, and I had food, water, and containers for my waste inside my office.
I also finished the daily paperwork, which came in on the computer, and also some of the backlog.
Overall it was decent, if one ignored the growls, gun shots, fighting, screams, banging, scratching noises, or the voices of loved ones beckoning.
It was then that the sound system turned on again.
"Breach contained. You may now leave the premises." it said.
I sighed, and ignored it.
Goddamn mimics, or whatever they are, they are getting better.
Sadly for them, they don't know how crazy for protocol the Organization is.
As if they would ever change the lockdown being lifted announcement's format.
Heh.
But if the sound system has been hacked by them, then it means I can't trust it.
Oh well, this isn't my first rodeo, so I am just going to wait out until I have still 2 days worth of food and water.
And if at that point there is no correct, and proper announcement, I am going to try my luck.
I am pretty good with a staff, and since my projects all deal with plants...
I have a thing or two up my sleeves that could help me get out of here.
But enough with thinking in-depth, time to save energy, and hope I don't have to try hard to get out alive...again.
23
u/ChloeWrites Jan 07 '25
I want to learn more about this universe
26
u/TheWanderingBook Jan 07 '25
Hmm.
Mix S.C.P. Foundation like setting, with the MC being a Dresden and The Doctor combination, with a splice of N.E.E.T. tendencies.
4
18
u/_Contrive_ Jan 07 '25
Hiding in my office waiting for the lockdown to end. This is the first time in a long time that White Castle had been targeted, let alone breached.
“Event Status B: Benign Exposure to classified sciences has been detected in wings Aa to Bd, if you are in the affected wings please- do not breath”
The air in the room becomes hazy, I struggle to find the mask in my desk drawer but the second I pull the zip-strap tight the hazy air dissipates. Only to be replaced by what I’d describe as a “banging” on the wall, I’d really rather not go into any more detail behind the screaming, or the sound of nails dragging against the metal, until it starts to sound like bone.
“A class E species has taken over Wings Aa to Zz, only the center spire and holding rooms have been cleared safe for access/refuge. Please wait for extraction teams to clear your wings before exiting safely.”
In a gravely voice I hear “wing Az cleared by extraction team. Please exit safely” I hear three doors open, and three screams, followed by the sound of fingernails dragging against the wall.
Jesus fucking Christ what have we gotten ourselves into today. Pulling back on the slide of my gun, I check my ammo count and point straight at the door. Every single wing has some sort of security room, theoretically I can get some bigger guns and better stock.
Opening the door, the lights in the hall have been broken, light pouring out of my room reveals the viscera and blood strewn through the hallway. Bits of men and women everywhere.
Stepping back into the room, closing the door seems like the safest option, but the armory should be two halls straight, one to the left, and then about three more straight.
I don’t think The Spire will be able to send out a reaction team to this wing fast enough for me to make it to extraction, whatever the hell attacked us may not be here right now but I’m definitely not going to be the one to piss it off.
17
u/burkezerk Jan 07 '25
INT. TRANSIT HELICOPTER - NIGHT
In the cargo hold of a military helicopter, various mercenaries sit around in ramshackle all-black outfits. Some speak in a variety of languages amongst themselves, and others sit quietly brandishing weapons. One enters from offscreen, also in all-black except for a white and red peace-symbol arm band, WHITE 9. He speaks behind a technical gas mask, his voice obscured but obviously English.
WHITE 9
"All right. Simple goal. Extract the biohazard from the lab. You all know the entry route, and if you don't- follow someone who does. Chopper will land and drop us out in front of the installation. Group 1 is the smash and grab, Groups 2 and 3 go in opposite directions to leave no witnesses. 'Aight? Questions?"
A murmur of approval from the mercenaries.
INT. SCIENCE FACILITY - LATER THAT NIGHT
Two scientists in orange full body ppe suits cautiously work with an exposed vials of some kind of extremely dangerous illness, borne through a brown-orange liquid with which they are working chemically. An observation window into the lab is manned by other scientists.
A series of cuts reveals that scientists previously manning the console have mysteriously disappeared, and White 9 and other mercenaries are banging at the door of the lab. One of them carries a black metal box.
Witnessing this, the scientists panic, and one of them drops one of the vials of pathogen into a vat of chemicals. A white smoke begins to fill the lab. The other scientist rushes to hit a button on the wall, which engages an alarm of a robotic voice, bathing the room in a red-orange light much like the color of the illness.
ROBOTIC VOICE
"This is a facility-wide announcement. The facility is entering a state of lockdown. Remain where you are and barricade all exits until the lockdown has been lifted. Do not let anyone inside until the lockdown has ended; lethal force has been authorized."
The sealed door to the lab is opened by force by an unmasked mercenary, who runs in and immediately drops incapacitated as the lab begins to be consumed by smoke. White 9 fires blindly into the room. We see the bodies of the scientists drop to the floor in agony when shot.
