Both Nel and Sasha kept their distance as John looked around the new room they were in. It was an office space of some kind with rows of desks and filing cabinets lining the walls. Glancing down at a desk he saw a memo and he quickly scanned the meaningless document, desperately suppressing the rage that still lingered inside of him.

“What does it say?”

John could almost hear the wince at the end of the question.

“It’s asking employees to avoid the south bathroom. Apparently one of the pipes is broken and they need to do maintenance in there.”

Shaking his head John lifted the paper off the desk. He gently ripped it in two and let the pieces fall to the ground.

“There’s nothing here,” stated Sasha after rifling through a desk.

“I agree,” said Nell looking around, “this is either a legitimate office for the business Darkshield does in the public eye or it deals with the logistical side of the secret work.”

John wrenched a desk drawer open. Several items fell out, but his eyes followed a water bottle as it rolled a few feet away.

“Looks like there might be snacks in some of the desks,” he muttered.

“John.”

He looked up to see Nel staring at him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Turning away he ripped out another desk, his eyes darting across the pens that clattered to the floor.

“What about,” he said nudging some of it aside with a shoe, “the demonic typewriter? The man currently at that thing’s mercy? Or the nonsense it had me type out?”

“Whatever you feel comfortable talking about.”

He scoffed as he tugged his pants up.

“You traded a stranger’s freedom for mine. The only reason I’m out here and not typing away is because someone else is.”

“What else was I supposed to do?”

John closed his eyes and hung his head. Taking a deep breath he ran his fingers through his hair, taking comfort in the soft locks.

“I’m not upset with you.”

“I am.”

Opening his eyes he turned to see Nel staring at him intently. Sasha was in the distance busying herself with the contents of one of the filing cabinets.

“I made a choice that will kill that man.”

John opened his mouth to retort, but the look Nel gave him told him not to bother. Instead he went for honesty.

“It was me or him. And it wasn’t you that put him in that stool.”

“I know,” she said nodding, “it was that Anomaly.”

“No,” said John forcefully, causing Nel to look up, “it was Darkshield.”

She tilted her head slightly as he spoke.

“What possible use could this company have for that thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a team assigned to researching that device. There were individuals employed for the sole purpose of determining what that object is and how it could benefit the company.”

“And this surprises you?”

“The company kept that thing around knowing someone would have to be enslaved to it. I don’t care if that thing has the writer spitting out the secret recipe of the universe, there’s no excuse for it.”

“And what’s the alternative?”

John blinked.

“I don’t know how much you heard of my conversation with…Chris,” she said with a bit of emotion, “but that thing couldn’t be destroyed and would seek out the closest mind to enslave no matter what. It continually expands its range until someone, somewhere is lured in and starts typing.”

“So get rid of the thing.”

“How?”

“Drop it in the bottom of the ocean, bury it, strap it to a satellite and launch it towards the sun.”

“And if that doesn’t stop its influence? Then what?”

John thought on that a moment. A vivid mental image of someone being lured from the beach and to the ocean entered his mind. He imagined them swimming down into the ocean depths until their lungs filled with seawater and they drowned. Then someone else on the beach became the next victim and they started to swim out towards it.

“I’ve told you multiple times I don’t always agree with everything this company does, but I certainly couldn’t do any better. It killed me to put that man back in front of that thing, but it was a sacrifice that needed to be made.”

She walked to him and jabbed a finger in his chest.

“I decided your life was worth more than his. That was a decision I made to ensure the highest odds of regaining control of this company and fixing everything. I decided an unexperienced intern was worth less than you and so I made the switch.”

“These are the kinds of decision this company makes every day,” she said pointing around her, “they calculate which lives are worth more, which risks to take, and how to keep these Anomalies bottled up.”

She scoffed and ran a hand through her hair. When she turned back to him John was surprised to see anger in her eyes.

“I’m attempting the impossible because I don’t want that kind of responsibility. I don’t want to hide out on some remote dimension while the world burns knowing I could have stopped it. I don’t want to find out the Order seized control, summoned a hellish god, or heaven knows what other evil they have planned because I chose not to do something.”

Tears appeared in her eyes.

“Because my life isn’t worth more than that. My team’s life isn’t worth that. Not even Peter-.”

