Warning: this story contains gore and body horror midway and this is pretty much what my first fic is about. It gets really disgusting and disturbing from there. I swear I didn't mean it to turn out like this XD but you know… one thing leads to another.

You're not from the faint of heart?

You're up to the challenge?

Then by all means, read on!

P.S. the events took place in the modern AU but everything is basically the same. Also the Trost branch is the third military branch instead of the garrison so don't mistake it for a district.

P.P.S. in my headcanon, males and females are physically similar. So when I mention the breasts of a female character, I refer to the pectorals guys have, not those disgusting sacs of blubber. You'll see what I mean in the middle of the story.

P.P.P.S. crossover mentions from other animes like digimon, strike the blood, fullmetal alchemist and uma musume pretty derpy. they are not very relevant anyway so don't let them confuse you. if you're feeling curious to who they are, just google them.

"Nanaba, get over here".

I heard Commander Hanji's deep and authoritative voice calling for me from the other side of the barrack's resting room we're currently settling in. we've been to a lot of quests lately when we're not out on our monthly expeditions and now everyone is as lazy as a group of sea lions on the beach. Mikasa, Yaze and some of the others must still be asleep in their dorms. While the kids here are either face-to-face with their phone screens or just lay around staring at the ceiling. Hmph. Teenagers…

Anyway, I went over to see what the higher-up lady wanted when I almost tripped over Marcus's sprawled out feet. Damn it, brat! Ugh, great. I'm starting to sound like Levi. Speak of the devil (literally) he's over there wearing, as usual, his infamous resting bitch face, which could earn him the title of the new Grumpy Cat meme if this goes on.
When I finally made it to Hanji after passing by the group of these lazy penguins, she handed me a report about an abandoned factory located slightly far from here.

"no suspicious events or sightings so far in that factory", she started. "no suspicious events or sightings so far in that factory", she started "Titan Squad saw it on their way home and they request we do an investigation on their behalf in case something is wrong with the area. And since we're the closest to it's location, we're the ones for the job". I read over the report she must've received from those guys. Yes, she's the only one who can read Genos's weird ass report like an exorcist handling a talisman. And by read, I meant trying to decipher all these graphs, bizarre drawings and ancient sympols before me. What the hell, man?

The only thing I managed to understand though, was the picture. It shows a rundown building that looked like it hasn't seen a single person inside it for decades. It looked relatively intact despite the huge cracks on the wall, broken windows, and missing batches of paint. Yup, looks abandoned indeed. The doors are even missing their handles. Classic. And apparently it's my job to go and check out that ghost hideout. Sounds easy enough.

I wonder of one of those kids felt like doing something useful, because I'd get bored too if I kept staring at that ceiling.

"anyone coming with me?" I announced. And frankly, I didn't know what to expect. Because all I have received in return was a chorus of whines and complaints and all that kiddie drama. Even Edward waved shakily at me in dismissal from his sea star position on the couch even though his arm is made of metal. Like, who is he trying to fool? Like I said, drama~

Even Levi didn't give two craps about giving a proper response and proceeded to read that Percy Jackson novel he had borrowed from Gen, all the while sipping from that blasted cup of tea. I swear, it's always tea with that guy. I rarely see him ingest anything other than tea. To the point that I'd sometimes think that tea is his primary meal and the rest of the normal human food articles are just snacks to him.

And frankly, I don't blame anyone for not wanting to come along. Like I said, we've been up to a lot of shenanigans in the last couple of weeks that it's only natural that they'd feel like not doing anything anymore. Even if it means staring at the ceiling… I don't even want to take Erwin, my Gryphonmon with me. Big guy is still sleeping at the corner and doesn't look like he'll open his eyes soon. Our poor digimon and pokemon companions have done a lot lately. Even Jaeger, Levi's Gegadramon, still has a crack on his metallic helmet from that last fight with that S-level bird monster. They truly deserve their break.

I waved my goodbyes to Hanji and went out the barracks and over to the front yard where the stables are located. I pulled out my dabble grey mare, Sierra out of her stall. She followed me outside while waving around her long thick black tail that I like to tie up with ribbons sometimes. I gave her a pat on her neck and started to prepare her for the trip coming along.

