Charlie entered the elevator, waving at Reliviana as the door closed. The elevator juttered to a start, and after a few moments, it came to a stop, the doors opening to a vacant and dusty hallway, very much akin to the one that Charlie just came from. She stepped out of the elevator, a cloud of dust emitting from the carpet as she stood on it.
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She’d be coughing like mad if not for the fact she was a robot, and robots couldn't breathe. She looked onward at the hall, offices with worn out names on their surfaces greeting her ray of vision, their decay proving evident by their fading colour and broken handles. She walked, clicking of her heels muffled by the dusty, musty, and very much crusty, carpet.
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She ignored the offices, as she wasn't here to investigate, and walked toward the double doors at the end of the hall, of which were chained shut. She’d chained them closed herself, she wanted nothing to do with the place after the second reset, where she’d lost practically everything.
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Withdrawing the golden key, she put it into the lock of the chains, and with a click, opened it. The chains fell, and the door collapsed open alongside it. Beyond the decaying doors was an auditorium, but, contrary to the word ‘auditorium’, with no seats. There was, however, a staircase leading to a spotlighted podium, the light being the only source of such there, surrounded by a plethora of shut doors, waiting to be opened, used.
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Charlie walked dignifiedly toward the centre, a plan already formulated. She’d deactivate the security system, and though that’d mean the facility's monsters would be let loose, she’d take care of them.
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After all, she was the mascot. She’d be falling short of her title if she couldn't defeat some simple scientifical horrors, and that would be no good. 22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrtej7XjFv
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Onward she went, however, shoving those thoughts out of her mind. Now wasn't the time to be insecure, she had a lot of work to do. She stood at the spotlighted podium, and inhaling and exhaling in an oddly careful manner, she said,
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“Sora, deactivate the security system.”
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And the facilitie’s algorithm responded. “Are you sure you’d like to proceed with this?” “Yes, I am.” “Security deactivated, proceed with caution.” Charlie descended, and much to a fear she apparently had, the spotlight flickered off.
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Dang it. She thought, The backup generator couldn't handle that.Of course, what did I expect from this run down place? She peered in the darkness, thanking her night vision for her continued ability to see.
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She looked from the podium, the doors, once closed, now open and accessible, the furthest to her right being exactly what she was looking for- the Power Facility.
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Out of thirteen doors, it was the most important if you wanted to go anywhere near the inner facilities, unless, that is, if you had a death wish. Charlie was just about to step into the threshold of the facility when she heard a scurrying. She rolled her eyes annoyed. Not right now, she thought, I don’t want to deal with you.
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She walked onward, the darkness consuming her, even though she could see right through its attempt to force her blind. Her heels clicked on the concrete floor, and gunk and trash stood at her either side, while the leaking ceiling dripped water from the cracks above. She grimaced, noticing the remains of previous faculty, and their attempt at cleanliness.
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Bags of feces were seen either here or there, and rodents unlucky enough to think they were food had ripped them open, making the place all the more messier, and all the more stinky. Urine had mixed with the leaking water, creating pools of light yellow, but there was no sign of humanity, no sign of workers who’d found themselves stuck here after the second shutdown, a coensidence to the second reset.
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Charlie paid no mind to this fact, she knew what it meant, but tried her best to keep the idea out of her mind. She walked further and further, the occurrence of doors getting fewer and fewer. She thought she might have taken perhaps a wrong turn (if that was possible in a straight hallway) until she came upon an opening, beyond which laid, you guessed it, the engine room.
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There stood a gigantic tangle of wires and tubes, vertically extending upward into the ceiling, likely being a secondary power source for the neighborhood above, and downward into- well, whatever laid below.
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Charlie stared at the thing, very much concerned. How was this safe to any sane person to construct? If even one of the wires sparked, it would destroy literally everything, and it made no sense why this design was chosen over the one she proposed.
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Whatever, she thought, I’m not here to critique. She rushed up to the power interface, turning it on, consuming whatever little energy the system had left. It shuttered off, pissing the life out of Charlie. She started cursing indiscriminately at the system, rightfully angry, the surrying that was chasing after her even stopping in its tracks.
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Apparently, her voice (somehow) flooded the system with power, shocking the engine into production.
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The interface turned on, displaying a cooperating “All Facilities Online”. Charlie stared at the interface, very much confused, but she shrugged, it got the job done, so what reason was there to complain?
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She turned toward the exit, satisfied, and was met with the scurrying thing.
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It was a centipede, rainbow coloured, gory in every aspect. It’s body went on for an uncomfortably long time, and centipedes, coloured like the same, were squirming their way in and out of the mother centipede’s body, squelching and digging, tearing at the flesh they knew so well.
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What was supposedly sweat dripped down the ‘skin’ of the creature, collecting in the various oddly positioned dents in the creature, likely where the littler centipedes had formerly ate at the flesh of the monster.
