I moved forward slowly down the corridor, trying to make less noise than my soaked boots stubbornly insisted on producing.
The laboratory looked as if it had been abandoned before it was ever finished — as though someone had given up halfway through and decided to let everything rot.
The dust was so thick it seemed to swallow sound, and the smell… mold, oxidized metal, and something that reminded me of old meat. This is… the perfect environment for me to die in a horrible, anonymous way.
The walls were covered in ancient webs, some so thick they gave the impression that spiders had retired there. Every beam of light filtering through the cracks revealed suspended particles… as if the air were full of memories I would rather not share.
I entered one of the side rooms. My pupils took a while to adjust to the gloom, but when they did… well.
Gurneys. Several of them. Scattered at random. And on top of them, skeletons dressed in rags that were probably clothes in some better century. They looked more like haunted-house decorations than human remains. The sense of abandonment there was so heavy it felt as though the air itself might collapse at any moment.
— Perfect. Fun as hell of a place — I muttered, to no one in particular.
The columns had almost perfectly circular holes, as if something had burst through them.
The metal looked as though it had been bitten by explosions — but everything was too clean, as if the place had been eaten from the inside.
I touched the wall, searching for levers, locks, anything that suggested an exit. But the moment my fingers brushed the surface… the damn wall glowed. Red and blue, again, as if I were a faulty switch.
I pulled my hand back, swallowing a curse.
— Oh, my life isn't easy. This again.
Before I had time to complain any further, a shadow shifted near the gurneys.
Three Ulzors emerged from the darkness — twisted, deformed, eyes glowing with that threatening look that says "you're going to suffer, human." Of course. Because monsters alone aren't enough, right? Now we get DLC: ultra-deformed edition.
The one in front was a macabre work of art: its right arm dragging along the floor, the left twisted backward with a dark lump that looked like it was trying to grow out of its spine. I looked at it and let out a short laugh.
— Knew this was going to happen. It's always like this: I see a creepy corridor, think "I hope there's nothing here," and ta-da.
I clenched my fists. The dark aura climbed up my arm, corrupted chi responding like an abused dog that obeys just so it can bite later.
I needed to fight. And I needed to win fast.
They came at me. I split my attention, because life never gives me the courtesy of fighting one monster at a time.
I dodged the grotesque arm of the one in front, used the angle, and drove a punch into what had once been its face. My fist sank into the soft flesh — and it yielded like warm clay. The creature slid to the ground, making that wet sound only things that shouldn't exist can make.
The other monster charged straight at me. I tried to raise my arm to block, but its misshapen punch caught me from the side — dry, heavy — and sent me stumbling several steps back.
— Wow… that's a hell of a punch for a one-armed monster… — I muttered, trying to figure out how I still had teeth.
I staggered, slammed into a row of empty gurneys, and they collapsed to the floor with a metallic crash that echoed down the corridor. At least it served some purpose: the Ulzors tripped over the twisted metal.
The third one didn't hesitate. It came at me with those bizarre claws, fingers cracking. It struck at my face, but I managed to duck in time; I felt the wind of the claws pass over my head.
Before it could recover its balance, I rushed in. I kicked its twisted arm away and hurled it against a wall packed with gurneys and human remains. Bones clattered. Rags flew. Part of me wanted to apologize to the dead. The other part was busy not dying.
I took the chance and ran into a side room. I hid in the corner, breathing fast.
One of them appeared in the doorway.
I shut the door as it entered and shoved an old plank that was leaning against the wall, jamming the entrance in the most amateur way possible.
But it worked. Now it was just me and it.
When I looked again… the Ulzor was already in the center of the room.
Standing still.
Staring at me.
— Ah, got you. — My voice came out sharp. — This is it. I'm finishing you now. Come on, you trash.
Something green began to glow on its body.
I didn't think.
I ran forward and fired a kick into the creature's face. Its soft skull caved in like overripe fruit, and the body flew into the wall, cracking the concrete with a dry snap.
— Was that… too strong, or was it already rotten? — I muttered, startled for a second, expecting it to react.
I punched it in the stomach, just to be sure. The impact opened another fissure in the wall and threw the body even farther back.
But it didn't get up.
I stepped out of hiding and backed away a little.
— Shit… I bet that's going to draw more attention.
Panting, I looked at the other two.
