Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hide it. Hide it. Hide it. Hide it.

The thought echoed in the back of his mind like a broken record as Sam frantically rooted through all the stuff he had in his room. 

He knew he had an extra blanket in here. He always used it in the winter (because his radiator sucked and he was too lazy and broke to fix it) or just as a spare for when he had to wash his bedding. But other than that, it mostly just sat around.

It has to be in here somewhere. It couldn’t have just disappeared!

Where is it? Where is it?

There!

Sam pulled out a large, faded blue blanket that had been buried inside of his chest of drawers.

He shook it out and held it up in front of him. It was a lot bigger than he was.

Perfect!

He slung the blanket over his shoulders, fashioning it like a hooded cloak and securing it with a safety pin he had dug up.

He pulled the edges of the blanket closed, taking a moment to relish in the comfort and warmth that it brought him.

Yeah… yeah this’ll work! Even if he starts… changing, then he can just cover it up!

No one has to know about this… I’m fine.

He stood silently in the middle of his room for a few moments.

Sam couldn’t help but chuckle a bit to himself at the absurdity of it all.

God. He wasn’t even a week into the apocalypse and he was already dressing like an edgy fantasy character.

He was gonna look like such a nerd walking around like this.

Oh well. Having people think he was a weirdo was better then being seen as a monster…

Sam huffed a bit, pulling his hood down and making his way out of his bedroom.

It was around 11:00 by this time. Sam had decided to have a quick lunch a few minutes earlier. But other than that, things have been quiet around the apartment.

He walked out to find Joel sitting quietly on the couch, swinging his legs slightly.

“hey, Joel.”

The kid looked up at Sam as he approached, cocking his head slightly in confusion.

“What are you wearing?”

Sam stopped in his tracks, looking around awkwardly as he fiddled with the edges of his cloak.

“I uhhhhhhh- I was feeling a bit cold!”

“then why don’t you… hhh… wear a Jacket?” Joel somehow managed to raise a judgemental eyebrow at the man, despite missing most of his face.

Sam buffered, stuttering out something incoherent as he tried and failed to make up some reasonable explanation.

“I- Listen!” He jabbed a finger at himself, “I’m an adult man and I can do what I want! If I decide to wear a crappy cloak when it’s cold, then that’s my business.”

Joel just laughed at him.

“you’re- hhh- funny Mr. Sam!”

Sam stood there, looking defeated and humiliated.

God. This kid probably thinks I’m a huge loser.

He let out a loud huff as he plopped himself onto the couch, next to Joel.

Sam stayed quiet for a bit longer, waiting as the boy’s laughter finally died down.

He rested his head in his hand, looking at Joel a bit inquisitively.

he’ll admit, he was a little bit curious about the kid’s… affliction.

He sat there for just a moment before finally letting the question slip.

“Joel… how do you see?”

Joel just stared at him for a few seconds, and Sam started to wonder if he should’ve just kept his mouth shut.

Then Joel started to look around a bit, seeming equally perplexed.

“I don’t know! I can still see… hhh… just not well. My vision was- hhh- bad before, but now… hhh… it just feels worse. I can see my teeth though. So I think I’m just… hhh… seeing out of my mouth?”

Joel looked up at him as he spoke. And suddenly, Sam caught sight of something in the boy’s gaping maw.

“uh- hold on.” Sam sat up a bit before pausing. “Can I… take a closer look?”

Joel shifted a little on the spot. Sam really hoped that he wasn’t making him uncomfortable.

Joel finally looked back up at him, nodding his head a bit.

Sam cautiously leaned closer, peering into the boy’s grotesque mouth.

He squinted a bit as his eyes finally focused on what he was seeing.

Right there, nestled in the ridges of the boy’s throat, were hundreds of tiny, beady black eyes.

They were so small that you could easily miss them if you weren’t looking. But they were there.

“huh!” Sam straightened up a bit, satisfied with his inspection, “Well, you still have eyes. They’re just… very small.”

Joel hummed a bit, waving a hand in front of his face as his mouth contorted into what must have been a small smile.

Sam smiled as well. He was glad to give the kid at least a little bit of closure.

Or well, closure wasn’t exactly the word. It was more like… understanding. A bit more insight into how his strange new body worked.

Sam honestly wished he could have a bit of that himself…

He frowned a bit at that thought.

god, don’t feel bad about yourself right now. This is supposed to be about the kid.

“Man, it- hhh- really sucks with everything being so bleary!” Sam blinked, pulling himself from his thoughts as the boy continued. 

“My mom was… hhh… going to try to get me glasses before all of this. Do you think they’ll… hhh… still give me some, Mr. Sam?”

Sam mentally cringed, both at the mention of the boy’s mother and at the naive hope that things would just go back to normal after all of this… but he tried to force on a smile in spite of it.

“I… don’t think the doctors will be able to fix that with glasses.”

Joel looked down a bit, disappointed.

“aww. Why not?”

Sam gave him a nervous grin, scratching the back of his head.

“well, there are just so many of them. And they’re all so small, I don’t think the doctors could get you any glasses that would fit all of them.”

He let out a small chuckle.

“besides. Even if they could find you glasses like that, you’d still be breathing out of your mouth. They would just get foggy the all the time!”

Joel giggled a bit.

“oh yeah, that sounds super annoying.”

“Yeah, and they would get all covered in slobber too.”

“eeeewwwww!!” Joel started to laugh, and Sam couldn’t help but smile.

For a split second, he almost forgot about the end of the world.

But then his eyes drifted over to the kitchen. Then they drifted over to the door that lead out into the hallway.

He knew he couldn’t ignore it forever… he knew that having Joel with him would make resources more… tight.

They couldn’t just hunker down and wait this disaster out… he had to go out again, had to scavenge for more supplies.

Sam slowly got up from the couch, making his way to the kitchen.

Joel’s eyes followed him the whole way, watching as he picked up the old bag on the table.

“Where are you going?”

Sam’s face tightened. He pulled the kitchen knife from the bag and lightly flicked his thumb across the blade. It was still sharp.

He slung the empty bag over his shoulders.

“I’m going out again.”

“why?”

“because there’s not enough food for the both of us. I need to get more.”

“Okay!” Joel hopped down from the couch, running to the front door.

“hey-Hey!” The boy stopped, looking to Sam. “What are you doing?”

“I’m… hhh… I’m coming with you.” The boy replied.

“No. No you’re not.”

“Why not?” Joel cocked his head to the side. “My mom always lets me… hhh… go to the grocery store with her.”

Sam just stared at the kid for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted.

Does he not know what’s going on??

He sighed, walking up to the boy and kneeling down to his eye level.

“Joel, listen. Do you know about the… thing going on outside?”

“you mean how it’s like- hhh- an eclipse, but WAY worse? Yeah I know.” He answered the question casually, like this was just completely normal for him.

“Mom and dad told me and Ben- hhh- not to look.”

Sam still felt that awful twang of guilt as Joel spoke about his family. But he continued on.

“Yeah well… I can’t go out to get groceries because of it. None of us can. Not while this is still going on.”

“then where will you… hhh… get the food?”

Sam quietly hissed through his teeth, warily eyeing the door.

“Well… I’m gonna, hopefully, get some food from our neighbours.”

“oh... okay.” Joel still looked confused, but he didn’t question the man any further.

Sam gave a satisfied nod and stood up, walking to the door.

“All right, I’ll be back soon. Stay in the apartment. You’re free to play some video games if you want. Sybil’s right next door, you can knock on the wall if you need her.”

“Mr. Sam?”

He paused, turning to look at the boy.

Joel stood there, holding Fuzzy tightly. He looked worried.

“Be safe. Okay?”

Sam gave him a small, reassuring smile.

“I will. Don’t worry.”

Then, he twisted the knob, and walked out.

The door clicked closed behind him.

He cautiously looked down both ends of the hall, scanning for any threats.

It looked like the coast was clear for now.

Sam let out a small sigh, fiddling with the knife in his hands before slipping it into his pocket.

Okay. First things first, scope out the stairwell. I might need access to the other floors.

He locked the door behind himself, taking a small step away.

He stared at it for a little bit, eyeing the number plate that labeled it as apartment 33.

you don’t have to do this. His mind whispered to him. Just go back inside, you can do it tomorrow.

He started chewing on his lower lip, feeling his fangs scratch at his skin.

He didn’t want to do this. He really didn’t want to do this.

But he knew that he didn’t have a choice. The food that they had would only last them a few days. It was no where near enough to get them through the two weeks that it would take for this all to end.

Sam’s face screwed up. He took a very long breath through his nose before sharply turning from the door, beginning to pace back and forth in front of it. He threw his head back and quietly hissed in frustration, tousling his hair around with his hands.

His pacing ceased and he just stood there for a couple more seconds, his fingers still gripping at his hair.

He stared blankly down at his shoes.

What are you doing, Sam?

With a heavy sigh, his arms lowered back down. Sam slowly turned to walk away.

But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something.

Sam gasped as he whirled back around, his hand already shooting for his pocket.

