Prologue
7:15 P. M, Desolate Road,
The roaring sounds of a motorcycle echoed throughout the middle of the evening. The beautiful shades of red and orange from the setting sun cast a heavenly light in front of the wasted property. Tall and expansive, pieces crumbled off the infrastructure in various parts, with broken windows and destroyed floors visible from the distance.
Vacant and hollow, another alarming feature that stood out was the layers of security tape and heavily reinforced doors at the entrance. The only revamped aspect of this abandoned facility.
The engine’s roars grew closer as the wind picked up. Powerful gusts swept loads of dust into the air as a scarlet sports motorcycle came to a swift stop ten feet away from the caution tape, keeping a safe distance between themselves and the building.
The figure in question was wearing a heavily refined suit of armor and stood at a confident 5’9”½. The armor was composed of osmium and made. primarily monochromatic as its base color was a dark shade of ivory with three splashes of dark orange across the suit. It compressed tightly around the chest and abdomen with a shade of black, each abdominal containing an extra pad of the same material. Three small round metal halide lamp lenses on the ribs below the armored chest plate, arranged in a slightly curved vertical position; with the right rib cage displaying a twin set of lamps.
Heavily plated shoulder pads with stab-resistant compressed padding extending to the triceps and biceps. The forearms have plates molded to secure the arms, both dorsal wrists having a jack-like component pushed back inside with little wires snuggly positioned inside their hall.
The chest plates were fortified with even more reinforced osmium, ‘faith’ etched on the upper right breast, with splashes of dark orange covering the entire chest plate and the front half of the shoulder pad. The dark cyan reflected charming rays of light off the armor.
The protective gloves branch off color with the inner fists being dark orange and the outer being black, the inner fist containing unique cords of polymer insulation, with the thumbs containing a small thumbprint screen on a gray screen.
The unique design belonged to the helmet. A brass clasp attached to the body as the side of the neck had the compressed passing, with the rest of the helmet having a long oval shape, with an even darker shade of cyan on the visor and shield. On the upper right side of the visor was a singular indicator, actively in rest mode.
Extra coverage of armor located where the jaw is, an extended rim of armor traced around the suit colored bluish-white. At the top of the helmet rested a singular antenna, thin, yet extended to four millimeters.
“Gotta keep faith. All this nonsense is gonna get situated.” Speaking their thoughts to themselves, the armored stranger treaded forward slowly, crushing slight debris and pebble pieces as he walked toward the layers of security tape.
Slowly inching his right hand towards the tape, he stopped right in front of it. The shadow casting on the tape from his armored palm lingered and the moment after he paused, he started walking backward, even further back than his parked vehicle.
Then he took off sprinting, faster than the average jogger, and dropped to the ground, dropping his feet enough until his heels were touching the ground, skidding across the surface, lowering his upper body enough where the tape wouldn’t touch him.
Skidding past the tape completely, he gripped the ground roughly and pushed himself off the floor, dusting some of the few smudges of dirt off the back of his armor.
“Can’t encourage anybody else to repeat this dumbass shit I’m doing. However, if others with ties to this place feel exactly how I feel; I’m just delaying the inevitable process.” He mused quietly as he reached to the side of his left hip and pulled out a Heavy-duty onyx-colored Crowbar. Yet, upon closer inspection, it carried significant differences compared to a typical one.
The handle was more iron-based, with a miniature remote switch on the handle, a small blue button with an ‘E’ engraved on it, and a silver button with a ‘B’ engraved on it resting in the middle. The end of the crowbar had a molding pry claw with two gold streaks crossing to form an X at the end.
“As long as nobody inspects the door, I should be able to dissolve suspicion for a little longer,” And with that in mind, he flipped the tool to the molding pry claw and expertly aimed for one bolt in the door. Angling the claw, he slid it in with force and within five seconds, forced the bolt out.
