The void is an interesting thing. You see, by simply existing the void implies the existence of nothing, yet within the void, I existed. Did I void the existence of void or did my existence mark the end of the void and the start of me?
My mind had started to wander while I was trapped here. I had been existing within this nonexistence for what felt like days. And despite my best efforts, I was completely immobile. Some may be wondering why the story starts here, a story by definition needs a plot, and the void certainly contains none of that. Well, it was around this moment that the void started contracting.
Something pierced through the void, followed by several more somethings. The liquid that I had been floating in previously started to drain and with it the sensation of weightlessness that I had previously enjoyed. Now I realized that the void I had grown used to was no void at all, but merely a fleshy membrane that had encapsulated me. Slowly I felt sensation return to my extremities shortly before they returned to my limbs. At last, I was able to move.
By now, whatever fluid was in the sac had drained completely, which just left the membrane clinging to me like a wet sheet. It wasn't long before I started clawing at the holes in the sac, trying to open them enough for me to squeeze through. I eventually managed to push myself through, excited to finally see something that wasn't infinite blackness in every direction. In hindsight, the infinite blackness was worse.
What greeted on the other side was a tile floor that I graciously flopped upon. The first thing I noticed was a coppery stench that assaulted my nose, the second the pair of legs lying next to me. I turned my head, trying to find the person they were attached to only to realize they weren't attached to anything.
I shot up, my eyes darting around., trying to find whoever or whatever had caused this. I was in a hallway, which was devoid of anything save myself, the sac I had originated from, and the legs. Slowly, I crouched back down, still alert, but not actively looking for a threat.
Now that I had time, I examined the thing that had birthed me. It seemed to be made of a weird kind of meat. It was firmly attached to the ground and was surrounded on all sides by a beige liquid. To the left, the liquid merged with swirls of red where the blood from the legs had pooled. The legs themselves were ordinary, wearing camo cargo shorts and attached at the top by what looked to be a thin sliver of waist. They did, however, have something extremely useful in my situation, a gun.
The gun, a pistol, felt comfortable in my hands, the cool metal warming my chest, if not my hands. I didn't have any memories of using one or any memories of anything for that matter, but I seemed to know how it worked.
The absence of any memories bothered me about as much as the legs did, which is say not all. I knew that a full-grown adult usually had memories, and I knew that most people usually would lose their shit over a pair of legs just lying on the floor, but it seemed I was not most people. But I suppose most people don't begin their day by crawling out of an egg either.
The last thing I checked before moving on was myself. I had pale skin that contained no visible blemishes or scars. I was female, that much was obvious by the twin lumps of fat on my chest. They were relatively unobtrusive, but I was still worried that they might hinder my movement. The only other thing that I found interesting was my belly button or lack of it. I wasn't sure what to make of that.
I stood up and looked around. I had two options right or left, a deceptively simple but infinitely hard decision to make. Right now I had two priorities, getting clothes, and getting out of wherever the hell I was, not necessarily in that order. Each hallway appeared just as promising as any other, so I started walking in the direction the legs were pointing. They had been kind enough to give me a gun after all.
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It wasn't long before I came across a dead end. I had already passed several shoot-offs from the hallway, but I had continued straight. Ahead of me was a dead end, but there was a line of bars that I could see ahead on the right. I figured that it would at least make sense to clear this hallway before I turned around. As I approached the bars I looked inside and what I saw frightened me.
The entire back wall of the cell was made of that same meat that had just minutes ago surrounded me. Attached to the wall like trophies were people. Little to nothing remained of their limbs, probably removed like the legs that greeted me earlier. Their heads and the ends of their amputated limbs were covered by the flesh on the wall. But what scared me were the creatures that surrounded them. They were like bugs, but not similar to any I had ever seen. They were easily the size of my head, their legs ended in a single point which they stabbed into the wall as they moved. They wore a chitinous shell that ended on one side in a bladed tail. Their bodies were the same blood red as the wall and their face consisted of a mouth and a single bright purple light that likely acted as an eye. They scuttled all over the wall, acting like a worried mother to each to the bodies under their care.
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I scrambled back into cover, bringing the gun in front of me as I did so, hoping that none of the little nasty things had seen me. After a few seconds with no reaction, curiosity won out as I slowly peeked around the corner, keeping the gun in front of me the entire time. All of the creatures motionlessly staring at me. I froze, worried that I was about to be swarmed. Instead, they all just went back to work. Doctoring the bodies for whatever purpose they might serve.
