The main floor was deserted, the overhead lights flickering in a way I put down to the supposed system failure.

I made my way back to the large freezer unit the facility called Vault 7, and I noticed, distantly, that several cargo pallets were out of place near its entrance.

I did not think anything of it.

I should have.

Someone had moved them there so that the door’s path would be clear.

The moment I stepped across the threshold, the heavy steel door swung shut behind me with a mechanical thud I still hear in my sleep.

I turned and grabbed the interior safety handle — the release every walk-in freezer has, by law, so that no one can ever be trapped inside.