But there was nothing there…

Sam swore that he saw it. He swore to GOD that he saw something there. A large, dark shape with beady red eyes, peering at him from the shadows.

But the hall was still eerily empty.

He let out a trembling breath, and then finally wandered off down the hall.

Sam didn’t see it.

But it saw him.

And suddenly… suddenly, everything made sense…

Sam trudged down the hall, still unable to shake the persistent feeling of unease that hung heavy in the air.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that… thing that he saw.

It was just his imagination. His mind playing tricks on him. But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, something in the back of his mind told him no…

No… that wasn’t a trick. That was real.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, shoving those thoughts to the back of his mind.

He finally made it to the stairwell door, barely paying any attention as his hand reached out to grip the handle and pull it open.

The jingling of chains hit Sam’s ears and the door wouldn’t open any further.

Oh god. Please don’t be locked.

His eyes slowly drifted down. And sure enough, there was a short length of chain wrapped around the handles, keeping it closed. And on those chains was a padlock.

“Fffuuuuuuuuuck.”

Sam gripped the lock, giving it a few harsh tugs.

It wouldn’t budge.

He was just about to brace himself to attempt kicking the door open, but that’s when he heard something.

The shuffling of multiple pairs of feet and these strange, awful groaning noises.

Sam just about felt his heart fall out of his ass as he saw three grotesque creatures round the corner.

They looked similar to that monster that he had encountered yesterday in Vincent’s apartment. Their conditions seemed to be in varying levels of severity with one of them looking more human than the others. But even then, their reddened eyes, their darkened skin and the claws tipping their fingers, it was all unmistakeable. They must have been more of Vincent’s party goers.

The creatures caught sight of him immediately and began staggering their way towards him, staring at him intently.

Sam quickly started to back away.

It was a three on one fight. He couldn’t win this.

He turned and started bolting down the hall. One of the creatures tried to make a grab at his cloak but missed, only clipping off a small bit of blue fabric.

Fuck Fuck Fuck! Where am I supposed to go!?

He caught sight of one of the apartment doors, it was cracked open slightly.

He ran right in without a second thought, slamming the door behind him.

The creatures rammed into the door and Sam held it shut, leaning his whole weight into keeping it closed.

They clawed at the wooden surface for a few seconds. But soon enough, they lost interest. Sam listened intently as their footsteps faded down the hall.

He let out a huge sigh of relief, stepping away from the door.

And then he herd a low gurgling noise to his right.

Sam screamed as he dodged out of the way of a swiping claw.

He reacted the fastest he ever had in his life, pulling his knife out and stabbing it into the nearest thing.

He heard his attacker let out a shrill scream as the blade hit it. And then Sam raked the knife across, silencing the creature’s shrieks just as quickly.

Sam took in a shaky breath, stepping away from the freshly made corpse laying on the ground.

His hands were trembling, his legs were trembling, his entire body was trembling as he tried to force his eyes to focus on what he was looking at.

It was another one of those monsters that he had encountered earlier.

did everyone at Vincent’s party turn into one of these?

This one was probably the worst out of all the monsters he’s seen, he could barely even recognize it as a human anymore. Hell, it’s clothes were gone too for some reason. 

It looked like Sam had somehow managed to stab it in the neck and slit it’s throat. He didn’t even know how on earth he managed to do that, he was just swinging at it randomly.

He finally registered the sound of static filling his ears. His gaze drifted around, finally realizing where he was.

Apartment 36. He was right back where this whole mess started.

He stood there silently for a while, still trying to come down from his little adrenaline rush earlier.

Sam pressed a hand to his chest, doubling over slightly as he suddenly felt that strange, familiar writhing sensation all over him.

He held his breath, wincing as his body shuddered against his will.

Finally, the feeling subsided and he quickly released all the air in his lungs, finally allowing himself to breathe.

He groaned in frustration, rubbing at his face as he straightened up.

Jesus Christ. Can this mutant bullshit leave me alone for five minutes!?

A ragged sigh managed to make its way out of his throat.

Sam’s eyes fell on the door to the bathroom…

Don’t do it…

You know what’s in there. Please don’t do it…

Despite his mind’s weak protests, Sam found himself walking directly towards he door.

The door slowly swung open and Sam was immediately hit with the awful stench of rot.

The wounded man’s body laid on the floor in front of him.

It had only been a day, but it seemed like it was already in the early stages of decomposition.

He could see a ton of those strange looking cockroaches scuttling about, clearly making a meal out of the man’s body.

He blankly stared down at the man’s disfigured corpse. He didn’t even know why he was in there, he had already taken that bottle of tonic from this room.

Maybe he was just here out of some fucked up sense of obligation. To force himself to look at this poor man while his brain told him, you did this.

you killed this man.

This poor man that could have had a family.

Could have had friends.

Could have had dreams and ambitions.

Dreams that will never be met because he is DEAD.

And it’s your fault.

He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. But before he could break down fully, he noticed something. A small glint of metal sitting next to the man.

Sam causiously approached the body, his knife still in hand.

Thankfully, the eye didn’t follow his movements this time. It seemed like whatever semblance of life it once held was now long gone.

He reached down to pick up the small, metallic object from the ground, holding it up to the light to get a better look at it.

It was a key.

Sam didn’t know how he had missed it before, it looked like it had flown out of the man’s pocket when he was knocked down.

Could this open the padlock?

A part of him said no. Surely this random dude didn’t just so happen to have the key to the stairwell. This must just be some sort of spare.

But it couldn’t be a spare key, it would have the apartment number on it if it was.

A small part of Sam couldn’t help but feel like this was way too convenient.

But… it was the only lead he had right now.

He sighed to himself.

I’ve been watching way too many movies.

He walked back out into the living room, putting his ear to the door and listening for any movement.

There was nothing.

Sam braced himself and slowly opened the door, peeking his head out a bit.

Still nothing, the hall was empty.

He walked out of the apartment, quietly and quickly making his way over to the stairwell door.

He grabbed the padlock that held the chains together, inserting the key into the hole.

It fit perfectly.

He gave it a good twist and the lock popped right open.

Sam let out a small laugh in triumph.

He pulled open the door, peeking inside. He was met with the familiar small spiral stare case that he was used to seeing. But strangely, there was something… else. The distinct smell of old blood…

Sam’s face fell a bit, and he very slowly closed the door.

yeah that’s a… later problem.

Okay, so he didn’t have to worry too much about the stairwell right now. Was there anything else he should do?

His eyes landed on apartment 37.

He stared at the damaged door for a few seconds. And then he just let out a long, resigned sigh as he made his way towards it.

Just like the last apartment, the place absolutely reeked of decay. He tried his best to keep his eyes off of the bodies.

Now that he had a clearer mind, he was actually able more thoroughly loot the place. Last time, he had just grabbed whatever food he could fit in his arms. But this time, he actually had a bag with him.

He quickly got to work raiding the kitchen, emptying the fridge and even taking some other things from around the house. Whatever he thought could be useful.

He also found some stuff on one of the desks. It looked like Vincent had a… crafting kit?

wonder why he had this.

He paused for a bit before shoving it in his bag. It would probably come in handy.

His gaze then turned to the three bottles of whisky that were also on the desk.

Don’t mind if I do.

He slipped the bottles into his bag, it was getting pretty full now.

Sam looked to some of the other doors in the apartment. He might as well try checking out the rest of the place.

He approached one of the doors and tried opening it. It was locked.

Okay. Not that one.

He opened another door.

There was a projector sitting on a table and a screen on the wall opposite to it. Some kind of projector room?

And then Sam noticed movement on the bed, because apparently there was a bed in the projector room.

Wrestling its way out of the covers was another one of those monsters he had encountered earlier. It looked like it was half asleep.

Sam took that as his cue to quickly close the door.

Nope nope nope nope nope nope…

That one word just repeated in his head as he walked away from the door, across the main room and out into the hallway. He even went the extra mile of positioning the busted door back over the entrance. And he didn’t stop speed walking away until he was back in front of apartment 33.

Sam reached for the doorknob, but he paused.

He felt like he was being watched…

He looked around carefully, scanning his surroundings.

Still nothing…

He let out a huff.

man… this whole thing’s been making me anxious.

He opened the door and stepped inside.

Joel was found once again on the couch as Sam entered the apartment.

“I’m back.” He announced, closing the door behind him and making his way to the kitchen.

“Mr. Sam?” Joel was holding the tv remote, pointing it at the screen and pressing random buttons.

Sam plopped his bag on the counter. “Yeah? What’s up?”

“The cartoon channel… hhh… isn’t working.

“It isn’t?” Sam walked over to the couch, carefully taking the remote from the boy and flipping through the channels.

Sure enough, none of them were working.

He let out a breath through his nose, staring at the big ‘No Signal’ screen in dismay.

Of course this would happen… No one’s gonna be running stuff at a time like this.

Sam hesitated a bit before speaking up again.

“Joel I… I don’t think cartoons are really a thing anymore.”

What was left of Joel’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Why… hhh… not?”

He still didn’t know…

Sam looked at the boy for a couple of seconds, trying to think of a way to properly explain things to the boy.

