Chapter Seventeen: You & I PAST John looked at what Jane was excitedly pointing at. It looked like a mass of black goo, with red pulsing like veins through it, the whole thing moving slightly. “What is it?” John asked, leaning in for a better look. “It's the future,” Jane responded as she opened a computer. “This mass has enough energy to sustain half the world's power for more than 50 years! The problem is, it's unstable.” The door behind them opened, and Builderman walked in. “Ah, John, you're here! Are you ready to start?” John nodded as Jane looked confused. “Wait, start what?” She asked. “Well, John has signed up to… interact with the mass”, Builderman said as he handed John a hazmat suit.”Wha- John! Why didn't you tell me?” “I wanted to, but I knew you would freak!” He said, putting on the suit. Jane grabbed his arm. “ You can't do this, it's too dangerous!” Builderman gently put his hand on Jane's shoulder. “It's okay, Jane, he’ll be safe.” Jane sighed as John finished putting on the suit. “Opening the door in 3…2…1…” The safety door opened, and John walked in, and the door fwooshed shut behind him with a soft click. Jane watched in worry behind the protective glass as John approached the mass. Builderman clicked a button on the desk and spoke into a mic. “John? Can you hear me?” John put a thumbs up, his eyes never leaving the mass. He slowly walked toward it, and his hand reached out. ‘Be careful, John,” Builderman said. John's finger slowly poked the mass, and it seemed to shiver at his touch. Then, it leapt, wrapping its body around John. “JOHN!” Jane screamed. “BUILDERMAN! DO SOMETHING!” Builderman looked in horror, frozen in place. Jane slammed her fist into the panic button, and red alarms started beeping, seeming to wake up Builderman. “We need backup in here!” Builderman said into his walkie, and four guards ran in, saw the mass wrapped around John, and ran in. The power went out, and Jane couldn't see anything through the darkness and the blinding muzzle flashes from the guns, could only hear screams, gunshots, and loud bangs, followed by silence. “John..?” Jane whispered, squinting into the darkness. Jane yelped as one of the guards' faces slammed into the window, a bloody hand leaving a trail on the window, before falling out of view. “What the hell…” Builderman said, before the lights turned on. The mass had attached itself to John's body, turning his arm into a spike and his other hand into claws. John shoved the spike arm into one of the guard's bodies and ripped it out, before turning to look at the window. One eye had the black around it, glowing red. His other eye was wide with fear, as if he knew what he was doing but couldn't stop it. “Jane… run.” Builderman said, calling for more backup. “We can't leave him like that-” “There's no time to argue! You need to get out!” More guards poured into the room as Jane slowly backed toward the exit, watching as they shot at John, the bullets doing nothing and enraging him more as he roared with anger. PRESENT Someone was knocking on the cabin door. Chance looked around, counting quickly. ‘Well, everyone's in here. So who's out there?” Shedletsky sighed. “Seriously, you all are some wimps,” He said, walking toward the door. “Shedletsky! We don't know who it is. Every time there was a new person, they spawned inside the cabin! How do we know this isn't a killer?” Builderman hissed, grabbing Shedletsky's arm. “We never know until we check!” Shedletsky said, reaching for the doorknob and opening the door. On the other side of the door was a female, wearing a black coat and hat that cast a shadow on her face, her pinkish purple hair visible underneath. “May I come in?”She asked. Shedletsky nodded and opened the door to let her in. “If you don't mind me asking, who are you?” Shedletsky asked as she walked in. “I'm surprised you didn't recognise me. I know who you are,” she said, turning to look at Shedletsky. “It's me, Jane.” Shedletsky paused. “Jane? How did you get here?” Jane smiled. “I've been here a while. Researching. Watching. I know a lot of your secrets." Before they could ask, the timer behind them slowly clicked to zero, and their visions went to black. CONTINUED BELOW
Shedletsky was looking around next to Jane. “Hey, it's Pirate Bay!” He commented, before his eyes landed on Jane. “You were researching this place before you got here? Do people know what's happening here? Have you figured out a way to escape?” Jane took a deep breath. “No one else knows of this place. Even I'm not fully sure what this place is. And as far as my knowledge goes, there is no escape.” Shedletsky's face crumpled for a second before reshaping back into a smile. “Well, at least some friends are here! Although, if you don't mind me asking… what happened between you and Builderman?” Jane paused, thinking before answering. “It's… complicated.” Shedletsky nodded. “We should probably go find the others.” Jane crouched next to Elliot's body, examining it closely. She was looking at the wound on his stomach, and didn't see the black goo on his leg until Noob pointed it out. As soon as Jane saw it, she stood up and backed away. “Jane? Are you okay?” Shedletsky asked. Jane nodded, quickly gaining her composure. She pulled out a glass bottle and carefully scooped some of the black mass into it, before shaking the bottle, and the goo started to glow blue slightly. “What did you just do?” Shedletsky asked, looking at the bottle. “I purified it. This will come in handy,” She answered, putting the bottle into her coat pocket and continuing to explore. “So, what is that stuff? And how did you… purify it? What does it do?” Shedletsky asked, jogging to catch up to her. “After what happened to you and Dusekkar, Builderman grew lazy. This goo took over… someone… and it also took over the HQ. It took extensive research to figure out how to get rid of it. However, the person who was infected… we never found a cure.” “Oh, jeez, that's horrible. So, what is it?” Jane sighed, stopping to look at Shedletsky. “Listen, we can continue talking in the cabin. Right now we need to focus on…” She trailed off, looking at something behind Shedletsky, before suddenly shoving him and dodging out of the way as black spikes shot from the ground. “What the hell…” Shedletsky said, scrambling to his feet and looking at the spikes. “Where did these come from?” Somewhere behind the spikes, Jane and Shedletsky heard a gunshot, followed by a roar. Jane's breath hitched in her throat. The all too familiar roar. Jane had been suspicious, but now her worst fear was confirmed. “John…” Jane stood there with Shedletsky. The spikes disappeared back into the ground. John was surrounded, but he was still stronger than the survivors. He roared, then charged at Shedletsky, swinging his claws at him. Shedletsky quickly threw his sword out in front of him, and John's claw met it with a loud ding, and the blade snapped in two. “Oh uh, not good,” Shedletsky said, still holding onto the sword hilt, and John swung again. But before the blow landed, he roared in pain and swung around, and Shedletsky could see Jane, holding a hatchet. Her eyes were hidden in the shadows of her hat, but Shedletsky could see that she was frightened. But not the frightened look someone would have from a normal killer. Shedletsky saw the look on Jane's face that he knew had been on his face before. It was the face of someone who knew the killer. Jane's mind was running with memories. They had been so happy before the corruption spread. Before Builderman's laziness. Before this hellhole. Jane could feel the lump in her throat, but she shook her head. She couldn't cry, and reminiscing on bittersweet memories wouldn't help. As she shook the bottle to purify the mass, she noticed her hand was glowing yellow. Looking at the timer, she saw it was LMS. Jane swung her hatchet, and it hit John hard, making him roar in pain. Jane tried to tug the hatchet out of him, but it was stuck. John regained his posture and grabbed the hatchet out of his arm, breaking it in half before looking at Jane. She had a limp and was bleeding badly. She knew she couldn't outrun him. John's face contorted, like he was fighting an internal battle, but the mass of black goo that created his spike arm and claws seemed to pulse, and John growled, and shoved his spike arm into the ground. “John-” before Jane could finish her sentence, spikes shot from the ground, impaling Jane in the back and dangling her in the air.
