>> Mindvoid

The red hallway lurches as I tumble back from the now-inky door. Details twisting as I crash into the wall behind me. “Oh God. Oh God…. It was her. It was her…. It was….”

“Spook!?” Tufty gasps. But I barely hear him.

I'm choking.

Choking on…. something…. something .....I ate.....

I can still taste….

My knees hit the deep, dark, red of the carpet. My fingers grip it - tearing with claws. I stare into it, as if it has answers. Then, up at the doorway.

But nothing.

Just a cupboard-sized space, leading to a slab of an internal security door….. “Spook?” Kami hesitates, a flash of rare concern in her hard eyes. “What the Hell, Spook?” She recovers. “You trying to scare us?”

“Spook. Are you still functional?” Crackles the turret above the door. I rub my face, shaking quietly as I paw my way up the wall.

“Hhh-?”

“Spook…..? Nyaaa?”

“Mate? Hey, like-” Zip hisses as I stagger away from our home. “Mate, hey! Hey! Like, c'mon! Hostile area! We gotta get in-”

Mind broken, I lunge away from them. Down the hall. Diving into a spore-filled flat and hitting the panel to lock myself in. Not even caring. Whatever geneFreaks and monsters are in here….

…..it’s nothing....

.....nothing compared to….

“Spook." States another turret. "You are not thinking clearly. This is a dangerous envi-”

“Her! It was her!” I choke. Planting my hands on a countertop soaked in dust. “She was freakin’ HERE!”

“I am not sure I understand.” The machine states, swinging the barrel to cover me.

“HER.” I hiss into the sound-proof dark. “Our EVIL STEPMOTHER. She was here…..” Bone clinks against toe-claws, and I stagger back. Little white lumps rolling across stiff, spiky, carpet…. “What…..?” My eyes widen. Heartbeat roaring, as Common Sense comes slamming back into the room. Smacking me around the face, and kicking over tables. “Oh….. Shit.”

My back hammers into the door. Gun into my hand.

“Spook-”

“Scan the footage. Everything. Do it.” I take a long breath, and hit the emergency release. “Nobody else can know.”

“Understood.”

The door behind me clunks open, and I step back out. Dust shifting in the low light. “Spookie?” Tuft stutters as Badger launches himself into my side. Forcing me to jerk, and stiffen.

“Nothin’. It was nothin’. C’mon.” I growl. Fending off the little weirdo, harder than I meant to. He falls on his ass, and stares at me. Pain stabbing my guts. But I flick a shaken hand, and they snap into position around me. Guns up, and ready, as things begin to click and hiss in the dark…..

Rippling noises that eat at the edges of your sanity.

I motion forward - and Zip, Badger, and Kami step into the secure entryway.

The outer door shutting with a crisp snap.

A second later, it opens again and Demon has to drag me inside with Tufty. Deathly flickers of sickness and cold twisting at my writing insides. I shut my eyes. I don’t want to meet her again. But I don’t wanna get left in the dark, either.

All lost and alone and….

Pressure hisses as the outer door seals tight. A robotic arm drops to eye-level, and I’m scanned by a low pulsing light. One second. Two. Then the inner door unseals, I tumble out - into the dim-lit den of our livingroom. A wrought iron staircase, swooping up to the balcony above. And, beneath it, our big cozy Sofa Nook. A toilet and and open-sided kitchen on the left. Twin bedrooms on the right. And empty crisp packets, cans, and wrappers layered thick across absolutely everything.

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I’ve never felt so damned happy to see it.

It’s not.....

I’m not-

I yelp as Demon snags my arm. Kami grabbing the other with three of her own. Zipper leading as they pull me aside - with Badger hopping about behind, and Tufty peering over the sofa. Pricking his fuzzy ears at me.

I fake a laugh. “Y’know. We ain’t really outta earshot if everyone joins in. Not that you’re ever gonna be outta Tufty’s-”

“Spook, are…. are you okay?” Kami says in an oddly gentle voice. It sounds weird.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m-”

Demon’s eyes burn my face. Scanning, quietly. “Hrmmm.” He grunts. “Zis…. Strange-acting…. is unsettling to me.”

“Too right, mate. What happened?”

I hesitate, ignoring a flailing Badger. “Yeah…. Well, don’t tell everyone. But my….. implant glitched.”

“Glitched?” Kami’s folds her arms, with a dull clang.

“Yeah. Glitched.” I state. Ending it there.

“So…. What….? What happened?” She gestures to me. Prompting. “Weird lights? Went blind? Massive feedback? Pain?”