She closed her eyes and bit her lip as the emotions tried to burst from her.

“This company has been the only thing between us and oblivion. And now that those roles are reversed it scares me. It scares me so bad I wish I was Chris.”

John searched her eyes, unable to think of what to say.

“You’ve lived a comfortable life John. Up until the last few days you haven’t had your world turned upside down, the evil that pervades everything enter into your life, or had to confront the impossible. You lived in this happy little bubble where nothing bad happens and life is perfect.”

John scoffed, feelings the stunned emotions inside turning sour.

“Perfect? My life was far from perfect.”

“Your life went bad because you decided to make it that way. You had the chance to live happily ever after with someone you loved and for whatever reason you ended that.”

John gritted his teeth.

“You think the company is evil for trying to do the right thing,” she asked with a sneer, “at least they don’t kill others for the hell of it.”

Something snapped inside of John and he growled as he ripped a monitor free from the nearby desk and flung it at the wall. It smashed loudly with glass and plastic raining down to the floor. In the corner of his eye he saw Nel and Sasha had drawn their weapons and aimed them at him.

Sasha had a strange look on her face and Nel seemed utterly surprised.

Taking a breath he turned away from both of them and started walking towards a door on the far side of the room.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

John ignored Sasha as he walked past her.

“John,” said Nel in a softer tone than before.

“I need a moment.”

“I didn’t me-.”

“I said a moment!”

Reaching the door John opened it to find it led to an empty hallway. Stepping through he hesitated with his hand on the knob before closing it firmly behind him. He heard gasps from Nel and the sound of running feet.

“John,” she cried, trying to turn the knob he was holding, “what are you doing?”

He didn’t respond as he held the door firmly.

“Open the door,” said Sasha in a concerned tone that surprised him, “this is stupid.”

“I didn’t mean it John, please open the door.”

His hand shook as he held the knob. It had taken every ounce of willpower to take his anger out on the monitor and not Nel. In that split second he had imagined himself rushing to her, grabbing her by the throat, and squeezing until she stopped talking.

It was such a visceral, and as much as it disturbed him, familiar sensation that it both terrified and excited him.

Even now as Sasha and Nel shouted through the door his body shivered from the rush of destroying the monitor. It felt good to break something, he forgot how good that felt. But at the same time he felt hollow, like he was trying to satisfy starvation with candy. He needed something heftier, something that would genuinely appease the urges that were suddenly springing up inside of him.

He was completely taken off guard when the door suddenly flung open with a bang. The action sent him reeling back into the hall where he nearly hit the floor.

Looking up he saw Sasha stepping through with Nel hot on her heels. Both women’s eyes were blazing and he half expected one of them to raise their weapon and shoot him.

“What the hell was that,” barked Sasha, her words holding a thicker Russian accent than usual.

“I needed a moment.”

“And what if the rooms shifted,” cried Nel angrily.

“What’s it to you,” he retorted back, “I’m just a mindless killer remember?”

She took a deep breath and some of the flames in her eyes died down.

“I said that in the moment, I didn’t mean it.”

“Oh knock it off,” John said irritably, “you said it because you meant it. On some level you genuinely think that.”

“Enough,” growled Sasha, “so she thinks you may be a killer, big deal. I’ve killed plenty and Nel’s hands aren’t exactly clean herself. What does it matter?”

“I want to know why I’m here.”

“You were brought here because-.”

John rolled his eyes and held up a hand.

“I meant why am I being dragged along? I have no combat experience, no training, and I don’t have any skills to offer. Why am I here?”

“You’ve survive-.”

“So has Chris so don’t give me that. Why pick me over him?”

Nel seemed unable to respond and that concerned John. Part of him wondered if she had a reason and was afraid to say or if she didn’t and he was merely someone alive they could relatively trust.

Sasha suddenly stormed forward shouldering her rifle. When she was in John’s face she thrust out her arm and yanked back the sleeve with a wince.

“I don’t know why she wants you along, but this is why I want you with us.”

John looked down and winced himself when he saw the burns on her flesh. It was where he had cut her with the blow torch. The skin had been healed a bit with some spare healing gel they had, but the scars and marred skin was still gruesome to see.

“When I was trapped under that rubble you were willing to burn my flesh off to save my life. You didn’t leave me behind like some coward, you didn’t put a bullet in my head to avoid having to harm me, you were willing to torture me to save my life.”

