Chapter Six: Rigor Mortis

Song: Paint It, Black by Ciara

   I'd been holding on for so long, but I was beginning to crumble. When I opened my eyes all I saw was darkness. There was no hope or future. We created a spider's web and threw ourselves into the middle of it all, expecting that we'd be safe and cozy wrapped up in the deadly webs, only realizing too late that we made it easy for the spider to devour us.

What was the right answer when you questioned your own sanity? Everything seemed so real, but what if real was part of the illusion, and the illusion hid away the fact that reality was the dream all along.

Vincent was the only good thing that came out of this place. Even with that in mind, I wished with all my heart that I had died in the crash. It would have been a happy death. We would've been together and died together, as a family. Instead I came here hoping to get answers that I knew I'd never get.

"Please, calm down," Vincent begged.

"I'm actually going crazy," I whispered, watching my hands, expecting they'd turn into snakes.

"You're not. I believe you." He grabbed my hands and squeezed.

The reason he hadn't been in his room was because of the sirens. He left because he was scared. He saw everyone running to The Center and thought that was where he was supposed to go. He went in and looked for me. It got packed too fast and he slipped away when he realized I wasn't there and came back. If he had returned just a few minutes earlier, he could have died to whatever was strolling the halls. Calista died instead, or so I thought.

"I need to find the captain," I said, getting up from my bed. "I need to tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"Calista is dead," I said, my voice not sounding convincing. "Aura is dead. Lindsay is dead. Hunter's brother is missing. Esper is missing. Why is this happening to the people around me? And now you." My eyes glistened as I looked him up and down, studying his features, imagining stripping the clothes off his body and seeing how much the sickness had changed him and how little we talked about it. "You're sick and I can't get you the help you need. Are you next? Are you going to die too? Is everyone just going to die around me until there's nobody left?"

He shook his head. "Stop talking like that. Nothing's gonna happen to me, okay?"

"I have to go to the captain," I said, heading for the door but being pulled back by Vincent.

"Don't leave me," he said, his eyes like magnets to mine; I simply couldn't look away no matter how hard I tried. Vincent locked me in and I was his.

"What are you doing?" I asked him as he pressed his body against mine.

"I don't want to be alone, stay with me," he said, his voice gentle and soothing, like a song I never wanted to end.

"But I—" He silenced me with an unexpected kiss. My eyes closed as I fell deep into his lips, eagerly wanting more, pushing against him until the back of his knees hit his bed.

"Take me," he whispered after he broke the kiss.

My heart raced at the thought of our bodies colliding against one another.

"Right now?" I asked, concerned.

He forced my eyes back to him when I tried to look at the open door that could easily expose us.

"Now," he whispered.

No longer was I worried about who could walk in and see us. My attention was entirely on him.

"I don't want to hurt you," I said, grabbing his hands and pulling them up to my lips. "I've seen your body, I've played with it. I know what it can handle, and you aren't prepared for this."

Vincent laughed. "Don't be a narcissist. You'd be surprised at what I'm capable of handling."

I raised my brows, turned on by his words and sudden power move.

"Then let's do it."

Vincent kissed me again, moaning into my lips, painfully nibbling on them to get a taste of my flesh and blood. Roughly, I pushed him back until he landed on his bed. He was taken aback, but quickly recovered when a face of arousal took over, his lips stretching deviously and his eyes relaxed and intrigued.

I grabbed my shirt and lifted slowly, allowing him to watch every inch of my stomach as I pulled the fabric over my head. He bit his bottom lip as I moved closer to him, my pants becoming undone and landing on the ground. I kicked my shoes off before I climbed the bed and began to undress him, throwing his shirt over my shoulders and leaving his shorts around his knees as our mouths distracted us from the full strip.

Once again, I had to push him back, for the simple fear that we'd drown in each other. Instead I moved my lips over his pallid skin and left wet kisses, marking him as mine forever. His skin was pale and sickly, his eyes were dark and hollow, and his hair was uniquely crazy, but I couldn't stop seeing a beautiful boy that I loved with all my heart and soul.

