WARNING!
This chapter was inspired by the video game, Scorn.
There will be mentions of blood, vomit and implications of a certain type of assault.
Journal Entry 185
September 1, 2023
Artifacts: 168
Repairs: 168
Kill count: 1680
I wish I never watched Scorn on YouTube. This is way too similar. And I found the remains of the previous tenants.
TT
Companion. We need to start preparing.
For what Tik Tak? Is this from when you disappeared for hours on end? And the fact that the metalheads are getting a bit sparse?
Indeed Companion. I went to the lower levels to scout ahead. Our ways of surviving as usual down there will be useless.
Crap. Guess I was delaying the inevitable of going through that stench of pure rot. No hunting today. We will go down and look around. Places for stashing weapons and supplies.
Wise idea.
It's currently mid-morning. I looked into my notes on Tabby and saw that we currently have 39 floors locked up tight. All rooms, stairwells and giant doors are not opening to any outside forces. It's safe to wander the halls and rooms now, if paranoia didn't keep me entrenched to the crawlspaces.
Tik Tak and I found a hidden passage way in the closet of the comm center that was currently housing the spare artifacts. It leads straight to the Precursor eggs. The way I originally took was nowhere to be found. So the artifact closet is set to be our personal space when we get out of the sea. Might as well keep the eggs hidden from all but a select few, Damas and Seem. No one else. Period. Ah, my mind is starting to wander again. Seem joined in the video calls ever since I demolished the spiders. Damas looked like he was absolutely relieved when I finally called after almost a month. Seem was in the background, holding a hand to their chest, almost like a prayer.
I gave a small screech when I lost my footing. Now in month seven, I got pretty good at climbing up and down via thin pipping lining the shafts. Tik Tak walked up and down the surfaces like a shinobi of Naruto. I did get a bit jealous at first, but hey, I didn't have to carry him up and down. Taking a closer look, I see that the piping is covered in a strange slick material. We have reached floor 40. I kicked a vent off and crawled out.
Already things are not good. The material thickened considerably to where the light eco can't shine through. The usually salty, damp air turned absolutely stale, musty and the taste is utterly nasty. My sinuses are stinging and my tastebuds are curling in disgust. And the ground is fleshy. I still have no footwear, so considering I've been on metal floors for a long while, the new sensation is just gross. This place looks like the video game of Scorn.
Company! Whipping my rifle into position, I fired to where Tik Tak was snarling at. It's a mass of rippling flesh, with four spindly limbs and a mouth stretching from the forehead to the lower torso. It's still moving. Three more shots into the mouth does the job.
I think I missed this floor earlier Companion. I would have said to skip it entirely.
You know we can't leave any metalheads behind. That means searching each and every floor to the fullest.
Dune Wolf and his kind can take care of this floor. Let them risk their lives. We have already done so much.
This Temple isn't going to get to the surface if we skimp out.
Pulling Tabby out, I pulled up the needed info. So the fortieth floor is the main lab. Apparently, something went wrong with an unknown fungus and was the main catalyst for entrapping all living creatures to deep down. And all the people have . . . have
I looked at the creature again. Definitely dead. Inching forward, I see two long flaps of skin on either side of the 'head'. There are dead milky eyes on top of the head. This thing was someone.
Companion! Please! Leave this to the others!
Every life, game and story has a horror chapter to it. And we found ours.
Not every single one has horror!
C'mon Tik Tak. If there are lost souls down here, it would be best to set them free.
I am definitely holding back my stomach. No doubt I will have a lack of appetite after this. The floor is gross. Trodding forward on the squishy floor, the sith hound firmly by my side, we went down the fleshy hallway to the big doorway. The door was barely open enough for us to slip through.
And right into a crowd of more flesh crawlers.
"GAH!" Too many! They taste so bad!
Use your tail! It's literally a razor whip!
It's only been ten minutes. All we found were more flesh blobs with elongated mouths. I don't know whether to be thankful for it has only been flesh blobs that practically ambushed us. Or outright fear of what else is ahead. I don't want to deal with a giant parasite gripping on my back.
