Changed: Betrayal, Regret, and Redemption
Chapter 1
AUTHORS NOTE:
IMPORTANT! Please know that this fanfic is based on the game Changed and will contain some spoilers beyond this point. This story takes place after finding the main generator in the game and turning the power on. This story is basically the start of an alternate ending of the hallway scene where Puro either assimilates you or decides to join you on escaping to the outside world. I highly advise either playing the game up to the point where you restore the main power to the building, or watching someone on YouTube play the game. Chances are if you found this you are already very aware of what this game is though. Also, if you came here for a smutty story, I'm sorry to disappoint you. The most you are getting out of this story is some cute moments between Lin and Puro, some fowl language, and maybe a dirty joke or reference here or there.
Now that that information is over, thank you for clicking on this fanfiction! Now be warned, this is my first fanfiction I have ever written, so please feel free to leave any criticism and feedback on how I can improve as I continue the story. That being said, enjoy!
Lin's POV
Our story takes place with you, Lin the protagonist in the main generator room of the building after restoring the power back to the facility. After the rest of the lights in the facility turn on, you read a text that pops up on the generator operating screen that reads "The power system has been in service for *1794* day(s), *1* time(s)"...
...You sit against the machine, arms hugging your knees as you listen to the gentle hum of the generators working at full throttle. The cold tile floor of the small room was doing nothing to help with the cold you were feeling at the moment, being as the only thing you had to keep you warm was a pair of wet shorts, but that was the least of your worries at the moment...
I can't believe it, had it really been five whole years since this all started? you thought to yourself. Your stomach began to tie into knots, as you pondered the fact that there was nothing left for you to escape this building to.
My home, friends, family, nothing about my old life is left. What would I even do if I got out of here? you thought to yourself as tears began to flood your eyes; the crushing weight of reality was too much for you to ignore any longer.
You had thought of this as a possibility for a while, but you had been in denial, hoping you could still return back to your old life, or at the very least find some sort of civilization to return to. Now, the harsh reality was being thrown in your face, finally confirming all the fears you had been trying to push down since you woke up in this nightmare. There was no more false hopes or dreams to focus on anymore, nothing left but the reality of your grim and hopeless situation…
All of these thoughts bounced around in your head, clouding your mind with fear, hopelessness, and overall loneliness. I'm probably the only person left in this world full of ruins and monsters you thought to yourself. All of your determination to leave this deathtrap of a building had now died along with any feelings of hope for your future...
Then, a comforting thought came to you... You still had Puro...
While he may be a black sticky latex monster like many others in this building, he seemed different. He seems to be the only trustworthy thing in this building so far, and it's nice to have some sort of companion. His fascination with books and humans was adorable to you, and you don't know if you could have gotten this far if it wasn't for the help he offered along the way.
He was the closest thing to a friend you had now, and you both shared a common goal, to escape this tower, and explore what's left of the world.
Your mind races back to when you first met Puro earlier that day.
You had just managed to get past that white latex monster who had chased you nearly all over the entire floor of the building. You entered into the small library not knowing what to expect, seeing piles of books scattered all around, along with puddles of white latex. You suddenly saw another one of those black latex monsters like you had seen earlier when getting out of the room you woke up in. It seemed to be just sitting in front of you, not having noticed you yet.
You quickly freeze, remembering that they don't seem to be able to see things if you are standing still. It was then that you noticed this monster was doing something you hadn't seen any others doing before, it was, reading a book?
The creature then looked up at you, and spoke up before you had the time to run out of the door just a few feet behind you.
"..Please don't be afraid of me… I'm not going to assimilate you."
You stood there dumbstruck, wondering if this creature actually just spoke, or if those fruits you ate earlier were getting to you.
"I'm not the same as them," he continued, "please rest assured."
You felt a little more at ease, and told yourself, he probably means no harm, I mean if he wanted to attack you, he could have at any moment. The curiosity of such a creature kept your legs from moving an inch, continuing to listen to what the somehow intelligent monster had to say next.
"...You must have collected the hints I posted on the wall. I know that humans must be very smart and powerful" it says with a smile showing behind it's white mask. "I know it's been hard for you, but thank you for coming here. Take it easy for a while… Do you want to talk?" he asked somewhat nervously. You knew you had to be way more nervous than him at this moment.
