I don't actually remember a lot of what happened next.
I...remember running. Jumping and vaulting over the corpses of the people that tripped in front of the crowd of people and got trampled by the sheer thousands that were running straight for the elevators.
I remember the ground rumbling, screams of pain and the smell of blood. I was no stranger to the metallic smell and the faint taste of that red liquid in the air. Accidents were prone to happen, and fights were a popular way to end discussions without killing anyone, most of the time that is.
But this...This felt different. I heard screeches of something that clearly didn't sound human, of something that terrified me to my very core. I did not know what it was just yet, but I had to run away from it.
Following the crowd, our numbers started to thin as we reached the elevator rooms and the cargo haulers. They were not meant to evacuate this many people, and whatever was out there clearly was starting to take a toll on the people behind. As I was pushed into the elevator by those that stood behind me, I could see them.
Creatures of metal, flesh and stone haphazardly rigged together by nerves, muscle tissue and what I assumed to be bones of some kind. They were terrifying. Resembling canine shapes but varying a lot in size and body composition, they were not uniform in the slightest. Not symmetric, not natural. Even my slow brain could comprehend they were something we were not meant to find. It was almost...like a distant memory.
The group of beasts retreated from the light shaft that illuminated the area for some reason, at first I thought it was because we remained out of reach, but soon enough I found out it was because of what was next to happen.
Another rumble of the earth, this time it was much stronger than before. The elevators, as swift as they remained delicate, could not withstand both the extra weight that far surpassed its intended limit and the constant shake of the earth it was grounded to far above.
The metal cables snapped one by one. Giving each and every one of us enough time to realize what was about to happen. And, before anyone could naively try to do anything, we fell.
I must've hit my head when we reached the bottom since I could hardly balance myself or feel what looked to be my broken arm contorned at my side. Falling from a distance of almost a hundred meters would do that to you I guess.
As I took care to slowly but surely locate myself and crawl out of the hole that the elevator made on the ground, it noticed something. No one else seemed to be breathing or moving whatsoever. Most of the people had their heads, spines or limbs split open, jammed into one another, with rocks and pieces of metal impaling them like meat skewers and mashed potatoes.
It was a gruesome sight. So much so that I basically emptied my not so recent breakfast all over the ground.
Once I took enough time to calm myself down a little in order to analyse the situation around me, I could start to feel the pain shooting through my arm to my spine and brain. It hurt to even think of moving the damn thing, and I was pretty damn sure if I didn't find any help soon, I would be down on one arm from now on.
If there was even a 'now on'.
At the very least emergency lights were on, as well as the air ventilators, so I wouldn't die from breathing in toxic fumes. Not yet at least.
Instead of clinging to desperation like an idiot, I collected myself and rummaged through the people until I found someone carrying a flash-light. They were part of the basic kit most adults get when they get any occupation, I had left mine at home thinking it would be safe for once, but clearly I was expecting too much from life itself.
Getting the flash-light from the corpse, I turned it on and started moving to search the other elevator rooms and the cargo holds. While I did so I also made sure to check for any of those creatures I saw before, but there was not a single trace of them, at least not that I could tell.
The information I gathered was enough to make me extremely uncomfortable though. The emergency batteries didn't have enough energy to propel any of the remaining cargo holds high enough to reach the upper levels, and a few of them had been left halfway up after the system crashed with that last rock movement.
That meant there were people trapped in-between the levels with no food, water or any reliable source of light.
"...That's just great isn't it?..."
I spoke to myself out of habit. Knowing that there were people slowly dying really didn't make my day any better, not that knowing everyone else made it out alive would make it better anyway, I was still trapped down here, several hundred meters below anyone else that may have some fucking idea of how to charge the batteries.
Until then, I decided to scavenge the streets and see if I could get to the infirmary without passing out. Maybe I could get my arm treated by the nurse system that was installed in there, doctors were rare to find, so automated machines were the replacement that our marvellous syndicate got instead of you know, making knowledge and medical training more accessible in case of emergencies.
As I went over the brilliant political and economical schemes our glorious overlords far above planned for the lot of us, the sound of something chewing called for my attention. In the long end of the hall there was a corpse and another person on top of it. He looked odd...A little too odd. Torn clothes, pale, almost white, skin and open, oozing wounds. I aimed at him with my flash-light to see a little better, and oh God did I regret what I had just done almost instantly.
"Hah? HHAAAAARGGH!" The man turned around, flesh still hanging from its teeth, his face was almost, if not fully decomposed too. He noticed my location and started sprinting as if he didn't know how his own legs worked.
"Mierda!" Was my response to his guttural scream. I turned to my side and let go of the flash-light, grabbing something, anything I could get my hand into, in order to defend myself since I wasn't carrying my usual knife in my pocket.
I ended up grasping a piece of broken glass. Without thinking it for even a second, I jammed that thing up the sprinting man's throat. The process did manage to open a cut on my palm since I couldn't quite get a good grasp of the glass and it slipped my grip. But it was enough it seems. Although the ravenous man did try to hit me with his hands, his strength was rapidly drained from his body and a good stomp on the glass forced the thing all the way through, cutting everything in its way before shattering into multiple pieces.
After a few moments, the man seemed to die, and a nauseous feeling returned to my stomach. I emptied what little food remained in me after the shock of killing another person hit me. I couldn't help but laugh at my situation. Arm fucked up, monsters lurking around, no way out of here and now fucking zombies?
I shook my head. If this was a nightmare it sure as hell was a vivid one.
Instead of losing myself in my thoughts again, I looked a little closer at the man as I picked the flash-light back up. His body seemed weird. Like it had decomposed for years, with metallic pieces grafted onto its skin and bones protruding from its joints. I wasn't even sure if it was still human or not, but my answer was soon responded.
[ Subject Identified: Drone Rank 1 ]
I thought my eyes were fooling me for a second but I noticed a black screen with white text appeared in front of me and a voice whispered into my ear. It was robotic, like one of those conversation bots people used to have back in the day. It felt odd, alien, but familiar at the same time for some reason.
"....Drone....I guess that's the name of this thing...But Rank 1?" I asked myself out loud, and funny enough the window disappeared, only for another one to take its place.
[ The Scorned take many forms. A Drone is a humanoid that has been corrupted through continued exposure. The body has been recently resurrected, therefore its Rank is automatically set as "1". The lowest threat level possible for a Scorned. ]
".....I swear this seems more and more like I'm just having a really fucked up nightmare and I'll wake up any second now..."
[ Apologies. This is, in fact, very much real. Denial is normal due to the circumstances. ]
[ A level four injury has been detected on your left arm. Multiple level one injuries have been detected on your abdomen, right leg, right forearm and skull. Medical attention is recommended. ]
"There's no need to tell me what's wrong, I can feel everything hurting."
[ Medical attention is recommended. ]
"You won't talk anymore?"
[ Medical attention. Is. Recommended. ]
Since it seemed like I wasn't getting anything else out of the damn voice, the small windows closed and I kept walking. It would take me maybe half an hour to reach the infirmary, and that was if the damn thing was still operational. If it wasn't, I would need to tend to my wounds myself and I am no fucking doctor to be fixing my fucked up arm or my hallucinations.
Or at least what I hoped were just hallucinations of my brain trying to piece things together after I hit my head when I fell down here.
MiniMidi· May 15, 2023
