Walker grabbed the back of his shirt and stumbled toward the exit. It shouldn’t have been possible, his ankle was torn, and a woman was thrown over his shoulder, but he trudged step after step toward the winking light in the distance. Each one as determined as the last.

The stench retreated as he retreated until it was a distant afterthought. His ankle burned and he dropped the two of them on the curved concrete wall. He heaved himself beside them, laughing hysterically. He took inhaled deeply, the air still stunk of trash, but to Walker, it was a fresh oasis of fruit and nectar.

Eventually, they came to, and Walker explained the best he could.

“Okay, say it was mushrooms. Doesn’t explain why I fell asleep so much quicker than Zach.” Sonya said.

Both took the news surprisingly well. Almost freakishly well, what kind of people was he talking to?

Zach rubbed his face with a rag that Walker gave him, “Maybe it’s cause I weigh more. Or I’m just that more… disciplined,” he tapped his temple.

Sonya snapped her head to Walker, “How did you stay so alert?”

Walker shrugged, “Just built different I guess.”

Zach eyed him curiously, but he said nothing.

Walker changed the subject, “But who really saved the day was this guy,” He slapped Zach’s shoulder who scowled. “Shot the dog with his eyes closed.”

Zach wiped his rifle for the hundredth time, “It was weird. My eyes were closed, but I felt like I was watching myself from above, from a third point of view. I could actually see where it was. Roughly.” He glanced at Sonya, “Did you feel that?”

Sonya rubbed her forehead, “Maybe. I don’t remember.”

Walker thought back to how the dog moved, how its head snapped when his feet dragged against the mushrooms. How fungi bloomed from its shaggy head. Walker slung his backpack back on and turned toward the tunnel.

“You’re going back in there?” Zach asked before hastily swinging the strap of his rifle over his shoulder.

“Yeah, alone. I think I can handle it so I’m going to grab some samples, I bet more than a few scientists would love to get their hands on it. Also, PIP. Can’t stay in E Class forever.” Walker paused to face Sonya, “I also saw something in the first dog’s stomach. Maybe a knife? Could help us find your friend.”

She smiled; tired lines stretched around her eyes. Sonya mouthed thank you. Walker pointed Zach’s flashlight down the tunnel, grabbed a large plastic bag out of his backpack, and marched forward.

He’d done his best to wipe the slime off his face and front but he could’ve sworn that there was still a thin veil of bloody guts on his body.

He coughed. Walker moved something in his mouth with his tongue. He grimaced, reached into his mouth, and pulled out a clump of bloody fur.

“Ugh-” he muttered and through the clump into the sewage.

While he trudged through the muck, he examined the floor with his flashlight. Near the others, closer to the entrance of the tunnel, the mushrooms were sparse. However, the more distance he traveled the more they appeared, and the more pungent the smell they, supposedly, emitted. Although, were they actually the cause of the smell? If Sonya or Zach had agreed with him that the smell was rotten, Walker would have guessed the smell came from whatever rotting organisms the mushrooms had infected. However, they hadn’t. They said it smelled sweet.

Stolen story; please report.

Walker pulled another large clump of the mushrooms out of the sewage and through them into the bag. It had to be affecting the brain’s interpretation of the smell then. He was getting close. Probably airborne then. He hadn’t noticed either of them gulping them down. Spores? Why didn’t it affect him? If Walker could filter out the poison that circulated his body, was it so much of a stretch to think that it could stop spores from infecting him?

At this point, it had been almost ten minutes of walking and the first sample bag was about three-fourths full of mushrooms. He zipped it up and pulled out another bag. Probably best to double-bag it. He switched to shallow breaths through his mouth. The waft was making his eyes water and his nose itch.

A couple of minutes later the sound of a liquid hitting metal with a metronomic cadence echoed through the tunnel.

Plink… plink…plink.

Walker shined his flashlight toward the sound: Splattered innards reflected the light back at him. Deoxygenated blood slid down and pooled at the top of the pips, dribbled down the sides, and slowly fell due to the viscosity.

He had arrived.

He kneeled down beside the first carcass. Headless. Shattered bone poked out of the open chest. He closed his eyes, orienting himself. What was going to be useful? He didn’t have body bags to stuff them into. Only plastic Ziploc bags.

“Shit.”

He needed a knife. Walker stared into the darkness. He shook his head in frustration, guess he was using his hands.

First, the mushrooms that sprouted out of the dog. If he were researching them, he’d want to compare the two. The only orifice that had complete mushrooms pushing out of was the anus. He sighed and grabbed a marker out of the bag and marked this one along with the other bag. Documentation was the cornerstone of scientific advancement.

He ripped the mushrooms out and bagged them up. He did the same with its fur. The blood was a bit of an issue, but he managed to get some in a bag. The mess made that bag a triple bagger.

The largest issue was its bone. Walker managed to pick out a shard or two out of its neck but he wanted a larger sample. Egor mentioned that the quality and quantity of the samples would affect the distribution of pay and credit received.

Walker grabbed one of the front legs of the dog and placed his boot against the ribcage of the creature. He tugged but his hands slid along the wet fur. He grunted and dug his finger into the thin flesh and pulled. Something shifted in the shoulder of the animal and one tug later, it ripped free.

“Nice,” His voice echoed back to him.

Eerie.

He stuffed the limb into the bag, the paw poked through the plastic so he double-bagged it as well. He moved to the first dog he found, however this time it was on its back with its legs sticking up in the air like it was waiting for a belly rub.

Walker frowned and quickened his work, pausing occasionally to shine the flashlight down the tunnel. The first thing he did was inspect the head again. Unlike the dog that attacked him, the size of the flat-headed mushrooms that filled its face was sizeable. Dwarfing its friend. He pulled up its muzzle. Teeth. He grabbed one, it wiggled loose easily. He dropped a couple of the canines into his pocket and grabbed a few more for samples. He moved on to the rest of the body and bagged the contents.

Walker rolled the dog back to the side with the open wound. It seemed wider than he remembered it. He tucked the flashlight under his chin and pulled the flaps of the meat open. Walker could’ve sworn there was something- yes. He reached down the skin, knuckle deep. His fingers clumsily grasped it and pulled it free.

It wasn’t a knife but a rectangular metallic prism the size of a key fob. He wiped it against his shorts. It was featureless except for two letters engraved in the center of one side: E.W and a series of four numbers beside it.

Walker frowned as he pocketed it.

He stuffed the second set of samples in his bag and tried not to think about how just one zipper down were his clothes.

Walker left the dog and sauntered toward the exit where, hopefully, they waited for him. He yawned, his limbs felt like lead.

However, when he passed the headless dog, he hesitated. Walker crouched down and flipped the dog to its right. He dragged his fingers over the pelt, massaging it as he moved. There. He pulled out one of the teeth he pulled out the dog and plunged it into the hide. He twisted and pushed to make a large enough hole to fit his finger in. He wiped it down and shoved it back into his pocket.

Walker gripped the opening and stretched it open. The skin had a lot more give than he expected. Very flexible. He stuck out his tongue in concentration, then after some searching, he removed his hand with the prize.

He wiped it down.

It was identical.