Free Activate The Ravagers Ep1v2 by Alex Albrinck Page B

what you seek.
    Huh? He reached into the drawer and pushed on a corner. To his surprise, the bottom moved. He maneuvered the bottom from the drawer, revealing a small foam container holding…
    “It looks like a security badge,” he said, frowning.
    Take the badge and move to the end of the hallway, Wesley. Ensure the door is closed behind you.
    Shaking his head, Wesley grabbed the badge and moved to the end of the hallway.
    “It’s a dead end.”
    Wave the badge in the precise center of the wall seven feet above the ground.
    Feeling more foolish than he’d ever felt in any of his limited memories, Wesley waved the badge, wondering if the Voice had him on camera now and was laughing.
    To his shock, he heard the click of a releasing lock. “It—”
    The badge reader is centered above a door with no visible seam. Push on the right edge of the door to open it.
    Well, every other foolish command had worked. He estimated where the “right edge” of the invisible door ought to be and pushed. He heard a faint whirring noise, and a seam appeared in the wall. The door slid away from him and then slid to his left, revealing an opening leading… somewhere. He scrambled through the doorway. Ten seconds later, the door slid back into position.
    Wesley glanced around. He stood on the slatted metal intermediate landing of a long staircase. The metal steps rose before him, seemingly without end, likely terminating at ground level. A secret escape out of the Bunker. He wondered if the General ever made use of this exit.
    To his right…
    Take the steps to your right down to the bottom. The badge in your hand will open the door there. That is your final destination.
    He shivered at the word final, wondering just how final it might be.
    He started down the steps at a brisk pace before realizing each footfall generated notable vibrations and excessive noise in the space. He slowed down, using the handrails to lighten his footsteps until he reached the bottom. A massive metal wall greeted him, with another door and badge reader in the center.
    He walked to the door and found the badge had fallen from his pocket.
    He growled and looked around, spotting the badge thirty feet away on the smooth concrete. He glanced at the metal stairwell as he passed, grabbed the side, and shook. It gave away easily. He wondered why Jamison didn’t get anyone to tighten a few bolts. It seemed like a safety hazard, and the excessive noise might be heard in the nearby offices.
    He snorted, realizing that was likely the precise reason the General left things as they were.
    He picked up the badge and jogged across the concrete floor to the door, swiped the badge, and entered after the lock disengaged. The space inside was nearly dark, with just a faint bit of track lighting on the nearest wall. He spotted a light switch on the wall and flipped it on, blinking as the lights burst to life.
    Are you in the room, Wesley?
    “Yes,” he replied as his eyes adjusted.
    The room was roughly a fifty-foot cube, the interior dominated by a large round holding tank. The upper portion, rising nearly twenty feet off the ground, was made of a clear material that provided a view to whatever might be inside. A quick glance told him that the burnished metal wall of the lower portion, like the clear upper dome, was nearly a foot thick.
    Whatever might be inside that tank had to be dangerous. He moved closer and saw large piles of a thick black ooze, a substance that looked like mold. Was Jamison running a science experiment in a secret underground lair with a tank that could withstand all manner of assault?
    “What are they doing with that tank? They could detonate small bombs in there without making a dent in the walls.”
    One must detonate the correct type of bomb to make a dent in those walls, Wesley.
    “But—”
    And then he knew. The bomb that he’d received in the mail. That was the “correct” type of bomb to make a dent in the walls of the tank.
    Move to the far