Vincent lured me back to his sweet lips like a siren trapping sailors. My will wasn't strong enough to break free, but I was perfectly okay with this fatal song being the last thing I heard.

"Don't," Vincent said when I tried to leave the bed to get the bag in the corner of the room.

"You don't—"

"No, I just want you. I don't care if it hurts."

"Don't be silly, I would never—"

"I said no." His voice went straight to my brain like a spell, and I let him win.

I moved back to him, smoothing my hands up his thighs, spreading his legs apart and pressing my bulge against his. Kissing seemed to be our thing, we couldn't get enough of it, like it was impossible to be satisfied, because the feeling of wanting more was always there. I wanted more of his lips, his saliva, the taste was like a drug that kept me coming back for more.

It was a different story when we touched each other.

The friction between our throbbing cocks was fire. I could feel his growing longer, squeezed between his hips and my own. As they rubbed against one another, my own escaped over the band of my briefs, too large to be kept prisoner.

My hair fell over my face as I towered over Vincent, our movements halting as our eyes locked. He wanted this and I wanted it just as much. I yanked my briefs down and switched over to his, pulling them off until we were finally naked. I pumped myself, gripping the base tightly, sliding my hand up and down, waiting for the heat to make me hard as stone.

"Let me," Vincent said, pushing my hand away and replacing it with his own.

"Fuck," I moaned, letting my eyes close as I enjoyed his fingers wrapped around me, tugging and teasing, quickening the process by a mile.

My mind felt foggy. Thoughts were all over the place, but my sensations were perfectly clear and vigorous. Whenever I tried to think about what to do next, my mind shut down and reminded me of how good Vincent made me feel, and how important this moment was for the both of us.

"I love you, Lucian Mars," he said, his voice enchanting to my ears.

"I love you, Vincent," I said back, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

Vincent laid back and spread his legs back. He arched his upper body as I bent down and gave him a long lick starting at his puckering hole and ending all the way up at the tip of his dick, where my tongue circled and collected the wetness dripping from the slit. He sighed contently, reaching to grab my head and push me down harder. I pleased him for as long as he wanted me to, drawing out the heavy moans and pleads.

When he was ready, I spat on my hand and fingered him, trusting that he would need nothing more. I lined up my cock and pushed in slowly, feeling the tip slide through the tight ring. Vincent cried out, his face scrunching in pain. I tried to move slower, to make it a pleasant experience, but everything I did only made it worse.

"Don't stop," he said.

With the single command, I continued to push through, losing myself in the heat around my entire length. I was in deep and I could almost feel how much I was stretching him by the amount of tight pressure squeezing my shaft.

Sex wasn't new to me, but the circumstances were unfamiliar territory. Vincent was a man, and even if skin was skin, his hole was something new to me. Being deep inside him felt extraordinary and no other human could ever provide something better. There was so much love flowing between us that nothing mattered anymore.

The first few minutes were slow and tender. I wanted to take care of him, assuring that I could never cause him any pain. It was harder than I thought, but together we could do anything. I gave him time to adjust, pulling out cautiously, massaging his body to ease the discomfort. I used more saliva and slid back in. He whimpered, his hands clawing the bed as I stuffed my dick inside him.

For those few minutes, we made love. It was kind, passionate, and beautiful. He opened up to me, becoming vulnerable. He opened up in more ways than one, his body finally seeming to accept me.

"Please, fuck me," he moaned, his hands going up to his face, pulling skin desperately.

My dick was hard as a rock, bouncing in the air as I watched him squirming. I flipped him over and slapped his ass, smirking when he pushed back, begging me to put it back in.

"With pleasure," I said breathlessly, giving it a few quick strokes before shoving it back in.

"Lucian!" he cried out, his hands spreading out, attempting to grab something to hold on to as I pounded his ass merciless.

Still inside him, I mounted his body, raising my left leg up on the bed and reaching around with my right arm, wrapping it around his neck. His eyes were tearing up and panic took over me. His grey eyes connected with mine for a couple of seconds and the fear flushed away immediately. I continued fucking him hard and long, till the rhythmic drive slowed down and I spilled my seed inside of him, groaning madly like every bit of energy in me was drained.

