“It is kinda weird though right, like where did all this shit come from?” Breckinridge said.

“Yes, it is very unusual.” Victor answered, not taking his eyes off what he was doing.

Victor had been keeping up his end of the conversation. He wanted to mollify the man, and hopefully make it easier to steal away some samples while the man wasn’t looking. However, he was getting increasingly inane in his questions.

Asking if the Anomalies were weird was like asking if the rain was wet. Victor barely understood what the anomalies did to the human body, let alone where they come from. Still, what he knew was very, very weird.

“Yeah, pretty fucking unusual.” The man said, shaking his head side to side.

He watched as Victor kept piling samples onto the cart. Victor had had to do this on his own. The first thing Breckinridge had told him was that he couldn’t help gather things.

‘Gotta keep my trigger finger free’. The man had said, patting the rifle hung on a strap over his shoulder. He had laughed at his own joke. Big braying guffaws that left some spittle sprayed on the inside of his suit’s faceplate.

“Alright,” Victor said, placing one last jar on the cart. “I think this plus the corpse will be enough to fill up the incinerator for its first run.”

He had gotten all of the things that were designated to be incinerated ‘with urgency’ instead of just eventually. This category included all of the things he was stealing, thankfully. It almost certainly wasn’t a coincidence.

The more inane items were both less valuable and less dangerous. While the exceptional were feared because of what they could do, and also apparently valued by the same metric.

He began pushing the cart towards the doors leading out.

“Hold on little buddy, let me take point.” Breckinridge half-ran out in front of him.

The big man brought his rifle up, turning on the light at the end to add to his headlamp’s light. The emergency generator had come on, they could hear it running, but it had not powered up any lights. The building’s electrical equipment must have been damaged somehow.

A dull red glow had begun to suffuse the southern wall of the lab/banquet hall. It had been spreading northward, towards where they were going. It had not yet crossed the lab though, it was going to be completely dark where they were going.

Victor questioned the logic of destroying hazardous samples in a building that was changing into what very much looked like flesh. He kept those questions to himself though. The plan served his interests and he didn’t have any way to communicate with Dr.Shaan.

He followed along behind Breckinridge. This was actually perfect, he realized. He reached behind himself and opened the pouch-like pocket on his suit. There was nothing in it, because he had stolen the suit, not any of the kit that went with it.

With another look at Breckinrdige he reached forward and grabbed a vial. He slid it out of the stand holding it carefully, not allowing it to clink against any of the others. This one held some of Grant Walsh’s blood. That was the top item on his contact’s list. The base payout was predicated on him getting that blood sample.

There was more on the list, but Victor didn’t see any way he could steal anything but the blood samples of Grant and the four cultists. The living biological samples were just too bulky when you took into consideration the cages. The five blood samples together totaled up to one million, the nice big round juicy number that had caught Victor’s eye.

Subsequently the number had become his rallying cry, motivating him to push forward. He slid the sample into his pouch. One down, four to go. He could have grabbed them all in one go but he was afraid they would clink together and give him away. He only hoped the padded pouch would muffle them enough not to draw Breckinrdige’s attention.

Before he could manage to grab another they reached the door leading out of the lab. Breckinrdige stopped there; He turned and looked back at Victor before proceeding out of the lab.

“We’ve been hearing gunfire, but the radios are down. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s obviously stuff here that needs to be shot at it… at least roundabouts here. If, when I open this door, we see something that needs to be shot at, don’t panic, don’t run away. I will shoot it, and it will die… eventually. The safest place for you is standing behind me.”

Breckinrdige stared at him after he finished his speech. Victor had assumed it was a rhetorical exercise. It seemed really obvious. Apparently it was not though.

“Understood, I won’t panic.” Victor said.

Breckinrdige just stared at him expectantly.

“And I won’t run away.” Victor said smiling, trying to appear humble and not annoyed.

“Good.” Breckinrdige said and nodded.

He opened the door on the short corridor that would lead them towards the kitchen. The kitchen had been converted into an autopsy room. The kitchen equipment had largely been removed, the only item remaining was a walk-in cooler. That was their next stop.

The corridor was clear, so Breckinridge carried on, stepping into the corridor. As he took his second step into the corridor something dropped down from above the door he just walked into. After emitting a short scream, Breckinrdige started laughing.