"let's go on an adventure, Serry, just you and me" I murmured while sliding the bridle alongside her nuzzle and over her head. Then swung the saddle over her back. Made sure it's properly attached and in place. Jumped on top of her and off we went.

Not even five minutes into cantering across the wide general yard and I had stumbled across Gelgar from the Trost branch. Wonderful, I haven't even been out of the military property yet and I find another fool in this early hour of the morning. Apparently I must have looked so welcoming to having a conversation with cuz he approached me on his horse with that clown-like grin on his face. I didn't bother stopping my horse and just eyed him sideways. He slowed to my pace and rode next to me looking awfully eager at 8 am in the morning.

"early bird?" that's the question he decided to toss my way. I don't have anything against him. I just don't feel very comfortable with the guy. Especially since Kiriha kept telling me that he is having a crush on me which is ridiculous since we barely see each other. but I guess I should take what she says to heart since that girl is as sly as a fox and has an eye for these sorts of things. especially with the way he smiles like The Joker whenever he sees me and calls me "babe" and puts his arm around my shoulders like we're best friends or something. No, scratch that, what he does is completely out of the friend zone.

"yes. I'm heading over to a certain place under an investigation command" I decided to grace him with an answer putting on my professional tone.

"would you mind some company?" ok, should I refuse? He might try something stupid and it's just too early for bullshit. Then again, if he tries anything, I'll be sure to twist him into a pretzel and that should be enough of a message to get through his thick head that I'm not interested.

"do what you want, but I'm not waiting for anyone"

"don't you worry. I don't like to keep a hot chick waiting~~"

Sooo, should I have said no?

We galloped across the road heading over to that shitheap of a factory. I assumed my galloping position on my horse with Gelgar speeding right behind me. I must be giving that dickhead a nice view from where I am. Yeah, that's right, douchebag. Keep staring at that ass. It's probably the reason why you wanted to tag along in the first place. I wanted to see if my doubts were correct, so I took a quick look behind me and, once I did, he quickly looked the other way. Suspicious much? i thought about giving it another try to confirm my doubts cuz, who knows? I could be wrong. So I kept staring ahead for the next few seconds, then looked back at him again, and sure enough, he looked the other way again. I decided to give it one last try, and when I looked behind my shoulder this time, he pretended to scratch his neck looking oh so innocent. Am I joke to you? His fingers weren't even touching his neck. So, like I said: am I fucking joke to you? And at this point, I didn't even care whether it was a coincidence or not, I have a job to do and having some asshole with a hopeless crush on me stare me down aien't gonna stop me. I just wanna get this over with, go home, drink tea with Levi, sit down and stare at the ceiling.

After what felt like forever, we finally reached our destination. I dismounted my horse and took a few steps towards the building. my ass must feel like a lazer has been shot right through it from having a certain monkey stare at it so much. then again, his stares are harmless. He can jerk off to twisted thoughts of me for all I care. As long as he keeps his damn distance, trouble is spared for the both of us. And if he does try something, like I said, his balls are goners.

Moving on then, I walked through the handle-less doors without wasting time looking at the building from the outside. I've already seen the picture so I might as well spare the unnecessary details.

Taking a few more steps inside, with Gelgar right behind me (too close for comfort) we found ourselves walking in a wide corridor. At the end, we found a double door that actually has handles on it! Horray!