Holy Hell. I can’t tell….

If they thought….

They’d freak out so hard…..

I glance away. Rubbing my neck. “Look. I dunno. Pol’s gonna screw with it n’ see. But, for now….” Even to me, it sounds like I'm hiding things.

They share a weird look. “Spook..... uh….”

“It’s fine.” I flick a hand away. Trying for confident. “It’ll be fine. Just don’t…. Uh, don’t….” I trail off beneath their multiple, confused, stares. “I told you. Pol’s handling it. Let it drop.”

“Mate-”

But Kami cuts Zipper off. “Okay. Spook.” She says, with a very level look. Raising a metal-filled eyebrow at him. “Better go clear up - you’ve got a lot of blood round your mouth. You bite your lip or something?”

My guts compact to the size of a marble. “What.”

“Go look in the mirror.” Is all she says. Stalking off, into the kitchen, to glare at her breakfast. Or something. Dragging Zipper along with her, presumably to help.

I swallow.

Demon blinks at me for a second, then follows. Badger’s head on a swivel as he tries to work out what happened. But I can't answer that, and I bolt in the cluttered bathroom. Slipping on plasticy wrappers as I slam the door. Eyes shut, against the mirror, as I grope for the rim of the sink. Claws clink on ceramic, and I plunge them under the tap. Splashing water over my face.

Scrubbing hard. Not looking.

Then I let out a breath, and open my eyes. Staring at the dripping-wet Spook in the mirror. No blood, as if it was never there. Ears twitching as huddled voices whisper through it from the kitchen. “What the Hell happened out there…..” Kami hisses. "Did Spook's implant really glitch?"

“Mate, like, I dunno." A verbal shrug. "Like, I said we ought to upgrade-”

"Can't afford it."

“Zpook, is….”

“….just ran off, toward the…..”

“Mate. No. You-”

“We need-”

I flip open a vScreen in mid-air, and ramp my hearing down to human levels. Head low. Breathing hard. Maybe….. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I just….. bit my damn lip. Or something…. Yeah. That’s rational right? I just had some…. I dunno what…. Flashback? …..and…. bit my lip….

And then….

…..it magically healed.

I put a hand on the mirror, pressing hard. Like I’m trying to break it. And maybe I am. Maybe I want to break it, so there’s actual blood in here. So I can’t just….

I flip open the hallway feed. Dialling it back. Seeing the team slip up to the door, stacking like we’re about to breach. It opens. And I….. I just ….panic at nothing. Stumble back. Bolt on all fours. No Evil Stepmother no......

A flicker.

Frowning, I spin the footage back again. And again. Staring hard at the feed....

My arm. It moved. Like it teleported. One second, here. The next second there. I spin it back again. Again. Bringing up the timestamp, as Polybius unfolds into existence behind me. As if the air itself is Polybius, and.....

“There’s a jump.” I whisper. “A jump in the feed.”

“Eight minutes. Thirty-two point five-three seconds.” The machine agrees.

“Where did it go?”

Silence.

“Pol. Where did the bloody time go?”

“Unknown.”

I bring up my eye-camera feed, and there…. Right there…. A flicker of darkness, where there should be light….. “Eight…. freakin’…. minutes.” I breathe. “Something….. something happened in that hallway.” I stare at Polybius. And a sudden, dark, thought spins through my mind:

There’s a Traitor.

In the group.

“Find.” I breathe, claws tight to the sink. The plinth cold on my tail, as I shake. As I hiss. As I choke. “Find...... out..... Where. That. Freakin’. Time. Went. NOW."

Polybius maintains its cold vigil as I grip the sink, and shiver. Like something sick and cold is worming its way through me. I still feel it. I feel the thing inside me. And yet, I'm, still hungry. Like she cut open my belly as she fed me, and I got nothing at all from the 'meal'..... And maybe it was just imaginary. Maybe.....

My eyes close again. My breathing stills.

And then I straighten. I put on a big stupid smile. And step out. Fending off a bouncing, flailing, question-filled Badger….. mostly by knocking him upside the head with a loose cushion. He goes over like a lamp, and I toss in some balls to make Tufty pounce. Which makes Badger pounce. Which devolves into the lil squirts chasing each-other round our big ole huddle of busted sofas. Slipping on sweet-wrappers as they charge all over the place.

Do I tell them?

Can I.

I breath in hard, and make a decision.

But when I face off against the crowd in the kitchen, it’s just Zipper. Blue hair tickling opal tiles as he leans hard on the ‘bartop’ counter, facing out into the livingroom.

Facing me, as it happens.

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