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I remember reading once that if you spend enough time speaking a new language you’ll eventually think in that language.

Someone who may have spent their entire life speaking French could eventually start hearing that little voice inside their head speaking English if they spent enough time immersed in the culture and language. Even dreams could be affected and despite it having only been a few days since leaving home it felt absolutely bizarre to be standing once again on the vinyl floor of a storage room. The concrete wall before me was tight but on either side of me were racks holding boxes upon boxes of supplies. As I looked around I turned back and leaned through the portal,

“Shut it and give me an hour, deal?” I saw Drew nod and when I pulled back the gateway closed and I was standing in the still and quiet of the back room of what looked to be a super market.

I moved between the shelves and found a large wall clock which read 4:14pm, just enough time for me to poke around and see what had become of the world we left behind. The air was still and the building was quiet despite the lights being on overhead and as I moved to the large double doors that closed the back off from the storefront I felt nervous. I paused at the door unsure of what to expect and after a moment of preparation pushed through to see people. However they weren’t moving.

At first I thought I was merely caught a woman mid-read as she looked at the back of a cereal box she held but after a few moments I realized she was frozen; suspended in time. I stepped forward, an eerie sense of dread washing over me as I did, and looked to my right. There was a man standing over a fish counter taking a handful of food from the man who stood behind it. Nervously I approached to see the counter’s ice still frozen, the fish still fresh looking. I turned around and head to the front of the store passing a young child in a cart, still and lifeless yet clearly real. The whole scene looked like a hyper realistic wax museum which left me unsettled for a number of reasons and when I approached the front window, I saw that the street was the same.

Cars seemingly parked had passengers in them, driving down the main strip of town. I realized now I was in Casey’s, a supermarket chain and the one I visited regularly. I walked past the window and through the open door to the street and looked around at the city, filled with unmoving people. The whole thing was like a horror movie; people faces twisted in odd expressions as if they were mid conversation when everything stopped. There was no breeze, the sun felt warm but not hot and as I began to dread having asked Drew for an entire hour, my eyes danced over the sign out front of Claudia’s Taphouse. My feet realized where I was heading before my mind did and as I crossed the street (instinctively looking back and forth as I did) it dawned on me and I cut to the left towards the alley where I first found the code.

The alley way was like something out of a dream. It felt long ago and distant and in a way it was; I had changed so much in such a short amount of time since finding the code. Everyone’s life had changed. I paused for a moment as I considered that. Everyone’s life had changed. Those who came with me were different and forever would be and everyone left behind… well they’re frozen. That was when I realized that even if we came back, nothing would be the same. I headed down the alley; the police tape now removed and went for the door that led inside. Luckily the window was boarded up high above me and as I entered and started climbing the stairs it didn’t take long to guess the floor in question.

I walked down the dimly light hallway towards the end unit and fumbled for the knob. It was locked. I reeled back and was about to unsuccessfully throw my weight into it when I realized I was still wearing my armor. I slapped my forehead and reached into my pocket for a lock pick. Within seconds the door clicked and swung open revealing the complete darkness of the interior. With a shrug I pulled a torch out of my rucksack and lit it, entering the apartment now filled with flickering light.

The apartment clearly belonged to a spectacular coder computer scientist. Just past the short entry way the floor turned into an antistatic matt and the walls became white vinyl. The entire place looked like a lab of sorts with a workbench, soldering iron and a number of tools I didn’t even recognize. There were three different 3D printers in a line and I studied them with varying degrees of understanding. The back wall of this room had large pieces of plywood to cover the broken window but sitting before that was a large vacant desk that once held the computer I found in the alleyway. I walked towards it and ran my fingers along the white smooth surface of the desk with pursed lips. I leaned back and looked to the wall to see a degree made out to Percival Graves.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I walked over to it and looked over the other photographs on the wall to see the smiling face of a man shaking another man’s hand. They were young and it looked to maybe the 70’s based on the wall décor and their clothing. I don’t know why but I ended up taking down the picture and removing it from its frame. Before I tucked it away I turned it around to see something handwritten on the back, it read;

A young partnership between Wally & Me, 1973

I folded the photo and put it in my bag before looking through some drawers and rifled through his things. I didn’t know what I expected to find as the police had already combed through everything but I felt it necessary to check. Surprising to no one there wasn’t anything to be found. I turned to leave but stopped at the door, I checked the clock and though I could barely make out the second hand through the torch light; I could see it was still at least 4 and so I turned back around to scratch an itch that had nagged me. I walked back over to the desk and, kneeling, began softly prying at the white flooring around the base of the desk.

I know it seems random but something about it seemed relevant to me. Looking back I realize now that I had taken an ability in Dunn that allowed me to be more aware of my surroundings. Eventually a small sound clicked and the floor sprung open, no bigger than a bread box however the interior looked already searched. There was some money and a number of floppy disks and a sticky note which read backup but there was no USB or CD associated with it. I thumbed through the floppy disks and saw one which read A Murder Mystery and intrigued I took the stack of five with me. As I went to leave the apartment, sure this time that I had found everything I looked again at the clock and furrowed my brow at it still being 4. Surely I had been here longer and as I took a step towards to read the second hand my stomach dropped; it was still 4:14pm.

It wasn’t just the people; everything was frozen here, as if the code stopped this world to run Dunn. I exited the apartment building and raced through the alleyway making sure I had all my possessions and when I extend to the street I froze. There was movement to my right. I ducked back to catch my breath and crouched down by the alley way just as I saw something move down a side street. My blood ran stone cold and my heart beat loudly in my ears as my eyes tightened to the direction of the movement. For a moment I tried to convince myself that it was just a trick of the light or my mind fooling me but as soon as I began to believe that may have been the case, I saw it move again.

It hung low to the ground at first like an animal; it’s black back arched like a lion but as I watched it, it stood revealing itself to be a human. I turned back down the alleyway, terrified of what would and could exist in this world and as I caught my breath I remembered that Drew wouldn’t keep the portal open forever. With a nod to myself I crept out and entered the street. I tried my best to keep eye on the movement without focusing on the nature of what it was and began to move from car to car.

I had kept myself hidden for almost the entire way but on the last sprint to the far side of the street I tripped. From the corner of my eye I saw the creature stand up and it began to run. The colour left my face as I could see it running; not like a creature on all fours but like a human and in a sprint. As it barreled towards me it screamed a hideous howl that echoed throughout the ghost-like street. My heart fired like a jackhammer as I stumbled to my feet and ran for the supermarket. I could see the thing from the corner of my eye and as I tore through the open doors of the grocery store I heard the answer of others like it howl back.

I ran for my life as heard the clacking of its claws on the tiled floor behind me. My lungs burned and I could taste the iron on my tongue as I ran through the double doors that led to the back down the tight alley-like shelves of the back room. I turned the corner praying that Drew had left the portal open and thanked every God in the book when I heard the familiar hum of it. I grabbed the corner of a shelf as turned the corner of the shelf stack tight, the breathing of the creature directly behind me, and with every ounce of strength I leaped for the portal and fell.