The minute I walked through the door and I knew something feels... off. no, it's not Gelgar's morning breath on my neck, it's something else. Elbowing the asshole in the gut forcing an "Omph" out of him to keep his Goddamn distance, I kept my eyes wondering around the area. Is this really a factory? Far as I know, the Titans never entered the place. How could they tell it was a factory? The building from the outside didn't give off the factory vibe and it sure as hell doesn't look like it from the inside. there were hooks hanging from all over the ceiling. There was even one with half an animal hanging from it and the smell is not something you'd want to try. And there were pieces of rotten meat and dried out blood blotches on the floor. Lord knows who all these pieces of flesh belonged to. Some of them could belong to a human for all I know. There were reports of monster attacks and, trust me, these were not pretty.
Speaking of pretty, the other side of the room had a huge meat grinder that's stuffed with remains of meat and.. is that a hoof I see sticking out of it? Are they tossing the animals whole inside or something?
Anyway, it doesn't need a rocket scientist to tell what this place is.
This is not a factory.
It's a butchery.
Hanji will be so proud…

Alas, if only I had someone more reliable to share the info with. we could be discussing the possible history of this place for all I know. But what can I say? All I have for company is just a guy with a ridiculous pompadour hairdo who only wants into my pants. And I assure you, if I tried to get something useful out of him, I'll receive shit like "this place is not as old as how I feel for you, Hotness~ wink wink". Yeah.. so unimpressed. I don't even know what he'd say if I commented on the blood on the floor.
So instead of torturing myself with more thoughts of this drivel, I walked across the room to the far end of the gore splattered hall, all the way heading to another double door that looked sturdy. the freezer, I suppose?

Sure enough, when I pushed the door open, I was greeted with the sight of countless slaughtered pigs and cows all hanging from the ceiling by hooks. Their abdomens were sliced open all the way from between their hind legs to their throats. Their guts were left sprawled everywhere on the floor. But the sight itself was not the issue at hand. From what it seems, the freezer have been left nonfunctional all this time, and when an unlucky fool such as myself opens the door for the first time in who knows how long, the odor rushes outside like a volcano eruption. Uugghh I think my eyes are starting to tear! Oh Sweet Lord! The aroma is just fantastic! I quickly shut the fucking door with enough force to almost cause a small earthquake before I start vomiting out my ears. It didn't take me a lot of time though to compose myself. And that's good cuz the last thing I need is having Gelgar see me in this condition and tries to play hero. Speaking of which…

"hey, Nanny! There's nothing wrong with this place and it stinks! Can we go now?" I scoffed and decided to ignore him. You choose to come along, then you get to be patient. And if you wanna get your ass out, the door is right over there. his absence won't hurt my performance whatsoever.
I saw a flight of stairs nearby the door that led to that room from Hell. I carefully took the first step and it slightly creaked under my weight, it didn't seem too dangerous though. I tried shaking the railing to test how sturdy it was. Once I deemed it safe enough to climb, I made my way over to the upper level, which is just a long narrow catwalk that gives me a better view from up here. From my place, I could see Gelgar poking at a piece of meat with his shoe. Just what's the point of what he's doing? What does he expect to find underneath it, a quarter? See the level of intelligence I'm dealing with?

I went to look at the other side of the catwalk when I heard something like a machine coming back to life. When I turned around to see what that was, I saw Gelgar sitting crouched near the meat grinder. So this place still has electricity. Huh..

"hey look! It's working!" he yelled from down there over the whirring sound of the death machine. He definitely deserved an eyeroll for this. I can see that, genius.
I was busy surveying the area from my spot up there when.. is this the sound of doors opening? Me and Gelgar turned our heads at the same time to the source of the sound, before I could even think up a bunch of countless possibilities, a fellow female soldier had walked through the door. I recognized her instantly; she was from the Trost branch, too. Sometimes we'd talk whenever we see each other whether on the field or at the barracks. I'm not very interested in forming a strong friendship with her, but she remains a good acquaintance and makes for a better company than You Know Who. Not exactly a good fighter and awfully shy. She can't salute a superior officer without shaking or stuttering. What she is doing here is beyond me. Then again, she's a soldier. Shy or not, you carry on with what you must do.

She timidly walked through the doors as if afraid she'd a find ghost waiting for her or something. But nope, this is something worse than a ghost: it's Gelgar. i saw him taking a few steps towards her and she seemed relieved to see him. They talked for a while and then she looked around for a bit until her eyes fell on me. She waved at me from her spot on the lower level.

"hi, Nanaba!" she hollered.

