Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was surprising how quickly Sam was becoming adjusted to gaming with a single hand. That being said, the games he typically gravitated to didn’t require much swift movements and precise patterns and even those that did, he was discovering work arounds with his limited options. Well, that or ask Dan to handle the trickier parts anyways.

He had decided to play a quick session that morning before heading out. Yet, near the end of his in-game mission, he began to feel little pricks at the end of his nub for an arm. Taking a quick glance, Rat Baby was nibbling at his arm, thirsty for his blood.

Sam inwardly groaned, “Can’t we get you something else?” He stopped playing for a minute to stroke the rat baby’s back. Its two muzzles bore a pointy toothed smile as it squeaked with delight.

“What else is there to eat though?” Dan took up nearly the entire remaining couch as he was sprawled out with his head leaning against the arm rest. “I’ve been telling you to grab snacks, but all you ever come back with is more stinky chemicals and a vending machine that doesn’t even dispense food!”

Audrey glanced at them with one of her many eyes before going back to Joel who was rambling on and on about his little fuzzy.

“Food’s just been pretty scarce, but I’m sure we can make it the remaining week.” Sam shrugged and quickly finished up his game. “Speaking of, maybe I should head out soon.”

“And leave me out of it.” Dan crossed his arms and sunk deeper into the couch. “But take that shapeshifter with you. I don’t want her anywhere around me.”

“Did someone say they wanted to see me?!” Leigh jumped on the back of the couch, precariously balancing on it like a cat. Her wide, bloody grin overtook her entire face. “Ah, who am I kidding, no one said that. But yeah! Sam! Go find us some food! I bet Lyle’s eaten most of it. Why don’t you kick him out?”

“Wh-what?!” Lyle shot up on his many legs after resting on the blankets and pillows they had scavenged. “I-I do not!”

“Do too! Don’t lie! I know that huge second mouth of yours can consume an entire creature whole!”

“N-no! I’ve never done that!”

“Leigh.”

Leigh groaned as she looked over her shoulder at the towering form of Hellen. Even standing on the back of the couch where they were basically at eye level, it was easy to feel the tension that radiated off her.

“Haven’t seen him eat in over a day.” Hellen claimed, glaring through her mask.

“My point still stands. Sam, go get us more food!” Leigh exclaimed while leaning against his shoulder with her wide grin basically yelling in his ear.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Every pair of eyes instantly gravitated towards the door before looking back at Sam who always took charge in these situations. More tired than scared of the frequent occurrence, Sam rose from the couch and headed towards the door. Everyone began moving as silently as they could. Audrey corralled Joel into a back corner, (who could easily hold his own if needed, but Audrey wasn’t willing to risk his life.) Leigh, Lyle, and Hellen were quick to stick to both sides of the door, ready to jump in and fight if necessary as Sam crossed the room with Rat Baby following him at the heels. Dan took charge of storing the video game Sam left behind.

Leaning up to the eyehole, Sam saw a pretty normal looking human on the other side. Such a sight was becoming rarer and rarer the longer this apocalypse went on for. He was holding something in his hand and he called out, “Delivery!”

“Delivery? In this economy?” Hellen quietly commented.

“It’s so a trick!” Leigh couldn’t withhold her excitement. “Let me at him, Sam! Let me at him!”

Instead, Sam called out, “Who are you?”

“Delivery guy. You order a pizza?”

Sam glances at the people in his apartment, to which no one gave him a nod or affirmation. While Leigh’s claim sounded correct, curiosity overtook Sam and he took the doorknob.

“S-Sam! Don’t get yourself hurt!” Lyle’s panicked whisper added onto the creak of the opening door.

The delivery guy didn’t attack on sight. Instead, he said, “Hi. Um, I’m at the right place. I think. I got a medium cheese pizza. It’ll be six dollars.”

Hopefully out of the delivery guy’s hearing range, Sam heard Leigh sniff the air and confirm, “I take back everything I said. Sam! Get the pizza!”

“Did I hear pizza?!” Dan had jumped onto the couch and howled.

“B-but what if it’s a trick?” Lyle’s internals whirred with worry.

The guy looked normal, but Sam’s learned all too well about those who can appear normal and sane, but want to scoop out your insides for a grand meat and bone stew. Then again, there were many cursed who were sane as well, (take a look inside his apartment it’s currently a one to four ratio.) Sam debated internally for a moment, before deciding to get some info before taking a possible mystery item: “So, uh, how’s business?”

The delivery guy shrouded in darkness shrugged, “I don’t know. I just have... a lot of pies to deliver. So I guess business must be good. It's a bit of a blur. I feel like I've been on this shift forever. I don't even remember driving here. I just... uh…. What were we talking about? I shouldn't be talking this much on the job. I got a lot of work to do.”

Sam’s gaze caught Hellen’s for a moment, silently asking her for advice. The burly woman simply shrugged, but Sam could see her grip on her cleaver tighten. Finally, after considering all of the conceivable odds, Sam answered, “Sure. I’ll take the pizza.”

He quickly scrounged up six dollars and traded for the hopefully good food. Once the hot box was in his hands, a large hand from Hellen extended through the doorframe and gave the man a three dollar tip, something that Sam admittedly forgot to do, (a lot.)

The extra cash seemed to make the delivery guy’s day as he exclaimed, “Thanks! See ya.” And with that he was gone.

“Why did you do that?” Lyle skittered alongside Sam as he walked from the now shut door. “Th-there’s no way that’s an actual pizza.”

“Woah! Is -hhh- is that a -hhh- pizza?!” Joel scrambled up to them from his containment and silently Audrey followed.