Repeating the repetition, he managed to knock out the rest of the bolts collectively within a minute and ten seconds. Relaxing his stance, yet tightening his grip on his Pry Bar. He slowly pushed the door open, not minding the slow creek coming from the building.
“Alright. Before I leave, let’s test out this magnetic feature.” As he pointed his right thumb and middle finger forward, bending them to a makeshift ‘u’ as a small force emitted from the finger’s gap, levitating the bolts.
Calmly, yet inward stunned and excited at such a feature. He controlled their positioning with his index finger, lining all of them up in their original spots. Placing them back on the door and closing it shut, twisting them with the slight flicks of his wrist, effectively locking himself from the inside.
“That should be enough,” He said as a flashlight from the helmet instinctively activated, shining a bright light in the abandoned abyss, highlighting an even worse mess across the hall. Broken ceiling titles blocking staircases. A revolting odor of what smells like decomposing blood and gravel traveled through the vicinity.
His head cringing slightly at the scene, he shook his head and slowly stepped forward, walking past a pile of dismembered, rotten hands and broken piles of blood, stained concrete.
“I’ll scope out the main lobby, check to see if there’s anything I can salvage on this floor,” He said as he looked down at a projection map on a little octagon-shaped device, pinching the screen to expand the map. “And then I need to make it to the third lower level. Then, I’ll make him pay.” He declared as he closed the small device and put it back.
Then suddenly, a loud sound traveled across the room as he spun around to the source of the noise and positioned his MultiBar in front of his body as the light shined on the recently collapsed wall. From beyond the damaged property, out came two figures walking out disoriented. However, once they came into view of the light fully, he felt a shock tremor through his body as he unknowingly began breathing in and out rapidly.
Both figures wore destroyed lab coats, stained with blood and other dark stains as buttons and tears were present. Yet the detail that brought forth the most alarm was their complete skulls being exposed, the flesh on their face melted clean off. The emptiness of the skulls paused and faced his direction.
Their stare-down lasted for five seconds, both sides equally quiet. The sounds of wind picking up through the revealed parts of the infrastructure and various parts of its building slowly crumbling echoed across the silence of the abandoned tenet. Sweat began forming across his forehead, as his grip increased out of anticipation and anxiousness.
“What the fuck are those? No. It can’t be? Do you mean that report was accurate? There’s a body-snatching parasite outbreak?” He thought as the moment he made a slight step back, both corpses opened their exposed jaws.
The sight of dried blood, with a chuck of liver meat, was stuck in between their teeth. A ribbon of ribbed intestines dangling through their gums as dried blood and pieces of the digestive tract smeared across its lips.
The other one had what appeared to have bile stained on his jaw, as flesh plaque was stained a dirty green and yellow, as dried blood colored its skeletal jaws and decomposing hands. The lab coat had burn marks near the end of its slits, and its fingers were twitching. Appearing to be lagging in its limited response.
In horrid astonishment, his body experienced alarmed acceleration. He took another step backward, his mind intrigued, but his body reacting to reasoning. The prybar in his hands trembled softly, shaking in response to the message of flight. The next step landed on a sizeable pebble; one small enough to crack, but big enough to create sound.
That crush advanced the night. Both took off, thrusting their hands forward in a peckish frenzy, crossing the distance slowly. Swallowing a huge amount of collected saliva and resuming his breathing, he crocked his left arm back while holding his weapon and slid his right hand near the end of the pry claw. Crouching his knees and positioning his feet, he readied himself as the first one got in personal distance, swiping its right hand aggressively.
Parrying the hand with a diagonal swipe giving a slight nick in its palm, he thrust the multibar forward, slightly stabbing the shoulder blade and pushing back the parasitic corpse, causing it to growl as it swung its left forearm, smacking the side of his helmet.
Stumbling to the right, he recovered quickly as he clashed with the hands of the dead scientist, pushing against it as the second one lunged forward, leaping with its hands forward and jaw opened wide. Ceasing his shout before it begin, he immediately flexed his muscles as he placed his hand on the deadman’s chest.
