-Nova’s POV-

             *I guess an intense electro-magnetic field isn’t the only explanation. Then again, what else could it be? I’m pretty sure I don’t have a current multiplier rattling around somewhere in me…*

My internal pacing is suddenly interrupted a loud, metallic crunch and the thud of my head striking the rear window of the car I made the terrible mistake of agreeing to be in. In the seat next to me, Amber shoots me a glance, probably concerned for my physical and mental well-being. She’s been giving me a lot of odd looks lately, probably because she’s been catching me staring off into nothing, more than I usually do anyway.

Another divot in the road shakes the car, causing the whole thing to groan from the strain. I cling to Amber’s arm as I begin to worry about the integrity of the suspension.

“Whoa, that was a big one! You dorks good back there?” Mimi has to raise her voice a little to be heard over the flexing of her poor car’s chassis.

“Maybe you could go a bit slower?!” I caution, knowing full damn well that she won’t.

“Nope! I want us to be there by sunset sharp. It’ll help set the mood!”

She still has yet to tell us what we need the mood to be set for but given the fact that she pulled the entire group onto this abandoned, ancient-looking road deep in the valley, I can take some guesses.

“You’re taking us to some creepy, abandoned place to explore, aren’t you…”

“Ding, ding, ding!” She shouts excitedly, grabbing something from the passenger seat and tossing it back to us.

I unlatch from Amber and inspect it. It’s an EMF reader… great.

I’m not scared of much and don’t really believe in ghosts, but the thought of looking around in the dark for something paranormal still sends shivers up and down my spine.

Just as I’m about to protest again, a short-range radio crackles to life next to me. Rin’s voice comes through, and they sound pretty annoyed.

“I would ask you to tell Mimi to slow down, but I imagine you already tried to.”

I look through the rear-view window. In the car behind us, Rin is struggling to keep up with Mimi’s as they desperately attempt to avoid the many holes in the decaying road. Despite the constant maneuvering, riding with Rin has to be a more pleasant experience than riding with Mimi.

“I definitely did.”

“I can hear you!” Mimi calls to both me and Rin.

Grumbling, I sever the connection and switch back to the EMF reader. Flipping it on turns out to be a mistake, as the thing immediately goes absolutely nuts, rapidly switching between EMF level three, four, and five in no discernible order or pattern.

“Woah!” I hurry to switch it off before it can do anything else.

“The hell was that?”

“I uh, pressed it against a magnet to test it out.”

“Oh, cool.”

While Mimi seems convinced, Amber is looking down at me, clearly suspicious.

Leaning over to me, Amber keeps her voice to a whisper despite the noise around us “There’s something you haven’t told me yet, isn’t there? What did you discover this time?”

“I’ll talk to you about it later, I’m still not really even sure what I discovered.” I whisper back.

*I guess that proves my hypothesis. I generating a magnetic field…*

I already figured that was the case based on the discharge experiment, but to basically prove it with actual EM instruments is a strange feeling. Despite my mountain of questions, an uncontrollable smile comes across my face.

Simultaneously terrified of the rapid changes to my body and excited for what they could yield, I stare into the dimming sky. Right until Mimi hits another bump and I eat window, causing Amber to pull me back and yell at Mimi about her hitting every pothole in steel valley.

             Eventually, the ride on the highway of hell comes to an end and Amber and I slowly get out, straining to move past the joint damage and pain. Mimi, on the other hand hops out of the driver’s seat like nothing ever happened, completely ignoring the pained groans from both us and her abused car as she casually snatches the EMF from my hands.

“Alright! This is it!” Mimi points ahead.

A few dozen yards away from our parking spot, the silhouette of a massive factory sits in a small crook between the foot of two mountains. The structure is so large that it is a little difficult to gauge our distance as even from the parking lot, I have to crane my neck to see the top floor.

“We went though all of that just to see some stupid factory!? You shoulda just come here during the day with Nova. This is her interest, not mine.” Myla’s justified anger startles me as it echoes off of the walls of the factory. Behind us, Rin’s half of the party have already pulled up and unloaded themselves. They seem to be in a better state than us, but not by much.

“No offence Nova.” She quickly adds.

Before I can assure her I’m not bothered, Mimi saunters on ahead and begins starts a vocal presentation like we’re on a tour bus.

“This isn’t just any factory. Back when the incursion started, the military hastily converted this into a weapons and ammo factory. The conversion was so rapid and poorly managed that worker deaths became a serious issue, and the site was closed down as soon as the war ended.”

Pausing a moment, Mimi turns around and walks backwards while shining a flashlight below her face for effect. “Many say that some of the workers who died still remain near the machines that killed them, seeking revenge against those who could have prevented their deaths.”

Finished with her history lesson, Mimi spins back around and points the light ahead. Now that the factory is just barely illuminated, I can get a closer look. The structure itself doesn’t seem rushed at all. Ignoring the more obvious signs of wear and tear, the structure looks downright beautiful. Each level of the facility was two or three times the height of a regular story, separated and held up by thick diagonal concrete pillars. The walls are a mix of steel panels and what was probably once glass panes.