“I call dibs on the first slice!” Leigh bounced around as if she was a dog begging for table scraps. Rat Baby was doing the same.

“Stop crowding him.” Hellen stated as Sam finally placed it on the table.

“Stop crowding him? He’s got actual food! It smells fresh and ready for the taking too! Gimme some!” Dan joined the fray.

Sam’s thumb and finger gripped the flap of the box and hesitated, unsure of what exactly they were going to find in there. Yet, as everyone else claimed, it smelled and felt like an actual pizza. So, he finally bit the bullet and pulled the top of the box back.

An actual, plain cheese pizza sat in the box. Sam could feel the heat from the freshly baked pie radiating up and into his face, stuffing its cheesy smell into his nostrils.

“Oh… my gosh.” Sam stared at it in disbelief.

“Yo! If there’s one thing the world can get right, it’s how to cook a pizza! Even in the apocalypse! Hold up, I need to go live to get everyone’s reactions!” Dan swiftly brought out his phone and began setting up his stream.

“Huh. That’s surprising.” Hellen commented with Lyle adding on, “Very…”

“I call dibs on the entire box!” Leigh exclaimed and had to be held by the back of her shirt collar by Hellen. The short woman scrambled to grab the entire thing.

“We shouldn’t fight over it. We -hhh- should share!” Joel claimed. “There’s eight slices and eight -hhh- of us! It’s like a subtraction problem!”

An aluminum can thunked at the bottom of Audrey’s slot. Joel grabbed the can and read, “Very good, Joel. Thanks, Audrey!”

“Okay. Okay. Everyone’s getting a single slice.” Sam claimed as he gave one to Rat Baby. The little creature grinned in delight before scurrying off with his food. He took himself a slice before standing back to watch everyone grab their own.

Joel was allowed to go next, taking two, but giving one to Audrey. The fleshy vending machine on legs smiled at the tooth child as she enjoyed her share. Hellen kept a flailing Leigh at bay as Lyle cautiously took his slice right before Dan stepped in and exclaimed, “Chat! Look what we got! Can we get a poll if you guys think it’ll give us food poisoning or something? Come on mods!” He grabbed his slice and claimed a spot on the couch.

Finally, Leigh was released and she scrambled for the pizza. She inhaled a slice and Hellen grabbed her own and walked off, intentionally refusing to look at the others as she had her share. Leigh went for another, just to find an empty box: “Darn…”

Unfortunately, one slice of pizza each wasn’t cutting it for a meal. Sam watched as the majority of his group finished their slices just a minute after grabbing them. He was slower, trying to savor each satisfying bite, but it wasn’t long until he too was finished. The gnawing sensation arose back in his stomach, informing him that it had not reached its fill.

A hand holding a slice extended out towards him and Sam had to question how in the world he hadn’t seen or heard Lyle approach him. His anxious voice that didn’t pair well with his new, huge body, offered Sam, “You can have my slice, Sam. I’m sure you’re hungry.”

A touch of unease trickled through Sam, yet he always treated the situation with kindness. Holding out a hand, he told Lyle, “No. You eat it, Lyle. We all need our share.”

“I-I…” Once again, Lyle’s face brightened with an unusually red hue spreading across his cheeks. A giddy grin accompanied his slight overbite as he giggled, “Thanks, Sam!”

As he ate uncomfortably close to the man, Sam couldn’t help but let his mind wander. That strange delivery guy looked completely human, but he had claimed to come from the outside. Surely he did. Where else would he have gotten a perfectly fired pizza?!

“Do you guys think there’s a society outside?” Sam wondered out loud, half wanting to actually discuss stuff, but also worrying about the consequences from his questions.

“Huh?” Leigh removed herself from licking the inside of the box. Some other eyes gazed towards Sam.

“If we were to take what the delivery guy said was true, then what if there's a sort of… probably screwed up society outside? Do you think there are cursed beings living just like we were before the visitor arrived?”

“Chat, you hearing this madman?” Dan asked his livestream audience.

A thunk was heard from Audrey and Joel read out loud for her, “Has anyone cursed -hhh- looked -huhhhh- outside since the first day?” Joel gazed up at the cursed. “I don’t get it.”

“O-of course not!” Lyle shook his head. “I… I don’t want to imagine what it’s like out there.”

“Sam could be right.” Hellen shrugged as she rearranged her mask, ensuring it was covering her face. “But doubtful.”

“Chat, what are you talking about?” Dan raised a brow. He threw his head over his shoulder, “Chat’s saying there’s some form of society outside. Been calming down with each day, but still crazy.”

“If it is, do you guys think there could be some way to go out there and maybe scavenge outside of the apartment?” Sam wondered.

“Humans can’t go.” Hellen shook her head and motioned to Sam and Dan.

“Right, but…”

“I want to go outside again!” Joel exclaimed.

Audrey swiftly delivered a can that Joel read silently. His excited demeanor swiftly soured, “Aww… but I wanted to go. Audrey says it’s too dangerous… probably.”

“Dangerous should be my middle name! I’ll go outside!” Leigh exclaimed and dashed out of the door. Just a couple of moments later, she came back and asked, “Why am I doing this again?”

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, “Look. Maybe we can split into two groups today. I can take Dan and a couple other people to explore more of the apartment. Then the rest of you could head out and see if there’s a grocery store open or something? Literally anything that can give us food.”

“I want to go with the outside party!” Leigh bounced.

“I guess I’ll be needed outside.” Hellen shrugged. “Keep everything straight.”

“Audrey doesn’t -hhh- want me outside, so I’ll stay.” Joel pouted.

