The building was old and rundown. The brick exterior had crumbled in parts, letting in the light and wind. The original color had also faded, turning into an ashy white from being bleached by the sun.

There were a few windows along the sides of the building, but they were all shattered. And, like the bricks had faded, the glass in the windows had crumbled, leaving only the barest glimmer along the edges to show that the glass ever existed.

And the door was old as well. While it looked modern, with a push bar and steel frame, both were pitted with rust. Paint flaked off the door, revealing a twisted wood interior, and parts of the door were split, revealing shadows within the building.

That was the building that Gray planned to enter.

Standing in front of that door, Gray had second thoughts.

Would there really be someone inside? The place obviously looked abandoned... and even if there *were* people inside, he doubted that they would be the sort that would kindly give him directions.

But he didn't have a choice. There weren't any other signs of civilization in sight, and his phone wasn't giving accurate directions.

Even if there weren't any people inside the building, at the least he could look around for a map or other information to get a bearing on where he was.

At least, that was what Gray hoped.

So, setting aside his doubts and concerns, Gray reached out, pushed the door open... and got blasted with a gust of stagnant air.

Wet. Damp. Mildewy. A sweet, cloying scent that seemed to cling to the lungs.

Gray coughed and quickly stepped back, waving his hands. "What in the world...?"

Was the place really abandoned? That was the only explanation for that stagnant air.

But then... That didn't make sense. It was impossible. Flat out impossible for a place like this to be around campus.

Frowning, Gray cautiously approached the open doorway.

A long corridor led into the depths of the building. Like the exterior indicated, the place was ancient and abandoned. There were fluorescent lights in the ceiling and a few lamps hanging around the edges of the corridor, but those were cracked and yellowed by age. Dysfunctional.

The only source of illumination came from the sunlight filtering through cracks in the ceiling, as well as from a few torches that had been stuck in place of some lanterns, flickering with orange flames.

In short...

"This is a bad idea." Gray muttered and reconsidered entering.

Maybe he should just call someone to see if they could find him instead?

Right, that was a more sensible cause of action. Then...

Gray pulled out his phone and tapped his contacts.

And then his phone died.

"...I forgot."

Because Gray had been working on his project all night, he didn't get the chance to charge his phone's battery.

Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem. After all, there were plenty of places to charge his phone on campus.

Unfortunately, at the moment it was a huge problem. Considering the fact that he was in the middle of nowhere with nothing but grass, it seemed like a place to charge his phone would be scarce. And even though the building he was standing in front of looked fairly modern... it also seemed like the place had stopped being supplied with electricity decades ago.

"I don't have a choice, huh?" Gray slipped his phone back into his pocket and frowned.

As much as his wanted to not enter the building and look around, the fact was that he didn't have anywhere else to go. Not only that, but if the grasslands really did continue on for a while, he would need to find some supplies to cover the trip while he looked for a way back.

Things like a water container or food... Though the latter seemed unlikely considering the state of the building.

Gray sighed and adjusted his bag. "Nothing for it but to go take a look." With that said, mostly to convince himself, Gray walked inside the building.

The air was damp, mildewy. But since he had opened the door, a breeze flowed through the building, getting some air circulation in. As a result, it was bearable now instead of stifling.

"Let's see..." Gray muttered and took a look around. "This layout seems similar to the business center. That means-"

*CRACK*

An ominous sound. The noise of something slowly shattering.

Gray froze and then quickly glanced at ground, hoping he was wrong.

But he wasn't.

Faint cracks ran through the floor, emanating from where he was standing.

What did he do? Try to jump to the side?

The door was too far back now, and if Gray moved, he was certain that the floor would give out completely.

More crackling. The floor continuing to give despite Gray's hesitance.

He quickly scanned the surroundings.

Closed doors on either side. A stairwell, leading up and down at the end of the hallway. And some elevators, next to those stairs.

All too far away to be of any use.

*CRACK*

A piece of the floor up ahead gave way, falling down into the darkness.

Seeing that, Gray made a snap decision.

Adjusting his bag around his shoulder, he kicked off the ground and spun around, trying to head back towards the entrance.

But he miscalculated.

The moment he kicked the floor, it completely gave way beneath him.

Gray's eyes widened and he reached out, trying to grab hold of something, *anything* to stop him from falling. But everything he touched crumbled.

And then gravity took over and he plunged into the darkness.

xxx

Dust. Rubble. Bits and pieces of the floor and ceiling falling down all around Gray.

The sensation of free fall for a brief moment. And then-

*CRACK*

Impact. The sound of something shattering to bits.

Gray blinked, watching as dust fell all around him from the hole in the floor... or rather, ceiling now that he had fallen.

"I'm... fine?"

There had been that loud noise, but he was surprisingly unharmed for falling through the floor.

A bit dusty, sure, but nothing seemed broken or battered. So then what had been that loud snapping noise-

Gray's eyes widened and he quickly sat up, slinging his backpack around. He frantically unzipped it, peering inside... and then he groaned. "This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?"

The papers were perfectly intact. But his laptop...

Shattered plastic. Broken green shards from the splintered motherboard. Random buttons from the keyboard, mixed around at the bottom of the bag.

Gray sighed and zipped his bag, slinging it back over his shoulder.

It was a giant setback... but at least he was alive. Now...

"Where am I?"