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"Don't move a muscle, glitch, or I'll rip those new scales right off your skin."
The voice was a raspy whisper, coming from the shadows of the cell next to mine. I froze, my new, elongated claws digging into the cold concrete floor. I didn't even know I had scales until the guy mentioned them. I looked down. My skin was a mottled, iridescent grey, pulsing with a faint, sickly light.
"Who the hell are you?" I snapped. My voice sounded like two grinding stones, wet and guttural.
"The guy who's been watching you die for three days," the voice replied. A face slid into the dim light of the bars—gaunt, scarred, with eyes that looked like they'd seen the end of the world and found it boring. "I'm Grimm. And you're the first one in this block who didn't just scream and liquefy when the Doctor pumped the gas."
I stood up, my joints popping with a sickening wet sound. I stepped closer to the bars, the smell of ozone and rotting meat clinging to me. "I remember. I remember everything. The teeth, the throat, the reset."
Grimm’s expression shifted. For the first time, the boredom vanished, replaced by a sharp, predatory interest. He leaned in, his breath smelling of old copper. "You remember the loops? You're not supposed to. That's a glitch in the system. A big one."
"I don't care about the system," I spat, my claws scraping the metal bars. "I want out. Now."
Grimm chuckled, a dry, hacking sound. "Out? Look around, kid. We're in the Abyss. The only way out is through the Doctor's front door, and she doesn't open it unless you're the last one standing. She wants a winner. A perfect specimen. A monster that can kill everything else in this ward."
I felt a surge of heat in my chest—the same hunger that had driven me to tear into that beast in the last loop. "I can kill. I've already started."
"Yeah, well, killing is the easy part," Grimm said, his voice dropping. "Navigating the vents, bypassing the biometric locks, knowing which hallways are rigged with incinerators—that's the hard part. I've got a map. Not a paper one—I've memorized the layout of the lower sectors. I know where the blind spots are."
I narrowed my eyes. "Why tell me? Why not just keep it to yourself and win the prize?"
"Because I'm tired," Grimm sighed, leaning his head against the bars. "I've been here longer than you can imagine. I'm strong, sure, but I'm not fast. You? You've got that weird evolution jump. You're a wildcard. If we team up, I provide the brain, you provide the teeth. We get out, we split the spoils. Deal?"
I didn't trust him. Every instinct in my mutated gut told me that in this place, a 'deal' was just a slower way to get stabbed in the back. But I was a bottom-tier crawler in a room full of predators. I needed that map.
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"The catch is that if you betray me, I'll make sure the Doctor knows exactly where you're hiding in the vents. She loves a little game of hide-and-seek. Especially when she's the one with the scalpel."
I stared at him, my pulse drumming in my ears. The power dynamic was clear: he had the information, I had the raw, evolving power. We were two broken things trying to build a ladder out of each other's ribs.
"Deal," I rasped.
"Good. Now listen closely," Grimm whispered, his eyes darting toward the ceiling. "The Doctor is running a 'culling' cycle every six hours. The next one starts in twenty minutes. When the lights flicker twice, that's your signal. The cells will unlock for ten seconds. If you're not out of the door and in the corridor, you're just target practice for the cleaners."
I backed away from the bars, my mind racing. "Cleaners?"
"Think of them as the janitors," Grimm said with a twisted grin. "Only instead of mops, they use plasma cutters. And they don't leave any scraps behind."
I spent the next fifteen minutes pacing the small square of my cell, feeling the new muscles in my legs twitch. I could feel the genetic shards I'd absorbed humming under my skin, demanding more. The hunger wasn't just for food; it was for power. I wanted to feel the Doctor's neck under my claws.
Suddenly, the overhead fluorescent light buzzed. *Flicker.*
I froze.
*Flicker.*
"Now!" Grimm yelled.
There was a heavy, metallic *clunk* as the electromagnetic locks released. I didn't think. I lunged. I hit the corridor at a full sprint, my claws clicking against the polished white tile. Beside me, Grimm emerged from Cell Seven, his movements slower but deliberate, his eyes scanning the perimeter.
"Left! Third door!" Grimm barked.
I veered left, nearly colliding with another creature—a mass of pale, translucent limbs that screeched in agony as I shoved it aside. The corridor was a chaotic mess of monsters, all desperate to escape their cages. It was a meat-grinder of claws, teeth, and wet screams.
"Keep moving!" Grimm shouted, shoving a smaller, multi-eyed thing out of his path. "The cleaners are already in the east wing!"
As if on cue, a high-pitched whine echoed through the hall. I looked back and saw them: sleek, chrome machines with rotating blades and glowing red sensors. They didn't scream. They didn't hesitate. They just carved through the panicked creatures like a hot knife through butter.
Blood sprayed across the white walls. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
"This way!" Grimm grabbed my shoulder, his grip surprisingly strong, and yanked me into a narrow maintenance alcove just as a plasma blade sliced through the air where my head had been a second before.
We were pressed tight against the wall, our chests heaving. I could feel the heat radiating off Grimm's skin. In the suffocating silence of the alcove, he leaned closer, his voice a ghost of a sound.
"You know," he whispered, "the last guy who had your cell... he said the exact same thing you did before he died. 'I'm going to kill her.'"
I stiffened. "What?"
"He said it right as the Doctor was peeling the skin off his arm. Word for word. Same tone. Same desperation." Grimm looked at me, and for the first time, I saw a flicker of genuine pity in his eyes. "You're not the first 'special' one, Kane. You're just the latest version of a failed experiment."
I shoved him back, my claws extending instinctively. "I'm not a version. I'm me."
"Are you?" Grimm countered, his voice cold. "Look at your hands. Look at your eyes. There's nothing left of the man you were. You're just a glitch with a memory."
Before I could respond, a loud, melodic chime echoed through the entire facility. The screaming in the halls stopped instantly. The cleaners froze in place, their red sensors dimming.
Then, the intercom crackled. Dr. Vivian's voice floated over us, smooth as silk and just as cold.
"Attention, my lovely aberrations," she purred. "The first phase of the culling is complete. I must say, the level of aggression today was... exquisite."
I felt a chill run down my spine.
"I've decided to offer a reward," Vivian continued, and I could almost hear the smile in her voice. "The last survivor of this block—the one who manages to outlast the rest—will be granted a very special prize. I'll give you back your human body. Flesh, bone, and all. A perfect restoration."
Beside me, Grimm's breath hitched. I could feel his muscles tense. The alliance we'd just formed vanished in a heartbeat. He didn't look at me anymore; he looked at the exit.
"A human body," Grimm whispered, his voice trembling.
I looked at him, and I saw it: the hunger. Not the hunger for genetic shards, but the hunger for a life he'd lost. He wasn't my partner anymore. He was my competition.
Suddenly, every single cell door in the corridor popped open again. Not for ten seconds this time. Permanently.
"The game is officially open," Vivian announced. "Now... who wants to be human again?"
Grimm's hand moved toward my throat, his fingers curling into a claw, and he whispered, "Sorry, kid."