A lone silhouette stumbled through an iron door, struggling to maintain
balance. Upon reaching a short corridor, the figure clutched its side tightly, fluid endlessly seeping from between its fingers. It crossed a dimly glowing light fixture dangling from the ceiling, leaning on the solid concrete wall for support; the slight illumination revealed battered masculine features, sporadically slashed and gouged, and he constantly shook as though suffering from exhaustion. He was slouched as though he were carrying the world on his shoulders. Looking back, he saw blood tracing his path.
Upon reaching a decrepit iron door labeled simply ‘413’, he took a stiff breath,
then knocked as loudly as he could in his current condition. He withdrew his hand, his knuckles’ bruises spurting new fountains of blood as he muttered an unheard phrase, and the door creaked open. Beyond lied a small room, approximately twenty square feet, and on the right side of him there was yet another door with a pine desk and two mahogany stools, slightly off-centered of the far right corner of the room. Immediately to his left after closing the door he came through resided a stainless steel rack, on which laid a medical kit; he fumbled for the medical kit the instant he saw it, then slowly recognized the situation. It had only happened a few days ago, too. Now I just have to wait for-
“I guess you’ve returned. Didn’t think you’d make it, honestly. Pretty brutal
footage from that GoPro.”
Out from the second door came a handsome young man; tall, wide-
shouldered, well-built yet lean and with a decent tan. The groggy undertone told the wounded man that the southern-accented voice’s owner had either just awoke or, far more likely, just finished with yet another experiment. His black hair was combed and gelled back, his eyes sea green, and his outfit consisting of a well-made pinstripe suit; his tie seemed to stand out, since it was graphic-laden and bright yellow. His pitch black loafers echoed on the concrete floor, sending an unexpected chill down the wounded man’s spine.
“I… have my ways…” the wounded man mustered through gritted teeth and
heaving breaths.
“Yeah, I know ya do, Ajuka.” He walked calmly to the door that Ajuka came in
from. He gently closed it. “Now tell me… is this boy worth my trouble?”
Ajuka looked at him in astonishment and disbelief. “He did... this,” he
exclaimed, gesturing to his dangerously long gashes, “To one of your best agents!” He flinched at his sudden movement, striking him like an electrical shock and sparking a new session of profuse bleeding. Still not healed, he thought. Take it easy. He noticed the newcomer’s eyes light up slightly.
The young man inspected Ajuka closely, taking in the completely destroyed
outfit. “We’ll have to get ya a new set of clothin’.”
Ajuka rached to his right pants pocket, pulling out a small device. It appeared
to be a miniature touch-screen tablet, only about two or three inches wide. It was colored black and speckled with blood droplets; the screen, however, was lit up with a soft yellow glow, the center of it showing a clear map of the buildings surrounding them with a single red dot brightly illuminated perfectly in the middle of the screen. The sides of the tablet had several constant flows of data revealing everything about the victim from heartbeat to precise coordinates.
“Got that goddamn tracking system thing on him, at least.” Ajuka breathed.
His wound was finally being knit closed by his boss’s “Hyper-Advanced Healing Apparatus”, or HAHA for short. He sighed internally; Rich may have been one of the most intelligent people in the world, but he never really did have a way with names.
Hastily grabbing the tracking system tablet, Rich began to mutter to himself. He pulled out a notebook from seemingly nowhere, and then snatched a pen from his front coat pocket. He scribbled madly and faster than Ajuka could imagine anyone could write legibly. Caught off-guard by the sudden awkward silence, Ajuka made an attempt to start a conversation.
“Uh… Hey, Boss. Why do you want this guy so bad?” Ajuka asked with false
curiosity. “I mean, sure he’s powerful, but I’ve had to fight a lot worse for you. You didn’t even want those guys!”
