Where am I?

The hospital?

How did I not know that?

Why was he there? Jem looked around, it was familiar. He was outside the room where– where. Where granny Baker was recovering from a surgery. It was two months before she died. How do I know that?

Jem fished around in the pocket of his slightly-too-tight jeans and pulled out his phone. He used his fingerprint to identify himself and opened a social media app, his usual source of information. The first post he saw was dated today the 23rd of may 2019. It was bizarre. Sure the layout was the same, the font and everything like that was too. But the picture and the words were utterly nonsensical.

Jem shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket.

The 23rd of May was two days after her operation. He’d come to visit Granny Baker alone, his parents said they were ‘too busy for an old bag.’ Jem wouldn’t be telling the truth if he said he always enjoyed Granny Baker’s company but no one deserved to be alone if they were tired and hurt. Even if they were in a hospital and that was sort of expected.

His coins jangled as they fell down into the vending machine. He’d pushed them in before he gave himself the chance to think twice about it. Thankfully it accepted them easily and the sandwich, water and polos were released without issue. Granny Baker may not be happy with polos, they weren’t humbugs after all, but she’d have to make do.

Jem picked them up and pulled his coat tighter around himself, shivering. He wasn’t sure if it was just the result of typical hospital frigidity or the creeping sense of unease and deja vu.

Returning to Granny Baker’s room was the largest confirmation that something was incredibly wrong. The issue was that there wasn’t just one room. How she’d managed to finagle a private room, in an NHS hospital, initially was already a mystery; getting four was reality-shattering. Or it would have been, had that opportunity not already been stolen away by the magical illusions on the wall beside each door.

The first showed things as Jem had remembered them going. Their argument and Jem’s subsequent exit from the room. After which he’d gone to– Ah the vending machines. Why does that feel so long ago? The subsequent rooms showed alternate scenarios each more fanciful than the last.

In the second showed a granny baker who smiled when she saw him. Truly absurd, Jem may not have thought his parent's refusal to visit fair, but that was just out of character for the curmudgeonly old bat. The third showed her handing Jem a tenner, he’d been incredibly jealous of other kids at school growing up with stories of generous grandparents ever so happy to give their little darling a little ‘pocket change’. The fourth showed her updating her will and handing everything over to Jem. She described him as ‘the only one in the family who’d ever cared’. Ouch.

He wasn’t sure if that was fair to say, but her closest relatives were Jem and his dad. And his dad was kind of an ass. The difference was that in the real world, she’d signed half of her things over to Jem’s dad and the other half had been donated to some kind of political thinktank that probably advocated for the destruction of the rainforests and single parents fighting to the death, or something.

At some point, while thinking about what his gran had done in the real world Jem remembered where he was. The bloodline trial. Jem wasn’t exactly sure what the trial was supposed to be testing, but he knew which outcome he would have wished for. Jem pushed open the door to the fourth room and stepped inside.

“Oh darling you’re already back. I knew you were my favourite grandson for some reason.”

“I am your only grandson.”

“Pedantics, now come talk to your granny Baker she wants to know all about how you’ve been. There are lots more interesting things going on in your life than in this room I’m sure. Have you found yourself a nice boyfriend or girlfriend? My grandson is much too handsome to stay single.”

Okay, that’s just weird. The granny Baker Jem knew would have been more likely to cast magic right in front of him than ask about a boyfriend. Though Jem supposed that was actually potentially feasible. She had asked about a girlfriend, but not even a little pressure to spawn a great-grandchild for her? Before Jem could speak more with his suddenly nice grandmother another sound caught his attention.

A scream came from outside the door and then something thudded against the it. Jem put the food down on the bed next to his gran and she grabbed his hand.

“Do keep your old granny safe won’t you sweetie? And do make sure to stay safe yourself.”

Jem’s eyes met his gran’s for a moment before he turned back to the door. A dark red pool had already formed under the door and the coppery scent of blood was turning from faint whiff to pungent odour. Whatever was going on outside, it wasn’t good and Jem needed a weapon. He scrutinised the room looking for anything that might work, eventually settling on a fire extinguisher.

Jem hefted it and he almost fell backwards, the weird sense of deja vu encouraged him to forget about his somewhat recently increased strength. It wasn’t a sword but it would have to do.

He did not have to wait long for the first creature to break down the door. The monkey thing had a pair of sharp horns jutting from its head and sharp obsidian claws glinting at the end of its oddly human fingers. It used the door handle like a tree branch and flew towards Jem.

Thoughts still going at 4 times their normal speed Jem had little trouble coming up with a plan to deal with the critter. He stepped to the side and used the fire extinguisher like a baseball bat.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

There was a crunch and a disgustingly fleshy sound and the monkey went flying back the way it had come and down the hall. Apparently, the layout of the hospital had changed after Jem made his choice. He now had an unrestricted view straight down the main corridor of the hospital wing. In the distance, there was an elephant-like creature smashing into one of the vending machines.

Closer there were a pair of mangy hyena creatures feasting on a human body. Jem looked away from the woman, she’d been the doctor in charge of his gran’s recovery. She might even have been on her way to check up on her. Jem pushed the guilty thought aside. This isn’t actually real. It’s still the trial.