“There’s… there’s something really… bad going on outside. And it’s effecting everyone, all over the world. So people can’t run the cartoon channel right now. Sorry.”

Joel still didn’t seem to fully understand the gravity of the situation. But he slowly nodded anyways, looking at the floor.

“What am I supposed to do then?” The boy asked.

Sam flicked his gaze over to his collection of game disks.

“Well, I got a lot of video games, if you’re interested.”

He kneeled down at his set up, picking up a few disk cases and showing them to the boy.

Joel seemed to perk up a bit.

“Can we…hhh… play Super Jumplad?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Yesssss!”

Joel pumped his fists in the air and Sam chuckled fondly at the display.

“Alright. Do you think you can boot up the game for me? I still got some supplies I need to sort through.”

The boy gave him a vigorous nod and they both got to work.

Sam loaded up the fridge pretty quickly. They were doing a lot better in terms of food now.

He also took a bit of time to futz around with the crafting kit, wondering what he should try to make first. It had been a while since he’s gotten to mess around with chemicals.

The tv’s speakers suddenly came to life as the upbeat title theme of ‘Super Jumplad’ started playing.

“I got the…hhh… game on!”

“Okay! Great!” Sam quickly made his way over to the couch, plopping down next to Joel.

Super Jumplad was an old platformer game. Sam remembered playing it a lot when he was a kid. He hasn’t played it in a while, but it was nice to finally revisit it.

Joel absolutely loved the game, it was clearly one of his favourites.

The two of them took turns playing, passing the controller to each other when one of them died or completed a level.

They had fun, it was a nice break from everything.

Sam was honestly starting to lose track of time a bit. He was having an actually good time for once.

But then suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Sam actually jumped a bit, his head whirling around.

Joel turned too, staring at the door.

More knocking.

Sam paused the game and stood up.

“is it a monster?…” Joel asked quietly.

His gaze flickered down to the boy.

“I-I don’t know…” he whispered back.

Sam very slowly approached the door.

The knocking came again, whoever was on the other side sounded impatient.

He slowly put his eye to the peephole.

He couldn’t see anything at first. And then suddenly, a figure jumped into view.

Outside the door was a man. He was a lanky guy, looked to be around Sam’s age. His head was bald and he was wearing a bulky denim vest with a few pins in it. He was holding a phone in one of his hands and was smiling with a slightly unsettling grin.

“HEY! You IN THERE? I’m looking to make some FRIENDS!”

Sam pulled his face away from the peephole, casting a wary glance to Joel. The boy was peeking over the couch, looking at him expectantly.

He tuned his gaze back to the door.

It’s just one guy… it can’t be that bad…

He took a deep breath, pulling his hood up and slowly unlocking the door. He peeked his head out a bit, making sure that only his normal eye was showing.

“Hello?…”

The man gave him a broad smile.

“Hey! How are ya!” His voice was loud, catching Sam a bit off guard.

He instinctively shrunk a bit behind the door.

“I’m… doing… fine???”

The two of them stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, Sam’s gaze flickered around a bit as the man just kept staring at him.

“Well…” the creepy man finally started. “Are ya gonna let me in, or what?”

Sam looked at the man, a bit bewildered.

“A-I’m sorry, what?”

“Invite me in, dude!” The man threw up a hand, smiling like they were just two friends joking around with each other. “I wanna hang out! We can go fight the monsters together man! Let’s go!”

Sam stared at the man as he dramatically struck a mock boxer pose.

He then tilted his head a bit at Sam, confusion briefly flickering across his features.

“You good man? You’re kinda covering up there. You shy or something?”

A hand almost reflexively went up to hold his cloak, as if the mere question would be enough to strip it off of him.

“I-uhh… well no- I’m just…” his eyes briefly flitted to the inside of his apartment, remembering the half-baked excuse he had given Joel, “cold… I’m just cold.”

“Pfff, Okay.” The man gave him an amused look, like he didn’t quite believe him but also wasn’t entirely suspicious of anything. The guy mostly likely just thought he was a weirdo.

Sam let out a huff as his face grew warm with humiliation.

God, I’m such a fucking loser. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Okay. What’s your name?”

The man gave him a big smile, thrusting a hand his his direction.

“I’m Dan!”

It took him a couple of seconds to realize that Dan was offering him a handshake. But when he finally did, he cautiously accepted it.

“I’m Sam.”

“Awesome!” Dan shook his hand a lot harder than he anticipated before finally pulling away.

“Man, it is SO good to talk to somebody! I’ve been cooped up for so long. I just needed to see someone. Ya know? I feel like I’m losing my mind!” He gave a less-than-hinged chuckle at that last part. Sam had to physically restrain himself from breaking eye contact.

He shifted uncomfortably on the spot, weighing his options.

Should I let him in? Do I even know this guy?

He vaguely remembers seeing him around the apartment, but only once or twice. The guy seemed to keep to himself a lot, so seeing him so upbeat and willing to socialize was odd to Sam.

He doesn’t look dangerous. I don’t even see any weapons on him.

Sam gave a small sigh, pushing the door open and pulling down his hood.

“Alright. Come on in.”

The expression on Dan’s face seemed to shift a bit, finally taking notice of his neighbour's strange looking features.

Sam felt the strong urge to pull his hood back up and just hide in it forever.

But Dan quickly put on a smile, patting Sam on the shoulders.

“Look at you! A bona fide friend!” He then threw an arm around the shorter man and casually walked into the apartment. “Thanks for letting me hang, buddy! You got any food? Any video games?”

Sam awkwardly closed the door and locked it, a bit surprised by the sudden contact.

“Umm- yeah? I have some of that stuff.”

“Whoa, hold up.” Dan suddenly pulled away, pointing at the couch were a very confused and very mutated boy was sitting. “What the heck is that?

Sam shot the man a disappointed glare, not pleased with his choice of wording.

“That’s Joel. He’s a neighbour’s kid.”

“Oh… cool.” Joel gave the man an awkward wave, which Dan hesitantly returned.

He then slipped a large bag off of his shoulders, tossing it next to the couch and sitting down. Joel very quickly got off of it and pattered his way next to Sam, eyeing the odd man that he had let into the house.

“Is he… hhh… safe?” The boy whispered to him.

Sam leaned down, whispering as well.

“Yeah. I think he’s fine.”

The boy casted a wary glance at the couch. Dan was now looking through his game collection.

“Is he staying with us…hhh… Mr. Sam?”

“Uh- I’m not sure.” He turned to the guy. “Hey, Dan?”

He turned his attention to Sam. “Yeah, man?”

“Are you planing on staying here?” Sam’s gaze briefly flicked to the bag that sat next to the couch, it looked like it was largely pact with clothes.

Dan chuckled a bit.

“Well, yeah. Can’t exactly get back to my apartment.”

“Oh. Were’s your apartment?”

“Second floor. And boy, let me tell you, things are crazy down there.”

Sam quirked an eyebrow.

“Crazy how?”

“Bro, it was fucking insane! You should’ve seen it!” Dan stood up, his hands raised like he was about to tell an epic story.

“I was like, just walking out of my apartment, you know, trying to get some fresh air. Then all of the sudden, a huge part of the ceiling just collapsed! I was almost paste! But I lived, you know. The rocks were fast, but I was faster. But anyways, now there’s a bunch of rubble blocking the hall. I had to sleep out there last night. Tried going to the other floors to find some shelter, but there was like a dead body down there, so I immediately noped out of that one!”

Oh. So that’s what he smelled…

“I only recently tried the stairwell again.” Dan continued. “Found this floor unlocked. So I came up here, knocked on your door, and now, here we are!”

Sam took in all the information that he was given.

From the sounds of it, the door to floor two was open, but there was a large amount of rubble blocking most of the hallway. Plus, there was also corpse in the stairwell, so that was good to know.

“What about the other floors? Are any of them open?”

“Nah.” Dan gave a dismissive wave, “I couldn’t get floor one open, and the other floors have these weird ass locks on them. I didn’t bother trying mess around with them.”

Weird locks? Sam doesn’t remember there being any weird locks. And that was saying something because he usually avoided using the elevator. Mostly just because he often times wasn’t in the mood to have forced small talk with a person while sharing a small space. But then again, he hadn’t really been leaving his apartment too often.

Sam stood there silently for a couple more seconds before looking back up at Dan.

“Uh… thanks for the heads up. That’ll be good to know.”

“No problem!” Dan turned his attention back to his gaming set up.

Sam suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve and he looked down to Joel, who seemed a bit anxious.

“You’re not… hhh… going out again. Are you?”

Sam cursed a bit under his breath.

“I’m sorry Joel. I’m gonna have to.” He kneeled down to the boy’s level. “We have three people in the house now. I’m gonna have to keep looking for food and medical supplies to keep everyone happy.”

“Let me… hhh… come with you!”

“I-uhhh-“ Sam tried to rebuttal, but Dan suddenly spoke up again.

“Aw hell yeah! Are we going out to fight some monsters?”