You ended up talking to him for a long while, learning that he had named himself Puro. He answered many questions that were now bouncing around in your head, such as "how can you talk"?" or "what can you tell me about the building?"
After much time with the friendly latex monster, he had decided to join you on your little journey, helping you out when things got tough.
Your mind leaves the memory, fading back to your present situation.
"Even if there's nothing for me to return to, if I manage to survive this godforsaken tower, I'll still have that fluffy ball of latex to keep me company" you mumbled to yourself with a weak smile.
With that comforting thought in your mind, you wiped the tears out of your tired eyes as you stood up off of the cold tile floor. "There's only one place to go now, and that's forward" you said trying to fake a little bit of confidence.
You walk up the the industrial metal doors that served as the exit to the generator room; they automatically opened now since the power had officially been restored. As you walk through, the doors close behind you with a squeaky metal sound.
You find yourself in another hallway, like all the ones you had explored before. Boxes here and there, wires hanging from the ceiling, and of course wet puddles scattered across the tile floors, (which worried you still considering all it would take is one loose wire to put a shocking end to your journey).
As you started to walk down the brightly lit hallway, you hear the door behind you open. You turn around, worried what sort of monster you may have to face next, but your fears are quickly put to rest as a familier black masked face pops out from the door.
"Oh, it's just you Puro. You startled me there for a moment" you say with a sigh of relief.
"Yes, sorry about that human, I just wanted to come with you…" he says with a nervous expression plastered on his face, which is a little impressive considering it's covered in a mask.
"Human, can we… wait and talk for a moment?" he ask hesitantly.
You nod your head, happy to listen to whatever was on your new friend's mind.
Puro then began to walk a little closer to you. "I have some words I need to say… I can't go on like this, I have to face it" He says while glancing down at the floor.
You look at him a little confused, tilting your head to the side to add emphasis.
"...Thank you for the company, for the time you spent with me, a lonely monster," he says. "Humans are really interesting and excellent" he exclaims with a smile showing in his eyes.
Your cheeks turn a bit red from the thankfulness and compliments coming from your fuzzy monster friend. You're not sure what brought this up all of a sudden, but you aren't complaining.
He then continues, "Human… this is the furthest I have ever gotten in this building… I was never able to get this far because of my own weaknesses," Puro finally looks up at you and continues talking "I- I have already said I have been waiting on you for a long time. If you are the last human than… If I lose you, I might die tragically in this building… You're my only chance now" he says while staring at you straight in the eyes.
The large latex wolf then starts fidgeting, glancing to the side as he continues the conversation. "All I have is you… and if you continue you might die as well. Even if you do make it outside, the world is completely destroyed! I mean did you see those ruins? You might miss this places environment once you get out…" Puro stops fidgeting and is now staring at your confused face. "Is it not better for human to become my host, with us living together? Instead of you sacrificing yourself?"
With those words, your face turns white in shock of what Puro just said, heart sinking to your stomach like a rock in an ocean of confusion. "What?" You barely squeaked out.
Puro, your only "ally" then starts to continue walking towards you. "Human, I'm sorry… become… my host." he says while staring at you with his cloudy grey eyes.
"Puro no!" you shout at him, mind racing with panic and confusion. You quickly turn around and run to the metal door behind you at the end of the short hall.
You bang on the door with all your might, but it doesn't show any sign of opening. You turn around, panicked as you look at your demise walking closer and closer to you. You desperately look for a way out, when you notice a button on the wall encased with glass next to one of the boxes you hadn't noticed before, with a label reading "!Emergency Floor Evacuation!" on it. You quickly smash your fist against the glass, sending sharp pains all over your hand and arm as the glass shards embed them self into you. "Shit!" You say in a pained whisper.
Both you and Puro simultaneously look up, as the lights go red and an alarm goes off on the entire floor of the tower. The door behind you miraculously opens up, along with the rest of the industrial metal doors on the floor.
You notice that Puro was stunned and confused on what had just happened, and you quickly dash in through the door, holding your arm in pain as you quickly shut the door behind you.
You can barely hear Puro over the alarm, banging on the door, while shouting.
"Human! Open the door! You are my only chance. Please let me assimilate you! I promise it won't hurt."