— Just you two left. Great. This stage is amazing. If one almost took me down, imagine two.
— Why do these worms even have to exist? — I grumbled, brushing grit from my face. — Feels personal.
That was when I noticed the swelling on the mutant I'd defeated. Its skin trembled, pulsing like a bubble about to spit out something that shouldn't exist.
— Oh no. No. NO. I've seen this.
The creature began to bloat as if it were a balloon about to burst.
Last time I just ran. Maybe… maybe there's time to—
…No. There's no time.
— IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!
I threw myself backward with everything I had left. The floor slipped under my boots — and then the world flashed green.
The green explosion hit me like a runaway truck. I was hurled into the wall, crashing through a row of gurneys. Bones broke — I don't know if they were theirs or mine. Dust rose. The air was ripped from my lungs as if by force.
When I finally hit the ground, my whole body was shaking. The chi went out like a faulty light bulb. The pain in my head felt like a hot knife sliding through my brain.
I forced myself to stand. The light-green blotches on my arms… were new.
And terrible.
They pulsed, as if they were breathing. As if they were… hungry.
— What… what the hell is this?
I touched one of them and nearly passed out from the pain. It wasn't normal chi. It wasn't radiation. It was… wrong.
— Ultra Cancer? — I murmured, even though I knew that wasn't how it worked. — On my hands? Since when?
The green energy felt more alive than I liked. And I… every step felt like walking through sharpened leaves.
— Cactus… the element that reacts to pain, the one I hate most. — I muttered, recalling the descriptions. — I hate this. It feels exactly like someone driving thorns into my joints. Wonderful.
Two Ulzors appeared on the other side of the room, drawn by the noise and the smell of injured flesh — in this case, mine.
---
And then I heard footsteps.
Calm footsteps.
Rhythmic.
As if the person weren't sharing space with explosions, monsters, and the smell of cooked corpses.
I leaned against a crooked gurney and looked toward the end of the corridor.
A guy was standing there. Still. Motionless. Dust swirled around him as if giving him space. He didn't look dirty, injured, frightened… nothing.
He looked… out of place. As if he'd been cut out of another reality and pasted there by accident.
Then he started running.
I noticed him getting closer.
And when I started running, he was already at my side.
— Hey — he said, his voice so calm it was infuriating — my name's Oud. And you, who like blue… what year is it?
"What kind of question is that in the middle of a massacre?"
I stared at him for a second, incredulous. He was talking as if we were on a casual walk in the park, not being chased by deformed creatures about to tear us in half.
— Can you see? — I snarled. — Or are you just contemplating the disaster around us?
Oud looked back, saw the Ulzors closing in, and made a neutral expression. The kind that irritates anyone who's injured.
---
••• Oud — this blue guy is way too worried. What's going on in his head? I thought, but my curiosity wasn't done yet.
— What's your name? And what is this place?
---
— Are you deaf?! — I snapped. — I'm injured, my head's killing me, my hands are burning, and THERE ARE TWO MONSTERS COMING STRAIGHT AT US! Are you going to fight or just keep running and asking stupid questions?!
He smiled.
Smiled.
— Are you weak? Why don't you fight? he said.
That made me want to punch the floor.
— If you're so strong, then YOU fight! — I shot back, starting to lose my patience, my breath, and my sanity.
Oud shrugged.
— I'm not the one who provoked the Ulzors.
— I didn't provoke anyone! — I yelled. — I just touched a wall! IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE A MANUAL FOR THIS PLACE!
He ignored my tone, observing the corridor with the calm of someone choosing fruit at a market.
— I can try to help — he said. — But… if you look back, you'll see there are more coming. The explosion drew them all.
— Oh. Amazing. A crowd of Ulzors. Excellent.
The green blotches on my arms began to shrink. The headache eased. I didn't trust the calm, but I accepted it.
One of the Ulzors behind us advanced. Its left arm dragging, the green circle glowing on its face… and at the center, a light-brown sphere — an "eye" that pulsed like a heart.
I turned, out of breath.
— What is that? Is that an eye?!
Oud didn't answer. He kept running beside me as if it were just another Tuesday.
And I… I didn't know whether he was an ally, a lunatic, or something even more dangerous than the monsters behind us.
But one thing was certain:
I wasn't alone in that abandoned corridor.
And that didn't comfort me in the slightest.