“No! No we’re not!” Sam quickly stood up. “I am just going to scout around the second floor. Maybe bringing back some food. But I’m doing that. You two are staying here.” He pointed at pointed at his two new roommates, hoping that they would drop the argument. But, alas, the two pushed on.

“But Sam, I don’t… hhh… want to stay alone with him. He’s a stranger!” Joel whispered ungently, pulling more at his sleeve.

Dan stood back up throwing his hands in the air.

“Come on man! Don’t be a buzzkill! I’m just trying to have some fun out here!”

Sam was quickly starting to get overwhelmed, trying desperately to shut the two down.

“Guys, the hallways aren’t safe! I don’t want you two getting hurt!”

“I won’t get hurt!” Joel piped up. “I’ll be good… hhh… I promise!”

“Yeah man! Let us come with you!” Dan once again threw his arm around Sam. “You’re gonna need all the help you can get! And let me tell you, those monsters don’t got nothing on old Dan!”

Sam tried so hard not to crack. He tried to come up with some other argument. But then he remembered those monsters that were in the hallway. He was already a shitty fighter on his own. There was no way he could defend himself if he ran into another big group of those things. And yeah, Dan and Joel might not have any idea what they’re doing either, but he still couldn’t deny that their help would be useful.

Besides, the world as they knew it was ending. Now wasn’t the time to try lone-wolfing his way through life. If they were going to survive this, then they should be working together.

Sam let out a huge sigh, already regretting this decision.

The door to the stairwell swung open, the squealing of the hinges echoing throughout the large spiral staircase.

Sam took the lead as the three of them began descending the steps.

Dan had been talking to his ‘chat’ the entire way. Because apparently, he had the bright idea to livestream this whole thing. He had explained earlier that he was a let’s play steamer, he seemed pretty proud of it too. But still, recording the literal apocalypse for the whole world to see just felt a bit excessive. 

Sam was way too tired to argue with him though, so he just let him be.

Joel was pretty quiet right now, he was probably quite nervous. And well, why wouldn’t he be? Next to Sam, he was probably the only other person who has witnessed first hand what the outside could do to a person. If their floor was so bad, then just how awful could the other floors get?

“Hey! Welcome to the stream!” Dan shoved his phone in Sam’s direction. “Check it out man! We’ve got a bunch of people watching right now! Wanna say hi?”

Sam had his hood up at the moment, but even then it didn’t stop him from instinctively pulling his cloak closed.

“Uhh… hi??”

“Chat. This guy is Sam. He’s my new buddy! And this kid’s Joel. Sam’s letting us both stay with him!”

Dan turned his phone to Joel next, and the boy gave a small timid wave to the camera.

They finally reached the floor two platform. Sam wasted no time on opening the door to the hallway, poking his head out and surveying his surroundings.

Sure enough, there was a giant pile of rubble on one end of the hall, blocking it off from floor to ceiling.

Where did all of that rubble come from anyways? It looked like way too much to have just been from the ceiling.

Sam stepped out of the door, waving for the others to follow him.

“Oh! Hello there!”

Sam snapped his head around.

Near the other end of the hall was a figure in black robes. The deep cowl that he wore casted a shadow that obscured every part of his face except his bright blue eyes. He was even wearing a red amulet. He literally looked like he was wearing a dollar store wizard costume.

Sam suddenly felt a lot better about shitty cloak-blanket.

The figure quickly approached them, giving them a friendly wave as he did so.

“Ah. It’s so good to finally see some more lucid individuals. Well then! Salutations and so on.” The man extended a hand to Sam. “I’m Aster, an astronomer.”

Sam pulled his hood a bit over his face, trying to at least hide his strange eye as he shook Aster’s hand.

“I’m Sam. The kid’s name is Joel and that guy is Dan.” He pointed to his companions and Aster went and shook their hands as well.

“Wonderful. It’s lovely to meet you all. I take it you’re all aware of our current… astral predicament?”

That certainly was a way of putting it.

Sam shifted slightly, his gaze flitting around.

“Uh- Yeah we are.” He hesitated a bit before finally adding, “None of us have looked yet.”

Liar.

“Oh. Really?” Aster tilted his head a bit, looking to Joel. “Not even the little one?”

Joel shook his head.

“My sister looked. Then she… hhh… bit me on the nose.”

“Oh my…” Aster held his chin a bit in thought. “So people can be cursed without having witnessed it.”

“Cursed?” Sam looked at the man inquisitively.

“Oh, right. Cursed is the term we use for those who have observed the event outside. Or well, I suppose now, those who have been affected by the Visitor’s influence.”

Sam squinted at the man, very clearly confused.

“You… seem to know an awful lot about this topic. Do you know what’s going on?”

Aster stared at him for a couple of seconds, before slapping himself on the head.

“Right! none of you know quite yet, do you?” He smoothed out his robes, clasping his hands together in a refined manner.

“I am a part of a group of four astronomers. We have all been researching the phenomenon going on outside currently. It is caused by an anomalies object passing through our solar system. We do not know much about it, but what we do know is that any viewing of this strange entity, be it direct or indirect, will cause grave changes to all living things. Even looking at a reflection of it is enough to warp a person.”

Sam felt a chill of dread run down his spine, but Aster continued.

“My colleagues and I have dubbed this entity as The Visitor. And we’ve been working on a little project.” Aster looked up at them all, his eyes practically sparkling. “We plan to collect various depictions of the Visitor, take them up to the roof and attempt to communicate with it!”

Sam silently stared at Aster in complete disbelief.

“…What?…”

“Oh cool!” Dan piped up. “So it’s like some kind of ritual thing?”

Aster shrugged a bit. “I personally prefer to call it a form of communication signal… but yeah, it does kind of sound like a ritual, doesn’t it?”

“Sweet.”

“No! Not sweet!” Sam interjected, turning his baffled gaze onto Dan before addressing Aster again.

“Okay, listen. I know I’m not an expert on this whole ‘cosmic anomaly’ thing. But if looking at an image is enough to… change a person, then I think looking for depictions of it is kind of the last thing we should do?? How do you even know if this ritual is going to work anyways?”

Aster actually had to pause to think about that for a few seconds. But when he finally turned back to Sam, he just gave him another small shrug.

“I… suppose we don’t. All we can do is hope that it will.”

“So you’re just gonna pray that, one: this plan that you have will even get this thing’s attention, and two: that it’s not going to just zap you into goo on the spot?”

Aster was quiet for a moment. And then he looked up at Sam with sad eyes.

“What else are we supposed to do? This is the only lead we have.”

That shut Sam right up. 

He realized then just how hypocritical he was being at the moment. After all, isn’t this what he’s been doing this whole time? Thinking up wild and stupid plans and then just hopping that they would work out?

Of course people were being reckless right now. No one knew what was going on. All they could do is hope that something will work out for them.

Aster finally spoke up again, breaking the silence that had fallen over them all.

“Listen. I know it sounds crazy, it probably is crazy. But think about it. We could gain some vital, potentially ground breaking information by speaking with the Visiter. Maybe it can help us find someway to rebuild after all of this. Or maybe, best case scenario, it could help us find a cure for the cursed.”

Sam perked up a bit at that.

“But, again. That is a bit of a big if.” 

He slumped a bit again, trying to not look as disappointed as he was.

Then… Aster finally took notice of something. He squinted at Sam’s face, adjusting his glasses.

“Forgive me for asking, Sam. But… what has happened to your eye? It looks strange.”

Sam instantly went rigid, suddenly feeling everyone’s attention turn to him.

“Yeah, I was gonna ask man.” Dan added. “What’s up with your face?”

Sam shifted uncomfortably, a hand raising to his face. His mind raced for a convincing explanation.

“I… I-I don’t… Know??? I’m not sure how that happened. I mean, one second, my face was normal, and then the next, I looked… like this.” He nervously fiddled with the edges of his cloak as he continued.

“I think I might’ve gotten too close to a window and got some of that weird light on me… or something.”

He silently prayed that it would be enough to convince them. But he couldn’t stop that small part of his brain from whispering to him.

They’ll know.

They’ll find out.

They’ll know you’ve been lying to them and then they will leave.

Then you’ll be alone again.

All alone…

Before he could spiral any further, Aster’s voice brought him back to reality.

“Ah… of course. We’ve speculated that the light from the Visiter’s gaze could potentially be a component in it’s mutating effects. It’s wise of you to be wearing that cloak of yours. Better safe than sorry, as they say.”

Sam relaxed a bit, tugging his cloak around himself a bit.

“Uh- yeah. Yeah I think I’ll keep this on then, if that’s the case.” He let out a small, nervous chuckle.

“Just to be safe though…” Aster began, “you haven’t been experiencing any other symptoms, have you? Any… odd changes to your body?”

Sam’s mind immediately flashed with images of every single strange thing that has happened to him.

The arms.

The eyes.

The visceral feeling of movement under his skin.

“No- no, I’m fine.”

There was another short pause in the conversation. But eventually, Sam spoke up again, trying to change the topic.

“Hey. This ritual thing, is there any way I can help with it?” He wasn’t entirely sure why he was going along with this. Maybe he was just being selfish. Maybe he was only in it for the small chance at a cure for his condition. Or maybe, he just desperately needed something to focus on that wasn’t scavenging for food.