"Shit" You say in a defeated tone, voice on the verge of cracking. You slowly slide down until you are sitting on the cold floor against the sturdy metal door, grasping your bleeding hand. I- I can't believe this, how could he betray me? Why all of a sudden? He was the only thing in this building, or in the world for that matter that I thought was trustworthy.
You feel stupid. You should have seen this coming. You two are basically predator and prey. You actually thought for a while that maybe things would workout with that latex monster by your side, but you guess you shouldn't have had such high hopes. He's mostly animal after all.
You start to cry, feeling nothing but betrayal and loneliness. You crawl tightly into a ball as the pounding of the door goes on, feeling like the world itself is closing itself on you. "I don't know what to do anymore" you say in a weak whisper.
-Meanwhile-
Dr. K's POV
You are awakened from your afternoon nap in a rather unpleasant way; flashing red lights and an aggravating alarm seems to fill every square inch of the small lab room, ripping you from your comfortable pillow. "What the hell!" You shout angrily and slightly dazed as you sit up on your bed.
You soon realize that the floor evacuation procedure had been triggered somehow. "Who, or what the fuck caused this shit" you say in a low aggravated tone as you walk over to one of the nearby computers.
You quickly close out of the folder full of notes you had taken from earlier this morning, and locate the the procedure protocol on the computer and shut it off, hoping it didn't let anything unpleasant out of the doors that were previously closed.
"Lets see what caused it now…" You say in a low grumbled tone. You locate the security cameras for the floor you're currently on, switching through the last five minutes of footage without seeing anything unordinary.
"Water, sharks, squids, what's this? More water?" You say sarcastically to yourself, when suddenly you come across that human and failed experiment standing in a hallway, seeming to be talking. You fast forward the tape as their conversation is a little longer then you care to wait for, when something unexpected happens.
"It's finally going to attack him?" you say confused and a little shocked. "I mean, it's a miracle it didn't happen already, but what's with the sudden change?" You mumble to yourself. You're relieved to see the human was able to quickly react and trigger the alarm while getting to safety.
Thank god… I need that shrimp for my research. If he died now, I don't know how I would continue my work on finding a cure for the disease, you thought to yourself.
"Well, I guess now is as good of a time as any to get my hands on that test subject…" you say as you prepare things for his capture. You wish you had a little bit more prep time, but you wouldn't have guessed the human would make it all the way here that fast. "Guess having a failed experiment as an ally has its pluses, but from the looks of it, it doesn't exactly work for long."
...You wish you didn't have to go through with this, but the weight of humanity's survival weighs heavily on your shoulders.
You know this human may be your only chance of testing your latest serum for a while to come. You can only hope this time it works, or else all you'll have managed to do was waste yet another human test subject.
-Meanwhile-
Lin's POV
A couple of minutes have gone by, when suddenly, the alarms and lights shut off in the hall, returning the ceiling lights to their white blinding glow. You are relieved at that, and even more relieved once you hear the pounding against the door finally stop.
You sit in silence for a few seconds, letting the weight of what has just happened slowly set in.
Suddenly, you hear the sounds of metal being pried off of something on the other side of the door. You put your ear to the door, and quickly make a realization as you look to your left at the small ventilation shaft.
"He's trying to get in through the other vent!" you say in panic. And just like that, you're barreling down the hallway, almost passing out from standing up so fast, most likely due to all the blood you're currently losing thanks to your injured hand and arm.
You suddenly hear a loud crash behind you, which leads you to turn around.
"Can't a guy catch a break?" you say after seeing that the latex monster has made it through the vent, and is now on hot pursuit.
The hallway quickly opens up into another office space, filled with many boxes in your way. In your panic, you push them over, not caring what contents are spilled out. You can only hope whatever boxes you knock over will give you a little more time getting away from the monster chasing you.
As you continue to push through the many stacked boxes, leaving them to fall behind you as you run, your hand suddenly falls into the top of one.
You feel something sticky in the box and quickly pull it out. '"Oh god! Not now!" You say as you see white slime sticking itself to your one good arm, slowly crawling up your arm. "Get off! GET OFF!" you yell in panic as you continue to run past the boxes while shaking your arm as hard as you can. You can hear Puro hurriedly pass through the mess you left behind you as he knocks down even more stacks of boxes.
