I hid in the crevice until the thing passed me by, then turned around and returned over to where it was originally roaming. Finally its gone. These used to be my kind... I don't relish the idea of having to slaughter them. But if any more obscure my path then I'll have no choice. I never saw any of these things before. Why is the rot functioning differently here? Regardless I had to find a way to the district of Cor. I see its towering structures in the distance just beyond the walls of this place.

This sickening feeling I had in my gut was telling me to be cautious. The air here felt stagnant. The further I was going in, there was a sickly red haze in the air itself. Approaching the next street my path towards the gate was zoned off by an egregious amount of rot. Several more of my mutated kind wandered the streets. Corpses still littered the streets. I carefully crept forward, approaching behind one of the mutated. I readied my instrument, stood up to wrap my arm around its next and quietly thrust the blade through its stomach. It cried in agony for but a moment as I pushed it to the ground with my blade leaving its torso. Blood stained the blade. A string of entrails lay underneath the corpse. They were spread out enough to not notice what I had done. It felt terrible. This district was more open-ended in terms of layout but the spreading rot was making it difficult to just ease my way through. Taking the street was not an option as the density of these mutated appeared to be larger the deeper into this district I could go. I kept my eyes out for an alley to duck into. There was one not too far ahead but two of the mutated stood nearby. One was scratching its neck. The other seemed to be scanning the perimeter. Now was my chance with its back turned to me. I once again crept forward at a brisk pace. Right as I stood up to attack, the scratchy one turned to face me. It was too late. I grabbed the scanner and punctured its stomach with the instrument. The other one lunged and sank it's claws into my skin once I dropped the scanner. I kept it pushed back with the side of my blade. The claws hurt. My skin started to bleed. I struggled and pushed as hard as I could, forcing the scratchy one off of me. I looked into its cold, dead eyes. With hesitation I swung and cut its head clean off. A stream of blood spurted like a fountain from the stump as it fell. Damn it... That hurts. I quickly ducked into the alley to avoid any of the others noticing. The neighboring homes both had tubes running from the first to the second floor. Vents lined the unusually patterned walls. Wires seemed to connect the homes from their roofs. Interesting designs really. I wonder if I ever lived in one of these?

The alley was the right call. I was led into a narrow back alley connecting all the homes on this block. Fences separated the back areas. Each house had a conditioning unit and two fat pipes connecting the units to the houses themselves. Back doors and metal bins filled with junk and scraps also were featured at each home. There was a lack of any mutated in this alley. Looking at the ground I saw a glass pipeline embedded into the ground and leading to each home. The pipeline was filled with a sickly, dark red fluid. Maybe following this would lead me somewhere promising. It rounded the corners at the ends of this alley. Obviously I didn't want to go further into the neighborhood so I went the opposite way. On my way a lone corpse lay with a single crimson tendril from the overgrown rot over it. Poor bastard.

Following the pipeline was taking me back to the streets. It strayed from the concrete and remained in the ground off to the side. A couple mutated roamed around but didn't notice me. Glancing ahead I saw an industrial structure just near the districts gateway. Rot lined the nearby walls but seemed to falter beyond here. Tendrils were stretched across the street ahead so I figured maybe I'll cut through a house to avoid the mutated. That structure in the distance was where the pipeline led. And it was near the gate. I sneaked past the groaning mutated wandering aimlessly and approached the house. I grabbed the handle and slid the light metal door open to step inside.

A staircase led up to my right. Two rooms made up the interior. I saw a screen on the wall. A sectional seat made for two faced it. There was an appliance with four arms each containing a small electrical lamp hanging from the ceiling. I also noticed a shelf decorated with metal figurines of various shapes and sizes. Was this perhaps a past time activity for the residents? The following room contained a metal appliance with a pot and two burners, cabinets, a refrigerant appliance and a table with two stools attached to the wall. My path was stopped when I saw one of the mutated leaning its head against the back door. It didn't move. Only groaned and continuously tapped its forehead on the door. I readied my instrument and got closer. It turned to look at me, extending an arm out and tried to form a speech pattern but was unable to, speaking solely in groans. Before I could react it lurched forward and grabbed my shoulders, the sharpness of its claws pressing against my skin but not penetrating it. It looked into my eyes and continued pleading as it shook me. This one didn't seem hostile like the others. I couldn't help but look at its open chest cavity. I took a finger and poked the mutated flesh concealing its heart. It backed away from me, looking down at its chest. It pointed a finger at it then directed it to my own chest. It was trying to communicate non-verbally now. I only wish I could fully understand what it was trying to say. I pointed at my chest then at its chest. It simply nodded. Huh... How curious. I then pointed to the door it was in front of and pointed over in the direction towards the industrial structure. The mutated humanoid looked over to the door. It then looked back at me and sulked, backing away to open a path up for me. I... Felt grateful towards the sentient mutant. I waved my hand to it and made my way to the door. But as I went for the handle, the humanoid grabbed my wrist. What was it now? It pointed at the instrument in my hand. It must've been curious as to what it was. So I unsheathed the blade. It stared in awe at it for a few seconds, then looked down to the floor, and back up to me. It cupped its hands together and motioned the tips of its claws right at itself. Huh? It was now pointing at both the blade and itself. Did it want me to use this? I made the same gesture, pointing at the blade then at the mutant. It started to nod its head, once again cupping its hand together in a pleading gesture. So it wanted me to kill it... This one of my own kind that had undergone a horrible mutation was sentient enough to see me as an equal and begged for me to end its suffering. I nodded. It nodded in response and stood still, pressing a palm to its chest and rubbing the deformed flesh. My hand was shaking. No... No this was a good thing. If it wants to die then so be it. I took the instrument and thrust it forward. The blade penetrated the flesh and internal organs. As blood spilled out, with its last dying breath the humanoid lifted a hand to touch my shoulder and give me one last nod. Its eyes faded to pure black. It lost all consciousness. I removed the blade and let its body fall to the floor. At least one of these mutated was a kind being in the end.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Only a couple miles separated me from the industrial structure and the gate. The gate was closed but thankfully not obscured by the growing rot. The road was open. A grand amount of space separated this place from the homes. Those wires I've seen strewn across the rooftops all must have stemmed from this structure judging by the bundle of thick wires coming off from the structure over across the way to the houses. My feet stepped onto the sinew-laden concrete once more. There was a slight problem though that I had not noticed until getting a clear view of what I was facing. On its knees surrounded by a group of the mutated was a motionless automaton. It looked quite tall compared to the mutated. I couldn't manage to get a more detailed look but this gave me an opportunity to slip by and head for the structure. I decided not to go straight for the gate due to the fact that the console appeared to be dormant. Inactive. Not sure why though...

There on the ground I saw the glass pipe head straight under the building. Inside I noticed a series of glass tubes all leading to a single large metal container with a glass window. The machine wired to the container had gauges, levers and a single wheel. Nothing was on or active. The lights on the machine were off. The sanguine fluids stored in the pipes and container were static. Ignoring the corpse on the floor, I tried flipping levers sloppily. No results. Maybe there was some sort of combination. I was just being stupid. A plaque on the wall had instructions etched into it. Flipping the proper levers in a proper order turned the machine on. Naturally, all that was left was the wheel. I mustered all my remaining strength to turn it. Electrical currents hummed from the machine. The fluids started to flow properly. I quickly ran out to peer over at the gate console. A green light shone. Finally I was going to get out of here. As I prepared to sneak past the mutated, the automaton's gears were turning and it began to move...