test subject // phan

-one (prologue)-

i breathed in deeply, i could hear my exhale through the speakers in my protective suit. i was looking at the once beautiful part of this city, that was now overgrown with vines and various other wild plants that have now claimed back their homes from the humans that once dominated it. the dark clouds swirled aimlessly above the area, they looked quite threatening by doing that, it was almost like there was always a constant storm here; pitifully looking down upon the dystopia it was.

"over here!" i heard through the speakers, loudly in my ear which made me jump. one of my crew members, and beloved friend, frank found a way into the closed off area. it was dangerous to climb over, the barbed wire atop the metal bars would surely have cut through our radiation suits, thus meaning the death of whoever was foolish enough to attemp it. however, after hours of searching the perimeter, frank had found a large gap in the steels bars which looked like some monster had ripped them apart. i walked over to it, along with the rest of the team and all of us gazed in astonishment at how something could've moved these bars, it made no sense how /anything/ could've done it unless it was some sort of machine, which was practically impossible due to the fact police patrolled these areas 24/7. it was quite unnerving to know something could do it, and whatever it was it was probably where we were about to go.

the five of us climbed through the gap and onto the dying grass behind it. we all looked behind us, all of us thinking the same thing... should we actually do this? what if we die?

"w-we can turn back now if you guys don't want-" simon stuttered nervously, before i cut him off. i was not going to lose this chance, i want to make my wife and son proud of me. "no. we are not turning back. we're here now, and i've told karen that i'm going to be here." i said sternly, starting to cautiously walk across the marshland, toward the crumbling buildings and radiation caused smog. my crew followed nervously behind me. "be careful terry," i heard frank say to me, a strange sense of uncertainty in his voice. i huff out aggressively and turn around to face them all. "you know what? all of you leave. right now." i say, trying to remain a calm voice. i'd had enough of them already. they were weary about coming here in the first place and it annoyed me greatly. "what? n-no, terry that's a stupid idea." adam piped up, the usual quiet one who never really gave his opinion.

"THAT'S AN ORDER!" i shouted down the microphone, causing all of the men to jump and earning a surprised yelp from one of them.

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after a while of persuading them, they all left. thankfully. frank informed the authorities that i was here alone now. which made it easier for me. i disliked people being around me as i did expeditions; i get annoyed easily.

after a few hours of exploring the dark and dingy ghost town, aimlessly going up sky scarpers on foot, finding many mutated species of spider and various other insects that i placed in jars and put them in my hand-held crate i came across the final building i needed to explore. it was evening now, so i was to be quick when exploring this building. it looked like the most well-preserved one of the lot.

i walked up the wooden stairs of the relatively large house, making an out of tune creaking sound with each of the four steps i escalated. i placed the crate with all of the jars outside the broken, open door that swung back and forth slightly in the breeze. i placed a few jars in my rucksack and i entered the home, a smell of rotting meat immediately coming through to me, even through the suit. it was vile. something had died in here, and i was quite curious to discover what that was.

as i entered further i began to realise this house was being... used?

there was fresh poop in the corner of the living room, it was piled up and it stunk. something was definitely living here, which made my blood run cold. i walked over to the large pile of faeces and examined it visually. it was definitely fresh, i could tell by the viscosity of it and by the size of the brown substance i knew whatever creature lived here it was at least human sized. once i realised something my heart stopped- it was human sized at the smallest. there were no flies here either, despite seeing various flies in the area, there were none here. where they're practically expected to be.

i instinctively looked up as i heard the creaking of a floorboard above my head. unlike what most people would do in this situation- hightail it out of there- i did not. i instead froze, diverting my attention to the dusty old stairs. thousands of thoughts were flying through my head. what could possibly live here?! surely it cannot be human, humans would have died here long ago. i heard rapid footsteps above my head, heading in the direction of the stairs. whatever it was stopped just above the top step, just out of my view. i heard a low, aggressive growl from there, which caused me to quickly equip the gun from my rucksack, i loaded it fully before i quietly crept over to the staircase.

as i looked up i saw two piercing, glowing eyes looking down at me. the eyes belonged to a feline, definitely. i shot my gun just behind whatever this creature was, as a warning to it that i was armed. the loud noise made it jump and run quickly back to another room in the building. i quickly followed after it, my footsteps making loud thuds up the stairs. it was extremely dark up here. i got out my flashlight to see, the beam of light lighting up the upcoming 10 metres of my journey through the old building. i saw something at the end of the long corridor so i approached it, unknowingly. as i got closer i saw it was a broken, wooden ladder leading up into what i assumed was the attic of the home. i scanned the surrounding area below the ladder with my torch to make sure nothing was around to attack me from behind. nothing was there.

i began to make my way up the unstable ladder, feeling like it was just going to break at any given moment under my weight. i reached the top and shone my torch around the pitch-black attic until i landed on a singular dark pink sofa. i saw the creature, a human with bright yellow feline eyes, brown cat ears and a brown tail that looked like the end had been dipped in white paint. i gathered it was a female by the breasts that were on her chest. there were little ones around her too, her kittens?... babies?... i had no idea what to call them. she ran at me which caused me to fire my gun as a reflex, the bullet shooting right through her head, creating a loud, echoing bang sound and causing her to collapse to the ground, her eyes rolling back and blood pouring out of her head. her kittens all ran to her on all fours and tried to see if she was okay, some kittens were actual kittens and others were whatever creature she was- all meowing at her and nudging her. some of them whimpering as their paws stepped in the warm blood, staining the fur.

they fucking terrified me.

i shot one of them to see what the others would do but it just caused them to run away in opposite directions, obviously being scared by the loud noise. i was so scared, and i knew that one tiny kitten alone couldn't do anything to me so i shot all of them, every single one falling to the ground, bleeding out and whimpering in pain. or at least i thought all of them but there were two humanoid creatures still living, their ears down angrily that ran toward me. i tried to shoot them but i had no more ammo left. fuck. i jumped down the ladder before they got to me and i ran out of that house as fast as i fucking could. never once looking back.

i left my crate full of all of my findings outside the front door as a sprinted away. i ran for 2 minutes before i tripped and fell over a slippery rock and into a ditch, breaking my leg. i checked behind me but luckily nothing was chasing me. i got up, my tibia bone poking outside of my knee cap and blood rushing out through the newly created wound, filling the left-leg part of my suit with blood. i had no time to lose though so i got up and hopped as fast as i could to the metal fence and found the metal bars that had been separated by whatever it was... probably the feline-human. it was a miracle that i found it. i was just glad to be out of that alive... whatever that was.

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ooooooohhhhhhhhh