As Sam spoke to Joel, Leigh slid up to a certain photographer and smiled, “Join us.”

“What? Huh? Me?!” Lyle nearly tangled a group of legs and pulled his cloak in tighter. “No, no. I couldn’t imagine-”

“Stay behind and I’ll tell Sam your secret.”

“WHAT?! How do you know?!” Lyle struggled to stay on all twenty legs. His eyes narrowed on her soon afterward, “Do you know?”

“I don’t know. Want to find out?” She swung in a spin on her foot and made a step towards Sam.

“OKAY! OKAY! I’ll go!” Lyle cowered, thankful to see her retreating towards the door.

Sam picked up one of Audrey’s can and said, “Of course you can stay. That just leaves Rat Baby with…” Sam looked at what he was dealing with across the room. A group consisting of a strong woman who was reasonably rational, an over the top insane short woman who could shapeshift in an instant and probably would do so to rip someone to shreds, a behemoth of a twenty-legged anxious and obsessive shutterbug, and a literal baby.

Yeup. That’s the best I’m going to get.

“Hellen. If this is how we’re going to split up, can you keep up with them all?”

Hellen gave a stoic nod.

“If not, at least keep Rat Baby safe.”

Rat Baby clambered up onto Hellen’s shoulder and she said, “That much I can ensure.”

“So are we just going to stand around or are we going to go? I want to kill!!!” Leigh exclaimed with wide, crazy eyes.

“Can you not, for once?” Sam asked. “The apartment may provide more protection than we actually know of. Throwing yourselves outside may bring more trouble than you can handle. At the end of the day, just try to come back safely?”

Hellen went to speak, but Leigh cut her off, “Nah! We’re going by up in flames!!!” She cackles like a literal villain before dashing off.

Lyle and Rat Baby uneasily followed. Hellen stopped at the door just long enough to wish Sam, “Good luck.” She followed them out the door.

Chapter Text

Three fourth’s of the group were awaiting on the ground floor as Lyle uneasily and slowly descended the stairs. At the bottom of the last flight, Leigh stomped impatiently, “Come onnn!!! Let’s go already!”

“Shouldn’t we take this a bit more c-cautiously?” Lyle asked, tripping on the very last step, but managed to catch himself on many legs. He stuck to the back as they walked through the floor. “We don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into.”

“And you think we can’t handle it?” Leigh laughed. “No! Do you think I can’t handle that?”

“He’s right.” Hellen claimed, being mindful of Rat Baby running around her heels as she walked. “Could be worse outside.”

“All of your whines are grinding my ears.” Leigh groaned. “Come on! Where’s the murderous spirit? We’re going outside where we can kill even more people!”

Neither of the others capable of forming a full sentence argued any further and instead followed as the gremlin took them to where the overturned bus sat in the middle of a room. The wall it had crashed through was boarded up, but not very well as creatures still tore some boards down to enter the complex. In fact, an opening was torn apart and boards were strewn all over the place on the far right side.

Surprisingly, Leigh didn’t jump and bolt the second she saw an escape. Instead, and to half of the group’s shock, Rat Baby peeled away and jumped through the opening. Instantly, they were all running after the mutated child. Leigh basically dove through the opening, landing on the other side by sliding on her front and catching the little rat mutant. “Gotcha! You little rat! Where did you think you were going?”

Wood splintered as Hellen split a board apart with her clever, making the opening bigger for herself and Lyle. She crouched down and stepped out, cautious of the splinters that protruded from the broken boards. Lyle took longer, trying to arrange all of his legs to find their way outside.

But once they were, they got a good, long look of the outside world. The entire sky was a multitude of colors as if it was overtaken by an artist’s artistic vision. They all knew it was the visitor by now, but knowing exactly what it was didn’t help calm them in the slightest. Smoke hovered high above, creating a hazy coat over that splatter of many colors as fires roared throughout the changed city. Some buildings were completely destroyed, while others still stood tall.

And the change everyone expected were the creatures that roamed the street. Some flew above on thin wings and some crawled on a plethora of legs. They had too many eyes, too many mouths, too many hands, too many converging bodies and heads, too many of everything, and not enough of other things. Some looked more human than others. Others bore exactly zero references to a human. It looked to be just the draw of the card as to what horrifying transformations one would receive.

“Morning.” One that closely resembled a centipede skittered by and waved one of its many thin legs. Hellen gave a small wave as the long… long… long… creature that could only be further described as a centaur scurried off.

“Maybe there’s many sane out here.” Hellen concluded. “Any ideas where to go?”

“We could… ohgodthelight.” Lyle stumbled and nearly tripled over the remains of a tree stump. His systems whirred and clicked loudly as he fiddled with the lenses inside his cloak.

“Weak.” Leigh spun around and carried the rat child away in her arms. “Well, Rat-tholomew, where are we heading today?”

“I-I’m okay, if anyone was wondering. Of course, no one cares.” Lyle quickly caught up to Leigh and Hellen joined them. He offered, “Well, we could go to the c-convince store Sam and I used to work at. M-maybe it’s still standing?”

“That old place? Couldn’t we go somewhere more grand?”

“The smaller the better. Less traction. Less danger.” Hellen decided and gestured for Lyle to lead the way.

“Psh! I’ll get us there, but you better keep up!” Leigh cackled and began jogging off with Rat Baby squealing with joy

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Lyle sighed as he and Hellen dashed after her.

