I wake up in the crystal cave, the area I was told not to go into, as I don't have a high enough clearance. 'Oh no..no no no..' I think to myself, my heartbeat increasing. Nobody is around. Just me and the crystals. I grow paranoid every second that passes. The lights are still red, telling me I'm still in a Poweroutage. It doesn't seem like much time passed by while I was out.
I scramble to my feet, getting off of the cold cave ground. Suddenly, I hear someone stepping behind me. I swiftly turn around to see the manic from before, that was in the horde. I back up with haste, trying to find a weapon, as I notice Kai's baton he gave to me is no longer with me.
The manic leaps onto me, attempting to bite my arm. I try kicking it off of me, but fail. A loud shot echoes in the cave as the manic collapses onto me, dead. I push the manic off of me, looking at who fired the shot. And of course, it was Dr. L. He holds his colt python, aimed at me with the barrel smoking. "Holy sh...please aim the gun away from me.." I say.
"Are you injured? Or infected?" Dr. L asks, the colt python still pointed at me. "..no..I don't think so..." I reply. "Did any of the goo touch you?" Dr. L asks. "..I don't know! I passed out! I don't know what that manic did to me while I was out!" I exclaim. "Well..it doesn't LOOK like there is any goo on you..let's head to the breach shelter. Kai is perfectly fine, he's inside the shelter." Dr. L says. "..oh- Uh- Okay..." I say. 'God I want this to end...'
I get off of the floor with a grunt, pondering what just happened. "..how..long was I out?" I ask. "I dunno..I'm not keeping track of time, I'm just focusing on making sure you get out in one piece." Dr. L replies. "..okay." I say, as we make our way further into the crystal cave. Suddenly, I am met with a large blast door and a facial scanner. Dr. L scans, and the blast door slowly opens with a whirring sound.
"Woah.." I say, as the blast doors fully open, revealing a massive break room, much like the 'safezone'. There are tables, couches, and TVs everywhere. As the gate opens, everyone inside suddenly looks at us. "Haha, don't mind us." Dr. L says. As soon as he says that, everyone goes back to what they were doing. I see guards and scientists alike, talking with each other. Dr. L scans his ID card on the reader inside of the breach shelter, the gate closing with the same whirring noise.
Someone waves to us from the crowd of people.scattered around. It's Kai. "Hey! I'm glad to see Jake is alright!" Kai says. "Yes, he's perfectly fine. I think." Dr. L says back to Kai. I walk forward into the breach shelter, noticing a few people playing pool. The voices around me become louder, as my ears ring. I swallow, hoping for it to go away. However, it doesn't.
I begin to stop seeing colors, as my ears still ring, becoming louder and louder. Suddenly, it all fades to black, as I hear the voices around me slowly stop.
***
I slowly wake up. People surround my vision, as a familiar voice chimes up. "He's waking up!" The voice says. My vision steadily returns as I open my eyes. "..wh...what..h-happened.." I ask. "You passed out. I'm not sure why or how, but you did." Dr. L replies. The crowd of people around me begins to deform.
I notice my ears stop ringing, but they do hurt slightly. I swallow once again, hoping to stop the pain. But to no avail...
"..damn. I hope you're alright." Kai says. Dr. L reaches his hand out to me, gesturing me to take it. I grab his hand as he helps pull me up. "Alright..just sit down somewhere...ah yes! A free couch!" Dr. L says with glee, as he walks over to the couch. I follow behind him, and fall backwards onto the couch, sitting up.
"..this is..comfier than I expected." I say. Kai sits down next to me. "You're telling me." Kai says. Dr. L hops into the middle of the couch, and wraps his arms around me and Kai. 'Now, I'm uncomfortable.' I think to myself, sighing mentally.
Suddenly, the intercom turns on.
"Emergency power grid at critical levels. Prepare for Blackout."
And the intercom clicks off.
"Well that's not good, is it now?" Dr. L says. "Great. My time in the only safe place inside the facility is cut short because of a Blackout. Amazing!" Kai says with sarcasm. Suddenly, Harry steps up to the front of the gate. "Alright you all, listen up. Since a Blackout is about to occur, once it does, we all head down to the cafeteria as fast as possible. DO NOT get left behind, or split up. In numbers we can take back what is rightfully ours!" Harry exclaims.
Everyone in the breach shelter just looks at each other awkwardly. Suddenly, the gate door is hastily opened.
And then the intercom turns on once again.
"Emergency power grid offline. Blackout is now active."
And it turns off with a click.
The air gets a tint of white, as I am unable to see twenty feet in front of myself. "I'd advise getting a flashlight." Dr. L says. "I don't have one on me." I say, reaching into my pockets. "Too bad, so sad. Anyways, I have one for you. An emergency flashlight if you will." Dr. L says, reaching into a pocket and handing me a flashlight. I gladly accept, taking it from his hands and turning it on. To my surprise, it works perfectly fine.
"ALRIGHT, LET'S MOVE ONWARD! TO THE CAFETERIA!" Harry calls out. Everyone in the shelter begins to pass by me, except for Dr. L and Kai, who stick with me. We then begin walking forward with the rest of the people, as we hastily make our way to the cafeteria. Surprisingly, nobody comes across any gootraxians.