He wasn’t quite sure the exact reason as to why he was doing this. But either way, Aster seemed delighted by the offer.

“Ah! well, we’re currently collecting data at the moment… I actually might have a small lead on one of the offerings…”

“yeah, what is it?” Sam asked.

Aster avoided his eyes a bit, seeming a bit embarrassed.

“ah… it’s silly. I’ve never really been one to believe in superstitions, I’m more of a man of logic. But… last night, I had the strangest dream. I was in this dark room, and there was this bright glowing liquid coming out of a dark tube. It spilled onto the floor and into the cracks. I felt like I had to pick it up, carry it with me. But no matter how hard I tried, it just… slipped through my fingers.”

He looked up at Sam, wringing his hands together.

“I’m not sure why. But this dream it felt… different, strange. Significantly more vivid than any dream I have experienced. It must be a sign! A sign of what, I’m not sure. But it’s what I have for now.”

Sam thought for a bit, tapping his foot on the ground.

Glowing liquid flowing out of a dark tube… what does that mean?

He looked back up and gave Aster a small nod.

“Okay, I’ll try to look into it.”

Aster clapped his hands together.

“Excellent! If you manage to find anything, then deliver it to Jasper on the ground floor.”

Aster began walking away from them.

“I’ll be keeping an eye out as well! Safe travels!”

And then he was off.

Sam watched Aster as he left. For as knowledgeable as he seemed, Sam felt like the interaction left him with more questions than it did answers.

What did Aster’s dream even mean?

How was this ritual thing supposed to work?

Was it even a good idea in the first place?

Should he even be helping with this?

It felt like it could go wrong in so many ways.

Sam flinched violently as Dan grabbed his shoulder and started shaking him, pointing the phone at his face.

“DUDE! Did you hear that?! We just got a QUEST! Like a real life RPG!!”

Dan was absolutely beaming, like this was the most exiting thing to have ever happened to him.

Sam didn’t quite share his enthusiasm, still off-put from the earlier conversation.

“Dan, I really don’t think we should be treating this like a game. It sounds like dangerous stuff.”

Dan huffed a bit, rolling his eyes.

“Come on man. Lighten up a bit! We’re having an honest to god adventure out here!”

Sam ushered Joel to start making their way down the hall, Dan following closely behind.

“I mean, come on man! Were you really doing much before all of this? This is probably like, the most action either of us have had in a day.”

Sam sharply turned to look at him.

“Dan, it’s the fucking apocalypse. Have you even considered what’s going to happen after this?? Because I have, and none of the scenarios I’m coming up with are particularly pretty!”

“Uhh, Hey?”

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and turned to where they heard the muffled voice.

It was coming from the door directly beside them, apartment 20.

“Is someone out there?” The voice asked. “Come in! I need help!”

They all heard a soft click.

“The door’s unlocked!”

The three of them exchanged anxious glances with each other.

This could be a trap. Or… it could be someone who genuinely needs help.

Before Sam knew what he was doing, he opened the door.

The apartment was pretty dark, a sharp contrast to the old, buzzing lights in the hallway.

Sam slowly stepped inside, looking around.

His eyes fell on a figure, one wearing a big black robe.

It was a woman. She had straight raven black hair, blue skin, which was uncommon but not unheard of, and a hat sitting atop her head. She also had a few silver piercings in her ears and lower lip, they glinted slightly in the dim light.

All things considered, she looked fairly unassuming on the surface. But… there was something off about her.

It was a bit hard to catch, but Sam swore for a split second that he saw a pair of eyes peeking out of the woman’s robes, which were being held tightly shut.

A look of relief crossed her face as the group entered.

“Oh thank god! You guys are still normal…” she paused, noticing Sam’s eye and Joel’s, well… entire face. “Or well- mostly normal.”

Sam tugged a bit on his hood, instinctively trying to hide in it.

“Ahh- I’m sorry!” The woman held up an apologetic hand. “I didn’t mean to stare!” 

“No, no. It’s fine.” Sam replied, waving his hand a bit and letting out an awkward chuckle. “You aren’t the first person to mention it.”

He hesitated slightly before tugging his hood down, Trying to give her as friendly a smile as he could muster.

“I’m Sam. It’s nice to meet you.”

The woman’s eyes lingered on him for a bit, likely catching sight of his fangs. But she didn’t react to them much, instead giving him a warm smile and a nod.

“Jeanne.” The woman, now known as Jeanne, turned to the rest of Sam’s small crew.

“And what about you guys? Are you with him?”

Dan quickly stepped up.

“Oh yeah! Sam’s my buddy!” He thrusted a hand out. “Name’s Dan!”

Jeanne hesitated for a bit before awkwardly accepting his handshake.

It only lasted for a second before she quickly pulled away, taking a few steps back.

For a second, she looked slightly shaken.

But she quickly collected herself, turning to Joel.

“And what about you kid? What’s your name?”

The boy shuffled a bit, clearly a tad overwhelmed by all the new people he was meeting.

“I’m… hhh… Joel.”

Jeanne gave him a small nod.

“Nice to meet you, Joel.”

“What is it you need help with?” Sam asked.

Jeanne looked at him, her face flushing a bit out of embarrassment.

“Oh-umm… I’m sorry… for asking this. But I have a load of clothes in the laundromat and… I can’t really leave my apartment. I think I might be sick.”

Sam once again caught sight of more eyes from underneath Jeanne’s robes. But she quickly pulled them around herself, covering them up.

Yeah… sick is an understatement…

“Can you grab my clothes for me? If it’s not too much trouble?” Jeanne continued. “I’ll pay you fifty bucks for it.”

Sam felt a pang of sympathy for the woman. After all, from the looks of it, they were going through the same thing. Having weird and unnatural things happening to their bodies and not even getting to know why or what was going on. And Sam was lucky enough to be able to turn back afterwards, at least for now. He didn’t know if Jeanne had such a mercy…

“Uh… yeah, of course. I can do that.” He finally responded.

Jeanne smiled at him.

“Thank you.”

There was a small moment of silence. Then Sam spoke up again.

“Hey, Jeanne?” She looked up at the man.

“Are you… doing alright?” He couldn’t help but think about those eyes that he kept seeing under her robe.

Jeanne backed away a little, clutching her robe tightly. She was obviously covering something.

“uh- I’m… fine. Just feeling a bit weird.” 

Sam nodded, deciding not to press any further. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to keep it on the down low. After all, he’d much rather his own condition remain a secret, preferably forever if he could help it.

Is that even possible though? What if it gets too hard to hide?

“Hey guys?” All attention in the room turned to Dan, who had now decided to speak up.

“The laundromat’s on the ground floor, right?”

“Um… yeah?” Jeanne responded.

“Yeah well…” Dan gave her a tight smile. “Unfortunately, almost all of the other floors aren’t open. So until we can figure out those locks… then your gonna be waiting a bit for your laundry, lady.”

Jeanne’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. It seemed like she hasn’t left her apartment in a while, so this was likely news to her.

“Oh… well. I might know a potential solution for that problem?? My neighbour right across the hall from me, Lyle, he has a way to floor one through his bathroom. It’s not going to get you to the ground floor, but maybe you can find your way down from there?”

Sam quirked an eyebrow at the woman.

“Why does he have that in his bathroom??”

Jeanne shrugged.

“I don’t know. It’s an old building. I assume it had another purpose back in the day. But somewhere down the line, someone decided to turn it into a bathroom.”

“Ah.” Sam gave a firm nod, satisfied by the explanation.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Jeanne.” He turned, starting to make his way to the door.

“Wait!” He turned back, seeing Jeanne quickly rush to her kitchen and rummage around a bit. She came back to him with a cleaver in her hand, holding it out to him.

“Here, take this. I heard some pretty weird noises coming from the halls and some of the other apartments. It might be a good idea to arm yourself, just in case.”

Sam graciously accepted the cleaver from her hand.

“Thanks. We’ll be alright out there, don’t worry.” 

“Hey! Can I take this muffin too?” Dan called from the kitchen, pointing at a large muffin on the counter.

Jeanne stared at him for a little bit, looking half like she was going to retort and half like she was just done with everything.

“You know what? fine. Just take it. I don’t have the appetite for it anymore and it’s probably best to not let it go stale.” She still looked slightly disappointed at the loss of her muffin. But Dan seemed to barely notice that, scooping it up with a satisfied grin. 

The three of them grouped up at the door. Sam looked one last time at their new acquaintance, pulling his hood back up.

“Okay, we’ll be heading out now. Stay safe Jeanne.”

She smiled at them, giving a small wave. “Thanks, you too.”

Sam opened the door and they all filtered out, Joel being the last to leave.

The boy waved as he exited the apartment.

“Bye Ms. Jeanne.”

The door closed softly behind them, and they were back in the halls of floor two.

The group walked across the hall from Jeanne’s place to apartment 21.

Sam rocked on the door.

No response…

He tried knocking again.

Still nothing.

Is anyone even home?

“Hello?” He called out. No one answered.