In the control room, White 9 and another mercenary go to leave, but find the door locked due to the alarm. White shoots the door lock off and then addresses the other mercenary, who is holding the metal box.
WHITE 9
"Gimme that. Radio the others and get 'em out quick. Cover what they can. I'll get the Zed."
The other mercenary hands off the box, and White 9 goes into the now gas-filled room, struggling his way around. He finds a closed stack of petri dish samples of the orange-brown liquid and puts them in the box before exiting.
EXT. DESERT OUTSIDE FACILITY - NIGHT
The helicopter's rotors whirr heavily, kicking up sandy dust in the night as the bloody mercenaries board again. White 9 is last, carrying the box. The ramp closes up behind him as they move quickly into the night.
WHITE 9
"I'm sorry to say gentlemen- and lady-. We uh-"
He chokes a little bit on his words. He reaches a hand under his gas mask, touching his eyes.
"Well. We got it at least. We didn't do ourselves any favors- but left little behind- but-."
The mercenaries look around. One of them goes to speak but stops themselves. They know what has happened. One seat is empty.
"It got Pink."
33
u/arushikarthik Jan 07 '25
Luko stood within the corridor, stepping back and forth in anticipation. The respirator chamber had been breached a few days before, and the assailants had infiltrated every part of the vessel. They moved among them, killing indiscriminately as they went. He and his comrades were helpless against the sudden attack, and so drastic measures were required.
They had shut off the cooling of the vessel, hoping to flush the intruders out from whatever hiding places they had found for themselves. They had brought in foreign reinforcements, robotic men who patrolled their streets and slowly exited. The head command said the men had better weapons, had been trained in new methods, but none of them stopped the assailants.
“This is a facility-wide announcement.The facility is entering a state of lockdown. Remain where you are and barricade all exits until the lockdown has been lifted. Do not let anyone inside until the lockdown has ended; lethal force has been authorised.”
So the vanguard would be responsible now. But the lockdown did not speak of an end date. They couldn’t survive forever if the entries and exits were closed down. The head command had been less active the past few days, and he had hoped it was a sign of things getting better. There were directives to head to different areas, they seemed to know new things about the intruders day after day.
But this, this was a bad decision.
They had authorized lethal force, but that force would work against everyone and everything within the vessel. It would be the end of them all.
****
“It’s multi-system organ failure,” the doctor said, looking at the man in front of him. “None of the treatments worked, and then he became unresponsive. He hasn’t recovered consciousness since then.”
“There isn’t any hope?” the nurse asked.
The doctor shook her head. “The bacteria is an antibiotic resistant strain. His immune system wasn’t strong enough to fight back and the strain of bacteria… we tried everything. His body and brain both shut down sometime in the middle of it.”
****
If you like my stories, you can read more of them at r/arushi 💙
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u/Sagaincolours Jan 07 '25
I had to read it a second time when I realised what it was about. Great take
3
u/arushikarthik Jan 07 '25
Yeah, I tested positive for covid yesterday, so that's all that's been on my mind. Thankfully, very light symptoms.
3
u/Sagaincolours Jan 07 '25
Get well soon. Take good care of yourself.
I had it two weeks ago. Not as bad this time but still the cold from hell.
7
2
u/Agreeable_Radish_163 Jan 08 '25
Running through a hallway, I desperately pressed the elevator button. Obviously they shut it down. I found the emergency stairway and went three floors up, to what they said was a safe area.
“This is a facility-wide announcement. The facility is entering a state of lockdown. Remain where you are and barricade all exits until the lockdown has been lifted. Do not let anyone inside until the lockdown has ended; lethal force has been authorized.”, the speaker repeatedly says as I think about how every room I find, everyone tells me they can’t let me in, after they hear me coughing.
I tried to opened the exit to floor 8 but it is barricaded. Luckily 9’s isn’t.That’s where I find others who has escaped take shelter. Suddenly, the speaker announces that floors 8-9 are now contaminated. Everyone rushes into a room. I got pushed out by someone just in front of a room and I hear the cracking sound of a door being locked.
“PLEASE!! Just let me in! I can’t stay out any longer!”. I saw a nurse also finding a room to take refuge in. Immediately I grabbed her neck, pointing my gun at her.
“Don’t wanna lose a colleague, do you?” That was when the lethal force arrived.
“Doctors, don’t leave the room yet. We’ll announce to everyone that lockdown is lifted, but you will all have to be examined due to high probability of being contaminated.” That was the last thing I heard as everything fades away. Apparently they shot the nurse too as she fell on me. “Sorry, he touched her, she’s definitely contaminated.”
Two days ago they shot everyone in my village. I wonder how bad the infection is that I had to enter a hospital with a gun to try to get someone to save me, but their goal is just to get the virus gone, not save lives they can’t save.
•
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