The next day, after a good night's sleep, Aelia took a small break for brunch with her friends.
With all her snooping about, it felt nice for Aelia to relax and catch up for a few hours.
"...When we were at the mall, I caught Johnny looking at the rings. When I asked him about it he tried to say he was thinking about getting one for himself but I think he wants a promise ring for Ophelia!" Jenny chatted happily.
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Brandi crooned, "Growing up so fast!"
"A promise of what?" Aelia questioned, causing her friends to turn to her with various looks of either confusion, or in Jenny's case, a wince.
"A promise to marry her when they get a little older." Cassandra explains, "It's a bit old fashioned now, I suppose."
"Oh! How lovely, Ophelia would be an exceptional partner." Aelia exclaimed happily.
Jenny held her breath but smiled along with the others as no one gave Aelia anymore funny looks.
"Speeeakin' of partners!" Brandi drawled out, "I might have one!"
"Congratulations!" The ladies chimed in.
"Who is it?" Cassandra added.
"Oh, he's a secret for now! I don't want to jinx myself, you know?" Brandi replied hastily, "I haven't dated anyone in ages and this was pretty spur of the moment..."
"Well how'd you meet, come on, girl, any details!" Jenny prodded with a smile.
"Well, he has some boys, too, I've known him for a bit now but we never talked much. Except this match was super close and I got all into it, cheerin for them- and so was he!" Brandi laughs, "We both nearly got kicked out so we got talkin' after the match and we hit it off!"
"Can't wait to meet him!"
"Hope it goes well, you deserve a good guy!"
After brunch, Aelia headed down to the Strangerville library for some more information before heading back to the lab. She wanted to be as ready as she could be and knowledge was power.
She managed to sneak into the library's restricted records and found some interesting things about the 'secret lab'. Or as it was also known, Division 47.
Interestingly enough, the Beakers came up a lot in various articles about the lab, among a few scandals that were seemingly swept under the rug.
Even more interesting was the article on Bella Goth's disappearance was suspiciously close to when the lab got shut down, just a few days afterwards, in fact.
"You're staring at the screen pretty hard, miss."
Aelia jolted up and smiled sheepishly, "Oh uhm... university studies?"
"Uh-huh. Listen, I saw some green text from the glare in your glasses and I just wanted to say... I hope you figure this out. I'm rooting for you, and if you ever need help just look for someone in this vest." The young woman smiled quietly. "We meet on Tuesdays."
It was nice to know there were more sims that wanted to help this town.
"Thank you, I will keep that in my data banks." Aelia whispered back.
"And don't trust the military, they're covering it up." The woman adds in a hushed tone before slipping away.
Ominous.
Aelia went back to Division 47 in the shroud of darkness, the place somehow seemed much more foreboding than it had before.
Perhaps she should have taken someone with her this time, but the thought of dragging Pascal out here when he had a child to take care of did not sit well with Aelia. That went double for Jenny and Nine and as for Cassandra, she feared Alexander would try to come with them and he was far too young for such dangerous things.
She had her simray on hand, she was more than capable.
There was no more reason to hesitate, Aelia walked straight up to the heavy doors and took out the keycard, swiping it across the reader.
There was a small moment where Aelia worried that the card wouldn't work but after a soft beep, the light turned green and the doors started to slide open...
...And spores spilled out of the doorway as the threshold widened. Aelia felt a sinking feeling deep within her stomach, something was terribly wrong.
"H€ŁP"
Aelia reeled back with a sudden wash of dizziness, what was that noise?
"M€"
Aelia ventured further down the stairs, she had to know what that voice was, it felt like it was calling to her...
"H€ŁP..."
A murky bluish fog rolled in as Aelia attempted to head down the corridor and soon it became too thick for Aelia to proceed. She halted with a cough, stumbling back towards the stairs...
But she didn't get far enough.
Her mind went fuzzy and suddenly the floor was much closer than it had been before.
"H€ŁP M€"
The voice crashed into her mind, the scream of anguish echoing in her head and she found she could not move her body.
And yet her body was moving.
She stumbled up the stairs and crawled towards the entrance on legs akin to a baby deer's first steps, with movements that were not her own.
This wasn't good, she had gone alone, she thought she could handle anything but she had been wrong, so very wrong.
The wails kept echoing in her mind, whatever was down there, whatever was causing the spores, the plants, it was in pain.
She had to do something, she had to help, but at the moment she couldn't even help herself.
Her body turned from the doorway and she caught sight of a familiar face, a rush of relief crashed over her but try as she might, the words that left her mouth were not entirely hers.
"H€ŁP... M..mm"
"What??" Pascal's eyes widened with a sinking dread, "Aelia, what's wrong? How can I help?"
"H€ŁP...”
“...moh- mother..."
She managed to whisper out the final word on her own terms before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground.
"Aelia! AELIA!" Pascal exclaimed in horror, rushing forward as Aelia's world went black.
コメント