He pressed his ear up to the door, listening for any movement.

He could faintly hear something inside. A strange clicking sound like metal against wood. It sounded pretty far from the door. It was moving, just not much.

He leaned away, scratching his scalp.

Whatever was on the other side of that door, it didn’t sound very… human.

Oh god. Please don’t tell me we’re gonna have to fight this thing.

He tried opening the door. It was locked.

“shit” he cursed under his breath, turning to the others.

“We’re gonna have to find another way in. The door’s locked and whoever’s inside doesn’t seem to keen on opening it for us.”

“Maybe we can bust it down?” Dan suggested. “Or maybe…” he turned to Joel. “Hey, kid. You think you can bite the lock off with those teeth?”

Sam’s eyes widened in horror and he turned to give Dan an absolutely scathing glare.

Joel, however, just started feeling around his teeth before looking up at the man.

“I don’t know! I’ve only been like this… hhh… for a little bit.”

Sam quickly cut in, shutting the idea down. “Yeah, well don’t try it.”

“Oh come on man! Let the kid give it a go!” Dan gestured a hand to the confused boy. “I mean, look at those chompers! He could probably chew through metal if he tried!”

“And what if he can’t!?” Sam put his hands on his hips, looking exasperated. “What happens if he loses a tooth? I really don’t think I’ll be able to find a dentist for him even if I scoured the whole earth for one!”

“It might be our only option though!” Dan threw his hands up in the air, also looking a bit frustrated.

“No. I refuse.” Sam lightly grabbed Joel’s shoulder and tugged him away from the man. 

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Listen, we’ll split up and look for something that can open the door. Maybe some pins we can use to pick the lock or something heavy enough to break it. And if all else fails, then… I don’t know. I’ll try kicking it down or something.”

Dan looked at him for a few seconds, taking in this unemployed, middle aged, out of shape man suggesting that he attempt such a thing.

But he huffed and rolled his eyes, mumbling to himself as he started stomping his way down the hall.

“Wait!” Dan turned back, looking mildly irritated for a second until Sam plopped the cleaver in his hands.

“For self defence. If anything jumps out at you, just give them a good whack with this.”

Dan looked down at the weapon. For some reason, he looked… slightly amazed by it. Like it was the first gift he had ever received.

He looked back up and Sam and just silently nodded, finally slinking off to start his search. 

Sam and Joel went in the other direction, towards the pile of rubble, in hopes of finding a decent rock to brute force the door open.

While they were walking, they passed a boarded up door. And suddenly, the moment they walked in front of it, loud scraping noises began coming from the other side.

They both jumped and Sam began quickly ushering Joel away from it.

They made it to the edge of the collapsed hallways.

“Alright Joel, look around. Tell me if you find anything…” Sam suddenly trailed off, as he once again, caught sight of a small glint of metal on the floor.

He approached it, picking it up and finding that it was another small key.

He turned it over in his hand, half expecting it to crumble into dust or something. There was just no way that he managed to find two conveniently placed keys just laying on the floor. It had to be some kind of trick.

But sure enough, the key had 21 etched onto it’s bow.

Sam let out small laugh, still not quite believing it.

“Never mind… I think I just found the key.”

“You… hhh… did?” Joel walked up to him, peeking over his shoulder as the man showed him the key.

“Hey Dan!” Sam called out and the streamer in question looked up from his phone.

“Come over here! I think we found something!”

Dan walked over to where the duo was standing, flinching away from the boarded up door as the thing on the other side scratched at it once again.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

Sam showed him the key, and he instantly stopped, looking at it in disbelief as well.

Dan chuckled a bit, taking it from Sam’s hand.

“Holy shit… of all places! I’m telling ya man, we got some plot armour or something!”

“How did it… hhh… even get here?” Joel asked looking at the key curiously.

Sam shrugged a bit, taking it back from Dan. “I’m not sure. Maybe Lyle dropped it on his way home?”

“Who cares how it got here!” Dan butted in, giving Sam another firm shake. “We’ve got the key now! We just need to go through that guy’s secret passageway, down to floor one, find our way to the ground floor, then bada-bing-bada-boom, side quest complete!! Then the blue chick gets her laundry and we get our fifty bucks! WOHOO!!” Dan started striding back to apartment 21 pumping his fist in the air as the other two followed closely behind.

Sam was caught up a bit in the euphoria of it all. Things felt like they were working out. And he was glad to find that the trip had been uneventful so far. At least nothing had tried to kill them yet.

Then suddenly, just as that thought crossed his mind, a loud BANG came from the boarded up door.

Everyone froze for a second, and Sam quickly began pushing them along.

“go go go go go go go go” he muttered under his breath as they all began speed walking down the hall.

The banging on the door grew louder and quicker. Sam felt every hair on his body stand on end as he heard the distinct sound of cracking wood.

He could feel the tingling starting to come back. And as if things couldn’t get worse, the lights above them began to flicker and dim.

Sam watch in abject horror as the hallway suddenly stretched, becoming so much longer than it should be.

A guttural growling sound hit his ears, and despite every instinct screaming at him not to, he looked back.

bang!

The door bulged as something on the other side rammed into it.

Bang!

Sam flinched, taking several steps back. 

“Guys…”

BANG!!!

“RUN!!!!”

BANG!!!!

Bursting out of the door came a massive, bloated mound of flesh covered in manic eyes and wickedly grinning mouths.

The group quickly began sprinting down the elongated halls as the beast gave chase on it’s twisted limbs.

Large pits suddenly yawned open in the floor, falling inwards like sand.

Suddenly the warped hallway had become a lot harder to navigate.

Sam felt his heart thundering in his ears as he weaved around the gaping holes.

Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Keep running.

He suddenly heard a yelp and turned around.

Joel had tripped, his leg getting snagged in one of the pits. The grinning beast was now quickly descending upon the little boy.

Something in Sam snapped and he quickly changed trajectory, running right towards the monster.

He slung his bag off one of his shoulders, opening it and grabbing the molotov that he had made before leaving the apartment, along with a lighter.

The cloth caught fire easily, and he chucked it straight into the monster’s mouth.

It exploded upon impact and the creature let out a deafening screech, sputtering and coughing out black smoke and blood.

Sam scooped Joel up by his arms. He tried to get away as fast as he could, but the beast’s gaze locked onto him with an almost gleeful glare.

It swung one of it’s huge limbs at him. Before it could make contact, however, Joel suddenly rounded his maw onto it.

Hundreds of sharp, tiny teeth shot out of the boy’s mouth like bullets. They pierced the beast’s skin, causing it to holler out in pain.

It swiped another claw in retaliation, knocking them both into a nearby wall.

Sam tried to push himself up but yelled out in agony, clutching his side as it pulsated.

He could feel it. He could feel the arm starting to slowly grow in.

He heard a small whimper of pain and he quickly looked up to see Joel reaching up to his face.

He had a lot less teeth than before and Sam watched as the boy pulled another loosely hanging tooth out of his softened gums. Blood was dribbling down from the child’s maw.

Sam’s attention was quickly turned back to the beast as it let out a roar of outrage.

It was uselessly trying to pull the teeth embedded into its injured hand, clearly frustrated.

It turned it’s seething gaze onto Joel.

Sam felt some kind of primal instinct take over. He quickly pulled the small boy towards himself and held him protectively, baring his fangs at the monster as it stomped up to them. 

He felt something rumbling in his chest.

Was he growling? His ears where ringing, he couldn’t tell.

The beast screeched as it reared up, preparing to strike. And then suddenly, it let out a high pitched yelp.

Everyone turned to the source of the commotion.

Dan stood next to one of the creature’s limbs, yanking out the cleaver that he had lodged into it.

He stumbled away, fear flashing clearly in his eyes. But he put on a brave face, giving the monster his best cocky grin.

“HEY UGLY!! COME AND GET ME!!”

The beast paused. 

Then it smiled, a chorus of chattering laughter erupting from every mouth on it’s twisted body. It seemed absolutely delighted by the challenge.

It swung a fist at him and Dan leaped out of the way.

The distraction gave Sam and Joel enough time to get back on their feet, allowing them to stagger away.

“DAN!!” Sam called for the man, watching as he dodged another attack.

“Get outa here!!” Dan yelled back. “I’ll hold this thing off!!”

Sam’s breathing was starting to grow ragged. The half-formed arm was starting to twitch under his shirt and he could already feel the claws pushing at the fingertips from the inside.

His gaze darted between the long hallway and the fight unfolding before him. Then he looked down at the shaking boy beside him, blood and tears flowing from his large mouth.

He hesitated for only a second more before turning and dashing down the halls with the child in tow.

He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, dodging between the pits in the floor. He tried his best to ignore the chaos going on behind him.

He could see something laying on the floor ahead of him. It took him a couple of seconds to register that it was a gun. A gun and a magazine lying side by side.

Sam didn’t even bother questioning how they even got there.

He made a beeline for the firearm, quickly picking it up.

His was trembling as he held it. He didn’t know if it was just the anxiety of having a gun in his hands or if it was from the strange wriggling feeling under his skin.