It took Victor a moment longer to realize it was only a slime. He had been about ready to bolt away. Perhaps Breckinridge’s little speech wasn’t so pointless after all. People made bad decisions in the heat of the moment; Victor was no exception to this rule.

“Nice try ya little fucker.” Breckinrdige said as he grabbed the slime off of his suit’s helmet.

The translucent slime writhed on his gloved hand. Breckinrdige stared at it for a moment and then he looked at the cart. He stepped towards it and looked down into the box Victor had used to contain the blood samples. He flicked his hand downwards towards the box, flinging the slime into it.

“Let me know if it starts looking froggy, huh?” Breckinrdige said.

He clapped Victor on the shoulder laughing at his own joke before carrying on down the hallway. Victor looked at the box with the slime in it, right on top of the four blood samples he needed.

Fuck.

—

Grant had gotten them in the stairwell by biting through. This had not been as easy as Grant had expected it to be. It had eventually ended up with him on his knees leaning into the door, biting into the entire area surrounding the latch and lock until the door could swing free.

Shortly after this had been accomplished they had heard gunfire. It was muffled coming through the walls, but it was still unmistakable even to Grant. The six police officer’s present all weighed in and came to the consensus that it was the AROG soldiers ‘high caliber’ weapons.

“The heretics have managed to defeat their first trial.” Eva said.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Sure enough, just as she finished speaking, a new window had appeared in Grant’s mind.

Mass of tentacles has been killed by Daniel Cortes.

You and Daniel Cortes have each received:

* (3) Flesh of the Beyond

* (1) Consuming Essence

* (1) Writhing Essence

* (1) Propagation Essence

* (1) Grasping Essence

“Should we block the door somehow?” Eric asked, looking at Rick.

Rick eyed the door. “It’d be good if we could but I don’t see how we can.”

Grant looked around and saw his point, the stairwell was barren. Nothing here but a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall.

“We’ll just have to get somewhere safe and ride this thing out. Hopefully somewhere far away from civilians; we don’t need to be spreading around whatever caused this.” Rick said, turning to head downstairs.

Eva sniffed. She stared at the back of Rick’s head with her empty eye sockets. Grant found the way she looked around without eyes pretty disquieting. She could see after a fashion but he was still pretty unclear how or why.

“We need to stay here, and keep facing trials.” Eva said, her inflexibility on the issue came through loud and clear.

As Grant made to follow Rick she followed after him.

“Eva, listen…” Grant started, in his best kind but firm tone of voice.

He knew he had to have a tough conversation with her. He only hoped she would listen when he explained to her that she was oh so very wrong about what was happening. He had come to understand he was something of a religious figure to him, so he expected to pay close attention to him.

In much the same tone he had used, she began “No Harbinger, it is you who must listen, God has-”

More gunshots rang out, interrupting her before she could say anything else. They had all made it to the bottom of the stairs and now they looked up towards the top. The very same window appeared in his mind after a few moments had passed in silence.

“There are none headed our way, for now.” Eva said. “We must seek them out. I think I see some forming in distant rooms.”

Grant looked at her, he saw she was completely certain of what she was saying. He remembered seeing through her eyes briefly, the world had been darkness except for the very bright light that had been Grant. He had been made of light in her eyes.

“How do you know?” Rick asked the question Grant was contemplating.

“I can see the light of God’s Realm. The trials shine brightly.” She said,

Rick stared at Eva nodding thoughtfully. Eric stared at the woman, too appraising her.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Eric asked, he held his hand behind Rick’s back though.

“Three.” She said without hesitation. “Though it is hard to see. You and this one both shine with light, only dimly though.”

Grant didn’t want to waste any more time. He wanted to get the hell out of here. He couldn’t force Eva to follow him but he hoped for her sake that she would.

He got down and bit into the ground floor door. He scraped his top row of teeth against the surface of the door and tried not to cut his lips or gums on the jagged metal edges he created. He had screwed up and done it a few times on the upstairs door.

It had healed quickly enough, but it still sucked. In short order his mouth was filled with little bits of metal and the core material. Both tasted bad, the core most of all. It was a cardboard hardened with resin, a fun fact he knew from work.

Somehow knowing made it worse.

More gunshots rang out. Everyone froze and looked up again. The same window appeared, this time with one more flesh of the beyond. This Cortes was really racking up the kills. Grant wondered if he was gaining the essences and flesh through his suit.

“Sounds like they’re getting closer, we should be ok in here though, looks like the walls are concrete.” Rick said.