You vigorously shake your arm as you continue to try and run away, hitting it against the sides of the hall as you continue to run for your life. You finally managed to get the slime off of you before it was to late by practically rubbing your entire arm all over the wall. You turn around to see that Puro has just gotten through the boxes, and is now looking at you with a face full of irritation with a hint of... sadness? It's always a little hard to tell with the mask.
As you get near the end of the hall, you notice there is only a single door to the left. Praying that it isn't locked, you run into it with full speed.
The door opens easily, sending you flying straight through. You catch yourself on some sort of railing, almost toppling yourself over it.
Upon further inspection, you realize you've made it to a brightly lit fire escape staircase. You're immediate reaction is to start heading down, but you are quickly stopped when you realize the lower staircases are flooded with water. "Damn water leaks!" you say to yourself as you start running up the stairs.
Running up the stairs proves to be a lot more exhausting than you had thought, although the lack of sleep, lack of a proper meal, and the fact that you've been loosing blood this entire time probably wasn't helping your situation much.
You quickly enter the first door you see, being as the staircase was taking away what little energy you had left, not to mention the further up you went, the further you were from getting out of this building.
The door opens up to a similar hallway to the one below you, and the first thing you notice is a pipe laying on the floor next to the door. You quickly shove the pipe between the handles of the door, hoping to keep it locked as long as possible this way.
You then put your ear to the door, and hear the sounds of Puro running up the stairs, probably thinking you had decided to go further up.
"I hope that buys me some time" you say to yourself.
Now that you are no longer in immediate danger, you take a closer look at the hallway you find yourself in. It's a little hard to see everything since most of the lights seem to have burned out over time.
You notice the hall contains three doors to the right, and and single rusted door to the left. The end of the hall seems to have some sort of elevator. "Finally!" you shout with joy, but once you begin to sprint to it, you notice that something had busted the elevator buttons.
"Just my luck!" you say in annoyance.
You then decide it would be smart to see where the four doors go. Maybe one of them will have some sort of way to get to the lower levels of the building?
The first door you walk up too seems to be a simple lab door. You slowly open the door, fearing that yet another human hungry monster may be lurking. To your surprise, it seems to be a well lit room, full of equipment for surgery, or maybe animal dissecting? You look around the room for anything useful, but the room is mostly full of locked cabinets with different tools you have never really seen before.
Your eye then catches a tray on a metal table in the middle of the room. It seems to contain a few tools used for cutting, such as a bone saw, a scalpel, and a few other tools you can't quite name.
"This might be useful" you say to yourself as you pick up the scalpel. You decide to put it into the pocket of your thin pair of shorts, glad that it seems to have a clear plastic cover on it to prevent accidental injuries.
"I guess having some sort of weapon is better than nothing when it comes to these monsters" you say to yourself. Can they even get hurt since they are made out of latex? I guess I'll know when the time is right, you think to yourself with worry.
You decided to leave the room, wanting to check what the other rooms had in store. The next door you noticed was covered in yellow and black striped tape. You look at it worriedly, and are slightly disappointed yet relieved when the doorknob refuses to budge. "It's probably for the better" you mumble to yourself, sensing that there was probably a reason it was taped off.
You then decide to check out the third door. It contains a small rectangular window on the door, which you use to look in before trying to enter.
While the room seems to be dark, you notice that it seems to be some sort of medical bay of some sort. You can see many promising objects, such as a hospital bed, cabinets full of medication, and most importantly a first aid kit on the back of the wall.
You excitedly turn the knob, only to be disappointed as it seems to be locked like the previous room.
"Come on!" you say in an aggravated tone. You kick at the door, knowing that you need to get in there to get your hand and arm cleaned and bandaged. You really don't know how much longer you can deal with your arm in such shape.
You quickly jump back from the door as some sort of sticky white wolf looking monster with no eyes pops out of nowhere and bangs against the small window of the door.
"I guess I woke it up. Probably better I just deal with my injury another time" you say in a defeated tone.
Suddenly, you can hear the staircase door at the end of the hallway getting pounded against.
"Shit!' you say in panic, "He must have checked the other floors already!"