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Charlie looked up at the mother centipede, annoyed. The face of the centipede was cartoonish, playful even. It was red, with what seemed to be hand drawn facial features, but that redness did not seem to be natural, it did not seem to be normal, and it did not seem like it belonged there.
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It did not seem right, for it was human blood.
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Charlie stared up into the ‘eyes’ of the thing, frowning. “Humans don’t even taste good,” she said. Then, suddenly, it’s face split open, roaring at her. Pieces of concrete were sprayed from above, as Charlie took in the teeth and the wide open view of its mouth, the centipedes, digging through its outside flesh, there, in its orifices and teeth. They moved, digesting everything their ‘mother’ provided. They chewed on it, the pink flesh, having mouths of their own, secreting acid from their latter ends as they squirmed around the mouth, unhappy with its openness, but eager to receive new flesh. The pink inside was disgusting, its tongue only proving a point.
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The worm thing then spat digestive juices all over Charlie, of whom reacted with a simple “Ew.” She wiped the gunk off her face, massively (and rightfully) displeased. “Jesus you need a dentist…” She muttered, side stepping the horror. “Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be going-” But it wouldn’t let her, a bad mistake on her part.
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It roared once again, whipping its ‘tail’ around and throwing her into a wall, the rubble forcing Charlie to halt. She stood up from the mess, looking up at the thing. “Seriously, I’m metal, I don’t even taste good.” But the thing couldn't hear that. It was deaf.
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I really don’t want to do this. Huh, guess I have to.
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“Okay, if it’s me you want, then come get it.” She said, standing before the thing and smiling indiscriminately. The mother opened her eyes, revealing more of the despicable horror it was. Eyes covered it’s everything, they cotated the body, they were seen all over it’s legs, and they were almost as numerous as the little centipedes that were eating at them, digging through the sockets, and leaving no remains. The littler centipedes chewed at the irises of the eyeballs, shat in the empty eye sockets, and continued to infest the thing.
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It roared, sending bones of the consumed shooting out of its mouth at her, covered in some acidic substance, of which Charlie redirected away from herself by smacking them like flies.
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“I’m a robot- wait why am I even talking to y-” It ran at her, apparently smart enough to know more bones wouldn’t work, then resorting to an attempt to clench its jaws around her, likely hoping for another meal.
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However, the center must, by all means, hold, and Charlie would do just that. She refused to be eaten, and just because she had stood by watching her family be taken from her didn't mean she’d let her life, if you could call it that, meet the same fate.
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She stood on its lower jaw, forcing it to keep open. The thing winced as she stretched its mouth beyond its limits, the smaller centipedes within it unaware of what was going on. Having next to no idea what she was doing, she, using one hand, reached for the horror’s tongue and in a careful twist of her left foot, she leapt out of its mouth, forcing the thing to stay open, misery being the meal it’d pay for.
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Charlie, knowing better, did not let go of the organ. She pulled further, hoping to at least rip it out and render it a fate of starvation, but was met with a greasy and watery squelch and a dry wheezing sound. She had not pulled out its tongue, no, but it’s esophagus, or something similar to it. So it was attached, She thought.
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Having no sympathy, she pulled further, causing the mother to choke further on its own now rapidly spewing blood, of which poured out the mouth in droves, gargling and sputtering being heard. Next, out came the lungs, and the littler centipedes were already crawling about, realisation having hit them like a brick.
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The mouth was dripping with blood mixed with bile, chunky in some places and discoloured to a green in others. The horror’s eyes were rolled back, on the brink of death, the veins within its eyes popping, threatening more than lolling backwards. Charlie, however, was not done. She’d abruptly decided she’d rid the facility of these monsters while she was at it, and this centipede thing would be first to die.
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With a final tug, out came the entire digestive system and a mess of acid from an exploding stomach to boot. The mother fell limp, collapsing sideways, and the littler centipedes scrambled, their source of food deceased. The opened eyes of the horror suddenly popped out of their sockets, the veins within it taking all that it could, flows and flows of blood pouring onto the floor and mixing with the already disgusting mix of feces and urine. The smell of the hall and the generator room was now throw up worthy, resembling that of feces and the deceased, very similar to the actual situation.
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Charlie stared at the thing, grossed out. “By Sol, you could’ve at least died looking nice.”
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She walked past the corpse, key in hand, indiscriminately squashing any centipede who thought she’d let them near her. Reaching the ‘auditorium’, she looked back at the engine room, still grossed out, but at this point willing to push it out of her mind.
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“Sora, please send a clean up crew to incinerate any organic remains.”
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“Request sent.”
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“Good.”
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Charlie looked toward the next (absurdly large) door to the left of the Engine Room. She stared at the now well lit hall, a singular set of double doors at the end of it.
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She started walking toward it, determined.
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“I’ll be there soon, everyone.”
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