Rich looked up from his device, grinning wildly; a look that Ajuka, even after
the five years he had worked with Rich, had yet to get used to. “He’s got potential, Ajuka. He’s got so much potential, and he wastes it helpin’ others. He’s got our variety of powers and his parents were part of the experiment; but he wasn’t a part of the experiment, Ajuka. Do ya have any idea what that means? The powers are hereditary. I’ve got to research him. Human evolution could reach a peak ‘cause of me!” Rich’s eyes gained a crazed and oddly empty glow, as though his humanity was transported elsewhere. “Do ya get it now!?” Bellowed Rich. Ajuka nodded slowly, finally realizing that he was walking on eggshells.
Rich frowned upon seeing Ajuka’s reaction. The look slowly but surely left his
eyes. “I see. Ya don’t get it, do ya?” Rich mumbled after several minutes. “Don’t worry about me goin’ off on ya. You’re too valuable.” Before Ajuka could say anything else, Rich uttered a disgusted string of slurs and stormed through the door. Ajuka briskly stood, sending his chair skidding backwards and ultimately falling over.. He always underestimates me! Ajuka thought. He thinks I’m some dumbass. He turned to the door, then decided to do something he later regretted.
Ripping a piece of paper from a notepad and snatching a pen from his pants
pocket, Ajuka began to scribble out a furiously-written note. He was finally fed up with Rich’s tomfoolery; Seven goddamn years and he still sees me as inferior, he thought. He finished his letter, ripped it from the notepad, and promptly slammed it down onto the table face-up. He turned on his heels, body pulsing in pain to the rhythm of his heartbeat, wounds reopening throughout his arms and upper torso from the series of abrupt movements.
I don’t need that piece of shit Rich. I don’t need anyone but me, myself, and I.
He had made it several feet down the hall before he looked back once, fuming. Upon beholding the horror that charged towards him, his eyes widened and his stomach began to suffocate itself. His mouth went dry, hairs on his body standing on end. The footsteps echoed throughout the halls of the bunker as Ajuka shot off down the short corridor in a sprint, seemingly unaffected by the pain and the reopened wound gushing blood. His heart raced; maybe even skipped a beat or two. He blasted through the building as fast as a severely wounded man could, melting into the umbra of the corridor, blood trail turning the white marble tiles red.
Rich heard rushing footsteps from the other side of the door. He whipped it
open, only to hear the footsteps retreating and the occasional thud. He cursed as he lifted the note that lay on the ground, momentarily glancing up to try and see where the person ran off to. He absentmindedly eyed the note.
Dear Rich,
I am NOT your goddamn puppet. Next time you try to hire a man into slavery and not actual work, make sure that they stay suppressed, you fucking lunatic.
Your ex-employee,
Ajuka
Rich’s eyes went from uninterested to intense shock and fear in mere moments while reading the note. He bolted down the hall, following the stream of blood on the floor, which he could only assume was Ajuka’s. He never was any good at first aid, Rich thought to himself, recollecting about past tropes. He shook his head, however, and cleared them from his mind. Focus, he told himself over and over. Focus. Focus. Focus.
All of a sudden, the noises in the background had faded from existence. No
more fleeting footsteps. No more thuds. Not even the air around him seemed to move. Rich impulsively stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath, and began walking quickly and quietly in the direction he started.
Rich began to recollect about Ajuka again, but couldn’t push the thoughts out
of his mind. All the times Ajuka had saved him, all the times Ajuka helped him, all the times Ajuka…
Rich paused. All the times he’s almost died for me. Especially…
At that moment in time, Rich knew exactly where Ajuka went.
—————————————————————————————————————
Rich rushed down the twisting concrete corridors, which eventually led to solid
steel tunnels that gradually grew wider and more straightforward. The smell of nickel and sulfur grew stronger and more defined; soon, the steel walls gave way to titanium walls, and the smell of sulfur became overpowering. The walls were tattooed with yellow stripes and various danger symbols, and after a quarter of a mile in, the tunnels had cages engraved on the sides; feelings of both oppression and control overtook Rich, giving him an odd sense of nostalgia. He continued on, however, to a very specific section of the tunnels he deemed as the “Dead Zone”. This is where he hid his projects he never planned to complete, or projects deemed too dangerous and uncontrollable. It was another half-mile walk to the cages in the Dead Zone. Here, his initial suspicions were confirmed.