Sadly, the feeling of awe is quickly diminished once we get close enough to see inside. While the load-bearing superstructure looks good enough, the walls and floors are barely holding together. That’s to say nothing of whatever poor machines have been left here. Some are in mediocre shape, but most have been reduced to corroded pieces of scrap, or outright crushed by debris from above.

“I promise it’s safe, according to the forums around this place nothing has moved and inch in ages.” Mimi suddenly comments out of nowhere.

Confused at the unprompted statement, I glance over. Bee has her phone out and is showing it to Mimi, supposedly displaying some kind of text document.

I poke my head through the front door and look around “I don’t know if I trust a bunch of people on a forum,” I add my take “but all the important pillars and stuff look to be in good shape, so as long as we keep an eye on the ceiling above us, we should be… fine?”

It looks shoddy at best in there, but I really want to see the source of the rumors surrounding this place. If so many people really are talking about this one building (assuming Mimi isn’t just pulling this out of nowhere), than there might actually be something to it…

“There, Nova agrees. Onwards!”

Mimi points the EMF reader forward and continues with her saunter, slowly followed by the rest of us.

Between the massive size and startling lack of interior walls, calling the area we step into a room is inaccurate. Our lights barely make a dent in the darkness around us, the opposite end of the space being completely out of visible range. The only thing separating one area from another are some OSHA-compliant rails.

Taking my advice, Bee and Rin train their lights on the concrete ceiling above us. Not that it does much good. Even where it’s intact, the roof is so far above us that I can barely tell the state of it. Though that might be largely due to the sunglasses I still vehemently insist on wearing.

My phone buzzes in my pocket; it’s a text.

Amber: [Hey Nova, can you even see anything?]

Nova: [Kinda. At least the flashlights are bright enough to stop automatic glowing.]

             Slowly but surely, Mimi leads us deeper into the building. The place is somehow eerily quiet and echoey at the same time, making our footsteps the dominant sound. Any feelings of discomfort are quickly drowned out by my fascination for the machinery around us. I’ve never had the honor of seeing automated welding arms or production railways so up close before. To me, this place is a church of automation.

“See, told you guys this would be creepy.”

“As unsettling as this place is Mimi, I think it’s more cool than creepy. I mean, just look at-“ I’m cut off mid-sentence as I feel my entire body hum. Oddly, it’s a feeling I recognize. The same feeling I got from the time I touched both prongs of a charging cord while it was plugged in. The feeling of electricity being pushed through my nervous system.

At the same time, the EMF reader lets out a horrible dying scream before it’s power is cut, along with half of our flashlights. The other half flicker desperately.

*That was.*

“An EMP?” I spout out. I hear an angry grunt next to me as Bee nudges me in the arm, hard.

“Were you about to sign that? Sorry…”

“EMP? Won’t that fry our electronics!?” Amber begins to panic.

“Alright everyone,” Rin takes charge of us, pointing back the way we came “we’re leaving before another can hit us.”

Everyone gives a collective nod, except for Bee and I. The two of us glance at each other and continue pointing our lights deeper into the factory. We don’t move a step as everyone else begins to move.

Rin turns to us “What are you guys waiting for, come on!”

Nico walks up to us and tugs on Bee’s shirt “Yeah guys, we probably should go.”

“Sure but,” I scan the way forward “you’re curious too, right.”

“Nova, this place is really creepy and our flashlights are dying, what could possibly peak your curiosity?!” Amber lightly grabs my wrist.

Before I can respond, Nico answers for me “Where are the EMPs coming from, and why?”

“I don’t know, to keep out mech-arachnids!?”

“No, those things have been EMP resistant since day one. There has to be something else going on.”

“Alright, so we’ll come back when it’s day. We should not be doing this in the middle of the night with no lights.”

*Right, she’s right, but I wanna know so bad!*

I grit my teeth “Gaah!" I fling my hand into the air in exasperation "You’re right! We need to leave before everything goes out.”

“Thank you.” Amber breathes a sigh of relief.

In the time I took deliberating, Bee and Nico had already come to the same conclusion. I turn around and join back up with the others, hanging in the rear.

Just as we start to make a little bit more progress, I feel another rush of energy throughout my nervous system. I jolt slightly as another few lights flicker out, leaving us with only one working flashlight, mine.

The tension in the room immediately spikes.

Myla yanks her phone out of her pocket, hoping to use it for light “Oh crap, my phone won’t start! Is it toast!?”

Nico reaches up to pat her shoulder “No, it’s still working. It just cut its own power to protect itself. It’ll start right back up when you take out and put back in the battery.”

“Still we need to move, now!” Rin gets us back on track.

With Mimi already taking point, I pass the light to her and we begin speed walking back through our route. With Mimi and Rin giving perfect directions, the exit eventually comes into view.

“I can see-“

Another pulse.

*Oh no…*

Things grind to a halt as everyone watches the light in Mimi’s hand struggle to live.

“Come on, come on! Don’t die on us!”

Mimi’s prayers to the last flashlight go unanswered as its power finally gives out, allowing the darkness of the night to take over.