Matching the beat of his reaction, his response was just as swift as he picked up the scientist with light difficulty. Tossing the body onto the other one in midair, sending them both sprawling onto the ground, as he spun the tool in his hand rapidly, switching to the Heavy duty claw. His thumb inched toward the blue button on his handle as both zombified victims recovered quickly. Both lunged forward again, thrusting their hands at the same time, forcing him to counter the attack. Stepping back while blocking with the heavy claw, the one with the bile stains suddenly dived. Clasping his skull with a rough clap, it attempted to take a bite as the other one slowly grasped the Mulitbar, attempting to snatch it.
Surprised by both grapples, he began pushing back with desperate conviction, swinging back and forth with one hand with the hungry corpse. Pushing successfully against the second’s jaw, he managed to reclaim control on the back and forth with the first corpse. Using his other hand to reposition against the bile jaw, he crushed it slightly with powerful aggression, causing it to let go and stumble backward.
Feeling his muscles beginning to strain from the confinement of his armor, he showcased an impressive feat of strength by not only grabbing the first adversary by its broken jaw; he slammed it on the floor; snatching the Multibar from the other one, tripping it forward slightly. He kicked it backward and promptly pressed the blue button with the ‘E’ engraved on it, as that corpse lost its balance momentarily and tripped down on its feet.
The Heavy duty side of the crowbar extended by two full feet, responding to this change by backpedaling, skidding on the concrete behind him. Repositioning his Pry bar, he swung at the one he slammed, as it propped itself up on its elbows, as the claw smashed through its skull, killing it instantly.
Skeleton fragments mixed with rotten blood and brain pieces dripped, landing on the cold floor. The force of the attack let the bar get stuck in its gums, yet he easily forced it out. Spinning the weapon rapidly like a dance baton, he flung blood and flesh on the floor, as the last corpse slowly began to rise.
Sliding the weapon down his hands and wiping the claw of the mess with his hand, he reversed the weapon to aim the molding claw at the rising corpse, pressing the aforementioned silver button. Tightening his grip, he thrust the claw forward, and a slight vent opened on the claw as it pierced its skull in the forehead. It groaned as it changed priorities, reaching for the weapon as it sat on its knees.
Yet before the bar made an impact on its cranium, he pressed the button again. That caused a chain reaction as the reanimated scientist’s skull inflated; and erupted, causing a miniature explosion that echoed across the vicinity as blood and rotten organs spilled out on the floor.
Headless, it fell. The only sounds to be heard were the dying echoes of the explosion and the heavy pants of the man who withdrew his crowbar. Shrinking the size down and clipping it back to his armor, he took a knee as everything replayed in his head.
“... huff. So this is the truth, huh?” He started as he stared off aimlessly at the ground, his mind racing nonstop. “There are actual zombies, they exist and only God knows how many more exist. They told me not to come here. That even FBI agents went missing, and that’s why they locked this place down.” He reflected as he shakily began standing back up, his flashlight shining down the hall as he traversed.
“Maybe I just needed to get a wake-up call. I won’t let my guard down again, those…parasites shouldn’t have given me that much trouble.” He said as his shaking ceased and he stepped over the bodies. Taking a few steps forward, he paused before turning around to face their bodies and kneeling.
Raising his hand up and tracing a cross in the air with his index finger, he made a fist and brought it to his chest. Leaving a silent prayer to the lost Scientist who suffered from an unforeseen accident. Holding the position for thirty seconds, he slowly got up and began walking forward, leaving the deceased bodies laying rays of light shined on them as his footsteps got deeper and deeper within the building.
Every action creates a reaction. Most unknown, unpredicted, and forever changing. From the smallest change to a life-changing event, how do you proceed with life?
Uncaring?
Overly careful?
Blissfully?
Ignorantly?
Welcome to Corollary. Be aware.
And be careful how you proceed.
