"Yes, sir. It seems the variant has killed the others in this room. Still, no sign of the target. . . . Yes, sir. I'll continue-"

"Hey. That really hurt you know." At least I got my payback. His body was a lot harder than most of the bastards I've killed so far. His beating heart felt nice in my hand, though. So soft and warm, and the beating was actually a bit therapeutic.

Hm? Clink? Clink, clink, clink? Something falling from me? Metal? Wonder where that came from. They were kinda small. Shiny, too. Wonder why they were falling from me.

"Corporal, come in. What is your status?"

That box is talking.

"Corporal Briggs, do you copy?"

How is this box talking? It feels kinda heavy. Pretty thick, too. "Hello?"

"Who is this?"

"Name's Nobody. How are you talking, little box?"

"Shit, a variant."

"What's a variant? . . . Hello?" Hm, it stopped talking. Well, it doesn't need to be intact anymore. Heh, crushing it in my bare hands was oddly satisfying. Now, let's find a way out of here, shall we? Hm? I kicked something. That weird stick. . . . Might as well take it.

Has a bit of weight to it. If I remember, that guy pulled this thing to make it roar.

"Variant at twelve o' clock!"

"Hm?" Two of them.

"Open fire!"

They have those sticks, too. They're just as loud as mine. Ow, and they hurt just as much.

"What the fuck?!"

"He's not going down!"

"Guess it's my turn." Using one arm to fire this thing is really easy. Why don't they do it? Kinda tickles, the way it shakes after it roars. Hm? Now it's just clicking. Is it empty? Well, I can still smash with it. Can't use it on those two, since they're now dead on the ground. Ooh, look at them bleed. What a beautiful sight.

"Shots fired! Beta Team on the way to investigate!"

Now I get to prove that these sticks can be used to smash.

I can hear footsteps on the other side of that corner. A well-placed swing right about now should do it. Ooh, nice crunch. Look at all the blood spewing out. Beautiful.

"CAPTAIN!"

There was a nice squelching sound when I ripped out the stick. That thud was also satisfying. Now, who's left? Hm, looks like there's about five.

"Open fire! OPEN FIRE!"

Ow. Ow. Ow. This is starting to get annoying.

"What the fuck?! I unloaded a whole clip into that freak!"

"What the fuck is that thing?!"

"Grenade!"

A rock? It was easy to catch it, so why would they throw it? Hey, it kinda looks like a pine-co-

"Cutting it a little close, eh, Jesse?"

"Sorry. I panicked."

"I can't blame you. That had to be the freakiest variant yet."

"I can't believe he was still standing after all that."

"Well, you're dead now, aren't ya, asshole."

Why are my eyes closed? "Mm?" That's better.

"THE FUCK?!"

Ah, one of them is standing over me. Oh, and I've still got my stick. And now I don't. Stuck it too deep into the guy's stomach, and I can't take it out now. It's too slippery now.

"SHAWN!"

"Y-You bastard!"

Ow! Headache! Now it feels like my entire body is being bitten by bugs. What an annoying feeling.

"Brandon! BRANDON! CEASE FIRE!"

"It killed the captain and Shawn, Marcus! It bashed in the cap's head and impaled Shawn like a fucking pig!"

"And you blew it's head off! You've avenged them."

I can hear that guy huffing and hiccupping. Funny. "This place is fucked up. It's a damn nightmare."

"I know. We just need to find the target, eliminate it if need be, and get the hell out of-"

"LOOK OUT!"

That Marcus guy had a pretty thick neck. His blood was pretty tasty, too. Not too irony, and smooth enough to flow down my throat. His muscles were also pretty lean, not stringy at all. A+ quality meat.

"MARCUS! DAMN YOU! I SHOT YOU IN THE FUCKING HEAD! DIE ALREADY!"

Whoop, he's aiming at my head again. Just gotta avoid it like so. Easy.

"W-What?! How is he that fast?!"

"GET DOWN!"

Hm? What is that thing on that guy's shoulder? Whoop, that's coming at me fa-

"Huuuh. Huuuuh. Let's... see you get up from that... fucker."

"You alright, Brandon?"

"Fine, Chris. Good job with the rocket launcher. Help me up?"

"Sure. What the fuck is up with this place? The first few variants were freaky and all, but that guy? It was like he was immortal."

"Doesn't matter. He's dead now. Let's just continue with the mission and find the target. Hopefully, Beta Team is having an easier time than-"

"Ow."

"No way."