Whether they were attracted by the movement or something else entirely Jem wasn’t sure but the two looked up from their meal and started loping down the corridor. Towards Jem. He wasn’t sure if it was actually true, but he felt like letting them get the initiative would be a bad idea. Jem charged towards the one on the left and at the last moment changed his direction and smashed the fire extinguisher into the one on the right. There was another meaty crunch and Jem caught the left hyena in the corner of his eye..

Jem brought a hoof up to the side and kicked. It tore right through the canine’s face. Its teeth caught on the denim of his jeans ripping them open, revealing his fur-covered legs. His furry, soon to be matted with blood legs. Jem moved past the body and further up the corridor. As he did his gran's room moved with him, and the corridor behind him disappeared. Weird ritual hallucination whoo.

It was a good thing though, he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming in through a side door and attacking Granny 2.0 while he was fighting something else. Vending machine elephant did not look like it would be particularly vulnerable to a fire extinguisher. Jem decided that he’d try to move past it if he could and look for a different weapon. That plan got about as far as the vending machines before it needed reconsideration. The elephant apparently didn’t want to allow anything to muscle in on its prize.

The elephant turned to face Jem and started to charge. It seemed that elephants weren’t very good at acceleration. Or at least not on relatively unyielding hospital floors. Jem squeezed past the beast only for it to ignore him and continue running in the same direction. It glowed red as some kind of skill activated and its feet started to find purchase. It was accelerating. Directly towards the hospital room. Jem kicked back the way he’d come and reached forward, grabbing onto one of the tusks.

He firmed his grip and wrenched, in a move that would dismay poachers and conservationists alike. The tusk ripped out in a spray of bone and blood. Still running, Jem flipped it around and aimed it towards the elephant’s head. He hefted the fire extinguisher and slammed it down on top of the tusk. The tusk penetrated deep and the elephant collapsed to the ground. Its momentum carried it forward and it slammed into the door.

The doors buckled inwards revealing the room inside.

Jem gulped. “Why grandmother, what large teeth you have.” Monster grandma didn’t respond of course. Instead, Jem heard a large sucking sound and the elephant started sliding along the ground towards the bed. Jem pulled his tusk free.

The elephant disappeared into his granny’s mouth.

“All the better to eat you with my dear.”

Her body morphed and changed. In addition to her hyena teeth, her body grew and pink faded to leathery grey as her skin was replaced.

The bed creaked and groaned under her. Her body was changing, growing. Her skin became thicker, changing from pink to grey. It’s probably just as leathery as before.

Jem wondered if that was the result she’d have gotten from an incantation like. Let your inner light shine out. Not the time Jem. Wait what am I waiting for?

Before his grandmother could change any further Jem darted forward. She was more agile than the elephant had been but she was still changing. Jem swung the fire extinguisher down on her skull and–

It bounced off.

Jem tried to repeat his trick with the tusk and fire extinguisher. There was a larger change this time. There was a small puncture in the skin before the tusk hit bone and was stopped entirely.

Jem glared at his fake gran and fled the room. Leathery old bat.

Options, options.

Jem didn’t rate brute force as particularly likely to deal with the monster. That meant he needed other options. Fire, electricity, radiation? Maybe if I brought some metal near an MRI machine? Ooh, an oxygen tank that could make fire better.

Jem was looking along a side corridor when he saw what would either be a terrible idea or a brilliant one. Jem ran back to the previous room, where he’d seen them, and affixed the oxygen mask to his face, grabbing the tank at the same time.

He stepped back into the corridor just as granny baker rounded the corner. When she saw him she let out a bestial roar. Granny Baker as a bloodthirsty monster somehow made a lot more sense in his mind as compared to the one he’d spoken with before the monsters came.

He ran down the corridor, reaching the room labelled Cryogenic Storage. It was locked. Of course, it's locked. Jem didn’t have a key. But did he need a key?

Jem threw himself into the door. It didn’t budge. He then lined up the fire extinguisher with the lock and threw his weight behind that. Wood splintered and the door swung open.

Jem dropped the tusk. He wouldn’t have a use for it now. There were no convenient small tanks to puncture. Instead, Jem went for a large tank with a pipe attached. More specifically the pipe itself. It took a few hits from the battered fire extinguisher but the pipe gave way and liquid nitrogen splashed out. Some of it landed on his legs, burning them and freezing the blood into his fur.

Jem yawned.

He felt drowsy and his feet were cold. Sleepy. Wait I don’t have feet. I’m so sleepy.

Jem turned the dial on his oxygen tank. Oops.

Granny Baker stepped into the doorway and Jem backed into the room. To the corner away from the door. She stalked forward, and a long snake-like tongue flicked over her lips.

Jem whispered. “Why grandmother, what thick skin you have.”

“All the better to igno–” Granny Baker yawned.”–ignore your screams with.”

She made it two more steps before slumping to the ground. It seemed even monsters needed to breathe sometimes. Jem waited for a few seconds but the trial hadn’t ended. He had no idea how long it took a person to asphyxiate or what the effect of stats or even being a monster might be.

Jem picked up the tusk from the floor. His fingers instantly freezing onto it. He lined it up with her eye, then shoved it in.

Her body turned incorporeal and it shifted back to a human form. Granny Baker’s voice rang out. “Please don’t kill me Jem.”

Her body turned to mist, it then sucked together into a red gem.

Jem threw up. The vomit hissed violently in the nitrogen and froze solid.

Then the gem turned green before flying into him, joining its companion.