Screenshot it, as the imbeciles that flagged it last time will likely do so a third time:
<“Mother? Listen, some weird stuff is going down in the city right now, I need you and Dad to stay home, and seal off any air access points. If I hadn’t been in the decom chamber when it entered… what it did to my coworkers, my FRIENDS is beyond description. Stay safe, I will try to get to you.” Terminating the call, you let out a cry of frustration at having only been able to reach voicemail, your mind furiously suppressing your dread they have already shifted.
Your car screeches out of the lot as you flash through the events of the past hour, the chaos you witnessed when the gas breached containment. It never should have happened, there were too many layers of security for any outside force to have unleashed it. But…it never was outside threats that should have concerned you was it?
You flash back to three months prior, when your research team was first contracted by The Broker. It had always seemed suspicious, the way he adamantly insisted on a company rep being present for all trials, but you needed the funding, and the substance they had provided seemed too incredible to pass up a chance too study. It was classified as Compound 13024, a hallucinogenic meant to be used for therapeutical purposes, though you suspected that your employer meant to bid it off to Echo or Vortex as an interrogation method, but technology is always weaponized, at least this would have helped more than hurt, right? You scoff internally at your naivete. No, what it was transformed into was much worse. You relive what happened minutes ago in excruciating detail, the gas breaching the vents, watching from your suit as everyone collapsed to the ground, with Stache, the company rep, watching from a sealed observation chamber.
“You should be proud of yourself Matthias. Thanks to your efforts, the Envoy of the Eldritch is ready for deployment. Soon Agathoth shall rise once more and end this cycle of suffering we inflict upon ourselves.” He said, smiling down on you as your coworkers began to rise, deforming in shape into ravenous amalgamations of flesh. Your survival as you typed in the exit code was just a bit of luck, because someone survived exposure, providing a prone and defenseless target compared to your safety blaster all personnel were required to carry in case of Vortex or Echo raids. Their screams still haunt you, but at least you made it ou-
CRASH
You feel a sudden shock go through the car as something lands atop it, glass from a window above tinkling down into the street. You swerve, slamming into a building, knocking whatever tortured soul had struck your vehicle, frantically getting out of your now totaled car to spot a an imposing figure lurking in the now broken window. It jumps down to street level, pausing for the slightest moment as it shatters on impact, in which you see a writhing mass of appendages roil into one patchwork body, bent on adding you to its number.
Screaming in fright, you fire off a few blasts as you duck into a nearby metro, hoping to use the darkened tunnels to slip away from the monster. You emerge into a scene of chaos, as the gas has only just penetrated this depth, and the carnage seen at street level is in its early stages, as a few lone cops pour fire into a smaller version of what you just fled from. Screeching in agony, it collapses, but you already see its parts beginning to reform. You follow the group as they flee into the darkness, power having long since ceased to flow due to shortages from the V/E raids.
“Why the heck are you in a hazmat suit?” one labeled Officer Mcdonnell cries, “Were you one of the b@stards that created that… thing?!”
“it’s a bit complicated, you see-” you start, only to be cut off as he stuns you in the leg.
“The fact you had any involvement is enough for me! I hope you rot in whatever afterlife you believe in.” He says, fleeing further into the tunnel so as to let the creature be delayed by consuming you.
You frantically crawl towards a ladder, stunning it just enough to push it away for your ascent. As you emerge, you find the streets drenched in the fog, though you recognize you are in the suburbs now. In fact, you’re on your family’s street! Caution tempering your glee at this piece of luck, you approach your house whilst hiding behind trash cans to avoid the attention of a roaming monster. You make it to the door opening it to find…you’re too late.
You enter into a hall covered in the parts of a body meant to stay inside it, the walls painted red. Next to a particularly large puddle lies a tattered note reading:
“Matthias, . … your message, but the … was already … Your father is…one of them now. I subdued him … … moment beneath a bookshelf, but know .. .. … a matter of time until he … me. You … . would never advocate this … any other circumstances, but should it become necessary, use your father’s card to enter the Central Plant. Incineration is the … way to rid the world .. this plague.”
Despite the missing words, you get the sense she wants you to overload the reactor core at your dad’s job. He worked with the city, who hoarded the lone surviving power station to their own after the raids. You search the house until you find his access card, the twisted thing that was once your father stalking your scent all the while.
Taking the family car, you speed through to the streets, noting a sudden…absence of flesh-creatures. This is soon resolved as you come within sight of your workplace as you watch them throw themselves into a shape vaguely resembling that of Agathoth in cave paintings you remember from a college trip. Spotting you, its hulking form begins a slow but relentless chase to the plant. Dashing through the halls, aware of your limited time before it crushes the only thing capable of harming it, you reach the control room and utilize your father’s access card to shut down the coolant system. As alarms begin to blare and flash red as the oozing flesh of Stache’s creation, you feel a sense of calm fill you. As your feel your senses be overwhelmed with a white searing pain, you oof content, knowing that no more families will be torn apart as yours was.
CUT TO EPILOUGE
Stache stands on a ridge overlooking the crater where the city once lay.
“Such a shame. I had such high hopes for this test. Well, it can be fixed next time.” He monologues with a chuckle, wind pushing the folds of his coat aside to show a vial of the Compound.
To be continued…>