She rolled her sleeve back up and John noted that it was still melted and cracked from the torch.

“I want someone on my side who is willing to do what it takes to watch my back. We have no idea what horrors we’ll find in this place and I want to know that those who are with me will do what it takes to survive.”

She scoffed and pointed back at the door they came through.

“You think what Chris is going through is bad? He’s lucky. I’ve seen Anomalies that will tear a man apart leaving him in still living pieces. I’ve seen Anomalies that turn friends into enemies, mutate a person’s body into an unrecognizable shape, and all kinds of unimaginable things.”

She tapped his chest.

“You set me on fire to spare me from being helpless and alone to face whatever horror we thought was coming for us. I…we need that if we’re going to survive here.”

John was completely taken off guard by her response and the emotion she had when saying it. The anger and restlessness he was feeling entirely faded as he looked into her fierce eyes.

“So, I want you to get this through your head…if you walk away again and try to leave us, I will hurt you.”

The way she said it told John she wasn’t kidding yet there was also a slight twinkle in her eyes that made him smile. John looked over at Nel and saw that she was smiling as well.

Then the walls started melting.

The smiles faded from everyone’s faces as the walls began dripping, sloughing away in large meaty chunks.

“What the hell,” murmured Sasha as she drew her rifle in alarm.

The hallway they were in had been a drab gray with lights every few feet and doors on either side. Now it was slowly transforming as the paint dripped, the doors puddled, and the lights oozed to the ground.

John grunted as a chunk of the ceiling dropped onto his shoulder. It was like getting hit with a wet newspaper.

The three of them soon bumped into each other as they tried to center themselves in the hallway. Both women had their rifles out so John drew his sidearm. He didn’t expect the guns to be much help, but it felt good to have a weapon nonetheless.

“Back through the door.”

John and Sasha quickly followed Nel as she raced to the door, stumbling over soggy piles of material. Reaching the door she yanked on it, only to have the handle break off into her hands like a piece of taffy.

Sasha pulled her back and kicked at the door near where the handle used to be. Her foot promptly sank through up to her knee. She tried wrenching her leg free, but it wouldn’t budge. Then it started sinking further into the door.

John rushed forward, grabbed her around the waist and pulled. Her leg continued to disappear into the now dripping metal door.

Nel suddenly appeared and fired her weapon on the goopy mass. The bullets plopped into the door but did little to stop Sasha’s slow sinking.

A large wet mass struck John on the head and knocked him to the ground. The soggy masses on the floor caught his fall and held him tight. He fought with his arms to rip the mass from his face, but more of the ceiling fell and trapped his arm against his chest.

One piece fell against his mouth and he immediately lost the ability to take in breath. He silently writhed and screamed before losing consciousness.

 

#

 

The first thing John heard when he regained consciousness was giggling.

His head throbbed as he opened his eyes to look around. The room he was in was dark and he could only see faint shadows. The floor was surprisingly soft and warm, it reminded him of a warm waterbed.

John groaned as he sat up and the giggling ceased immediately.

“You’re awake.”

John was quickly on guard upon hearing the unfamiliar masculine voice.

“You’re lucky,” said the mysterious figure in a tone that was entirely too cheerful, “a few moments later and you’d have missed it.”

“Missed what?”

The man in the darkness giggled and it sent shivers up John’s spine.

“You’ll see.”

John determined the man was somewhere to his left so he repositioned himself to face that way. He wanted to be ready if this strange person tried anything.

“I’ve seen it at least six times now. Never chosen, but always a witness.”

He giggled as if he’d just made a joke.

“Maybe you’ll be as lucky as me. Half as lucky you’ll see it three times before it’s your turn. A third lucky if you see it twice before being called.”

“What are you talking about?”

The voice hissed.

“No, I’ve said too much, spoiled too much. You’ll have to see. Much better, sooo much better if you see it…fresh.”

The man giggled again.

“Better to see it fresh and unspoiled.”

John was about to say something when there was a thud in the distance. The man squealed and clapped his hands.

“It’s happening, it’s happening,” he said in a sing-song voice.

The man suddenly skittered across the room next to John. John felt the man’s meaty breath fill his nostrils and droplets of spit hit his cheek.