"hey, Lucy". i finally had her drop the honorifics. just because i'm higher ranking than her doesn't mean she has to get formal around me seeing as i'm not her superior. the girl sometimes can be too polite for her own good owing to her submissive nature

I waved back murmuring my reply. That's when I decided that I've spent enough time on the catwalk so I went to the top of the stairs. As I was descending the steps, she was already running towards me with a weak smile looking as scared as ever with a reason or not, let alone standing in the middle of a butchery full of dead animal (and maybe human) remains. But no need to tell her about that last part, yes?

"what are you doing here?" I asked her the very cliché and predictable question one would normally ask in a situation like this, feeling awfully curious. Who wouldn't be? was she sent here too by her superiors?

"Gelgar texted me and sent me the location on the GPS. I was actually nearby taking my morning walk with my horse when he told me what you guys were up to".

Can't say I'm surprised. Gelgar is the type of guy who'd be rude enough to invite friends over to a house that doesn't belong to him. Technically, he didn't do anything wrong. It's not uncommon for fellow soldiers to ask for backup during a small investigation like this even if they weren't the ones the mission is assigned to. I'm just giving you a general idea of who I'm dealing with. Though something is telling me he called her for reasons other than backup. He could've asked her to come over to entertain him for all I know. You can never tell with that guy.

I nodded my head knowingly pursing my lips as I absorbed what she said. Since this topic didn't have anything to dwell on anymore, I switched over to the main one at hand. I decided to leave these two to themselves. I don't know what Gelgar feels about Lucy; whether he thinks of her as a friend or another potential fuck object. Needless to say, if he tries to make a move on her without her solid consent, I'll toss him in the meat grinder. Problem solved. with the thought confirmed in my mind, I turned my attention over to my surroundings.

There's a reason to believe that this place hasn't been managed by normal people previously, or maybe it had but then something happened to change that. Why, you might ask? Well, Because the evidence is everywhere: the remains of meat and blood on the floor. the abandoned butchered animals. I mean, if this place wasn't deserted on such a short notice, why would they leave their work behind? Something must have forced them to go. You don't just leave these animals "hanging" (get it?). and I may not be an expert on animal butchery, but you don't toss them in the meat grinder without cutting them up properly. The hoof I saw earlier in the meat grinder still unnerved me. Which, speaking of, is gone by the way. When dildo head turned the machine on, it swallowed everything inside it, taking the severed appendage with it.

So here's my theory:
the previous owners of this place could have been normal humans. But an attack might have occurred, say a fiend attack for instance, and all hell broke loose. This could also mean that the animals weren't the only ones being slaughtered here. I could be standing on what's left of someone's hand for all I know. And not necessarily a fiend or those weird monsters, this place might've been operated by one of those zombified fellows who could be feeding from those animals. This should also explain the disorganization and all that gore being haphazardly thrown everywhere.

If Levi sees this mess, he'll start shitting bricks. His reactions could range between "what the fuck is this shitty mess?" and "tch, filthy…" I could imagine him tiptoeing between the blotches of blood on the floor so as not to dirty his squeaky clean boots, all the while blocking his nose with a handkerchief. I wonder what he's doing? What's everyone doing? Are they thinking about me right now or are they still in a staring contest with the ceiling? And before I left the barracks, I remember seeing Kojou and Aero playing a game of footsies under the table while having their breakfast, now it feels like forever since I have last seen them. That's when I realized how much I have started to miss home and everyone. It's one of these moments when you leave your house for a few hours, but when so many things happen in such a short time span, you feel like you've been away for days and everything you have seen before that feels like a distant dream.