The group tried to stick together as a numbers show, but Leigh and Rat Baby were bound and determined to run at their own pace. Some of their members took note of the mutated creatures out and about. One somewhat resembled a butterfly with six colorful wings, four arms, and many eyes on its face and throat. It swiftly clambered up a pole and pounced into the air, dashing after a screaming mutated bird that flew for its life. A floating infected with tendrils waving gracefully behind it took to pass overhead the group. It looked a bit like a pale blue flying squid. A behemoth of a quadruped fleshy beast with curly teeth that ran on the sides of its head and down its back stomped by on the opposite end of the street, creating vibrations that shook the city.

“W-well, it doesn’t seem so bad.” Lyle commented. “Maybe once the visitor’s gone, we can g-go back to some sort of norm?”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

They all paused to witness someone early into their mutations get their skull pounded in by a dark blue twirling beast with ten arms and many legs that somehow resembled the night sky. They all silently agreed to keep walking and allow the clearly stronger beast to finish its work. Besides, it was too late to step in anyways. They’d only be delaying the inevitable.

Soon afterward, Leigh took a swift turn down an alleyway, claiming, “Come on! This is a shortcut! Trust me!”

“Trusting you is the last thing I’ll do!” Lyle snapped at her before pulling his cloak closer. Clicks and whirrs emitted from his obscured body as he uneasily followed the group that hadn’t hesitated after Leigh. “This is really d-dark. What if we g-get jumped?”

“Leave her to deal with it.” Hellen shrugged. “Her decision. Her consequence.”

They walked further into the darkness. Liquidy flesh and blood dripped from the fire escapes. The remains of a human barely alive long enough to receive mutations, hung off the side of a rail. Rat Baby found its way up the ladder of the fire escape and quickly fed on the remaining flesh of the poor corpse.

Lyle’s front legs buckled and his cloak came up to his mouth, “I might vomit.”

“Do it elsewhere.” Hellen said.

Halfway through the alley where the path was at its darkest, a shadow emerged from behind a dumpster. Hellen was the first to freeze with everyone else pausing soon afterward. 

What appeared to be hunched over man only wearing a torn trash bag around his waist limped into the light. His arms were held out akin to a zombie’s. He really looked pretty normal at first, but then the group realized his skin sagged severely as if it wasn’t even connected to his muscles. It looked as if he was continuously melting, but the end would never come to him. Huge gaping holes in his cheeks revealed two rows of flat teeth on both sides of his mouth. He nearly stumbled over his skin that pooled around his feet to ask, “Spare change?”

Hellen and Lyle exchanged a glance before Leigh exclaimed, “Hell no! This money is ours and we’re not giving it away to some measly beggar!”

He picked up a battered trash can lid that was on the ground. The man’s pupils shrunk and twisted and a gurgly voice came from his throat: “T H E N   D I E.”

The beggar leapt at the group. Leigh jumped to meet him, grabbing the lid with her claws with an animalistic howl. When they both landed on their feet, Leigh fought to wrestle the metal weapon out of his grasp, but the man easily met her level of strength. He swiftly won the battle of the trash can lid, so Leigh took another approach and slashed her claws across the man’s sagging skin on his arm. They hooked extremely easily as if the man’s skin was weaker than thin rubber so she ripped her claws downward, tearing a good chunk of skin away.

But what emerged from the man wasn’t blood that splattered all over the place. Instead of the red liquid pouring out of the wounds, red tendrils worked their way out of their containment, waving as if they were tongues tasting the air.

“Leigh!” Hellen snapped at the woman as Lyle watched, mouth agape.

“Psh! This looks like a job for the be-AST!” The tendrils shot towards and wrapped around Leigh. They swiftly reeled back and threw her against the wall of the alley. She collided with an ear splitting crack and fell to the ground, withering from the impact that damaged the well-constructed wall.

More tendrils broke through the skin of the man, slowly turning him into a lump of skin and only skin. The thin, red tendrils drifted across the alley, slowly inching their way towards Leigh who was struggling to rise back up, muttering, “Okay… that hurt…”

Hellen dashed into the scene; her huge feet pounded on the concrete, only adding to her intimidating rush. Her cleaver rose above her head and she swiftly brought it back down. It sliced many tendrils into two and those that were severed wiggled on the ground, creating their own pool of aggression. A foot stomped on them while she went for another swing, but the tendrils shot back out and cupped and twirled around her attacking arm. The woman’s eyes widened as she fought to pull her arm away from the tendrils, but instead, they began pulling her close to the cursed man. One tendril would’ve been easy to fight, but a whole army? Hellen doubted if she duplicated and fought with the combined strength of both that she’d be able to free herself.

A grotesque roar came from behind her and before she knew it, Lyle had reared onto his hind legs and kicked the tendrils with his front. Many split apart and many simply let go. When too few still held onto Hellen, she wrestled for control over her arm and broke free from their grasp.

She stepped back for a better view of the situation, something that Lyle could no longer do as the tendrils began wrapping around his flailing legs. He tried to pull away, but they swiftly made their way around the rest of his legs. Successfully tangling them, they threw him down. The tendrils shifted his cloak over his face, exposing his photo adorned abdomen but more importantly blinding him from the situation. His arms fought to forget about his cloak, but the tendrils had it firmly held around his torso, leaving him powerless as he was slowly dragged towards the cursed.

Hellen ran towards them again, but before she could even tear through a single tendril, over a dozen shot out towards her and wrapped around her entire body akin to a cocoon. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t free herself from the wiggling, thin red strips that slowly dragged her towards the melted human skin puddle thing.

An unusual ray of light shone down as Leigh finally stumbled to her feet. Her sharp hands gripped each side of her head and twisted it to the side, popping the spine in her neck back into place. Her wicked grin returned in full, cackling, “So this is how we want to tussle? Alright. Let’s. Tussle.”