He wiped the sweat on his forehead, his chest heaving as he fought to bring air into his lungs. He could feel himself faltering, he barely even felt Joel as the scared boy huddled behind him.

Don’t do this now. Don’t do this now, please.

The sound of Dan’s screams snapped him back to reality.

The beast had managed to land a hit on him, sending the man to the ground with a nasty gash on his chest.

Suddenly, Sam’s strange condition didn’t matter to him anymore.

He frantically fumbled with the gun as he tried to figure out how to use it. He was solely  going off of knowledge he had gained from the first person shooters he had played over the years.

He finally got the gun loaded and clicked the safety off, lining up his shot with trembling arms.

He braced himself and squeezed the trigger, a loud BANG ringing through the air.

The beast screeched as the bullet struck one of it’s eyes.

And then he shot at it again, unloading round after round into the horrific creature. Until finally, with one final howl, it collapsed onto the floor. 

The beast let out a low death rattle, and then all went quiet.

Sam was panting, his entire body was shaking. His legs gave out beneath him and he collapsed to the floor.

Sam let out a wheeze as he curled in on himself.

He could feel the writhing throughout his whole body, worse than it had ever been. His hand clutched at the small arm sprouting from his side, as if hoping that he could push it back into his body.

“…Sam…” He was pulled from his thoughts by a wheezing voice.

Dan was stumbling his way towards him, clutching his bloody chest.

He was a lot closer to them than Sam remembered. He looked around noticing that the halls were normal again.

“you… you good… buddy?” Dan was struggling to catch his breath.

It was then that it finally clicked.

Dan and Joel had been injured.

“Shit…” Sam wheezed looking between the gash on Dan’s chest and the blood dripping from Joel’s near toothless mouth.

“Shit…” He grunted as he pushed himself back to his feet, quickly pulling out his first aid kit. 

He approached Dan first. Sam’s movements were lethargic as he guided his friend over to the wall.

“sit… sit down…”

But before he could start treating the man’s wound, the beast suddenly made a noise…

Everyone turned to look at it in horror as the creature began to groan in pain. It’s body began to ripple. Then, without warning, it began to scuttle backwards, squeezing itself into the door that it had come out of.

They stared silently at where the beast had been just moments before. None of them spoke a word to each other as Sam began tending to their wounds.

They gazed into the entrance that the beast had disappeared into.

The numberplate on the fallen door marked it as 23.

But what they saw past the doorway wasn’t a home, it was a dark void.

They all stood there silently, a sense of unease filled the air.

“… Do we… hhh… have to go in there… hhh… Mr. Sam?”

Sam looked down to Joel, his eyes filled with exhaustion and fear. He took a deep breath, still on edge.

“We have to make sure this thing’s dead. No one on this floor is safe as long as it’s around.”

The boy looked to the floor, gripping Sam’s cloak. He seemed to be slowly growing back some of the teeth he had lost. His earlier attack had clearly taken a lot out of him, and the boy was still quite shaken.

Dan was currently leaning on Sam for support. It seemed like he had lost all of his previous energy after the adrenaline rush died down.

Sam wasn’t doing to good himself either. Although, he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty about that since he had barely taken a hit from that thing. He mostly just got off with a few new cuts and bruises. Although, a few of his older injuries were starting to flare up as though he had acquired them all over again.

But the strange sensation hadn’t died down all that much, he still felt really weird. The small arm on his side was, thankfully, not getting any bigger. But it wasn’t going away either.

His hands were still twitching, he didn’t know why they were doing that.

Sam let out a shaky sigh, trying to calm his nerves.

“Listen. You guys don’t have to go in. I wasn’t hurt as bad, I can probably survive another fight.”

Dan looked at him, giving him a weak smirk.

“What? you think I’m letting you go in there alone man? Hell no. I can take another hit.”

Sam quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You complained the entire time I was dressing your wound.”

Dan sputtered.

“Wha- because you were touching it man!”

“I had to touch it.”

Dan let out a huff.

“I’m still coming with you.”

Sam couldn’t help but roll his eyes a bit. He turned to Joel next, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“What about you? Do you want to stay outside and wait for us?” He kept his voice low and gentle.

Joel looked at his shoes for a little bit, holding Fuzzy tight.

Then the boy leaned into Sam, hugging his leg.

“I want to stay with you…” Joel had said that so quietly and so innocently that Sam’s heart practically broke on the spot for the poor boy.

His hand hovered above Joel’s head for a second before giving him a light pat.

“okay…” he whispered back.

Then he leaned away slightly, allowing the child to slip his hand into his own.

The group stood outside the door for a moment longer.

He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like there was a floor there. He couldn’t quite see it, but it was there, he knew it was.

“If we see anything dangerous… then I want you two to run.” He turned to his companions. “Okay?”

They both nodded, Dan hesitating a little bit longer than Joel.

They all turned to the darkness before them. Sam tried taking a few deep breaths, trying to slow his pounding heart.

He felt Dan give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Sam pulled up his hood. And with no other words exchanged between them, they all walked into the unknown together.

It was so dark. Sam felt like he should barely be able to see past his nose. But strangely, everything in the strange void around them seemed illuminated as if by a dim light. Everything except for the walls around them

They weren’t walking for long when they finally came across something. 

A hunched over figure, sitting cross legged on the ground.

It looked like a woman with long, ratty hair and tattered clothing.

She rocked from side to side, and Sam was pretty sure he heard her giggling.

They all stopped dead in their tracks. 

Silence…

“…hello?…” the woman perked up at the sound of Sam’s voice, and she turned around.

He felt his blood run cold, and he took a small step away from the woman.

Her face…

The woman had the same wicked grin, the same manic eyes. Although she was drastically different in form, there was no mistaking it.

This was the beast. The same one they had felled earlier, somehow alive and somehow in human form.

The woman chuckled to herself as she rose up from the floor. She was about a half a head taller than Sam.

She turned to the group of three, letting out a breathy laugh.

“Hey…”

Sam stared at her, slowly ushering the others to get behind them.

“You… you’re that monster we fought earlier.”

The woman’s grin grew impossibly wider.

“Yeah, that’s me… heh heh heh…”

The woman approached them, and Sam took another step back.

“Hey. You fight pretty good for a pipsqueak. Heh heh heh heh… wanna hang out?”

Everyone just stared at the unsettling woman for a few seconds.

Dan hesitantly spoke up.

“A new friend? Sure! Let’s hang out buddy!”

Sam casted a horrified glance at him, before turning his attention back on the woman.

“You just tried to kill us. You almost did kill us.”

“Yeah… but I didn’t.” The woman’s pupils dilated to an unnatural size, almost like a cat.

“Why should I let you into my house?” Sam tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but it wasn’t working.

The woman took another step towards them.

“Cuz you might need me…” She stared intently at Sam’s eyes. He felt himself start to tremble.

“Think about it.” The woman began, pointing a finger at herself. “You’ve seen some of the stuff I can do. Imaging having all of that on your side. You’ll want a strong hitter with you, and that’s me.”

She got right in Sam’s face, but he held his ground.

“okay… what do you get out of it?”

The woman leaned back a bit, scratching her face lightly with her sharp fingernails.

“Well… I get a good time, an excuse to get into more fights, free food… I get a lot of things from this arrangement. And you…” she slowly pointed a clawed finger at Sam, poking his chest. “You get to have a monster on your team. How about that?”

Sam barely managed to keep from shivering at the contact.

He looked at the woman, weighing his options.

She tired to murder us barely five minutes ago. You’re not really considering it, are you?

But.. she was a monster before. And now she just looks mostly human. What if she’s like me? Maybe she can teach me how to control it…

Sam slowly looked up at the woman.

“Okay… fine. You can come.”

The woman gave him a satisfied grin.

“Nice. Heh heh heh… I’m Leigh, by the way.”

Sam gave her a curt nod.

“Okay, Leigh. I’m Sam.”

Leigh nodded back, giggling a bit as she stared at Sam for longer than he would’ve liked.

Dan stepped towards her.

“I’m Dan. Sorry for hitting you with a clever back there.”

Leigh chuckled as she eyed him up and down.

“Dan, huh? You’ve got some real spunk, I like it.”

She looked to Joel, who shrunk behind Sam under her gaze.

“And what about you, little boy?”

The kid was quiet for a while, and when he finally spoke, it was no more than a hoarse whisper.

“I’m Joel…”

The woman giggled more to herself.

“Alright. Let’s get out of here.” She pushed past Sam. And as she did, she gave him a firm pat on the side. Right where his extra arm was. “Let’s go, tough guy.”

She walked back down the dark hall with Dan following her.

But Sam stayed right where he was…

An intense shutter passed through his body. He could still feel where that woman had touched him moments ago. And it filled him with a deep sense of icy cold dread.

Something was wrong. He didn’t like what he was feeling right now.

He pulled his cloak around himself. His whole body felt like it was pulsating.

“Mr… hhh… Sam?…” he saw Joel looking up at him, he was worried.

“Are you… hhh… feeling alright?…”

Sam wrapped his arms around himself, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Y-yeah… I’m… fine…”

“Hey!” Leigh called them from outside the door. “You coming, slow pokes?”