Before I could get a word out, my eyes shut and I blacked out on top of him.

☢

"Yo, Lucian! Wake up!"

The voice startled me from my sleep, sending waves of panic through my body, causing my heart to practically explode in my chest. I looked around the room and found that I was alone and naked on Vincent's bed, with no sign of him.

I rolled on my back and groaned loudly at the pain pounding in my head. I pressed the palms of my hands against my eyes and rubbed.

"You're . . . naked. And it's huge."

I almost forgot about the voice that had woken me up. I quickly moved my hands back down and covered my dick. I forced myself to sit up. Hunter's brown eyes stared back at me. He was just outside of my room, watching in, ogling my body sinfully.

"Hunter," I said, embarrassed.

"Lucian," he said, raising a single brow. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

He walked in and sat next to me on the bed. I relaxed when I read the sad emotions behind his eyes. He was not here to plague me with lustful ideas and suggestions. His shoulders were slouched and his eyes were glued to the floor.

"I thought I'd come by and check up on you—since you're the only friend I have left." His voice was deep and heavy. "I don't want anything to happen to you. And when I didn't see you in the center—"

"Thanks, Hunter."

"Are you okay, though?" He looked at me from the corner of his eyes, avoiding everything but my face. "Your door was wide open and you're naked."

My brain turned to mush as it worked to come up with a response. I was just as confused as anyone that must have walked past my room and seen me passed out. I distinctly remember fucking the life out of Vincent, but the rest of it, including my thoughts and memories, were pitch black.

"I'm okay," I answered.

"Good."

"Did you just come from the center?" I asked.

He nodded. "They said it was safe to leave the center, but told us to stay put in our rooms until the chief makes an announcement."

"The chief? Doesn't Captain Saki do all the announcements?"

He shrugged. "No one has seen her."

That made my skin crawl. If the captain disappeared too, did that mean no one was safe? Everyone was being picked off one by one. It was only a matter of time till it happened to one of us.

"I know we don't know each other very well, but I think it's best if we stick together from now on. Nobody knows what's going on out there, not even the people in charge of this place. You can stay here. My bed is all yours."

"Won't Vincent mind?"

"I'll talk to him."

"Where is he?"

I looked around again. There were no clothes or shoes laying around, so he must have dressed and left. But why would he do that when it was so dangerous outside? And most importantly why did we leave the door open? There was not a single reasonable explanation why. We had sex for the first time and anyone—or anything— could have seen us. We left ourselves exposed and vulnerable. It wasn't making any sense and I wasn't even sure if it ever crossed my mind the consequences of such a simple mistake.

"I don't know," I said.

"Hey, what's that?" Hunter moved to my bed and sat next to the duffel bag. He fished out the case with the number code. "You have a gun?"

"What?"

"Yeah, my dad has one too."

"I didn't know it was a gun. It needs six numbers to open, but I don't know them."

"Figure it out," he said, throwing me the case. I caught it like it was a grenade that I wasn't sure would blow up in my hands. "Nice dick, by the way."

I quickly brought the case down to cover myself again. "Why do I need to figure it out?"

"You can protect yourself. Not everyone has one, Lucian. There are no weapons down here."

"I just don't know what the numbers are," I said as I turned the case around and looked at the number pad. "I don't even have a guess."

"Maybe your dad left the code for you in the duffel bag?"

I shook my head. "I've already looked through it. There's nothing."

"What are these envelopes?" he asked as he held them out, and that was when I noticed that there was one more I never opened.

I put the case aside and got up, not caring that Hunter was watching me. I grabbed my clothes from the floor and dressed, feeling some relief when I wasn't being stared at provocatively. I took the envelopes from him and found the one that I hadn't opened yet. It felt light and not like the others. It was different.

As I opened the last envelope, my heart started racing as I saw my name in my mother's handwriting. I pulled out the letter meant for me and ripped it open, shaking as I began to read.

This letter was mean to be given to me if my mother died while giving birth. Mentally she had been prepared, but this gave me the feeling like possibly no one was prepared for what would happen in the bunker. Even with all of the technology, she still worried that she would die.