The transformation was swift. Her skin rippled as if some sort of beast was trying to burst through her short stature. Growls and groans echoed from her as her limbs grew and sprouted extra sets. She got down on all of them. Mouths appeared down her torso along with a few extra eyes until she took up nearly the entire alleyway. She barely towered both Hellen and Lyle combined, but her violent look more than made up for it. All four of her mouths grinned wide as she began scrambling towards the other cursed. In this form, she should be able to easily take it on.

The skin puddle burst open further and a flurry of tendrils met the beast. To Hellen’s horror, it was able to keep the beast away and began wrapping its tendrils around her limbs. Her entire grand entrance was halted as soon enough, she too struggled against the grip.

“NO! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DIE!” The beast gurgled as she fought against its tight grip.

“Wh-what’s going on?!” Lyle shrieked, still blinded by his own cloak while he was still being dragged towards the enemy. His metal legs screeched against the concrete as he failed to pull back. He was completely oblivious to the gaping mouth that had now grown and rose up out of the skin puddle. It would take a large chunk out of him if something wasn’t done soon.

“Get away from it!” Hellen shouted and tried to break free from her prison. It just felt like the tendrils squeezed her tighter, possibly pinching some blood vessels shut. Her efforts were futile as she was dragged towards the thing faster; her feet almost didn’t meet the ground.

It looked as if the creature was about to take a bite out of them at the same time. Drool dripped from both rows of teeth onto Hellen’s mask and she tightly shut her eyes, awaiting the inevitable.

BANG

Her eyes shot back open to see a hole in the back of its mouth pouring blood. Its shock lessened its grip on Hellen just enough for her to free her attacking arm and slice it right through the top of its mouth. Then she reeled back and stuck her clever deep into the roof of its mouth.

A squelch of something in that thin layer of skin echoed all around the cavern-like mouth. A strangled groan came from the thing and finally its tendrils lost their strength. Hellen swiftly jumped forward onto her feet as the last of the tendrils fell away. The beast towered over her, looking down in the slightest hint of shock before Leigh forced her body to compact and return to a near-normal looking human who asked, “Who shot it?”

Still up on the fire escape with the corpse, Rat Baby squeaked a victory and held up the gun it had in its many hands.

Leigh gasped, “Hell yeah! Another fighting buddy!” Leigh held out her hands and the baby with a gun jumped down into her grasp without a fear in the world. “You and I will make the greatest duo ever!”

Rat Baby gazed up at Hellen with huge, shining eyes. The smallest huff escaped Hellen and she crouched down to pat its head, “Nice job, little guy.”

A purr-like noise escaped the mutated rodent.

“Well come on! It’s just beyond this alley!” Leigh skipped off with the others following.

Well everyone except Lyle who still laid on the floor. Tendrils still wrapped his cloak to his face and left his legs in bundles, prompting him to request, “I-if it’s not too much of a bother, could I get s-some help?”

“No.” Leigh didn’t even stop to look at him.

<><><>

“I do not want to go back in the basement!” Dan exclaimed. “Chat, please save my life and choose the not basement option on the poll!”

“The furnace beast is -hhh- gone.” Joel said. “We’ll be fine. Mr. Sam said so.”

“I mean, we’ve dealt with worse, right?” Sam reasoned. He picked up a can Audrey dispensed and began reading, “No absolutely not. I don’t want to go down…” He handed it to Joel. “Want a drink?”

“Wisdom!” Joel took a swig, basically water falling the liquid down his exposed esophagus.

“Chat! Don’t send me into the darkness! What if you lose your dear streamer?!” Dan exclaimed.

Sam gripped his forehead, quietly groaning, “You people are going to be the death of me.”

Audrey dispensed another can and Sam read aloud, “How do you think the others are holding up? Also I’m mad at you for not finishing reading my last can. Sorry Audrey. Really. But I do wonder about them. Truthfully, I have no doubt that they’ll return home alive, but how alive? I’m not sure.”

“I am not a coward!” Dan yelled at his phone and began going down the stairs. “Watch me world as Professional Streamer Dan conquers what you all would shiver in your boots at!”

“Adventure!” Joel basically ran down the stairs beside him.

“I don’t even know if I should comment that they're probably better off than us or worse.” Sam joined them in their descent, hoping this wouldn’t end in death and despair for them nor their companions.

Chapter Text

The four entered the convenience store and didn’t comment on the broken electric sliding doors that were laying on the ground. Leigh stood proudly before them all and sighed, “It’s like I never left. So, what are we going to steal?”

“We-we’re not stealing anything!” Lyle whirred and retracted into his cloak a bit as the bright lights shone down upon them. “We’ll pay for everything l-like good civilians.”

“I’m not going to unless some sort of divine intervention prevents me to!”

An infected bolted by the group with a box in its arms. A mouth similar to a zipper ran down its throat and ended at the base of a tail it now had. The thief nearly made it out the door before tentacles with spikes shot from the tiled roof. Two of them stabbed the robber before lifting them up into the air. Slowly, its tendrils twisted, raveling the victim into twists that audibly popped his joints and cracked bones. It kept twisting before the creature’s body could no longer keep itself together. The mouth that ran down its front helped to begin the tear that ripped around its torso horizontally. When it connected back to the mouth after the full rotation, two halves of the infected squelched upon impact with the tile. Whatever lurked in the ceiling drew away from the scene.

The cursed at the register sighed and leaned into the intercom, “Clean up at entrance.”

As Lyle had to somehow stop himself from passing out at the gory scene, Leigh confidently claimed, “Nah. I’d win.”