Sam looked at the illuminated entryway. And without a word, he took Joel’s hand and walked back out into the halls.

They all took a short breather outside of apartment 23. Leigh carefully positioned the fallen door over the frame, covering up the shadowy hallway that laid beyond.

Dan was still groaning in pain a bit and clearly favouring his bandaged up chest. Joel was still growing his teeth back, and that couldn’t be too pleasant for the boy either as his gums looked pretty inflamed.

Leigh was the only one who didn’t look like she was five seconds from keeling over. In fact, she seemed to have the most energy at the moment. 

We shouldn’t be out here. Sam thought. We’re not in any condition to get into another fight-

He quickly stumbled into a wall, bracing himself against it.

He felt dizzy all of the sudden, and sick too.

Sam squeezed his arms around himself as he felt his breath quicken.

The squirming reached a point that he never thought possible.

It was absolutely everywhere. Roiling around like something was trying to break out of his skin.

He could hear the blood pumping through his veins so loud that he barely even registered his friends calling out his name.

Sam felt something touch his shoulder and he flinched violently.

“Sam? You good buddy?” It took him a second to recognize Dan’s voice, the ringing in his ears was still dying down.

He quickly shook Dan off of him, realizing just how many eyes were on him at the moment.

“YES! Yes… I’m alright… I’m fine.”

Dan stared at him for a moment.

“you sure man? You were freaking out for a moment. Is something bothering you?”

Sam took a few steadying breaths, a hand still braced on his chest.

“Yeah-yeah. I think… I think that fight took a lot more out of me than I thought…”

He trailed off for a second. Something felt wrong.

A shaky hand went up to his neck.

Was it… swollen?

He quickly pulled his cloak closed, hiding away in it.

“w-we should go back to the apartment. We’ll take a break there.”

“yeah… I… hhhh… I wanna go back.” Joel’s voice wavered a bit as he spoke, he sounded tired. “My- hhhh- my teeth hurt…”

Leigh had just been staring intently at Sam the entire time. She let out another low chuckle, a sound that Sam was quickly growing familiar with.

“Alright. Lead the way then, Sam.”

He only casted a momentary glance at their newest party member. And without a word, he pushed himself off the wall, a bit wobbly on his feet.

The walk back to the apartment was silent.

Sam’s mind was filled with static for most of the walk back.

Or well, it was partly static. The rest of it was unpleasant thoughts about his condition.

How bad is it? Am I going to get any worse? I still feel weird…

But just as they entered floor three, everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

Standing right next to the door of apartment 33 was a large silhouette.

It looked… vaguely humanoid. Though… it looked more like something trying to look like one. It had a large black blanket wrapped around it, covering every part of it’s body except for were it’s face might be. And in place of a face was a simple porcelain mask with a big smile carved into its surface.

No one moved for a solid minute.

The creature’s masked face slowly looked towards the group. Two red moats of light peeked out of the eye holes of the mask, resembling pupils.

But the creature didn’t approach them. 

It didn’t attack. 

It just stood there.

Patiently.

Waiting.

Sam didn’t know why, but he had the feeling that this thing didn’t want to hurt them.

Slowly, Sam approached the masked creature.

“dude! What are you doing?!” Dan hissed at him. But Leigh put an arm in front of the man, blocking his path.

“wait!” She whispered. “I wanna see what happens…”

The creature glided across the floor to meet Sam. Despite it’s large size, it made no noise as it moved.

Sam stared at the creature for a few moments.

Something about this thing, it felt… familiar… and yet completely foreign at the same time.

“…hello?…”

The creature’s mask-like face moved unnervingly, getting closer to Sam.

It looked like it was examining him.

 He felt his breath hitch momentarily, instinctively leaning away from it.

“uhh… a-are you a friend?…”

It paused for a moment, and then the mask bobbed up and down slightly, nodding.

“oh…”

Sam squinted at the strange creature.

“why are you outside my door?”

It didn’t respond, it just stared at him.

“Can you not talk?”

The creature shook its head.

Sam heard the others come up behind him.

“What do you want? Are you hungry?”

The creature nodded.

“Okay… uhhh.”

He turned to Dan.

“Can you give it that muffin you got from Jeanne?”

Dan gave him a slightly saddened look.

“But… it’s my muffin…”

“Yeah, well it would like some food. Can you at least share?”

Dan thought for a moment, before slipping his bag off and pulling out the muffin.

“It can have half.” He split it with his hands, crumbs falling to the floor.

Sam took the chunk of muffin from Dan’s hand and offered it to the masked creature.

“Here you go…”

It looked at the muffin. Then the blanket it was wrapped in moved. 

A small, thin hand peeked out and gently picked up the small morsel. And then it disappeared into the blanket.

It seemed like it enjoyed it.

Sam quirked a nervous smile at the thing.

“You… seem okay…”

The strange creature looked at him for a moment longer. And then it silently glided away from the door and towards a dark corner. 

The shadows seemed to grow darker and darker as it approached them. Getting to the point were they appeared to swallow the creature whole.

Then it was gone…

Sam found it hard to shake the odd feeling of anxiety that the interaction had given him.

He wrapped an arm around his abdomen as the strange feeling returned to him. He was very unpleasantly reminded of the condition he was in.

He quickly fished out his key, fumbling to unlock the door for a few seconds.

But when he finally did, he wasted no time on rushing in.

He took off his bag and tossed it to the side, then he made a beeline for the bathroom.

Sam quickly shut the door behind him, letting out a sigh of relief once he was finally alone.

He hesitated for a bit… before undoing the safety pin that held together his cloak, slipping it off his shoulders.

Already, he felt so naked without it. It seemed to only succeed in making the squirming sensation feel worse.

He tried to push that thought aside, slowly walking to the mirror.

Ohhhh… god…

His neck was absolutely swollen.

Sam stared at his reflection, his eyes widening in panic.

Okay… calm down… it’s not that bad.

His side began to flare up again.

Sam hissed, a hand shooting up to clutch his twitching third arm as he braced himself on the sink.

He felt it grow a couple inches longer, the fingers becoming more developed.

It stuck out of his shirt now.

No.

He tried to keep himself steady, shifting his position to keep from falling over.

He grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt his body pulsating again.

He could feel his neck and torso begin to swell slightly.

Stop it.

He made an awful noise, sounding like a guttural growl mixed with his own distressed groan.

His eyes snapped open at the sound and he slapped a hand over his bloated throat.

He tugged at the collar of his shirt, trying to view the extent of what was happening to him.

The skin on his neck… it looked like it was turning… purple.

And not even purple in the sense that he was losing oxygen. It was actually purple.

The welts were starting to pop up again.

Stop staring at yourself! 

Sam tore his eyes away from the mirror, staggering over to the toilet and sitting down heavily.

Deep breaths. It will be over soon. Just calm down.

He sat there for a few minutes with his head in his hands. He inhaled as deeply as he could, holding it for a few seconds and then letting it all out.

He repeated the process over and over again. Until eventually, he felt everything slowly recede back into his body.

His eyes dragged themselves open and he gently wrapped his arms around himself, staring blankly at the floor.

He let out a small sigh.

At least I can keep it in check for now… that’s good.

Sam walked out of the bathroom looking tired and miserable.

His cloak was hanging limply in his hand, dragging on the floor. He was too lazy to put it on.

It seemed like everyone was making themselves at home.

Dan was doing something at the cutting board, Leigh and Joel were sitting over at the table.

Or well, Joel was sitting, Leigh was just crouched on the chair like a fucked up dog.

The grinning woman quickly looked to Sam as he entered the main room.

“What took you so long in there, Sam?” She squinted her eyes at him, her gaze scrutinizing.

Sam paid her no mind.

“I just had to use the washroom.” He retorted, walking over to the couch without so much as a glance in her direction.

Leigh’s smile grew wider, watching intently as the man flopped onto the coach.

Sam just stared at a wall for a few seconds, not bothering to think about anything or pay attention to the activity going on around him.

Then suddenly, Dan plopped himself down on the coach next to him with a satisfied sigh.

The man held something out to him.

“Muffin?”

Sure enough, Dan had a two small chunks of muffin with him.

It would seem that he had cut the remaining half of his muffin into quarters, sharing them with his new roommates.

Sam felt… oddly touched by the gesture.

He looked a few times between Dan and the small treat he was being offered before finally accepting it from him.

He popped it in his mouth. It was pretty dry. But other than that, it tasted good. It had a lovely mix of nutty notes with a hint of banana in it.

All and all, it was a damn good muffin.

Dan let out a small chuckle as he looked to Sam. Then he tossed his own chunk of muffin into his mouth, letting out another sigh through his nose as he sunk into the sofa.

Sam leaned back as well, taking this moment to relax.

They still had a few hours left in the day. But for a short moment, things were quiet.

Sam hadn’t felt like a part of a community for a long time. And despite all the crazy things that had happened to him so far, at least he didn’t feel as lonely as he once did.

He closed his eyes, resting them for a bit.

Maybe things will be okay…