I picked up the last letter and froze when I flipped it over and read who it was for.

Vincent.

Confused, I read the name over and over, staring intensely at my mother's perfect handwriting, double-checking that it wasn't my imagination or a joke. Why was this letter for Vincent?

I held out the letter and began to read.

I was even more confused now. My mother never named the baby inside of her. She wanted to wait until she held him in her arms, look into his eyes and connect before giving him a name. But I guess if there was a chance you'd die before that moment, you'd want to leave something behind, and in a dark world like ours, a name was perfect.

So his name was Vincent. Like my Vincent. The coincidence, on top of the eyes, was uncanny.

My heart felt warm thinking about my sibling, but the feeling rapidly evaporated. He was gone and so was the rest of my family. Maybe it was for the best that they didn't get to live in this new world. I couldn't imagine trying to raise a baby brother in the apocalypse. But the more I thought about it, the harder my head hurt, like something was stopping me from thinking about him or what he'd grow up to look like, or what he'd sound like, or who he would become. There was a block stopping the flow of thoughts in my head.

The sensation was actually frequent. I found myself spacing out many times, losing track of time, and even hallucinating. I blamed it on this place. It was too dark and mysterious for regular human beings. It would take far too long to adjust to this kind of environment.

On the back of Vincent's letter was a date. Six numbers. It was the day he would have been born on. It had to be this.

Hunter watched as I entered the numbers. The case opened. He was right, it was a gun. The gun was shiny and came with ammo.

"Have you ever used one before?" he asked.

"Yeah, my dad used to take me to a shooting range."

"You should keep it on you from now on. Don't tell anyone about it."

The gun was already loaded, so I grabbed the rest of the ammo and put it in my front pockets and the gun in my back pocket. My shirt covered it and no one would be able to tell I had one. It made me nervous carrying a gun, but if it was what I had to do to protect people, then I wouldn't care about pulling the trigger.

"Can you help me with something?" I asked.

"What is it?"

"I need to look for Vincent. I don't know where he went. He doesn't have a bracelet."

"Do you have any idea where he could have gone?"

"Vincent came here with a friend and his family, so I'm guessing that's where he is. I don't think he's ever found them, but he must still be looking. They're the only people he knows besides me."

"You want me to ask an attendant for their location?"

I shrugged. "You found out things about me I didn't even know."

"I'm not sure if asking for a specific location is the same as asking for a little information. The attendants might not be allowed to do that, but we can try."

The attendants had no problem talking about me and my family to other people, why would they have a problem sharing the location of a family? It could be dangerous, but we weren't the ones killing people.

"Do you ask any attendant?" I said as we walked out of my room.

"It's better if you ask the ones you know," he said as we walked together. "Like Calista, but I haven't seen her since the sirens. She might still be at the center. Some of the people decided to stay, too scared to leave in case something happened in the webs. And with no news from anyone, I don't blame them."

"Aren't you scared?" I asked.

"I'm scared of finding out my brother died. Other than that, not really. I'm strong enough to defend myself if someone came at me. You?"

I nodded. "I'm scared. I just don't know what I'm scared of."

The main hall I mostly used to get from my room to the center had people in it. Most of them had sat on the ground with their backs against the walls, cuddling close together for warmth. Ever since the tremors, things stopped working. It was getting colder, I noticed, but it didn't bother my skin. It was always cold in my room, even pressed up against Vincent's naked body didn't help, but in a way I was used to it.

"Hey, there's one." Hunter pointed at the attendant with her back to us. She was helping some kids by giving them warm blankets. The kids happily accepted the colorful source of heat with smiles on their faces.

"Wait, isn't that—"

The woman stood up and her shiny brown hair flowed down her back, stopping at her waist. She turned around and froze when she saw the both of us. It was a strange moment, staring at one another, like she had expected to run into us at some point.

"You," she said, her accent heavy and indistinguishable. It was Spanish, but I wasn't certain from where. She marched forward and grabbed us, pulling us down the hall where no one could hear us. "The captain told me to watch you."

"I don't think that's shocking," I said.

"She told me to watch you, and then she disappeared."