"… that's when I screamed at Thomas 'who drank my last bottle of vodka?'" aaaand the moment is ruined. i don't even need to turn around to know that Gelgar must be mouthing off to Lucy about one of his legends. I'm tellin' ya, that guy can't hold his liquor yet stupidly protective over it. one time before I joined the scouts, I was holed up in a room with Gelgar and some of the other Trost soldiers taking a break in one of the checkpoints during one of our missions. When Gelgar took the bottle out of his bag and discovered that it was empty, he got apeshit and threw the bottle to the wall and it got smashed to bits. One of the tiny glass shards even got into someone's eye. Bastard got so angry he kept screaming and yelling and "demanded to find the culprit". It took a while for everyone to calm him down and send the other poor guy over to the infirmary to have his eye checked. And that's when the fun part comes in: Gelgar was the one who finished the bottle but was too drunk to remember… ok, I'll leave you a moment to facepalm and/or shake your head. I know, This amount of idiocy is so hard to comprehend that it actually takes a while to take in. and my opinion? Drunk or not, the IQ of that guy will always remain questionable. So it doesn't really make a difference when he starts on one of his "WHY IS RUM GONE!" scenes of his.

So before I allow myself to get further distracted with more condescending thoughts of that drunkard wannabe, I stepped deeper into the place and spotted a door that I haven't noticed before. It was located right under the staircase that I had climbed a while ago and, naturally, it had huge spots of dried up blood on it. See where I'm coming from when I say that this place is insane?

And what do I do on an investigation mission when I see something like this? Investigate it of course! I jogged over to the door, but before I placed my hand on the handle, I heard voices behind it. It sounded like someone.. grunting or making weird gurgling noises. I almost spit my heart outta my mouth. I was entirely taken aback by what I'm hearing. not because it freaked me out, but because I was entirely under the notion that no one was here. So it completely took me by surprise that I'd stumble across another person here, let alone one who makes noises like these.

Which is all the reason why I should be careful. These voices seemed familiar and not the good type. I carefully opened the door, and silently pushed it open, it was a small room full of… oh… Good God Almighty… are these...

But my horrified thoughts were cut off by chewing and crunching sounds coming from the far right corner of the room, and that's when I saw the source of that noise. It was someone crouched down on the floor with his back facing me and seemed to be eating something. I instantly knew what was coming. When the fucker turned his head to look at me, he dropped what he had been eating, stood up and turned in my direction growling at me with a foamy mouth and angry bloodshot eyes like a rabid dog. With stiff muscles and creaky joints, He launched himself at me while flailing his arms in his murderous attempt to get me. Exactly two seconds later, the fucker had a knife stabbed at his head and right through his brain, ultimately leading to instant death. I still had my hand wrapped around my knife as I took an uninvited look at his still open mouth up-close and personal. His mouth was surrounded by a thick layer of blood and saliva, and I could see tiny pieces of rotten meat stuck between his teeth, totally not like the average person who has a piece of spinach stuck instead. And what's worse that he hadn't bothered to swallow what was inside his mouth, so the chewed up meat was still there waiting for it's turn to be swallowed which will sadly never happen. the bastard's eyes became dilated and his entire body went limb, telltale signs of his demise. So I forced my knife out of his skull emitting a "squelch" noise out of it, and left him to drop lifelessly to the floor. that's when I finally took a good look at what he had been feasting on.

It was a human head, or what's left of it. it was split unevenly in half (we all know where the other half is) and I could detect parts of brain leftovers and the other eye that was staring into nothing. The lower jaw was more or less intact but the tongue was missing. There was dry curly hair sticking out from the other uneaten half and the decayed condition of the head made it look and feel like steel wool pad.

And the rest of the people in the room didn't face a better fate. You heard me. I said "people". Cuz that's what's been hanging from the hooks this time. When I said that the animals weren't the only victims here, I didn't expect things to reach this level of gruesome. and this is one of the times when you hate being right.
They were naked and their bodies weren't treated in the nicest of ways. some of them were hanging from hooks that went right through their ankles, some took it through the neck, some were hanging from the skin of their backs, Some of them were sliced open like those pigs and cows from that useless freezer, some were missing pieces of arms, legs, fingers, lower jaw, genitals, even one of them had a huge chunk of his left side missing, you could see his ribs and intestines poking out.
Even this unfortunate guy who was hanging upside down had this junk removed and what's left between his legs is a bloody opening where his business used to be. And a poor woman whose breasts were sliced clean off. Another had their head chopped off and I couldn't have told if this was a man or a woman if I hadn't taken a look at their groin.