“No.” Hellen clutched her shoulder before Leigh could try to find an opportunity to bolt.

The large woman detoured them down an aisle where no one else was around. She kept her voice low and explained, “I have sixty dollars. We stick together and behave. Returning alive.”

“Oh, we’ll return alive alright.” Leigh giggled.

“Leigh.”

“Stop lecturing me like a child!” Leigh stomped her foot. “Do you think you have authority over me because of the stupid height difference? I can change that easily.” Her grin grew even wider.

“P-please don’t shapeshift h-here” Lyle said, nervously glancing around.

“Hmm… I suppose I shan’t. Not enough room. But I have to compromise somehow, right?” With that, she began scaling the side of the aisle. The others just watched her as she stood on top of the shelves and cackled, “Now who’s taller?”

Her huge eyes drifted up towards the ceiling tiles. Hellen’s voice sliced through the suddenly tense air, “Leigh! No!”

“Leigh, yes!” She jumped up at the ceiling tile, shoving it aside before scurrying into the roof before any of them could stop her.

“We’re so dead!” Lyle panicked with many feet clicking against the floor.

“We’ll split.” Hellen claimed. “I’ll find Leigh. You watch Rat Baby.” The large woman listened for the slightest noises up in the ceiling and dashed off after Leigh.

“R-right. S-Sam’s child. He’s… uh…” Lyle’s eyes went wide as he gazed about for the eight legged baby. His legs uneasily settled on the ground as he turned around and around, trying to find the child, “Oh no! No! I can’t have already lost it! I-”

The many eyed child leaned over his head to stare at Lyle upside down. The shutterbug jumped back at the surprise, running backwards into an aisle, somehow not knocking over the many packs of bread that were starting to mold. Rat Baby chirped before returning to Lyle’s back where he had completely forgotten he had hitched a ride after escaping the alleyway.

<><><>

The store itself was pretty small, so in just half a minute, Hellen had followed the shuffling of Leigh in the ceiling to the opposite corner of the store. She knew she had to stop the shorter woman before she brought an unbeatable situation upon them, but to be honest, she had no idea what to do in this situation. There was no way for Hellen to feasibly reach her without possibly destroying something in the process and that would probably have her mangled by the infected lurking in the ceiling for sure.

They both slowed as they met the corner of the back wall. Surprisingly, a ceiling tile popped out of place, colliding onto the ground where it split in two. Leigh poked her head down upside down and spotted Hellen with her stringy hair revealing her round face. After a single crazed blink, her first question was, “Where’s Cameras and my new best friend?”

Hellen motioned her thumb way back behind her before informing Leigh information she should already know, “You’ll get us killed.”

“When have I ever cared about you guys?”  He cocked her head and her short stringy hair followed the motion. “I only stick around for the fun of it all. Ever since that woman lost it and killed almost everyone on the second floor, there’s been no one to scare.”

“Think about yourself.” Hellen crossed her arms. “You’ll get thrown out without any food.”

“That’s a small possibility. Have you met me?”

“Still.”

Leigh hummed and diverted her gaze from the muscular woman: “I don’t know. The whole, ‘good civilian’ stick doesn’t sound very fun. I’ve been itching to actually kill something! You took the fun away from me earlier. That tendril monster was mine!”

“It’ll happen again. It won’t if we starve.”

Leigh’s grin vanished and she groaned. In an instant, her grip keeping her suspended in the ceiling released and she slid out. Her body hit every shelf on the way down and she slid onto the floor on her back. Facing up at Hellen, her always present excited expression had completely vanished, “Fine.”

“You’ll get your excitement soon.” She didn’t offer a hand to Leigh, forcing her to get to her feet on her own. Not like she wanted to offer her help nor did she need it. “Now we choose food for apartment. Much needed. Little money.”

“Can I have a chocolate bar up front?” The shorter one bounced like a kid, although Hellen was sure she was at least a young adult.

“Maybe.”

“YEAH!”

<><><>

“O-okay, we need something for everyone at home.” Lyle carefully picked his way through the aisle, now too aware of his large presence. His never knew what the top of the shelves looked like after working there for years, but the new sight just reminded him of who he used to be.

“Uh, focus on the present, Lyle. What would be good to grab? Or what would S-Sam like? He likes sandwiches, but the bread here looks bad. Plus, wouldn’t he want something different?” He craned his neck down to properly see the items. “Maybe we should get canned foods. Non perishable.”

Rat Baby squeaked and Lyle felt the little being push off his back. Jolting, he looked back just in time to witness him jump into an open vent. Its back legs scrambled to lift itself up there and Lyle went to shriek, but just a whisper of shock came out.

His instinct was to spin around, but he was lucky to not knock any shelves down as he nearly wedged himself. Forced to back up instead, he finally positioned himself to witness Rat Baby pull himself into the vent and dashed off with excited chatters. His back legs balanced his rising body and he shot one of his long arms into the vent as far as he could reach to grab the child. He didn’t grab anything, but something sharp and pointy bit down onto his hand. With a yelp, he reeled it in, hoping, “Please be Rat Baby. Please be Rat Baby.”

Dangling from his hand was a rat, but it had mouths for hands that looked like lampreys and it was drawing blood from him. Lyle swiftly slammed it on the shelf upon lowering himself. It released its grip and scurried off.

Lyle shook his hand, hissing in pain as the reality of the situation overtook him. That mutated baby was everything to Sam and Lyle had just lost it.