"What?" Hunter said, blinking hard. "The captain disappeared?"

"Yes," she said through clenched teeth. She was looking at me like she was mad at me. "We haven't seen her in a while. It's been a disturbing couple of days. The chief won't even leave his office because he's so scared."

"Why were you with her that night at the party?" I asked. She was the one that had told on Calista. And from what I know, Saki and her were close.

"I'm her assistant as well as an attendant to the Widow's Web. I go wherever she goes. Now you understand why I'm suspicious that my boss tells me to watch you and then she disappears?"

"Not really," I said. "Because I haven't done anything."

"It's true," Hunter said. "All he does is stay in his room with his boyfriend."

"Where is your boyfriend? I should speak to him as well."

"I don't know. I woke up and he was gone."

She hummed. "Another one gone."

"No, he hasn't disappeared like the others. I know it."

"Then where is he?"

"We were going to look for him. Can you help us?"

"How?"

"His name is Vincent. He came here with his friend's family, so he never had entry, and never got a bracelet. He's been looking for his friend since we got put together, but no luck. He can't do much without a bracelet."

"I'm only doing this because I need to find the captain," she said, waving a finger at me. "But if I find out you did anything, you will wish you died in the fire."

"Thanks," I muttered.

Her name was Valentina. If there were ranks within the attendants, Valentina was the highest. She was the captain's assistant way before the Widow's Web. She knew everything there was to know about Captain Saki and the bunker. She wasn't just an attendant, she was our only hope.

She took us to a place I haven't visited since the beginning. We walked through the dark and partially painted hall until we were at the booths. The lights turned on, blinding us for a second. It was quiet and empty, like an abandoned hotel lobby.

"I remember when I first got here," Hunter said as Valentina went through another door by herself. "My family were one of the few that had smiles on their faces. They acted like they were in a line for a roller coaster, full of energy and excitement."

"Your brother too?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, my brother doesn't give a fuck about anything."

"He gives me that vibe."

"Probably would have made out with you too."

I snickered at that.

"Lucian?" Valentina called from one of the booths.

I entered the cramped booth and sat on the bench as Valentina sat on the other side of the glass. It was confusing how some things didn't work, but all of this did.

"Why are we here?" I asked as she worked on the computer. I couldn't see what she was doing or what she was looking at from this side.

"What's the name of the family?" she asked.

"I don't know. I just know his friend's name is Paul."

She typed quickly and made a noise. "There's no Paul."

"I don't know their last name or anyone else. But he once said his friend's name was Paul."

"Lucian," she said, trying to snap me back to her attention. "There is no one in the bunker named Paul. I have everyone's name open and nothing. Do you remember anything else?"

"I don't."

This wasn't making any sense. I remembered hearing Vincent say his friend's name. It was Paul. That was the only thing I knew about his friend.

"I've checked five times now and nothing," she said.

"I think his friend only had his mom and dad. Does that help?"

She shook her head. "No. Can you tell me more about Vincent?"

"Like what?"

"Do you remember who handled his case?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember which attendant he talked to that first day?" she repeated, this time more clearly. "Which booth. Which lift. Any information like that."

"I don't remember the attendant. I came through lift six and I used booth eight. The attendant there told me about Vincent, so I'm assuming it was her."

She stopped typing for a moment and just stared at the computer screen. Something was wrong and I could tell. The way her eyes twitched, how her face completely dropped.

"T-That attendant . . . she was the first who disappeared. We haven't seen her since the first day." Slowly, she looked back at me like she had figured out who the killer was.

"I didn't do anything," I defended.

"I've never seen or heard about Vincent," she said, her eyes tearing up. "This bunker wasn't designed for outsiders. There was no way anyone could have entered without their ticket."

"But someone did."

"It's impossible."

I was angry now. I left the booth and walked to Hunter.

"Can you please tell Valentina about Vincent?" I asked him.

"W-Who?" he stuttered, not looking at me, but the door we came in through. He was frozen.

"Vincent? Hello?"

"S-Sorry, I-I don't know who y-you're talking about."

