Chapter 11 · Apex Loop: Glitch Evolution - Chapter 11: The Specimen Ward

"Don't look at it. Whatever you do, don't look at the mirror," a voice rasped from the shadows.

I didn't listen. I couldn't. I was already staring.

Across the sterile, white-tiled ward, a creature was pressed against the reinforced glass of a containment unit. It looked like a sketch of me drawn by a madman—the same jagged shoulders, the same oversized claws, but its skin was a translucent, weeping grey. It wasn't just a monster. It was a failure. A prototype of the thing I had become.

"What is that?" I hissed, my voice sounding like gravel in a blender.

"A reminder," the voice replied. A figure stepped forward. It was Grimm, his remaining eye scanning the room with a twitchy, paranoid energy. "That was Specimen 09. He thought he could outsmart the Doctor. He thought he could mimic his way into the vents. Now he's just... a leak in the system."

I stepped closer to the glass. The creature inside didn't move, but as I approached, its head snapped toward me. Not a slow turn. A glitch.