WRETCH

Born to Rot

Meri looked down at her glock with a tired face. She had to keep it in her paw all the time, who knows what could happen in this place?

She looked up with tired, half-focused, half-starved eyes. Her fingers trembled from the hunger. Or stress. Maybe even both.

...Then her mind wandered, what day was it? It could be her birthday. Or maybe it was long ago.
Another question invaded her mind: How long has it been since she and the rest woke up in this place?
...She sighed and got up from her bed, thinking someone might keep a record somewhere.

She made her way to the disgusting pulsating door, wet flesh adorned it, it made her stomach revolve. The door opened as soon as she got closer—a little mechanism she made to clear her mind.
...It didn't help much anyway.

As soon as she got out of the room, she felt her lungs burn—as if millions of bugs and worms were crawling inside—the air felt like breathing in mustard gas.
She had made air-purifiers for each rooms, but outside of them? There was nothing she could do about it.

Raising her jacket up to her mouth, she made her way to the kitchen.

In the way there, she began hearing voices getting louder and louder as she drew near.
...They didn't sound very happy—of course, that wasn't strange.

Drifter: "I can't do anything about it! We are trapped, trapped. This place is slowly killing our lungs and is way too big for us to explore. It's just an... empty flesh-machinery factory or- something like that..."

Blaire: "...So basically no one knows what to do, right?"

Drifter let out a sigh and leaned against a wall, her eyes drifting to Meri on the edge of the door.

Drifter: "...Basically..."

Meri walked up to them, her eyes flashing with concern and fear.

Meri: "U-Uh... guys?"

Drifter was the first to look at her the first with a serious face.
Blaire joined the stare contest with a raised eyebrow.

Drifter: "...Yeah?"

Meri: "...I uh... came here to uh, say two things..."

Drifter leaned in slightly, listening intently—her ears perked up.

Drifter: "Hm? ...You found a way out?"

Meri took a deep breath and looked up at her with a slightly nervous face.

Meri: "...It's not finished, but I've got an idea."

Drifter: "...Hurry up, or we'll die in here before even seeing the sky ever again."

Meri: "I'm... trying my best, Drifter."

...Drifter looked to the side for a moment and leaned back.
Then, Blaire spoke up.

Blaire: "And the other thing...?"

Meri: "A-Ah! Uhm... I was wondering, if anyone knows which day we are in...?"

Blaire reached down to grab her backpack, rummaging around her stuff for a few seconds before pulling out a journal.

Blaire: "I can't say this with complete certainty, but it should be... 4/23/2056."

Meri: "...Oh... that's... two days away from my birthday..."

There was no commentary about it, only silence.
After a while, Meri sighed and turned to walk away.

Meri: "I'll... uh, get to work..."

Upon hearing this, Drifter let out a "Hm." and walked to her room.
Blaire stayed in her chair, legs crossed over the table.

Nightshade: "...You think Meri is okay?"

Blaire looked over with curiosity in her eyes.

Blaire: "What do you mean?"

Nightshade: "Didn't you notice the bags under her eyes? Her tired tone?"

Blaire: "I mean, yeah... but honestly, if she can't find a way out... then we're fucked. She's the brain of the group."

Nightshade leaned against her chair, looking up to the flesh-covered ceiling.
Then she closed her eyes, leaning against her arms.

...

Meanwhile, Meri walked to her place, taking a deep breath of a cleaner air as she entered. After  moment of breathing, she sat down in front of her workbench.

An idea had been taking over her head the last few hours, something she dreamt of: Maybe she could make an explosive—blow up the blocked path to the main entrance, and maybe, only maybe... have a chance at escaping that wretched place.

She could do the work with a thermometer, fertilizers and alcohol, things she had at hand.
And quickly, she got down to work.

...

It took her about 3 hours, pure precision, nerves, fear.
She was doing something dangerous, a single false step and... everything blew up.

However, it didn't happen.
And for everyone's delight, the explosive compound was finished, in a perfect state.

...Yet, the exhaustation took a toll on her.
She fell face-first on her workbench, the overtime sessions took so much time and stregnth, her body couldn't keep up anymore.

Tomorrow would be another day.