Buster's Journey

The core room yawns open in blue stutter-light. Steam rolls across the floor, and the override console waits dead ahead, its screen counting down through the alarms.

The Hunter Captain lunges for the external control panel, one hand outstretched to seal the blast doors before Buster can reach the console.

Buster surges forward through the heat and grabs the console first, planting himself between the Captain and the panel as the floor tremors deepen.

The screen flickers for Buster’s access. One input can open the route out, and the other can lock the chamber on top of the Hunter Captain.

Behind him, the blast doors groan. Ahead, the code blinks on the console, waiting for his choice.

Buster keys in the override code. The console accepts the first digits, then spits a harsh error tone as the blue screen fractures into warning bars.

Steam blasts up around his forearm. The chamber answers with a deeper rumble, and the countdown jumps to a harsher cadence.

The display flashes a new prompt, one that demands a physical core key from the side hatch. The blast doors grind another inch inward.

Buster’s failed entry leaves the console live but unusable, its keys now pulsing behind a warning veil. The chamber trembles harder, and the Captain keeps one hand braced on the seal panel, ready to strike for the hatch.

Buster plants both hands on the hatch seam and heaves. Metal shrieks, then gives way with a wet hiss of steam.

The side hatch pops open hard enough to slam back against the wall, and a hot draft pours out from the passage beyond.

Buster yanks the hatch wider, revealing a narrow escape tube lit by strobing red emergency strips.

Behind them, the blast doors grind lower, shaving the air down to a cracking funnel of steam and alarms.

The Captain shifts toward the console, one hand already reaching for the failing seal controls, while the open hatch waits at Buster's side.

Buster lunges for the escape tube, but the lip catches his weight and the slick metal spits him sideways. Steam blasts across his chest and shoulder as his boots scrape for purchase.

The opening is still there, but now it is too high, too narrow, and the chamber floor seems to tilt under the strobing red light.

She reaches past the console instead of waiting, fingers slapping for the seal controls while the warning klaxons hammer louder.

Buster catches himself on the frame, but the slick rim slips under his grip, forcing him back half a step.

Behind him, the blast doors grind another notch lower, turning the chamber into a hot red funnel with the console and the hatch at opposite ends.

Buster plants both hands on the hatch rim and hauls. The metal groans, then gives, flaring the opening wider with a shriek that cuts through the steam.

The escape tube is now broad enough to take him, and the blast of heat spills lower across the chamber floor.

She jerks one hand off the console and shoves the hatch controls instead of the doors, buying the opening a fragile little margin.

Red light strobes across the wet plating as the chamber shudders again, but the widened route holds.

Behind them, the blast doors keep grinding down, and the console flashes a fresh lockout warning.

Buster drops into the escape tube on his forearms, shoulders scraping wet metal as steam washes over his back. The hatch frame vanishes behind him, swallowed by red glare and the grinding blast doors.

He slides hard down the slanted passage, boots skimming sparks from a torn brace. The chamber noise muffles fast, replaced by a lower rumble deeper in the facility.

Her voice fades above him as the hatch mouth shrinks to a bright, steaming rectangle. The console alarm cuts off into a flat mechanical buzz.

Buster’s slide ends in a low service landing beyond the chamber. He hits the floor in a crouch, free of the purge room and clear of the closing blast doors.

Ahead, the passage bends toward darkness, while behind him the seal slams shut with a final metallic crash.