Those that do take on the duties of fighting back the Creep are expected to wander deep into every wing. They burn away any overgrowth in the halls or excreting from doorways, but they’re also expected to monitor growth in the old elevator shafts as well as various nooks and hiding spots of the Tower. It is, of course, a massive building, and so a thorough patrol of every inch of the halls is impossible. When an overgrowth goes unmonitored for too long, it causes a chain reaction upward through the higher levels, leading to a lockdown situation. Fortunately we haven’t experienced this much since the emergency situation last year, when we lost multiple Security agents in the Stockholm Incident and engaged the Creep in a long battle throughout the night.
I’m sure I don’t have to remind anyone in Authority about the Stockholm Incident, so I’ll continue.
My team uses the same room each time we spend the night on Floor 21. As I sit here on the ground, I can’t help but laugh. Due to constant vigilance, there is no sign of infestation where we stay. There is neither muscle nor skin growth, no signs of the fluid, and yet it takes daily scrubbing simply to keep this one room clean. It is no wonder we are unable to make significant pushback against the Creep if it takes this much effort just to keep it out of one room.
At any rate, the men are relaxed. They’ve become as used to this as possible, and a few are playing cards. We’ve got one young man, named Mike, looking forward to this being his last expedition before he puts in for his four-year reserve term. He’s a good person that’s always kept a calm head. It’ll be a shame seeing him rotate out of the team, but I hope he finds a real solid job on his floor. Guys like him deserve it. I know he’s said before that he has a few friends up there. At least once he’s mentioned a girl, Jackie, that he says is too young for him, but that he’s at least decent friends with. I doubt he’s completely honest about her being too young for him, but stuff like that keeps me laughing. Like I said, this is why Authority puts up with me, right? Because I can laugh in the face of conditions even when I’m about to plunge into the Deep Creep.
At any rate, I hope you all are at least happy with my report on conditions down here. I know Councilman Waters says I waste a lot of audio time recording things that aren’t important, but that’s just one of the ways I keep my calm. And I doubt Councilman Waters wants my team dying because their commander wasn’t allowed to do the things that keep him relaxed.
Do you, councilman? I know you’re listening to this.
Commander Vick’s Report Number Nine
It’s hard to explain to people just how we manage to find ways to sleep when we’re in the Deep Creep, but it’s pretty second nature by this point.
So, just a little over a week into the Scavenging, and we’ve managed to secure a room on Level 30 that’s actually not too uncomfortable. We’ve rarely been this far down the north wing. See, that’s the problem when people think about what scavenging is like. Most think it’s this mad plunge into the bowels of the building. In reality, the Tower is so huge that at times we can just wander into wings we’ve never set foot inside of before.
We’re actually following up on a hunch that Mike had. Not the most accurate guy with a gun, but I’ll give him some credit. That guy is a living map. He has a sense of navigation like I’ve never seen, and it’s one more reason that I enjoy having him on the team. A good sense of navigation is important to surviving in the Deep Creep, especially if you get separated from your team.
We’d just finished descending down the elevator shaft. As you know, there are many places below Floor 21 where the staircase is either sealed off, destroyed, or just too densely infested. So, we’d only just gotten down onto Floor 30 when he turns to me and starts asking about investigating hallway 30-15. It takes me a second to look it up on my tablet, since I don’t have the gift of guidance that he does. First thing I notice when I find it is that it’s an area we’ve been through at least a half-dozen times over the last two years. Basically, the hall’s been picked dry of any goods.
He won’t let it go, though. He looks pretty determined, and he tells me, “I’ve got a hunch.”
I stare at him for a second, trying to figure him out. Still, it’s Mike. Cool head, never panics, so I know he has a reason for saying this. “Fine,” I tell him. “We’ll head over there. Any particular reason why, though?”
“I’ve been thinking about ways to get through to Polar North.”
Polar North. I almost laugh at him. “That area’s impossible to get into,” I say. “I’ve been with more than a few teams that have tried to find their way in there, and we’ve never had luck. Not to mention 30-15 has no access to it.”
Polar North, for the pleasure of the council, is a large region in the northern tower, so-called because it is frozen behind a wall of Creep so dense that you’d never be able to safely burn your way through. Our current estimation is that Polar North extends from Floor 28 down to at least Floor 45 and likely farther. It is the single, largest, and most dense infestation of Creep in the Tower that we are aware of.
Saying you want to break into Polar North is like setting off on a legendary quest. It’s an almost mythical accomplishment by Scavenger standards.
Still, I trust Mike, and even if things don’t pay off, I know there’s an elevator access shaft that we can use to head farther down into the tower. If his plan doesn’t work, of course. So, finally, I give him the nod. “Sure, Mike,” I tell him. “Let’s go check it out.”
So we march. By Floor 30 you’re talking about having to be careful about where you step. It’s not too bad, but there are definitely areas of the ground to avoid. The first problem is that Creep infestation can eventually lead to decay and rot, so we’ve had more than one man over the years fall through to the next level. The evidence of that is in the occasional hole you’ll see that dots the floor. The bigger problem is that stepping directly onto the Creep is a quick way to get yourself killed. It’s hard to gauge when the stuff will react, but there have been times a man has stepped onto a part of the floor that’s grown a thick layer of Creep, only to have it come alive and whip at his legs. You’ve got about thirty seconds to move in and apply a dose of flame to get all that skin and tissue to retreat. If you don’t, it’ll wrap right up his leg and suck him into the wall. Again, it doesn’t happen too often, but we’re all aware that not everyone who goes on the Scavenging comes back. There’s a reason for that.
That’s pretty much what we’re encountering as we move toward 30-15. Mike’s got point because he’s got that uncanny ability to navigate the halls. Sure enough, soon we’re in the thick of it, and Creep’s pouring out of the roof. The most disgusting part is it slithers down, and I can feel that slimy liquid it produces dripping onto my clothes and helmet. At this depth, getting any of it on your skin is a real quick way to trigger a massive hallucination and mental break, so I order everyone to slide their visors down. That keeps the stuff out of our eyes. The more direct access Creep has to your circulatory system, the faster and more potent it acts. If that’s not a good reason to keep it out of your eyes, I don’t know what is.
Anyway, we finally reach the target area, but Mike doesn’t stop. He keeps moving on, passing by halls 30-16, 30-17, and so on. We’re heading into some rarely explored space, and I’m about to ask him what his plan is when he suddenly veers off. I’ve lost track of what hallway we’re in by this point, but I trust the guy. Besides, scavenging teams are used to this sort of stuff. Our basic job description is urban explorer, and we’ve all got an explorer’s itch.