I moved to the cell door, hoping to lock it so that the creatures wouldn't be able to follow me. As I did so, one of the critters hopped off the wall and stared at me watching as I moved to the door. When I reached the door and closed it, the creature tilted its head to the side in an almost doglike manner before hopping back on the wall with practiced ease. I wasn't sure if the door was locked, or even if I could lock it, but having a barrier between me and them was reassuring if nothing else.
I backed away and started to examine the bodies. Three of the five bodies were women. They were all wearing the same uniform, save one who had a camo shirt like a military uniform. The others were definitely police officers, wearing matching blue uniforms. As I studied them I realized that their chests were moving rhythmically up and down. They were still alive. That detail made me wonder what my purpose was in all of this. Clearly, I was connected to them, but how? Was my purpose to eventually join them on that wall? Best not to pursue that line of thought. With that, I turned around and left the macabre display.
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As I continued through what must have once been a police station, I only found one more instance of that wall of flesh, and no traces of any sacs like the one I was contained in. So far I had passed a restroom, an office, and an armory that was locked. Now, I was before two sets of locker rooms. The clothing I sought would likely be in the women's locker room, but the trail of blood and light scratches I heard emanating from there turned me in the opposite direction.
The men's locker room was absolutely ransacked, all of the lockers were open, and a row of them on the left looked they had somehow been crushed from the top. Whatever had done that was more than capable of pulping me. The right and middle rows looked more promising, but after searching them I was left with little to show for it.
Clothes which were all at least two sizes too big and ill-fitting shoes were all I could find. I did, however, scrounge up a couple hundred dollars from various sources, though the usefulness of it was likely to be around zero. This meant I was left with only one option, the women's locker room.
I crept inside, wary of something pouncing on me from the walls or the ceiling. As I entered I saw yet another wall of flesh, yet this one contained only one body and fewer insects. Like the others, all of her limbs were amputated, but the wall of flesh had yet to fully envelop her face, instead, it only covered her mouth and nose. Her eyes were closed.
By now I was fairly certain the bugs didn't care about me, but that didn't mean I wanted to search through the lockers next to them either. I crept around to the right row and prayed they didn't decide to sneak up on me while I searched.
This set of lockers contained clothing that actually fit. The first locker yielded a set of undergarments and hiking boots. Another gave me jeans and a leather jacket while a third supplied a heavy black overcoat. As I approached the last few lockers in the row, I heard the creatures begin to chitter between themselves. At this point, I was more than clothed and I decided that looking for something better fitting wasn't worth the risk.
As I began to leave the room, I stole one more glance at the wall. The flesh had risen up to her cheeks now and was descending from her forehead. Only now her eyes were open, and they were dancing about with terror. When she saw me she let out a muted scream.
Faster than I could blink one of the bugs raised its tail over its head like a scorpion and stabbed her in the chest with it. Only, the point on the end of the tail never penetrated her chest. Instead, a needle that had been hidden inside the tail had stabbed through her. Within a few seconds, she had stilled again, the only indication she was even alive being the steady rise and fall of her chest. The scene injected me a fresh dose of fear, and I left the room as quickly and quietly as I could.
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The exit to the building didn't take too much longer to find. Leading to the exit was a reception area that looked like something out of a warzone. There were bullet holes all over the walls and the floor and corpses littered the side opposite the entrance. As for the entrance itself, the doors were on the ground and the frame was looked like it had been smashed through by a wrecking ball.
Dead bugs were scattered about the entrance, comparatively few when contrasted with the number of dead humans. However, there was something massive amid the human corpses. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a bear-sized version of the smaller insects I had seen earlier, except its feet were webbed and it had two tails.
Thankfully, it was clearly dead, and furthermore one of the humans had left me a present. In its hands was a rifle, the model seemed familiar even if I couldn't name it. The stock looked like something had stabbed through it and the hole in the guy's chest corroborated that, but it seemed functional. He had even been nice enough to leave half a magazine of ammo, and a holster for my pistol.
Done with looting, I stepped back, careful not to slip on the pool of blood as I did so. I moved over to the entrance, careful not to step on anything that might decide to get back up.
It was snowing outside, a thin layer of the white powder had built up on the sidewalk and some of it was creeping into the building. I stepped cautiously over the threshold. I moved out of the building I had been in for the entirety of my admittedly short life and hoped that maybe the outside world would be just a little bit friendlier.