It can’t be… he thought. He would never do something so reckless… would
he?
Rich heard an intense banging in the distance, rapidly growing closer. He also
noticed a trail of blood, not yet dried, leading towards the emergency exit. He took a single step towards the door, when something massive flashed in front of him, smashing into the wall of the tunnel to his immediate left. By the time Rich managed to turn his head, the thing was gone, but left a large dent in the solid titanium wall. Again, in the distance, he heard more banging footsteps that quickly grew closer.
He… He really did it, didn’t he? Rich thought to himself. He wants to ruin the
entire facility, but… this!? Rich’s entire body tensed up, and his mind began roiling in despair and, oddly, curiosity. He looked in the direction of the footsteps, and his fears were terrifyingly confirmed. The creation he feared most hurtled towards him, and he barely had time to dodge as the behemoth charged past him. Time seemed to move in slow motion as he saw, in surprising detail, the abomination he created years ago.
The monster’s spine protruded from its body, almost as though it realized just
how monstrous its host was and was trying to escape. It’s skin was oddly glistening and brandished a deep, blood red color. The beast was at least eight feet tall, limbs disgustingly disproportionate. It’s torso was remarkably bulky, and its lungs were pressed forward from its chest, similar to a cheetah’s. It stood as a human would, save for an oddly hunched back, and even looked as though the basis for it came partially from a person. However, its enormous hands and feet didn’t have human fingers or toes; it had three razor sharp claws on each hand and each foot, stained a disgusting yellow. It’s body seemed to be overly muscular, and its limbs appeared to be constantly strained and flexed. The amalgamation of nightmares wasn’t finished there, though; the head of the beast looked like that of a frog, but razor sharp, plaque-stained teeth kept its maw propped open. Its enormous mouth spread all the way to its ears - or rather, there its ears would be. It compensated with two small holes on either side of its head, and two more slits on the front of its face replaced any possible nose. Its eyes were nothing but small, black spheres embedded deep into the skull, seemingly useless. It’s feet dented the compact titanium on which it tred upon, and the stench emanating from it could only be described as the odor of a corpse flower.
Rich, in a silent state of conflicting emotions, couldn’t even blink. Fear struck
deep in his heart when its head turned to Rich, seemingly fixating on him. The thing’s voice was represented by a series of deep, echoing grunts and guttural growls, each noise reminding Rich of the pain of loss and past mistakes. He fell to his knees, body shaking, muscles going limp. He felt the need to move, but his legs wouldn’t budge. His mind began tos shut down and his breaths became more shallow. “I thought… I thought that they were all…” he murmured. A few moments of hushed awe passed, and the abomination didn’t move. He realized why only when more grunts and growls echoed through the tunnels.
Rich turned slowly to find several other beasts, identical to the first, bound in
through the darkness. They turned away from Rich, then communicated in the unknown language for a decent time before turning back to Rich’s general direction.
Then they screamed.
The sound they emitted could only be described as bone-chilling and blood-
curtling. It resounded through the tunnels, and Rich felt himself slip into a panic attack. It sounded like several women and children in intense pain combined with nails on a chalkboard. The intense feeling of bloodlust the things emanated was overpowering and terrifying. They leapt all at once towards Rich. Then everything went black.
Rich awoke, body aching and throbbing, to be in the same place within the
corridors. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head and grabbing the bottle of Ibuprofen he always kept in his coat. His eyes turned to face an underlit section of the containment units, and saw a familiar figure. He tried to reach out to it, but found his legs were chained to the ground.
“I told you, Rich,” the figure bellowed, commanding and intense, “That you
were to never lose Ajuka.”
“But-“ Rich started.
“I don’t wanna hear a damn thing outta you, Rich. You were warned, and now
I’m following through. You’re cut off. You’re. Done.” The mysterious man crossed his arms and seemed to melt into the walls.