"Hunter?" I tried walking in front of him, but I tripped on something. My stomach fell on top of it. It was long and white, wet and squishy, and moved like a snake slithering across the floor. It was attached to Hunter's leg. As I got up, I saw that his eyes were glistening.

"Help me," he whispered.

I looked back down. The thing was pulsing like a leech sucking his blood. I went to grab it but it was too slimy. I stomped on it instead, but that did nothing.

"Valentina!" I called her name.

She came out of the backroom crying, her hands shaking at her sides.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"There's something attached to Hunter's leg. I think it's hurting him."

She looked at it and her brows furrowed, confused. She walked over to it and examined it, crouching down to touch it. She flinched her hand back when her fingertips brushed over it.

"What is this?" she asked, sniffing and wiping her tears on the back of her hand.

"I don't know."

"Wait, what is that?" she asked, looking behind her as a cloud of smoke appeared from under the door. "Is that smoke?"

"Is there a fire?" I wondered.

"Do you smell anything?"

"No, I don't."

Something was oddly familiar about this. The black smoke lingered instead of spreading. It stopped a few feet in front of the door and covered some of the white slimy rope. There was no smell, but it brought cold with it. The temperature was much worse than before that my skin actually shuddered.

"If there's a fire, I need to go help," she said, standing up. She walked towards the smoke and dipped her hand into it. "Lucian . . . Lucian!"

She couldn't pull her hand away. As I ran forward to help her, something pulled her in and she disappeared, her screams echoing behind for a few seconds. My eyes opened wide as fear paralyzed me. I could see hints of movement in the smoke, but the real disturbing part was how small the cloud was, it wasn't big enough for Valentina to completely disappear in. So where was she?

Hunter made a sound behind me as he fell. The rope was dragging him towards the smoke. I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his stomach, pulling him back as hard as I could. His body was twitching now like he was having a seizure. I pulled harder, using my legs for more strength, until the rope snapped and we both came crashing down.

He started screaming.

"Hunter, it's okay!" I tried calming him down. "I'm right here! You're okay!"

"No! No! No!"

"HUNTER!"

"It was eating my memories," he said, suddenly calm. "It was controlling my mind. I could feel it."

"What was?"

"Him," he said, pointing at the smoke. The smoke then drew back and was sucked back under the door along with the rope.

"Who is him?"

"I-I don't know."

I helped him stand up, but he was shaking too hard.

We were on high alert as we watched the door. The smoke and the strange white rope was gone, but something didn't feel right. The air was hard to breathe and was getting colder by the second, like a winter storm was brewing and soon would tear through these walls.

The doors rattled violently all of the sudden, making us jump. We stepped back as they shook harder and louder. Someone was on the other side trying to get in. The fear was once again climbing up my throat, trying to paralyze me, but my hand reached for Hunter's and we touched, and as fast as it came, the rattling stopped.

It was quiet for a moment, and then the doors exploded. A strong gust of wind blew through us. I covered my eyes, but as soon as I let go of Hunter's hand, something grabbed him and pulled him down the hall, where he disappeared screaming for his life.

The wind stopped, but something else came through the broken doors; a stench of death and decay. I pinched my nose and gagged as the smell wrapped its long fingers around my throat and suffocated me.

There was only one way out of here, but Hunter and Valentina disappeared through it. I wasn't so sure that I had what it took to walk back in, especially after watching how they were snatched right in front of me.

But Vincent.

Vincent was somewhere inside. He was sick and alone and I needed to be there for him, to protect him, to love him, to ensure that nobody would ever lay a finger on him.

Somehow, I managed to convince myself that I was brave enough. Strange occurrences were happening, but the universe was sparing me so that I could help people. I believed that was the reason I had never been attacked or provoked. I was merely a witness to the disaster of this haven.

I took the first step and breathed through my lips. I marched into the darkness, not knowing what to expect or what I'd find in the end.

The power was still out, but the last door that would take me back into the main hall was slightly open. Through the small slit, I could see red. The color could be part of the flashing warning lights, but my gut knew that it was not.

I approached the door and raised a hand. Slowly, I pushed it open and froze at what I saw.

