When we found an unmarked research centre, not on any map or website that we had access to yet it looked as broken down and bloodstained as everywhere else we'd been to, the first thing we noticed was how it smelled. Not like the blood and rot that had overwhelmed everything but... clean and sterile.
After the world had fallen to the undead we grew used to everywhere smelling like rot - whether it was their rotting flesh or rotting fresh produce in the stores we scavenged in. In time we all became numb to the stench of decay to the point where the undead were almost camouflaged by it.
Strange as the smell of bleach now was to us, we thought there might be food or medical supplies inside and voted 9 - 4 to check it out. The floor of the lobby was covered in old bloodstains and dried out viscera so we knew the undead had torn through here as well, only long ago.
Somehow this was more unnerving than if they'd been waiting for us. We wondered what could have driven them away so quickly given how slowly they moved and how much their lifelong habits stuck with them, keeping them rooted to their homes and occupations even in death.
We didn't have to wonder for long as we opened the doors into a colossal operating theatre where a mass of pulsating flesh and sleepy-looking eyes gently writhed at the centre. It didn't appear to have a mouth but some hindbrain part of our minds told us it could still eat us somehow.
A few eyes stared balefully up at us, beckoning us silently to ignore the freshly slain bodies all around it and come closer. A few of us took a single step forward in unison which was enough to shake us all out of its spell as we sprinted for the outside, not looking back.
We've found a few other places like that in the area, all smelling sterile and all with one of those things waiting for the weak and curious to find them. We torched the last place, hoping it would kill the thing inside only to hear it scream for mercy in our minds.
Nobody's saying it but we can all still hear it and all the others calling us murdering monsters.
No comments:
Post a Comment