Left staring down the corridor with his dreams crushed, legs immobile, and
body sore, Rich was left to contemplate his decisions and, for the first time in his life, began to cry.
balance. Upon reaching a short corridor, the figure clutched its side tightly, fluid endlessly seeping from between its fingers. It crossed a dimly glowing light fixture dangling from the ceiling, leaning on the solid concrete wall for support; the slight illumination revealed battered masculine features, sporadically slashed and gouged, and he constantly shook as though suffering from exhaustion. He was slouched as though he were carrying the world on his shoulders. Looking back, he saw blood tracing his path.
Upon reaching a decrepit iron door labeled simply ‘413’, he took a stiff breath,
then knocked as loudly as he could in his current condition. He withdrew his hand, his knuckles’ bruises spurting new fountains of blood as he muttered an unheard phrase, and the door creaked open. Beyond lied a small room, approximately twenty square feet, and on the right side of him there was yet another door with a pine desk and two mahogany stools, slightly off-centered of the far right corner of the room. Immediately to his left after closing the door he came through resided a stainless steel rack, on which laid a medical kit; he fumbled for the medical kit the instant he saw it, then slowly recognized the situation. It had only happened a few days ago, too. Now I just have to wait for-
“I guess you’ve returned. Didn’t think you’d make it, honestly. Pretty brutal
footage from that GoPro.”
Out from the second door came a handsome young man; tall, wide-
shouldered, well-built yet lean and with a decent tan. The groggy undertone told the wounded man that the southern-accented voice’s owner had either just awoke or, far more likely, just finished with yet another experiment. His black hair was combed and gelled back, his eyes sea green, and his outfit consisting of a well-made pinstripe suit; his tie seemed to stand out, since it was graphic-laden and bright yellow. His pitch black loafers echoed on the concrete floor, sending an unexpected chill down the wounded man’s spine.
“I… have my ways…” the wounded man mustered through gritted teeth and
heaving breaths.
“Yeah, I know ya do, Ajuka.” He walked calmly to the door that Ajuka came in
from. He gently closed it. “Now tell me… is this boy worth my trouble?”
Ajuka looked at him in astonishment and disbelief. “He did... this,” he
exclaimed, gesturing to his dangerously long gashes, “To one of your best agents!” He flinched at his sudden movement, striking him like an electrical shock and sparking a new session of profuse bleeding. Still not healed, he thought. Take it easy. He noticed the newcomer’s eyes light up slightly.
The young man inspected Ajuka closely, taking in the completely destroyed
outfit. “We’ll have to get ya a new set of clothin’.”
Ajuka rached to his right pants pocket, pulling out a small device. It appeared
to be a miniature touch-screen tablet, only about two or three inches wide. It was colored black and speckled with blood droplets; the screen, however, was lit up with a soft yellow glow, the center of it showing a clear map of the buildings surrounding them with a single red dot brightly illuminated perfectly in the middle of the screen. The sides of the tablet had several constant flows of data revealing everything about the victim from heartbeat to precise coordinates.
“Got that goddamn tracking system thing on him, at least.” Ajuka breathed.
His wound was finally being knit closed by his boss’s “Hyper-Advanced Healing Apparatus”, or HAHA for short. He sighed internally; Rich may have been one of the most intelligent people in the world, but he never really did have a way with names.
Hastily grabbing the tracking system tablet, Rich began to mutter to himself. He pulled out a notebook from seemingly nowhere, and then snatched a pen from his front coat pocket. He scribbled madly and faster than Ajuka could imagine anyone could write legibly. Caught off-guard by the sudden awkward silence, Ajuka made an attempt to start a conversation.
“Uh… Hey, Boss. Why do you want this guy so bad?” Ajuka asked with false
curiosity. “I mean, sure he’s powerful, but I’ve had to fight a lot worse for you. You didn’t even want those guys!”