“Sam’s going to hate me!” Lyle gasped as he tightened his cloak around his chest, nearly cutting into his throat. “H-he’s going to know it was me who l-lost Rat Baby a-and he’s going to hate me and kick me out!” His eyes widened. “What if he kicks me out? I may never see him again! W-we won’t finish the campaign and that’s like the b-best part of my day! I’ll never see any of them again and I’ll go back to l-living alone in the dark. I can’t lose it all now! I-I can’t! I…”

The direction Rat Baby took led towards the back of the building. At the end of the aisle, he saw a door he knew all too well. On the intentionally fake window, black letters read, Associates Only. Lyle hadn’t been back there since the day prior to the Visitor’s arrival. He wasn’t sure how much it changed, nor if all of the other co-workers he knew were still back there.

What if they see me like this? In this ugly body? I…

He shut his eyes and shook his head, telling himself right then and there, “I’m not losing all of this now.”

<><><>

“Well since you want to keep acting like you’re the leader here, why don’t you do all of the shopping?” Leigh snapped as Hellen silently led them down an aisle.

“You can help.” Hellen shrugged as they got to an aisle where all of those boxes with small meals were.

“Euck!” Leigh snatched a box off the shelf, nearly crumpling it right there. “You expect me to eat rice and nothing else?!”

“There are more options.”

Her other hand clutched the opposite side of the box as her large eyes locked onto the item. Oddly, she suddenly changed her mind, "Actually, it’s been a hot minute since I had this.” She grabbed another box.

Well, at least it’s non-perishable.

“Probably be good to grab many cans.” Hellen offered. “Last us the remaining week.”

“Yeah, yeah. All of those boring canned foods are going to make me sick.” Leigh stuck out her tongue. “I haven’t had anything sweet or salty in forever! Chips would go well with those sandwiches Sam always makes!”

“Maybe. Not filling though.”

“You’re so worried about surviving! Why can’t we thrive instead?!”

Hellen crossed her arms and didn’t reply. She simply watched as Leigh grabbed a bag of chips off a shelf before carrying her items off with excitement flooding her movements. Simply shaking her head out of the shorter’s view, she kept following.

When they came out of the aisle where they could see the doors, Leigh swiftly sprinted off before Hellen could process she was bolting. She dashed behind a corner of the furthest aisle and Hellen made a single stride to follow.

“Excuse me!”

She halted as a cursed slid up to her. Due to her gardening past, Hellen felt indifferent to the snail-like cursed looking up at her with ten antenna like eyes from a slimy body. “I’m sorry to bother you, but you look like you get around a lot.”

“Maybe.” Hellen was not about to go on a fetch quest for this stranger.

“Perhaps you’ve seen my sister.” A hand with all fingers fused together excluding the thumb pulled out a paper slotted into a protective sheet.

Hellen was instantly thankful for the mask covering her face as her eyes widened, recognizing the image on the paper. The cursed continued, “Her name is Leigh. We keep trying to contact her, but she won’t respond to us. We’re really worried she didn’t make it through the whole… you know.” She gestured to the outside.

Hellen supposed the face looked human enough to be recognizable. But why would she run off?

“I’ve seen many people in the past week. I believe I’ve seen her too.”

“Really?!” The cursed’s many eyes lit up, (metaphorically.) “Where is she now?!”

“Been a while. Big market on the North side of town.”

“Oh… well she’s cursed too, right?”

“Definitely cursed, but not much different from the picture.”

But probably much different in personality.

“That’s a relief. I’ll be sure to check the North side of town. Thank you so much! Please take care.” With that, the slimy cursed made her way back towards the entrance.

One she was gone, Hellen swiftly walked into the aisle she had seen Leigh disappear down. The shorter woman stood at the very end, seemingly busying herself at a shelf. She spotted Hellen approaching, but was swift to turn her gaze away from her, picking up some protein bars as if she was considering buying them. Hellen stood beside her, silent, and willing to give her the chance to speak first.

And surprisingly, she did, “What did you tell her?”

“Not all lies. I didn’t deny seeing you, but I led her North.”

“Good.” Leigh put away the box. “So, more cans I suppose? Or maybe we could haggle a good frozen beef somewhere.”

“Are you willing to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about. You’d have to talk to Leigh about it and I’m The Beast.” She delivered a glare out of the corner of her eye, telling the taller to shut up.

“She seemed concerned.”

“They are.”

“Do you not care about them?”

“Maybe I would if they weren’t such bitches.”

Hellen gave her a nod, “Right.”

They reached the freezers, but Leigh tightened her hand around the handle and didn’t open the door. Her other hand pressed against the door and she hunched over, growling, “They’re all liars. They want to keep me in line. They act like they have my best interests at heart, but they don’t. If they loved me, they’d let me be who I want to be. I’ve dreamed of being the best and now I am. But I know if they saw me, they’d try to shut me down.”

She twisted her neck to peer at Hellen with huge eyes and a drooling mouth, “They won’t shut me down again. I can kill them next time. Then they’d all see.”

“You surely wouldn’t.”

Leigh’s grip on the handle tightened along with the muscles in her arms. Hellen heard the hinges pop on the door and the noise broke Leigh out of her trance. She stood straight up and sighed, "Thanks for… getting her off my back… I guess.”

“You’re grateful?”

“Do you want to be next?” A gurgle came from the little woman and she slid her hand down the door, creating scratches with her mutated claws.

“I see I pushed things too far.” Hellen diverted her gaze to the innards of the freezer. “Do you want that pack?”

One of the beef packs looked semi-edible and Leigh was fortunately distracted by it enough to take it out for them. With a huge sniff, she deduced, “Probably won’t kill the humans, but we wouldn’t need to worry about that if they pulled back the curtains. They’d get awesome mutations.”