It was a girl who must have been a few months pregnant when the attack took place but the stress and horror and perhaps getting subjected to violent assault must have made her miscarry, and now, her half developed child got stuck halfway in the birth canal. Well, that uterus won't serve its purpose anymore. I wonder if she was the owner of that head? Well, it's kind of hard to tell since that Zombie did a number on it, it became unrecognizable.
Strangely enough, when you see a butchered cow, a piece of cooked ham, or when you see a dear's head hanging on top of the fire wall like you see in those movies, it doesn't bother you one bit (unless you were being sentient with that animal but that's not the point). If a human is involved, however, and I mean cutting him into pieces to be cooked and ready to serve, that's when your head gets filled of all these morbid thoughts "this is such a horrible death" "nothing is left of him" "who knew he'd have died like this" "what a terrible way to go" "what kind of a person that poor guy was?" "what was his life like?". Cuz this is exactly the kind of mental turmoil I'm having right now. Don't worry, I'm not losing my mind or anything. I'm no stranger to death and I have seen a shitton of corpses in my line of job. I'm just… feeling sorry for them, you know?

I approached that guy who was hanging from his neck, mandible missing, tongue hanging out, eyes looking as lively as his condition. What was his name? how old was he? What was he like? What about his friends or family? I could've gotten emotional had it been someone I know.
Imagine yourself on the day you were born, all the way through your childhood until you become an adult, all these days are spent normally with no one having anyway of knowing how these days were going to end. Not from a disease, a car accident, or old age, but by becoming someone's kill to have for the three meals.
Imagine yourself getting up from bed for what seems to be the last time to get ready for work, everything fine and dandy, the day goes on with you working in peace and perhaps laughing with your colleagues. Then before you know it, you get assaulted by bloodlust raged zombies and you find yourself hanging from a hook missing your clothes and body parts. And whoever is waiting for you at home; parents, siblings, a mate or even your pet dog, haven't the slightest idea of what has become of you. this goes to show that you can never tell which day is going to be your last and how it will end. And when that day arrives, it doesn't show it until it's too late. Your fate is sealed the second you come out to life, and when that happens, the countdown begins.

"Nanaba! Where did you go?" I snapped out of my grim daze when I heard Lucy calling for me. This is bad. I can't let her set foot inside and see what I'm seeing. the girl gets squeamish if she so much as sees someone picking their nose, let alone a group of dead bodies with their insides exposed. But not the Levi type of squeamish. He gets easily disgusted, yes, but remains composed nonetheless with that unamused expression of his. And he sure as hell isn't fazed by the sight of death. I'm talking about the type when you literally can't stomach it anymore and rush to the nearest toilet to kiss your lunch goodbye. But Lucy's condition is.. worrisome to say the least. She's a soldier but doesn't act like one. She has little to no fighting experience and her performance in the field is badly limited. Even during training, she's a total klutz. How she made it to the military is beyond the comprehension ability of any psychic, but if someone like her witnesses this sight beforehand, they'll be practically paralyzed and spend their days on a wheel chair. I know I might be exaggerating but this is how freaked out Lucy is going to be.

"Nanaba?" oh shit! Her voice and footsteps are getting closer. I hurried out the room and shut the door behind me at a speed unmatched by Hermes himself. Can't risk having this poor thing going through therapy. That's right, spare her the mental shock, Nobody needs that. Dammit, Gelgar. why did you have to bring her? I'm surprised she actually stayed here so far in the middle of all this carnage.

I saw her hurrying in my direction with Gelgar not far behind her. I must be sweating buckets cuz they both looked at me like I was hiding a dirty little secret, which's not far from the truth to be honest. I felt like a kid hiding his porn magazines from his parents, which shows how vulnerable I had felt this moment.

"what were you doing in there?" Gelgar asked me, looking suspicious and awfully eager to hear what I have to say.

"um, investigating?" nice one, Nanaba! I should pat myself on the shoulder later for coming up with such a marvelous revelation.