Rich looked up from his device, grinning wildly; a look that Ajuka, even after
the five years he had worked with Rich, had yet to get used to. “He’s got potential, Ajuka. He’s got so much potential, and he wastes it helpin’ others. He’s got our variety of powers and his parents were part of the experiment; but he wasn’t a part of the experiment, Ajuka. Do ya have any idea what that means? The powers are hereditary. I’ve got to research him. Human evolution could reach a peak ‘cause of me!” Rich’s eyes gained a crazed and oddly empty glow, as though his humanity was transported elsewhere. “Do ya get it now!?” Bellowed Rich. Ajuka nodded slowly, finally realizing that he was walking on eggshells.
Rich frowned upon seeing Ajuka’s reaction. The look slowly but surely left his
eyes. “I see. Ya don’t get it, do ya?” Rich mumbled after several minutes. “Don’t worry about me goin’ off on ya. You’re too valuable.” Before Ajuka could say anything else, Rich uttered a disgusted string of slurs and stormed through the door. Ajuka briskly stood, sending his chair skidding backwards and ultimately falling over.. He always underestimates me! Ajuka thought. He thinks I’m some dumbass. He turned to the door, then decided to do something he later regretted.
Ripping a piece of paper from a notepad and snatching a pen from his pants
pocket, Ajuka began to scribble out a furiously-written note. He was finally fed up with Rich’s tomfoolery; Seven goddamn years and he still sees me as inferior, he thought. He finished his letter, ripped it from the notepad, and promptly slammed it down onto the table face-up. He turned on his heels, body pulsing in pain to the rhythm of his heartbeat, wounds reopening throughout his arms and upper torso from the series of abrupt movements.
I don’t need that piece of shit Rich. I don’t need anyone but me, myself, and I.
He had made it several feet down the hall before he looked back once, fuming. Upon beholding the horror that charged towards him, his eyes widened and his stomach began to suffocate itself. His mouth went dry, hairs on his body standing on end. The footsteps echoed throughout the halls of the bunker as Ajuka shot off down the short corridor in a sprint, seemingly unaffected by the pain and the reopened wound gushing blood. His heart raced; maybe even skipped a beat or two. He blasted through the building as fast as a severely wounded man could, melting into the umbra of the corridor, blood trail turning the white marble tiles red.
Rich heard rushing footsteps from the other side of the door. He whipped it
open, only to hear the footsteps retreating and the occasional thud. He cursed as he lifted the note that lay on the ground, momentarily glancing up to try and see where the person ran off to. He absentmindedly eyed the note.
Dear Rich,
I am NOT your goddamn puppet. Next time you try to hire a man into slavery and not actual work, make sure that they stay suppressed, you fucking lunatic.
Your ex-employee,
Ajuka
Rich’s eyes went from uninterested to intense shock and fear in mere moments while reading the note. He bolted down the hall, following the stream of blood on the floor, which he could only assume was Ajuka’s. He never was any good at first aid, Rich thought to himself, recollecting about past tropes. He shook his head, however, and cleared them from his mind. Focus, he told himself over and over. Focus. Focus. Focus.
All of a sudden, the noises in the background had faded from existence. No
more fleeting footsteps. No more thuds. Not even the air around him seemed to move. Rich impulsively stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath, and began walking quickly and quietly in the direction he started.
Rich began to recollect about Ajuka again, but couldn’t push the thoughts out
of his mind. All the times Ajuka had saved him, all the times Ajuka helped him, all the times Ajuka…
Rich paused. All the times he’s almost died for me. Especially…
At that moment in time, Rich knew exactly where Ajuka went.
—————————————————————————————————————
Rich rushed down the twisting concrete corridors, which eventually led to solid
steel tunnels that gradually grew wider and more straightforward. The smell of nickel and sulfur grew stronger and more defined; soon, the steel walls gave way to titanium walls, and the smell of sulfur became overpowering. The walls were tattooed with yellow stripes and various danger symbols, and after a quarter of a mile in, the tunnels had cages engraved on the sides; feelings of both oppression and control overtook Rich, giving him an odd sense of nostalgia. He continued on, however, to a very specific section of the tunnels he deemed as the “Dead Zone”. This is where he hid his projects he never planned to complete, or projects deemed too dangerous and uncontrollable. It was another half-mile walk to the cages in the Dead Zone. Here, his initial suspicions were confirmed.