“What else would you like?”

“Oh? Are you actually asking me if I want something other than bossing me around?” Leigh grinned at her.

“May as well. Surely have enough money to spare for a treat for you.”

“I’m still getting that chocolate bar.”

<><><>

The employee door shut behind Lyle as he carefully placed down his legs inside the tight hallway. His eyes swept the area, trying to focus on not trampling any stray boxes and kept looking up at the vent grills, hoping to find a dark blue gaze staring down at him.

Even with his caution, twenty legs were far too many to keep up with and a cardboard box was crushed. Lyle jumped and collided with a wall of the tight hallway, throwing him off his balancing act and sending him into the floor. Metal clanged and he hissed at himself silently for making a ruckus and tried to rise back up before anyone found him.

“Are you supposed to be back here?”

Lyle yelled and fell back down to meet a small cursed standing just at a corner of the hall. A fleshy mess with four metal legs looked up at him with three eyes and a small, but toothy mouth. It somewhat resembled a chair, reminding him about how Audrey was fused to a vending machine.

“I-I… uh…” Lyle shakily got to his feet, struggling in the small space as he slid along both walls.

“You know what, I’m not going to ask. You could probably kill me in a heartbeat.” It looked up at Lyle who definitely towered over it by a long-shot.

“I… okay, so there’s this little rat child I was supposed to be watching and i-it ran into the vents.” Lyle explained and tightened his grip around his cloak. “I-I need to get it back for my friend.”

“Ah, well we have plenty of those. Perhaps a replacement will do?”

A deep, bellowing scream came from down the hallway, prompting the pair to run towards the noise. Breaking into an office, Lyle’s heart dropped as he spotted Rat Baby latched and clawing at a cursed suspended in the air by its limbs extending into the ceiling. The body was mostly human, but it had eight limbs running down from where the arms should’ve been to where the legs should’ve been. All eight were of an icky pink flesh color reminiscent of slime and Lyle had to withdraw himself from vomiting, partly because the child he was in charge of was probably about to get killed.

“What the hell?!” The familiar voice struck fear into Lyle. “Can’t you see I’m busy?!” The cursed retracted one of his many tentacles from the ceiling, trying to catch the rat that scrambled all around its body.

“Uhh… sorry about that. I’ll just… go.” The chair thing rushed out and Lyle would’ve followed if he hadn’t found Rat Baby.

Speaking of, the cursed finally grabbed the child and suspended the flailing rat in the air by its scruff, “Gotcha!” He called back down another tentacle with a sharp point, growling, “Now hold still you varmit!”

“P-please don’t hurt it!” Lyle’s exclamation came out before he realized what he had done.

The cursed gazed down at Lyle, dropping the rat which scurried under his cloak before humming, “I recognize your face…” A crooked grin enveloped his face. “Lyle.”

“Uh…”

“Why did you come back here?”

A tentacle shot down at him and with surprising strength, it wrapped around his torso and picked him up. Lyle became suspended in the air, meeting his old boss face to face, “Do you think you’d be able to persuade me this time? Hah! I was inches away from firing you that last day and when you didn’t show up in our grand re-opening two days ago, I had you terminated! This truly was a blessing in disguise.”

“I-I don’t want my job back!” Lyle held himself stiff, terrified to make sudden movements. “I-I was with some friends a-and-”

“Friends?!” The cursed scoffed. “Oh please, stop trying to make your life look better than what it actually is. Is lying to yourself really the way you want to go out?” He licked his lips. “I never left work. I never left this room and I’m starving. And here’s the biggest spider around. What do you expect me to do?”

“Let me go?”

“You’re pitiful, Lyle. Absolutely pitiful. I would ask if you want to send any final words to friends or family, but you know…” His mouth grew unnaturally wide and he pulled Lyle in, who screamed and tried to kick free.

The tentacle cursed howled out as Rat Baby chomped down onto its shoulder. Sparing another tentacle, the cursed slammed a spiked limb down at the rat. He leapt out of the way in time, prompting the cursed to stab himself instead.

Rat Baby hopped onto Lyle’s back and the cursed swept its gaze back towards them. It jerked its tentacle towards its mouth, ready to swallow whatever he could rip apart. In the extra time Lyle was given, he threw back his cloak and allowed his polaroid to focus on the cursed. At the last moment, it snapped.

Yet, the development wasn’t instant. Just inches away from being bitten, Lyle placed his hands onto the top and bottom of the cursed’s mouth, fighting to keep its mouth open. His arms began to weaken and the mouth slowly closed down on him. He screamed and kicked, but no help came as the teeth met his skin.

A little roar sounded as Rat Baby leapt onto the cursed once again. It scrambled and scraped to get hits in, but it was swiftly knocked aside by the cursed, sending it careening into the wall. The rat child fell onto the floor, still.

The shock of the scene removed Lyle’s strength from his arms and the cursed sought his opening. Suddenly, its jaw strengthened dug into the shutterbug’s skin on his back and chest. Lyle clawed with his legs as the cursed still struggled to bite down with the strength returning to Lyle’s arms, but the pressure increased, nearly piercing his new exoskeleton. In the darkness of the mouth and still needing a few more seconds, the defense system came without will and the development fluid shot out of his mouth, sizzling down the beast’s throat.

There was a scream and a flash of light, but everything in that moment was a blur. When gravity overtook his body proper, Lyle thudded onto the floor. A photo of the beast drifted down and the shutterbug unsurely caught it. An exhilarated Rat Baby happily chattered from Lyle’s back as the shutterbug trembled in place, heaving for panicked breaths as tears ran out of his eyes.