Everything was covered in blood. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor, was soft and wet like the red muscle under your skin. It moved and breathed like it had life of its own, and with every breath it took, a low rumble traveled through every passage, shaking the ground.

I took an experimental step inside, feeling the new ground. It was so soft that my weight made blood ooze out. It didn't seem real. It was not a dream, but it wouldn't be the first time I imagined things. Something this massive had to be real.

"HELP ME!"

The voice startled me, especially when I saw where it came from. There were faces sunken into the walls, just as red and raw as the rest of it. Many of the faces were silent and could easily be missed, but not this one.

"H-How can I help you?" I said, walking closer to the man. Did he even have a body? I only saw a face. Where was the rest of him?

I brought my hands up to see if I could claw his face out, but another rope appeared and swirled around my legs tightly and pulled me back. I tripped and landed face on the ground. I screamed and screamed, imagining what horrors it was dragging me into. I didn't want to see anymore. I wanted to go back to my room. I wanted to feel the comfort Vincent brought me.

And just like that, I felt suddenly calm. I laid on my back as my still body was dragged down the long main hall, passing by other webs, seeing people running in slow motion as the walls devoured them. It seemed as though the white ropes were coming from the center and were traveling through every hall and every web, grabbing people and dragging them back.

When I reached the center, my mind was crumbling. The feeling was too familiar and was blocking my normal thoughts. It happened so many times and it was when I found myself lost and confused, but most of all when my imagination was above the clouds and inside unknown territory.

I had been fighting the block the entire way to the center. It was too strong. I couldn't break free. I haven't been free in such a long time. Were my emotions even my own? These feelings that were being fed into my veins, were they real? A part of me had always been there, just around the wall, but I couldn't break through.

This feeling was the same as before, but there was enough of me left that I could remember what Hunter said when the white rope touched him. And I could remember exact moments I felt like this before. It was always with Vincent.

The center doors opened and I actually cried as I saw what it had become. It was a nightmare. The center had become the heart of the nightmare. The elevator was now a breathing tower of flesh and bones, standing high above the lifeless bodies on the ground. Long white strips were coming out of the tower and constantly bringing in more bodies. Most of them were dead, but there were some with serious injuries.

But why was I still alive? Why was I not like any of them?

The rope around my legs released me and I quickly got up as I felt fear return to me. There were a lot of times in this bunker that I should have felt specific things, but I never did. I should have been more careful, more worried, more attentive. It just didn't make sense. My head hurt so much from trying to figure it out. It was right there, sitting on the tip of my tongue.

"Lucian," a voice echoed, calling out my name. It sounded strange.

"Who are you?" I asked, spinning around trying to find the source of the voice.

"Up here, Lucian."

My eyes went up. I could not see anything. There was blood and flesh dripping from the other floors, all tangled in one another like a red forest.

The voice continued to call my name until I set my eyes on the tower. I examined it, circled around it twice, and I was sure it was where the voice was coming from. But nothing in this world was going to make me take the little bridge and enter it. Nothing.

"LUCIAN!" Vincent's voice screamed.

"VINCENT?!" I screamed back.

My heart pounded hard against my chest. Vincent was in here somewhere. He was alive.

"Lucian, my love."

"WHERE ARE YOU?" I screamed as I searched for him.

"I'm in here . . ."

The tower. He was in the tower.

Everything inside me was starting to collapse. Gravity was pulling me towards the tower and I had no control over my own body. My mind was telling me not to and my body moved against my own wishes. I fought long and hard, but in the end I lost. How could I not be strong enough to control myself? This made no sense.

"V-Vincent?" I called as I walked over the bridge.

The elevator began to move and slowly descend. My heart was so close to bursting from all the fear as I watched it stop in front of me. The door opened and blood came pouring out like a waterfall. It splashed all around me and fell down into the bottom floors until there was nothing left but quiet drips and a person standing still, covered in red and masking the identity.

"Lucian," he said, but it was not Vincent.

"Where is Vincent?" I asked.

"I'm right here," he said, but this time he sounded exactly like Vincent.

I walked back, scared and confused. He didn't look like Vincent, so how did he sound like him? He was taller, bigger, more man rather than boyish. That was until his body began to transform before my eyes.