Ow. My chest. And I thought that weird pine-cone was loud. Whatever he shot me with was fast, loud, and hot. Can still feel the metal in me, and I can't pick them out for some re- oh, my hand is gone. That explains it.

"How? HOW!? That was a damned rocket!"

"Unload everything you got into that thing!"

"Hm?" Hey, that guy has more of those pine-cone things on his belt. Wait, he called those "grenades", right? Guess they're not pine-cones. In that case.

"W-Where did he go?!"

"Behind us!"

"How is it that fast?!"

"Say, you don't need these, do you?"

"Oh, shit. Those are the grenade pins!"

"Oh, FUC-!"

Whoo! Big Boom! Hahahaaa! Huu-haaah. Hm, now what am I gonna do about my-hello, what's happening to my hand? Bone is growing out of nowhere, along with my meat. Hm. What was that, about two minutes? Good as new. Neat.

Well, you two won't need these sticks anymore, I suppose. Can't take yours, since it was blown up in the boom.

"It came from over here!"

"I heard Delta and Beta Team were over here!"

Well, time for some fun.

"A variant?!"

"Oh, crap, he has two M16s!"

Take aim. And... "Bang."

"EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"

Aw, they jumped out of the way of my sticks. What did they call it? M16s?

"So this freak has two assault rifles. Guess That mean's Delta and Beta are done for."

"Shut it, Gordon! Grenade!"

That again, huh? Let's see what happens when I hit it. Just take aim aaaaaaand... Ah, a lovely boom in midair. Magical. Wonder if any of them survived?

Hm, doesn't look like it.

"Uuh."

"Hello. You seem to be pretty tough."

"Y-You monster." Hey, looks like my sticks, only hand sized. Ow. Ow. Ow. Just as painful, too.

"What are you?" Listen to that thing click.

"Hm... I'm Nobody. And you have my... What did you call this thing, M16? You have my M16 on your forehe-" Oops. Pulled the trigger. . . . Meh, he has no use for the smaller stick. Though, since it's just clicking now, what could I use it for?

Oh, something fell out when I pushed something. Hm, looks like one of those things on this guy's jacket. Wonder what would happen if I put one of those in. Hm, nothing happened. Oh, it made music again. Oh, I get it. Those are what this gun thing eats. Might as well take them all, then.

"Attention all units."

Hm?

"We have visual confirmation Delta and Beta. They are KIA. Repeat, KIA. Be on the lookout for a gun-wielding variant. Use extreme caution. It is armed, dangerous, and resilient. Shows high adaptive capabilities. Has knowledge of firearms and explosions. Do NOT engage. Repeat. Do not engage a variant holding an M16 machine gun."

Where am I hearing the voice this time? And what's a gun? Wait, M16 machine gun? So these sticks are guns, huh? . . . I like that word.

"So a variant knows how to use a gun in here, huh?"

New voices. And these sound closer.

"Just what we needed. Bad enough we have to deal with that big bastard with the sharp teeth, but now a variant that steals are ge-AH!"

"ALEX!"

Huh, I missed his heart. Blood still feels nice and warm, though. "What was that about a big bastard with sharp teeth?"

"It's the variant!"

"Don't waste your bullets! Retreat! Run!"

"Don't waste your ti- What's that blue thing you just thr- AH! SO BRIGHT! MY EARS ARE RINGING!"

"RUN! GO!"

"Urrrr! I'm gonna kill you fools when I see you! Ah. Still hard to see."

"It's hard to see."

Hm?

"Hard to see. Hard to see. Hard to see. I can't see anything. I can't see anything! I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING! WHY CAN'T I SEE ANYTHING?!"

"Maybe because you have no eyes."

"YOU STOLE MY EYES! GIVE ME MY EYES! GIVE ME MY- AH! SOMETHING'S IN MY EYE HOLE!"

"It's apparently called a gun. It makes this really pretty sound. See?"

"So, did that help you to see? . . . Hello? . . . Don't say anything if you'd like for me to eat your heart. . . . Oh, how kind!"

Yummy. Now to find those bastards that blinded me. Hm? Did I step on some-

"Land mine #12 confirmed to have been activated. The nearest available unit, examine the situation."

"Echo Team en route."

"Extreme caution is advised. It could be the Gunslinger."

"Hope it is. Don't care how tough you are. You can't walk away from a fucking land mine."

"My fucking foot."

"What in the-"

"Activate Heat Vision."

"Got eyes on the target?"

"Yeah. Variant seems to be sitting down. He's examining his injuries. The mine blew his foot off."

"Requesting orders. How should we proceed, base?"