It can’t be… he thought. He would never do something so reckless… would
he?
Rich heard an intense banging in the distance, rapidly growing closer. He also
noticed a trail of blood, not yet dried, leading towards the emergency exit. He took a single step towards the door, when something massive flashed in front of him, smashing into the wall of the tunnel to his immediate left. By the time Rich managed to turn his head, the thing was gone, but left a large dent in the solid titanium wall. Again, in the distance, he heard more banging footsteps that quickly grew closer.
He… He really did it, didn’t he? Rich thought to himself. He wants to ruin the
entire facility, but… this!? Rich’s entire body tensed up, and his mind began roiling in despair and, oddly, curiosity. He looked in the direction of the footsteps, and his fears were terrifyingly confirmed. The creation he feared most hurtled towards him, and he barely had time to dodge as the behemoth charged past him. Time seemed to move in slow motion as he saw, in surprising detail, the abomination he created years ago.
The monster’s spine protruded from its body, almost as though it realized just
how monstrous its host was and was trying to escape. It’s skin was oddly glistening and brandished a deep, blood red color. The beast was at least eight feet tall, limbs disgustingly disproportionate. It’s torso was remarkably bulky, and its lungs were pressed forward from its chest, similar to a cheetah’s. It stood as a human would, save for an oddly hunched back, and even looked as though the basis for it came partially from a person. However, its enormous hands and feet didn’t have human fingers or toes; it had three razor sharp claws on each hand and each foot, stained a disgusting yellow. It’s body seemed to be overly muscular, and its limbs appeared to be constantly strained and flexed. The amalgamation of nightmares wasn’t finished there, though; the head of the beast looked like that of a frog, but razor sharp, plaque-stained teeth kept its maw propped open. Its enormous mouth spread all the way to its ears - or rather, there its ears would be. It compensated with two small holes on either side of its head, and two more slits on the front of its face replaced any possible nose. Its eyes were nothing but small, black spheres embedded deep into the skull, seemingly useless. It’s feet dented the compact titanium on which it tred upon, and the stench emanating from it could only be described as the odor of a corpse flower.
Rich, in a silent state of conflicting emotions, couldn’t even blink. Fear struck
deep in his heart when its head turned to Rich, seemingly fixating on him. The thing’s voice was represented by a series of deep, echoing grunts and guttural growls, each noise reminding Rich of the pain of loss and past mistakes. He fell to his knees, body shaking, muscles going limp. He felt the need to move, but his legs wouldn’t budge. His mind began tos shut down and his breaths became more shallow. “I thought… I thought that they were all…” he murmured. A few moments of hushed awe passed, and the abomination didn’t move. He realized why only when more grunts and growls echoed through the tunnels.
Rich turned slowly to find several other beasts, identical to the first, bound in
through the darkness. They turned away from Rich, then communicated in the unknown language for a decent time before turning back to Rich’s general direction.
Then they screamed.
The sound they emitted could only be described as bone-chilling and blood-
curtling. It resounded through the tunnels, and Rich felt himself slip into a panic attack. It sounded like several women and children in intense pain combined with nails on a chalkboard. The intense feeling of bloodlust the things emanated was overpowering and terrifying. They leapt all at once towards Rich. Then everything went black.
Rich awoke, body aching and throbbing, to be in the same place within the
corridors. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head and grabbing the bottle of Ibuprofen he always kept in his coat. His eyes turned to face an underlit section of the containment units, and saw a familiar figure. He tried to reach out to it, but found his legs were chained to the ground.
“I told you, Rich,” the figure bellowed, commanding and intense, “That you
were to never lose Ajuka.”
“But-“ Rich started.
“I don’t wanna hear a damn thing outta you, Rich. You were warned, and now
I’m following through. You’re cut off. You’re. Done.” The mysterious man crossed his arms and seemed to melt into the walls.
Left staring down the corridor with his dreams crushed, legs immobile, and
body sore, Rich was left to contemplate his decisions and, for the first time in his life, began to cry.