The stranger fell on his knees as his naked body changed. It became smaller and thinner. His facial structure changed until I finally recognized who I was looking at, and then my heart beat for a different reason.

"Vincent?" I said his name, unsure if it was really him.

The body wasn't the same. It was hard to tell because of all the blood, but his body wasn't human. It still changed, or was trying to, but it was like he forgot what it was like to be human.

"You're right," he said. "I have forgotten."

I swallowed. "How did you know that?"

"I know a lot of things," he replied, keeping his eyes on me.

"Vincent, please tell me what's going on."

"You're released." As he whispered those words, the block disappeared and everything came back to me all at once.

"Oh my god!" I cried as I fell on my knees. "What did you do to me? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"

"I saved you."

"NO, NO, NO, NO!" I screamed as the old me resurfaced. Everything had been a lie.

"It wasn't a lie," he said as he got back up, his body literally malfunctioning as it tried going back to Vincent. "I protected you from yourself. You were going to crumble and I saved you."

"Nothing I felt was real," I said, sobbing into my hands. "I've been trapped in my own head trying to get out."

"And now you're free."

"Who are you?" I said.

"I am everyone." Instead of hearing his voice, I heard a hundred voices all at one. Men, women, children, all of them swimming in his throat.

"What? I'm so confused. I . . . I don't know what's happening to me." I looked down at my hands and picked up blood and gore, staring intensely at it, wondering if it was real. "Please help me understand. I can't . . . I can't do this."

"I am whoever you want me to be," they said. And then it changed again, and this time it was my mother's voice. "I can be your peace." And then my father's voice. "Or your nightmare."

"STOP DOING THAT!" I screamed at him.

Vincent walked out of the elevator and circled around me, brushing his fingertips over my neck, leaving wet traces of blood.

"But I can be the one you love." It was Vincent's voice again.

As he walked around and stood back in front of me, he was a different person. His body, his face, his flesh, was Calista's. He walked around me again and when he returned, he was the attendant that had killed Lindsay. Then again and again and again, becoming different people, even my parents.

I was hysterically crying. Everything hurt. My mind, body, and soul were crumbling. The thing I'd been fearing the most since the beginning was catching up to me, all because Vincent had tried to protect me, because somehow he knew I was going to fall and end up the first one to die. I could have never done this without my parents. Vincent thought he was saving me, but all he did was wait until the cup was full. I was full and I was ready to explode.

"Wait . . ." I said slowly as memories pilled in. "Who is . . . who is Vincent?" But I knew the answer already.

"I cannot take their bodies without killing them," Vincent said. "Once I've killed them, I can transform into them and walk in their flesh. I tried to stay in your brother's flesh and bones as long as I could, but I am not built with that kind of endurance. I had to let him go in order to heal. But don't worry, I will bring him back, I just need some time."

"You're doing all of this?" I said, my eyes scanning the center.

"I am."

"So the smoke was you."

"It was."

"You killed my parents then. You brought down the helicopter. And you . . . you took my unborn sibling?"

"I did."

"I don't understand."

He cocked his head and stared into my eyes, almost like he was reading my soul, or in this case my thoughts.

"Your brother has a different father," he said, answering my thoughts. "It was the body I chose because no one had seen it. I can do anything with their flesh once I have it. I can go back to being a baby, or grow old, even if they spent no time outside of their womb."

"All this time . . ."

"You've been fucking your brother," he said, smiling. He read my mind again. "I love you too, Lucian. That's why I kept you alive. Once I have everyone, we can live together forever. I can be anyone you want me to be, anyone you want to fuck."

He could read my mind. I'd never be able to hide anything. I'd never be able to live in a place like this. I couldn't do it, not anymore. I was free and I finally crumbled. Without thinking about it, I grabbed the gun from my back pocket, shoved it in my mo—

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[Author's message]: Now that the story is finished, please leave your questions right here. I won't be saying anything until I make the F.A.Q. and answer questions and talk about the book, the idea, how it all happened, ect. So please participate! Would be so sad if no one had any questions and then I'd look stupid LOL. Let me know your thoughts on the story <3