We safely make our way into the cafeteria, as I see Christina quivering in fear in a corner. "Excuse me a second." Dr. L says, making his way to Christina. I continue walking with Kai, eventually sitting down on the cold concrete floor of the cafeteria with him. "..so...have you ever had a Blackout or Poweroutage happen before?" I ask. "Yeah. Quite common here, as a matter of fact.." Kai replies.
"Another danger of this place...wait- What even makes Blackouts so dangerous?" I ask. "Mostly the gootraxians." Kai replies. "Mostly..?" I ask. "Yeah." Kai says. "I already know they're dangerous..but are they more dangerous than..the manics? Or all Poweroutage gootraxians?" I ask. "Well..it kinda..depends. There are..two friendly blackout gootraxians, those being jammer and nightshade. Oh yeah, and sinox." Kai replies.
"Ah okay...good to know.." I say. "Yeah, haha.." Kai says, chuckling lightly, before his smile turns into a frown. I don't ask about the sudden mood change, but come up with the conclusion that he has trauma about Blackouts, and decide not to press on the matter.
I watch as a few guards begin blockading the door to the entrance of the cafeteria with lockers, shelves, boxes, and more things. My ears begin to ring again, but I'm too busy looking to see what everyone else is doing to notice. I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my ear, as I see Dr. L walking back to us, waving bye to Christina, who is around the corner.
"Heya!" Dr. L says, approaching me and Kai. "..hey..my ears feel like they're being stabbed..I'm gonna go look for something in the bathroom." I say. "Alright. Tell me if ya need anything!" Dr. L says, as he sits down next to Kai. I get up from the ground, the voices of everyone becoming louder and louder. I walk to the bathroom door, with the door wide open. I look in the massive mirror by the sinks, and I notice a small drop of red and purple goo inside both of my ears.
'What the fuck...' I think to myself.
The small drop of goo quickly spreads across my ears, reforming them into that of an animal's. My ears now shift positions to the top of my head. I groan in pain, falling to the floor, only to realize that it's over with already. My heart skips a beat as I take notice of my new animal ears.
'Oh no...no..no..NO...'
I touch my ears hesitantly with my finger, as the one I touched flinches. I even feel it move.
'Not good! NOT GOOD!'
I run into the stall furthest away from the door, closing it and locking it.
'What will they think of me!? I'm just going to become a subject, like the rest of them! Not good!'
I hear footsteps approaching the bathroom. My heart sinks into my chest.
'THAT DAMN MANIC! IT RUINED ME! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS OFF!'
The steps become louder, as I hear a knock on my stalk door, then Dr. L talking on the other side. I sigh in relief. "Yo. You okay in there? Or are you taking a massive shit?" Dr. L asks. 'WHAT?! I'M GOING THROUGH TRAUMA AND HE'S ASKING ME IF I'M TAKING A SHIT?!'
"I- I don't know if I can talk with you about this! But I need to do it with you, PRIVATELY..." I say. "Is it that serious?" Dr. L asks. "Yes!" I reply. "Just come out of the stall so we can talk." Dr. L says. "I- I can't!" I reply. "Are you locked in? You know you can just crawl under, right?" Dr. L asks. "NO! It's not that I'm stuck! But- It's be that's the problem!" I say. I immediately notice Dr. L's interest peak.
"..how, exactly?" Dr. L asks.
"B-because- Because-"
"Spit it out already damnit."
"I need to talk with you, in private!"
"Ah, okay. Well there's no privacy, even outside of the cafeteria. You're going to have to tell me from inside the stall. Just don't talk loud enough to attract attention." Dr. L says. "O-okay.." I say, taking a few deep breaths. "M-my ears..they were..reformed into a manic's! I don't know what to do or how to get out of this situation!" I say. "Yikes. That is a big problem..mind if I take a look?" Dr. L asks. "I..I don't mind..I just want my normal ears back.." I reply, unlocking the stall door.
Dr. L opens the stall door, and takes notice of the giant gooey animal ears on the top of my head. "..yeah...uh...how do I put this...it's kind of...irreversible. Don't freak out..I have a solution." Dr. L says. "Don't freak out?! How am I supposed to not freak out?!" I exclaim. "Shush! Don't attract unwanted attention while I'm devising a- I just got the perfect idea." Dr. L says.
"..what..is it?" I ask, tilting my head up. "You know how I'm notorious for pranks, right?" Dr. L asks. "..yeah.." I say. "We could just pretend this was another one of my pranks! Let's say you passed out in here, and I uh..superglued manic ears to your head! Yeah!" Dr. L says. "...how is that supposed to work..?" I ask. "Just wait and see." Dr. L says. "..what about..my normal ears! My normal, HUMAN ears..what if someone notices that they are gone?" I ask. "Just say 'I don't know'." Dr. L replies.
I decide not to question it, and step out of the stall I'm in, walking up to the door from the side. 'I'm going to hope that he's right...'
I take a few steps out of the bathroom, and everyone looks at me.