"we know that, silly!" giggled Lucy while Gelgar rolled his eyes "we just wanted to know if you have found something in this room". Oh I have found something, alright. Something that'd be better off for you to not know.

"Nothing of concern. move on" I tried pushing these two away while acting as natural as possible. One stutter or a slip-up and they might suspect I'm hiding something, and it'll just encourage them further to barge into the room only to be met with a wonderful sight that's worthy of a horror film prize. Somehow, I managed to persuade these two that they shouldn't waste their time – and sanity – on investigating a room I have already finished with myself. luckily, they didn't resist cuz the more they do, the more I'll persist on not letting them in. and the more I persist, the more peculiar my behavior would sound. And we don't need things to get more complicated.

Once we were far enough, I scanned the place one last time to make sure I didn't miss anything while dwelling on what I have discovered so far. I have already confirmed that this place is definitely not normal. Judging from how things went and seemed, there's a possibility that this abandoned slaughter house may or may not be a Zombie/fiend hideout. but if so then where are the rest? Don't tell me this could be a trap… they must've seen us coming through the windows and - ok, don't panic. I have already looked around and made sure the coast is clear. There's no way they could make themselves invisible like this. I mean, where could they be hiding anyway? between the floor tiles? Inside Gelgar's pants? Then there's the possibility that they're outside wreaking havoc somewhere and we're standing in the middle of their lair unarmed. Even my knife and CQC moves won't help much against a horde of those guys.

I've decided that enough is enough. the blood, the corpses, and the Zombie I found all gather to reveal that this place is batshit crazy and isn't afraid to show it. I thought of calling Hanji and tell her the great news, but I decided to wait till I've gotten home first and give her an oral report over a nice cup of tea. And then we'll see what measures she'll undertake next. But right now, we could be in terrible danger just by staying here.

Before I even moved a muscle to make my next move, I heard a scream that you can only hear in your nightmares.
I could already tell what happened even without looking behind me. But I did turn around to spot Gelgar and Lucy standing at the entrance to the room that had the human corpses in it. and since Gelgar was the one at the front, he must've been the one to have opened the door. and the two of them got an eyeful of what was waiting for them inside.

Gelgar, you wanker!

After the two poor souls have gotten their fill of what's in there, they hurried in my direction bawling their eyes off. Well, Lucy did at least. I didn't exactly look at Gelgar since I was more concerned about Lucy, whose nerves seem to be in shambles. I tried to take a look at Gelgar as well. Despite my dislike for the guy, that doesn't mean I wouldn't be concerned for his wellbeing in case things get serious. And today seemed to be one of those cases.

But before I could do anything, they pushed passed me trying to reach for the door. I ran behind them trying to stop them. I can't just leave them to panic like that. I know that there is no means of comfort in the world that could help them feel better in the meantime, but the least I could do was to calm them down a bit so they'd be well enough to ride their way home. At least, that was my plan, but it was interrupted in the most heinous way possible. nothing could've prepared me for what happened next.
Before I could reach for their shoulders, the whoreson pushed Lucy out the way screaming "out the way, bitch!" while bolting for the door leaving the girl to fall into the meat grinder which, by the way, was still up and running.

What happened next was unspeakable; she instinctively reached out and got ahold of my arm, promptly pulling me down with her. My mind went blank as I felt gallons of hot sticky blood being splattered on my face, my hair, and my clothes. Basically, my entire front view has been covered by the blood of my own comrade. I could barely register Gelgar's screams in the background. And that's not the end of it, I was unwillingly following her into this death hole. I saw my hand disappear amongst all the blood and guts flying everywhere, I could feel the skin on my hand getting torn to shreds, but I managed to free it at the last second before it sustained further damage, since the one who has been getting ahold of it was disappearing into oblivion.

I took a few steps back, watching the horrible scene unravel before me, with nothing to do but to struggle to stand on shaky legs. I kept backing away while the meat grinder was busy finishing up it's meal. Lucy's body going down and down with her legs sporadically shaking with the force of the machine swallowing her further into nothingness. The sickening sounds of bones being crushed, flesh being shredded, clothes being torn and blood being splattered with loud splashes on the floor didn't help the situation.