"That variant is possibly the most dangerous in the asylum. Capture alive if possible, but put it down should it re-"

"What the hell?!"

"What is it, Jackson?"

"The variant's foot! It's healed!"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's like it regenerated!"

". . . My god. It did. Shit! It's looking right at us!"

"Open fi-ACK!"

"Hey, mind if I take your boots? I can't be walking around with just one shoe, right?"

"OPEN FIRE!"

Huh, I'm starting to get used to this. Doesn't hurt as bad as it used to. More like getting bitten by a bug now.

"Dammit, how are we supposed to kill this thing?!"

"You're not. I'm supposed to kill you. Like with this gun." Bang, right through whatever the hell these guys are wearing to hide their faces.

"Is that a Desert Eagle?! Where the hell did he-?!"

"It's Josh's! He killed Josh!"

"Dammit! Run! We can't take this freak on! Retreat!"

And there they run. Well, all I need is this guy's boots.

Hey, these are much more comfortable than those fancy shoes from before. Now, I can either hunt those guys down or find a way out of here. . . . Wait, why can't I just do both? I'll do bo-"

"OPEN FIRE!"

Hm? More music.

"TAKE THIS YOU BIG FREAK!"

Hm? I recognize that roar. Tch, he won't stay down, will he?

Just around the corner, and-

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

Just in time to see Tooth crush a man's skull. Oop, he saw me.

"Vessel."

"Yo. I see that hole in your neck isn't bothering you as much as I had hoped.

"Two variants confirmed. Confrontation seems imminent. Please advise."

"Retreat back to base to regroup with the other squads. If they kill each other, the mission will be a tad bit simpler."

"Copy that. Returning to base immediat-"

"Come in. Firing in vicinity confirmed. What is your status? Come in!"

"Like I'm going to let you run away alive just because Sharp Tooth is here." Couldn't help but blow away the smoke on my gun. Desert Eagle, I think one of them called it.

Looking at my gun and looking up at good ol' Sharp Tooth, it didn't take me long to realize this. "This gun is useless against you, isn't it." Might as well stick it back onto my belt.

At least there was plenty of room for us to fight. I'm pretty sure I got shock therapy in this room. Looks like ol' Toothy got faster since he was able to hit me so often. Doesn't seem he got any stronger. How unfortunate.

A well-placed punch was all it took to send him crashing through walls. The ceiling falling on him was just a bonus.

"Always nice to beat you ST. Now, how do I get out of this damn maze of a building? Hm? Well, can't use that elevator. It has a dead guy clogging it. Down the stairs, I guess."

Sniff. Sniff, sniff. I smell smoke. Behind this door. A quick kick, and- cough! Hack! Cowa! Cahoa! So much soot! Well, this place was burned to nothing. Hm? Something grabbed my ankle.

"Wow, you're charred."

"Please... kill me."

"Alright."

"Thank... you. Murkoff... took so much... from... us."

I was so close to stomping his head in. I couldn't help but stop the moment he said Murkoff.

"They used us. Turned us into these... things. Me... you. After all, no one cares about a few forgotten lunatics. I wanted to burn the whole thing away. . . But the fire didn't go far enough. After all, you get to live... as that... thing. Their freak. . . . Their monster."

"And I plan on continuing to live like this."

"Why?"

I couldn't help but smile. "So I can one day kill my makers. After all, what's more poetic than Murkoff being destroyed by one of their own abominations?" I don't know why I squatted to get a closer look at the man when I told him this.

Gave him the perfect chance to grab my hand. "When you get out of here... hunt them down. Every... last... one of them. Kill them. Butcher them. M-Make them... phuck... pay... for. . . . what they... did... t-to..."

". . . I was planning on doing that before I even met you." Might as well close his eyes. There's nothing for him to see in this blackened room.

Asking me to make them, pay, huh? Not like I needed to be asked. I still remember the experiments. They're vague, but still there. The electric shock therapy. The hydrotherapy. The countless needless they stuck into me. The bottles upon bottles of pills. Enough medicine to drown me in. Throwing me into a completely dark room. Making me watch those weird videos.

Oh, yes, I have plenty of reasons to hate Murkoff. Plenty of reasons to want to kill each and every last one of them.

Yes, when I get out of here, I will hunt down everyone associated with this damned company. Men, women, old and young. It doesn't matter. Hell, I'll even kill their newborn children and their sickly grandparents in the hospital.

I will erase every single trace of Murkoff.

I'll kill them all... and eat their still beating hearts in front of their very eyes.