Shattered Reality - The Shifting City - Chapter 4

Sooo... I totally planned on writing more today, but Vampire survivors just released a new expansion and I spent the entire day trying to clear the DLC. I'll admit, I got really distracted. Really wish I could afford to take my ADD meds and write everyday T_T.

Tomorrow is writing day, monday I have to deal with something, so I'll try and work on SR-TSC, DD and others on Tuesday

“Are you sure you’re okay? I saw that sector one eighteen went into lockdown, and then you didn’t answer my calls…” Julie asked.

“I was inside when everything went down, and you know that blocking communication is part of the isolation protocols. You don’t have to worry, I wasn’t involved in the incident, I was just close enough to have to go in for testing,” I told her while scowling at Malcolm, who was hovering around feeding me a script. “I should be out of isolation in a few days.”

“I’m glad. Call me the instant you get cleared, I’ll come and pick you up,” Julie said.

“You don’t have to do that…” I started.

“But I want to. It’s not like you can take your bike, it’s probably been impounded until they have time to scan and clear it. You know how long that takes,” she said, cutting me off.

“Right… my bike,” I groaned. “I’ll call you the instant I have news.”

“Good! Talk to you soon!” Julie said brightly.

“Bye,” I replied before disconnecting from the call. I flicked my communicator off than turned to stare at Malcolm. “Happy?” I asked sarcastically.

“For now,” he grumbled. “The nanites have finished putting your spine and organs back together, and the doctor has given you a clean bill of health,” the man reached down and grabbed a duffle bag that he’d placed at his feet earlier and dropped it on the bed. “Get dressed, we have two more things to do before we can even consider releasing you,” he grunted.

“So I’m stuck here until I cooperate?” I huffed. I cracked open the bag and found a set of sweat pants and sweat shirt.

“Yup, so it’s in your best interest to start cooperating as soon as possible,” Malcolm said as he rose to his feet and headed to the door. “I’ll be waiting outside, don’t take too long.”

I briefly scowled at his back, but still hopped out of bed and started slipping on the ill fitting outfit. Considering I had nearly died less than twenty four hours ago, and could barely move just four hours earlier, I was slightly amazed that I could even move. I heard about how revolutionary nanite treatments were, but considering they required a deep bodyscan and a supercomputer to direct the little bots, the only people that could afford them were the top one percent. It made me wonder exactly what Malcolm and his friends were going to want in exchange for this treatment.

When I finished pulling on the outfit I tiptoed across the floor, and knocked on the door. Malcolm almost instantly pushed it open and shoved a pair of sneakers into my face. “Follow me,” he grunted.

“Yeah yeah, I know the deal,” I muttered as I quickly pulled on the shoes then ran after him. 

It didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t in a hospital, or to be more precise, the hospital was only one part of a larger complex. I saw a number of government workers running around the halls, and even the occasional enforcer, but not a single indicator of where I was.

“So… exactly who are you guys? Sector enforcement? Council Enforcers?” I asked as I glanced around.

“Nope,” Malcolm grumbled as we piled into an elevator. I watched as he pushed his thumb against some sort of reader, scanned a keycard, then finally pressed the lowest button on the panel. It was labeled as B-10 Vaults.

“Are you going to tell me what department you’re with?” I asked.

“Not right now, we have something important to do first,” he grumbled as the elevator dropped to the requested floor. After a few seconds the doors slid open revealing a dark, concrete corridor. The lights were not only recessed, but covered in thick metal cages, and each door was reinforced metal that required both thumbprint and card access, like the elevator. While I was inspecting Malcolm immediately set off, heading down the dower corridor.

I had to jog in order to catch up with him. “Why are we here?” I asked quietly. “Something doesn’t feel right about this place.”

“Running a test,” he replied. “Shouldn’t take long.” This floor was much more extensive than I originally thought. We walked for about two minutes until we came to an unmarked intersection, turned, then walked for another two minutes. Then Malcolm stopped at a random, unmarked door. He pressed his thumb on the panel, scanned his key, then held the door open for me. 

“What’s inside?” I asked suspiciously.

“A test. Perfectly safe,” he replied.

I studied his face for a moment, he didn’t seem to be lying, so I stepped inside. As soon as I did, the door slammed shut.

I immediately turned and slammed my fist on the door. “What the fuck? What are you doing?” I yelled.

“There’s a box on the table to your right, it contains both your pistol and knife. I recommend you grab it while you can,” Malcolm’s voice echoed out of a speaker above the door. “I’ll be releasing the aberration in a moment.”

My blood went cold, “You have to be joking,” I hissed. “Even if something like that doesn’t immediately kill me, I’ll still be exposed to whatever cognitive hazard it’ll radiate.”

“Ten seconds,” Malcolm’s voice echoed out of the speaker.

“Shit!” I hissed as I sprinted over to the box. Inside was my pistol, a knife and two extra magazines. I shoved the magazines into my pockets before grabbing my gun. As soon as I was done a warning alarm started going off, and the lights on the roof began to flash. At the far side of the room a door slid open.

The thing inside was something out of a nightmare. It was like someone took television static, and stretched it into the approximate shape of a person. It didn’t move smoothly, but jerked wildly, practically teleporting from one place to another. I don’t think it even realized I was there at the start, it just spasmed around for a minute, but then it turned my way. The entire room filled with white noise, as it rushed towards me.

I quickly shifted into a firing stance, gritted my teeth, sighted the monstrosity, and fired. Despite placing three rounds straight into the creature’s torso it didn’t stagger, or even slow, it just blinked right up to me. I didn’t even have the time to dodge, the monster’s hand just appeared around my throat.

And that’s when things went weird. 

The static cleared slightly, allowing me to make out features on the aberration’s face. It had human-like features, but hideously twisted like something had grabbed the face and twisted it. I could see the combination of pain and anger, and I could faintly hear someone screaming through the whitenoise.

I grit my teeth and slammed my gun down on the creature’s arm, trying desperately to get it to loosen its grip. Surprisingly, it worked. It didn’t let me go, but I managed to get a shallow breath through. Empowered by my minor victory I kicked the monster in the gut, and used all my strength to try and push it away. It’s grip began to falter.

“Fuck… you…” I spat as I put my gun directly to the creature’s head and pulled the trigger. Unlike my previous attempt, when it was covered with static, this time the aberration went down like a pile of bricks.

I blinked in surprise as the static man just crumpled. After a few seconds the static completely re-established itself, and the creature just blinked back to its feet. 

I raised my pistol, cautiously preparing for round two, but before it could turn back towards me something flashed to life back in the containment area. An old school tube television. The aberration immediately flashed back to the TV, and collapsed in front of it, like a kid on Saturday morning. A second later the containment door closed.

“Test complete. Please return your pistol to the box and I’ll let you out,” the speaker barked. I jumped at the sudden announcement, I had been far too focused on the creature.

“What the fuck was that? You tried to kill me!” I yelled. 

“I would have lured the creature back to it’s containment before the situation got out of hand,” the speaker countered.

“Bullshit! No exposure to anomalies or abberations is safe, everyone knows that, but you have one sitting in the fucking basement. Who the fuck are you guys?” I spat out.

“Put the gun back and I’ll tell you,” Malcolm said calmly. “The boss wants to talk to you.”

I stood there for a minute, considering what exactly I could do, before walking back to the box and dropping my pistol inside. “This boss of yours better have answers,” I growled.