“I don’t know whether to watch you or watch a seventh time. I don’t know which is better. It’s your first time, so lucky!”

There was a loud suctioning sound and John felt the air in the room shift as the floor rumbled. Almost immediately he could hear screaming, crying, and insane babbling around him. The floor below was suddenly wet as a layer of liquid rushed in.

The liquid was thick and felt as if small bits of matter floated on the top. Before he could wonder if he should minimize contact with it the liquid began glowing a soft yellow hue. Or rather, the matter floating in the water glowed yellow.

His attention was immediately distracted from the strange phenomena to his surroundings. As best as John could figure he was in a giant room made entirely of flesh. It wasn’t a room sculpted to look like flesh, it was a raw, pulsating organic mass that surrounded them. He imagined this is what the interior of a stomach would look like.

The room was populated with dozens of individuals in various states of dress and sanity. One woman was in a white lab coat and seemed similarly confused with her surroundings. A man off to her left was curled up in a ball rocking himself back and forth.

The man next to him was emaciated and clothed only in a few loose scraps of dirty clothing wrapped around himself in a makeshift loin cloth. His eyes reflected the strange yellow hue from the room and he stared at John fixatedly as he giggled and scratched a scab under his chin.

“I think I’ll watch you.”

Glancing into the crowd John didn’t see Nel or Sasha. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at this point.

There was another thud and most of the people in the room scurried to the center. The strange man that John woke up next to tugged on his arm.

“Come, better to see, better to see. Unless you don’t want to be lucky.”

Unsure what else to do John looked around as he allowed himself to be dragged away. He saw others in full dress hesitating before joining the group in the center. It seemed the more dirty and bedraggled individuals were the first to move and positioned themselves squarely in the middle of the room. The only ones on the outskirts were a few individuals who babbled to themselves, the one rocking himself, and a woman who knelt with her arms outstretched facing away from the group.

“Oh…,” cooed the man as he settled onto the ground and gently pulled John next to him, “only three, that means two more, at least two more!”

Several bodies suddenly pressed up against John. He fought to stay upright as he was squished into the mass of people. The stench of body odor, sweat, fear, and sewage that lingered on the mass of warm bodies around him was nearly overwhelming.

His skin crawled as multiple strangers brushed up against him. Their bodies slid against his leaving trails of sweat and other fluids he’d rather not think about.

Just as he was about to cry out and shove his way free, there was a low rumbling in the distance. The bodies pressed tighter into the ball and some of the people on the outside began screaming as they tried to press in.

It was hard to see through the mass of bodies, but he could see the far wall of the fleshy expanse slowly undulating. Soon it withdrew on itself forming a large opening leading only to darkness.

The screams grew in intensity and he could see fights breaking out on the outskirts. Someone screamed and fell to the ground. There was a brief pause in the fighting as several swiftly bent down after the fallen individual. He couldn’t see clearly, but he thought he saw them toss the figure away from the circle and press into the empty space.

The liquid below them was sloshing from all the commotion and John felt it lap against his thighs. The jeans he was wearing were completely soaked and the belt struggled against the task of keeping them upright.

There was a low moan and everyone in the room froze and turned to the opening. The brief respite only lasted for a second before screams and wailings sounded on the edges as seemingly everyone on the edge of the circle tried fighting their way in.

John grunted as the mass of bodies pushed in until he was wedged on all sides by people.

“Soon, soon,” giggled his companion who was pressed into his side.

The woman kneeling alone near the opening began crying out in a loud voice.

“From the great tree we were separated. Cast down as fleshy leaves to wait the call.”

She tilted her head back and lifted her arms higher. John could see a small oval tattoo on her wrist that nagged at him. Further moans echoed from the chamber and those in the circle screamed and struggled.

“From the tree we fall, to the roots we go, our flight is brief, and our fate known.”

John heard a strange squishing sound emanate from the opening. His strange companion tapped his shoulder excitedly as he jabbered incoherently.

“The leaf must rot for it to return. Travel down into the depths where the roots wait below.”

He voice hitched as something slapped and shadows moved upon shadows in strange and unnatural ways.

“Only then can it return from where it was let go.”

She bowed her head and the thing moving in the shadows appeared in the light of the chamber.

 

Author’s Note:

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