Too shocked to believe what's been happening, I couldn't take it anymore and fell on my ass on the blood-caked floor. When I turned my head towards the door, I saw it still swinging on it's hinges and Gelgar's footsteps fading away into the distance. That piece of shit… that piece of shit… too eager to flee at the nearest chance, huh? Heck, even the dust he left in his wake didn't have time to settle down before he entirely fled the scene like the motherfucking pussy he is.
I've said before that I don't have anything against him. But now? Now I haven't held a grudge against someone like this very moment. He can go back and drown his fucking sorrows in his vodka for all I give a damn. The next time I see him, he's dead to me…

But this was not the time to start planning his demise. Apparently, the machine has had it's fill, or more accurately, short-circuited. Smoke started coming out of it while the whirring sound gradually toned down. Once it had completely turned off, i mustered up the strength to get up and take a few steps closer to inspect the chaos, sobbing and sniffing and shaking all the while. I guess an old piece of machinery like this couldn't handle a whole human body inside it, but it was more than strong enough to do some lethal damage.

Lucy…
Oh my God..

Her body went stuck halfway through, now you can see her legs sticking outside at abnormal angles. Her hip bones must have been crushed to give off that weird position. Everything in her upper half is gone for that matter. Speaking of which, I walked over to the other side of the machine still holding my injured hand to see, to my dismay, her remains jutting outside from the opening. ground up flesh, bones, hair and clothes could be seen squeezing their way out. I even managed to detect the broken bits and pieces of that necklace she used to wear. And if i hadn't broken free, who knows what could have been left of me?

I've seen lots of people die horrible deaths before. May they be soldiers from our military formation or another, fighters from another affiliation, the enemies themselves or even normal civilians whose luck made them have a run-in with an angry B-level fiend. they were either split in half, degutted, beheaded, got their bones and insides completely crushed, or get devoured altogether. But none of them even begin to compare to this one particular death I just witnessed, and it just so happens to be a friend..

Not being able to take this anymore, I've finally reached my limit and broke down on my knees with my bloody hands clutching at my hair in agony. Traumatized by my friend's terrifying death. Traumatized by my near death experience. I could feel my tears, snot and sweat mixing in with the blood on my face and body turning me into more of a mess than I already was. The hand that I almost lost to the machine hurt like a bitch, but I couldn't give a damn at this point.

Then I felt a wave of exhaustion pouring over me like the Tsunami. That's when I realized how exhausted I was. Come to think of it, ever since that series of missions we've been undertaking in the past few weeks were finally over and I haven't taken a proper rest, and with what had happened lately, it all started to take a toll on my body. This is not good. I have to bail outta here. the longer I stay here next to the mangled remains of my former comrade, the more I'm most likely risking my sanity and safety. with my defenseless position, I could end up like one of those victims.

"Hurry" I told myself. I quickly got up feeling dizzy and sick. and if I had had anything for breakfast, I could've lost it right then and there. But all I did was gagging and coughing and spitting out some unwanted saliva and bile. I must have even had some of Lucy's blood go into my mouth if the metallic taste was anything to go by.
But I still forced my way to the doors, pushed them open with my shoulder since I was busy holding my almost shredded hand, and went out to the wide corridor. But there was only so much distance you could cover in a condition like mine. Leaning with my shoulder against the wall, I slid myself to the floor again feeling like I was gonna faint, which doesn't sound so bad actually. But instead, I was wide awake sitting alone against the wall at the entrance of a damned butchery, bloodied and tired, scared for my life, crying my ass off.

If I were in a mentally better condition, I could've called someone to come and get me. But I was too out of it to think of something reasonable. all I had were these depressed thoughts coming at me one after the other..
The investigation is over…
This is just a fucking butchery most likely rundown by Zombies…
Mission accomplished…
I'm sitting here losing my mind near the entrance of what seems to be my friend's grave…
Job is done…
I hope you'll be satisfied, Hanji…
Mystery is solved…
But at what price?