Stabbing the last flesh blob with my spear, it fell with a bloody squirt, and I end up with a mouthful of blood. It did not taste like metal, more like mold. I bit into moldy bread multiple times in my life. It leaves a soapy taste. I just start heaving up my breakfast.
Hope you didn't swallow.
Coughing, I pinched my nose and blew the stomach acid with chunks of food out of my nose. Hate that so much. Don't think I had the time to swallow anything Tik Tak. Let's move on.
Of course, the floor is slippery as fuck right now, so I end up crawling towards the next door in sight.
The door slammed shut behind us. All I see is more fleshy walls.
Companion, there are faces in the walls.
Tik Tak was staring at a particular set of bumps, and what do you know, people! In the walls! Like they have been put in the flesh for it to grow into them!
I nearly screamed my lungs out, only for it to get caught in my throat as pincers gripped my wrists and started pulling me to what looked like a pair of penises sticking out of the wall. The holes at the end expand open and the pincers are pulling my hands in those tiny slick areas. Tik Tak clamped his jaws around one of the pincers. My hand is free. Left one isn't.
I have ADHD. Most of the sensory issues I deal with is food. I prefer pasty and creamy cheese. I'm ok with touching most textures. I am NOT OKAY WITH THIS! SLick! paIN! HuRTS! yELpinG!
The next moment, we tumbled to the floor, free. Still hurts. My left hand has this brown, fleshy thing wrapped around it. Tik Tak has the same on his front right paw. Where are my gloves? Is my sith hound able to walk?
Yes I can walk. I don't care! We are LEAVING!
Agreed! What's that noise?
Fear shot through my head, freezing my arms, exploded in my stomach and down my legs. I can't move.
The mind reacts faster than the body. I see two parasites dropping down from the ceiling and just, leaping at us. Pure muscle grappling with me. I can't keep it off. Tik Tak is just snarling and thrashing. He can make it.
There's something wrapping around my neck. Can't breath. You can tell when blood supply has been blocked from the brain. I stop thrashing to focus on the fleshy cord stopping my air supply. White spots are rapidly forming in my vision.
Tik Tak can make it.
I can't move.
He can . . . make . . .
Co . . . ak u . . . pai . . . wake . . . WAKE UP!
I have an absolute horrendous, splitting headache. Breathing feels limited. Everything's heavy. My mouth won't close. There's an odd pressure down there. TIK TAK! TIK TAK! TIK TAK!
My arms started to flail. I need to feel something familiar. Companion, I'm right here.
A muzzle pushed itself into my hands. There's only relief.
Can't breath. Focus on the nose. Right, ok. What happened? Are those things gone?
Grab onto me. We're going to the eggs.
Tik Tak . . .
Don't argue with me on this. I will tell you the story after.
Ok.
There's a really uncomfortable weight on me. My hand hurt. I will never let of my sith hound. Wrapping my arms around his neck, Tik Tak started walking. Pretty soon, we're going up in a vertical fashion. Arms started to cramp fast, I kept a firm hold.
It was a bit of time before things became right side up again. I wasn't on Tik Tak's back anymore, just getting dragged. The air is salty and damp again. I really couldn't stay awake anymore.
TT
It was a parasite. It dragged you to a machine that put eight 'legs' in your head before it started to saw the front of your skull before I mauled it. And it may have violated you a bit.
"A BIT?! THAT THING HAD A TENTACLE DOWN MY THROAT AND UP BOTH MY . . ."
Five different colored lights blinked into existence. "Floor 40 exists no more. There are only 49 floors now. You will only bear the physical marks on your head. You'll live."
I might have tried to pounce on the lights right as they flickered out.
It's only noon now. Dune Wolf is expecting a call.
TT
"Rift! What the rot happened!?"
"Parasites, Dune. Parasites."
Author's Note
To get a better understanding of what I meant of 'legs', go to my Deviantart account, BonnieKF, there is a picture called Exhausted.