You quickly head for the last door you haven't tried, the rusted metal one on the opposite wall of the others.
The door opens surprisingly easy considering the amount of rust that must have built up on it over the years. As soon as the door opens, you are hit with a wave of sunlight and fresh air.
You quickly walk forward as your eyes start to adjust from the dark hallway to the bright outdoors. You look around and realise that you are on another balcony like the one you had found when you first escaped your room, except this balcony was much larger. Remembering the latex monster that was still trying to burst through the door, you quickly shut the metal door behind you. As you look around, you see nothing but a few dead potted plants and some weathered old boxes.
"Shit, this is a dead end!" you exclaim with panic. You look up and see another balcony similar to the one you were standing on that probably leads to the floor above you, but it's way too high to reach, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of ladder in sight. You then look over the railing to see another larger balcony below you, this one surprisingly covered in grass, plants, and lucky for you, a large tree.
Maybe that could break my fall if I have to jump?
Before you even had time to consider going back and hiding in the room you found the scalpel in, you hear Puro finally manage to break through the staircase door.
"It's now or never," you say nervously as you get ready to jump...
...Lucky for you, the tree was enough the break your fall. Unlucky for you, the tree gave you many cuts and bruises on the way down, including on your already injured arm.
You land roughly on the balcony ground, the thin layer of grass and leaves cushioning your landing a little. You find yourself groaning in pain, not knowing if the tears are from your arm, which is in even more pain then before, or from the madness and hopelessness of your whole situation.
You decide to get up, knowing there isn't any time for moping around.
As you look around, you begin to notice that there wasn't any entrance in site. All that seemed to be on the balcony was green lush plants, which you still didn't know how they were even growing here.
"What the hell?! This doesn't make any sense! Why would there be a balcony with no entrance or exit?" you say, voice getting more and more panicked. You look over the edge of the balcony, only to see nothing but an extremely long fall to the ground.
"There's got to be something" you say as you start hitting the wall of the building with your one good fist, not daring to use the one that was still sending pulses of pain through your arm like needles. When you get to the right side of the wall, you notice it sounds hollow in one spot. Upon closer inspection, you see a rectangular outline on the wall, realizing it's some sort of door.
"I knew it! you exclaimed, a little bit of hope returning to you.
You continue to hit the wall repeatedly, and when that fails, you try your best to pry the door open with your finger nails. "Shit!" you say panicked, "It must only open from the other side!"
It was at that moment you heard something open up on the opposite end of the balcony wall. You quickly got up and saw that a wall, or door disguised as a wall had open up on the opposite side from the hidden door you were trying to get into.
"Get over here kid, that thing will be here any minute!" you heard coming from the door.
"Oh thank god!" you sigh in relief, knowing that not only are you saved, but that you may not be the only human here after all. As you get up, you hear the door on the balcony above you crash open. Looking up, you see Puro on the edge of the railing, seeing his expression quickly go anger to worry.
You didn't have time to ponder on his change in expression as you quickly run into the wall opening. The opening shutting behind you immediately upon entering.
As soon as the door shuts, you see that you are in another small lab, much like the labs you had seen before, except this one looked a little bit more, lived in I guess you could say?
Standing in front of you was a what looked like one of those white latex monsters, but this one was different. He seemed to be a wolf with red eyes, wearing a lab coat and a gas mask.
You stare blankly, not having seen another creature except for Puro talk, let alone wearing clothes.
"What? Were you expecting someone else?" The furry creature says with a smirk on his face
You sensed that you were not in a good situation, and noticed a pair of yellow gardening pliers on the table to your left. Before you can even think about grabbing them for protection, your legs start to go numb. The room around you gets darker and darker, and you fall to the floor.
"I guess the blood loss is finally getting to you," is the last thing you hear before passing out.
End Chapter 1
AUTHORS NOTE:
Thank you for reading! Like I said, before, this is my first fanfiction I have ever written. Please feel free to let me know what you think about the game! I don't plan on making this story much longer then maybe four chapters, but I guess that depends on what people think of the story. I'll try my best to start working on the next part as soon as possible, and I'll try even harder to get it done sooner if I notice there is a large amount of readers waiting for an update. If you want to be notified on when the story updates, make sure to favorite it! That's all for now I guess.