“Maybe we should just hold up here then. We don’t know what’s out in the lobby.” Eric said.

Grant paused before biting through the last of the door. He considered Eric’s suggestion and looked around at the rest of the group. The other cops all looked to Rick to decide.

“Can you see what’s out there?” Rick asked Eva.

“I can, there are no trials out there.” she said. “But there are two people heading our way. AROG people. One looks to be that little doctor, judging by her size. The bigger one is pulling her along with him.”

Grant and Eric both snapped up at this.

“Olivia’s out there?” Eric asked.

Grant turned back to the door. He started biting with renewed speed, almost there.

Before he could finish Eric came up behind him and started pounding on the door.

“Olivia!” He shouted.

One more bite and the door was free from the latch. They opened the door to the lobby. Just as Eva had said, Olivia was being dragged across the lobby by a soldier. He was a big man and her efforts to resist didn’t seem to be slowing him down at all.

She looked shocked to see Grant and her brother outlined in the doorway. She looked afraid. Grant felt the blood rushing in his head. He reached out with Resonant Mind, again, it was not a conscious plan, it just sort of happened.

He felt the soldier’s mind begin to connect to his. All of his instincts were telling him to stop this man, to do something and the only way he could reach him was through his mind.

As the link established, Grant felt the familiar sensation of being inside the suit; familiar in terms of having sensed it through Olivia.

Grant heard Eric yell out from two sets of ears. “Let her go!”

As Eric shouted he stepped over Grant who was still kneeling on the floor. Eric was rushing at the soldier.

Grant felt the man’s arm release Olivia, not to comply with Eric but to Grab up his rifle. The gun began to swing up in one hand. Grant felt the man readying to fire.

The man was afraid. He had seen the changes into the building. He believed it was something Grant had done. By association he was afraid of all of them standing there in the stairwell.

Grant had hoped he could do some harm through the resonant mind link. Or perhaps at least stop him, control him somehow. He didn’t find out if he could or not, he was too slow for that.

The gun came up in a fluid motion. A first shot took Eric in the chest. Grant had time to see Eric pinwheel backwards before the gun leveled at Grant. The round caught him in the chest. Perfectly center of mass. The world went cold and hot at the same time. He tipped over backwards from his kneeling position.

The world started to fall away down a dark tunnel. He could feel his lungs spasming, trying to suck in air. They felt heavy. His breath was wet with blood.

He heard more gunfire seeming to come from very far away. Screams and splatters followed it up.

A window appeared in his mind.

You have lost multiple critical organs; Heart, and Lungs

(24) Flesh of the Beyond have been consumed to create replacements. Organs lost are part of a set, counterpart pieces will need to be replaced to maintain function. Would you like to add any essences?

[Yes] [No]

The world had gone black. Everything else was gone except for the window. He wouldn’t add essences to his organs would he? No, he selected no, had to be a no.

The thought of Jacob falling over crossed his mind again. God that had been horrible. Still he had considered adding essences, what if he could make himself stronger. It wouldn’t be enough just to get back up.

There was a man with a gun out there. There were a lot of people with guns out there who would want him dead. Eva had told him to grow stronger, because more trials were coming. She had been right. He needed to consume essences, like she had told him.

You may consume essences to advance formation sequence. Consume (9) Essences to advance entire formation sequence?

[Yes] [No]

As he brought the window up again he realized the yes or no prompt was not a simple yes or no. He felt the Other looking at him. It was still behind him watching, as it had been since he was first exposed to it. It watched him on the verge of death and it contemplated him.

Grant could feel the edges of its mind, bleeding into his. It wanted to know what he wanted. What did he want to become, and why? How did he want to be remade?

Grant felt himself shift to another place. Another memory like before. He was in the car, the car was upside down. He couldn’t move, not right away. He smelled smoke and gasoline. He tasted blood.

“What do you want?” Ryan’s voice asked him.

It wasn’t Ryan though. Ryan had never woken up after the crash. Grant struggled against the seat belt. He knew it wasn’t real, still he needed to get out of here, he couldn’t be in here. Not again.

Grant looked over at the face of his friend. He had dreamed of this moment many times since that night. The Ryan he saw wasn’t the one speaking to him. This one was unconscious, totally helpless.

“What do you want?” The Other spoke with Ryan’s voice again.

“I need to be strong enough to save my friend.” Grant said.

He selected yes.